Introduction
O2 Daisy has begun operations after bringing together Virgin Media O2 Business and Daisy Group. The company’s stated goal is simple to understand and ambitious to deliver: make every business better and shake up B2B telecoms. From day one, it is positioning itself as the United Kingdom’s second largest provider of solutions for small and medium sized businesses, with a portfolio that stretches from connectivity to cloud communications, security, workplace mobility, and managed IT. For customers, the promise is a single partner that can simplify vendor lists, reduce integration headaches, and give clearer accountability for outcomes like uptime, coverage, and security posture. The practical test will come in service quality, migration support, and whether the new scale translates into better pricing and faster delivery without losing the human touch that SMEs value.
What changed
Two well known brands in UK business connectivity have combined their capabilities into a single, focused company. The fixed and mobile strengths of Virgin Media O2 Business, plus the managed service and channel expertise of Daisy Group, now live under one roof as O2 Daisy. This is not a shiny rebrand that leaves operations untouched. Combining product catalogs, billing systems, support teams, and partner ecosystems is a significant piece of work. The outcome, if executed well, should be a broader menu of services with fewer gaps between them, and a support experience that feels joined up rather than stitched together. For buyers, that means fewer times you hear a supplier say, “That is a different department.” The strategic shift is toward an end to end, outcome based model: reliable connectivity as a foundation, collaboration and voice that simply works, zero trust ready security baked in, and managed services that free internal teams to focus on the business rather than the plumbing.
Why this matters now
UK firms are still balancing hybrid work, cost control, and constant security pressure. At the same time, digital customer experience is no longer a side project. It is how sales happen, invoices get paid, and support is delivered. A provider that can thread these needs together has an opportunity to raise the bar. When one company manages your circuits, your mobile fleet, your collaboration tools, and the security around them, it can spot issues faster and coordinate fixes without finger pointing. That is the theory, and many buyers are ready to give a combined supplier the chance to prove it, especially if it reduces the number of contracts they need to manage. There is also a wider industry backdrop. Midmarket customers are often stuck between consumer grade offers that are not robust enough and enterprise grade contracts that are too complex. O2 Daisy is stepping into that gap with a scale advantage and a direct route to UK wide network assets.
Who O2 Daisy is for
The company says it is set up to support businesses of all sizes, but its center of gravity is the SME and midmarket segment. Think retailers with dozens of stores, healthcare providers with multiple clinics, logistics firms with nationwide fleets, and professional services firms that live in Microsoft 365. Large enterprise and public sector buyers will care about the combined supplier’s reach, build out capability, and ability to work within established procurement frameworks. Startups and micro businesses may be more interested in simple bundles that include broadband, mobile, and a modern phone system with predictable monthly pricing. The sweet spot is any organization that wants one accountable partner for connectivity, communication, and security, but still expects tailored design and responsive support.
What O2 Daisy offers on day one
The launch portfolio draws from product families that UK buyers will recognize, now curated to work together. The key building blocks include: 1) Fixed connectivity. Business broadband, fiber, leased lines, and options for diverse paths where resilience is required. In practical terms, that means designing for branches and head offices with appropriate service level commitments and proactive monitoring. 2) Mobile and workplace mobility. Business mobile plans with device lifecycle options, eSIM support, and mobile device management. For many firms, a combined fixed and mobile package simplifies billing and gives better visibility of usage, which helps with compliance and cost control. 3) Cloud calling and collaboration. Hosted voice to replace legacy PBX hardware, Microsoft Teams integration, softphones, and contact center features for small and mid sized support teams. 4) Security. Endpoint protection, secure access service edge designs, firewall management, email security, and security operations center coverage for customers that want managed detection and response. 5) Managed IT. Device provisioning, patching, application support for common productivity stacks, and optional on site engineering for projects like store openings or office moves. 6) Internet of Things and edge. SIM based connectivity for sensors, vehicles, kiosks, and pop up sites, with management platforms that allow teams to activate, suspend, and monitor devices in bulk. While each of these services exists elsewhere in the market, the differentiator is how they are bundled, supported, and governed under one contract and one service desk. Buyers should expect solution architects who can map business outcomes to a reference design, then tune the parts to fit constraints like legacy systems, compliance requirements, and budget.
Service levels and reliability
Any combined provider rises or falls on service levels. Most buyers care less about a theoretical maximum speed and more about how quickly issues are resolved, how proactive the monitoring is, and whether promised response times are met without excuses. O2 Daisy will be judged on four things. First, clarity. Every service should have a published target for installation, availability, time to acknowledge, and time to restore. Second, transparency. Customers should be able to see live status and ticket progress without calling in. Third, ownership. When a problem crosses product lines, the provider should coordinate internally rather than bouncing the customer between teams. Fourth, prevention. Regular maintenance windows, configuration baselines, and patch cycles reduce outages far more effectively than heroics on the day.
How to get started if you are a new customer
If you have no current relationship with either legacy brand, treat the engagement like any serious procurement. Start with outcomes. Write down in plain language what you want to improve in the next 12 months. That could be reducing call wait times, moving to cloud voice, consolidating mobile contracts, or adding failover for branch connectivity. Gather your current inventory. List circuits, numbers, devices, licenses, and any unusual dependencies. Share that with your account team ahead of the first workshop. Ask for a discovery led scoping session. Expect an engineer to map your sites, identify critical workloads, and document constraints such as older routers or analog devices that still matter in your business. Request a proposed reference design. This should show site types, connectivity tiers, voice architecture, and security controls, with options where budget and risk appetite differ. Insist on a migration plan. Rollouts that touch phones and networks need careful sequencing, pilot sites, and clear fallback steps. Finally, check the support model in writing. Confirm contact points, priority definitions, escalation paths, and how change requests are handled.
What to do if you are an existing customer of either legacy brand
If you already buy services from Virgin Media O2 Business or Daisy Group, the first question is whether your account team or support contacts are changing. Ask for a named primary contact and a summary of any system migrations that might affect billing cycles, ticket tracking, or maintenance windows. Request a contract and inventory review. Mergers often create opportunities to rationalize services and remove duplicate contracts. You may be eligible to simplify voice platforms, consolidate mobile users under shared plans, or standardize on a single security stack. Ask about roadmap alignment. Where two product families overlap, the supplier should tell you which one is the long term strategic bet, what this means for features, and how upgrades will be handled. Confirm that your existing service levels will be honored. If O2 Daisy is offering enhanced SLAs for certain products, check whether you can opt in at renewal or sooner.
A realistic look at pricing
Scale does not automatically mean cheaper. It does, however, give a provider more levers to create value. Expect O2 Daisy to offer pricing models that reward consolidation. Bundles that combine fixed connectivity, mobile, and cloud voice typically unlock savings compared with buying each element from different suppliers. Managed security layered on top can sometimes be priced attractively when anchored to core connectivity. The important thing is to separate headline monthly fees from total cost of ownership. Factor in one time installs, number porting, early termination fees for legacy lines, and any hardware refresh that comes with the move to cloud voice or SD WAN. Ask for three price views: status quo with like for like renewal, minimal change with security uplift, and full modernization with consolidated support. This lets you see the real break even points and prevents scope creep from hiding inside a single blended number.
Security and compliance posture
Bringing connectivity and IT under one roof creates both an opportunity and a responsibility. On the opportunity side, the provider can enforce consistent policies across endpoints, networks, and cloud apps. That reduces the chance of an attacker exploiting the weakest link. On the responsibility side, the provider is now a larger target and must maintain strong internal controls. As a buyer, focus on controls and evidence. Ask for details on identity and access management within the provider, employee background checks for those with privileged access, change control processes, and the cadence of security testing. Confirm how logs are retained and how incidents are reported to you, including timelines for notification and expected customer actions. If you operate in regulated sectors, request mapping of the service design to relevant frameworks and any required data handling locations. Make sure backups and disaster recovery plans are written down and tested, not just discussed on a slide.
What good migration looks like
Great B2B providers think like project managers. They avoid cutovers that risk the entire estate at once. Instead, they sequence changes and run pilots that mirror reality. For a multi site customer, a strong plan might look like this. Phase one is discovery, where every circuit, number range, device, and dependency is documented. Phase two is a controlled pilot, perhaps in a smaller office or a non customer facing store. That pilot verifies call flows, Teams integration, contact center scripts, emergency call handling, and failover paths. Phase three expands to a cluster of representative sites, such as a mix of urban and rural branches. Phase four is the main rollout, organized in waves with on site support for the first day at each location. Final phase is stabilization and handover, where change freezes are lifted and routine operations begin. Throughout, there are clear go or no go checkpoints and a visible rollback plan. The migration leader on the provider side should share status weekly, risk logs should be current, and success criteria should be measurable.
The channel and partner ecosystem
Daisy Group built its reputation through the channel, and Virgin Media O2 Business brought strong direct routes to market. O2 Daisy inherits both. For customers, that means choice. Some organizations prefer direct engagement for complex multi product solutions. Others rely on trusted resellers and managed service providers who understand their environment. The ideal model is not either or. It is a three way partnership where the end customer, the partner, and O2 Daisy share context and align incentives. If you work with a partner, ask for joint planning sessions with O2 Daisy solution architects. Confirm how responsibilities are split for design, deployment, and ongoing support. Ensure billing and ticketing are integrated so you are not duplicating effort or losing time on status checks.
How this compares to buying from multiple specialists
There are good reasons to multi source. You can pick best in class tools for each function and avoid single supplier dependency. You can also keep competitive pressure on pricing. The trade off is integration and accountability. When something fails between the cracks, you take on the role of orchestrator. That is fine if you have the internal staff and processes to manage it. If you do not, consolidating with a capable provider can make sense. The test is whether the provider can offer genuine depth in each area rather than shallow bundles. Ask for case studies that match your size and sector. Speak to reference customers. Look for signs of mature operating models, like standardized runbooks, change calendars, and post incident reports that go beyond generic language. A combined provider should not ask you to lower your expectations. It should make it easier to raise them and still get results.
Risks and how to manage them
Any merger brings execution risk. Systems need to be integrated, cultures blended, and product roadmaps aligned. Customers can manage their risk by putting the right checks in place. First, build exit flexibility into contracts. You want options if the new support model or product fit does not meet expectations. Second, keep a clean copy of your configuration data and number plans. If you ever need to move, that data shortens your timeline. Third, keep governance regular. Monthly service reviews and quarterly roadmap sessions help you catch drift early. Fourth, communicate with your internal stakeholders. When phones, networks, and security change, front line teams need to know what to expect and whom to call. Finally, start with a pilot. Even if you are confident in the provider, prove the design in a safe slice of your estate before scaling.
Practical buying checklist
Use this checklist to structure your first conversation with O2 Daisy or any large B2B provider. 1) Inventory. Provide an up to date list of sites, users, numbers, circuits, devices, and licenses. 2) Outcomes. Be explicit about what success looks like in business terms, not just technical metrics. 3) Constraints. Document anything that cannot change in the short term, such as alarm lines, legacy fax, or payment terminals. 4) Security. State your minimum control set, reporting needs, and any regulatory mapping required. 5) Support. Ask for support hours, contact methods, response and fix targets, and escalation paths in writing. 6) Pricing. Get like for like, uplift, and modernization scenarios so you can compare total cost of ownership. 7) References. Speak to customers of similar size and sector who have completed comparable projects. 8) Governance. Agree on the cadence for service reviews and roadmap updates.
What success will look like a year from now
If O2 Daisy delivers on its intent, customers should see measurable gains inside twelve months. Average time to resolve connectivity issues should drop because monitoring and ownership are centralized. Cloud voice adoption should climb as legacy PBX sites are retired without drama. Mobile visibility should improve as device fleets move under unified management. Security posture should be easier to evidence because controls are standardized and reporting is aggregated. Procurement teams should spend less time juggling renewals and more time on strategic planning. Most important, frontline employees should experience fewer interruptions and smoother collaboration. That is the heart of the promise to make every business better. It shows up in small moments, like a store that stays online through a fiber cut because 4G or 5G failover took over automatically, or a support agent who sees a single view of the customer and answers the call without transferring.
Industry context and competitive landscape
The UK B2B telecoms market is competitive and noisy. Large incumbents contend with challengers that specialize in SD WAN, security, or cloud voice. There are also regional fiber builders and managed service providers that thrive on personal service. Into this mix, O2 Daisy arrives with a simple proposition. It claims the scale to deliver at speed, the breadth to cover most needs under one roof, and the local focus to stay close to customers. The opportunity is clear, but so is the expectation. Buyers have seen bundles before. What wins loyalty is not a glossy launch or a bigger logo. It is dependable delivery paired with smart design and support that feels human. If the new company keeps that focus, it can grow its position. If not, the market will remind it quickly.
How to evaluate technical design quality
Even if you are not a network architect, you can tell a mature design from a rushed one. Look for these signs. The proposal explains how traffic flows during normal operation and during a fault, including what happens to voice calls if a circuit fails. There is a clear plan for quality of service, with voice and critical apps prioritized. Device management is baked in, so configuration drift is controlled and patches are applied in a timely way. Identity is central. The design aligns to a principle of least privilege for administrators and users, and it integrates with your existing directory rather than creating a new island of accounts. Observability is not an afterthought. You get dashboards and alerts that your team can understand, not just the provider. Documentation is provided at each stage and kept current. Finally, the design respects your business hours. Maintenance windows are scheduled sensibly, and the provider commits to planned change notifications with enough lead time.
People and culture considerations
Technology delivers outcomes, but people keep them. The support culture you experience will shape your view of O2 Daisy far more than any speed test. Pay attention to how early conversations feel. Do the teams listen more than they talk. Do they show they understand your constraints before proposing change. Do they bring both sales and engineering into the room when it matters. Are they comfortable saying, “We need to check and get back to you.” Those small signals usually predict what day two support will feel like. A provider that hires and keeps good engineers, empowers them to fix problems, and avoids siloed incentives will outperform on customer satisfaction.
Sustainability and social value
Procurement teams increasingly include sustainability and social value criteria in their scoring. A combined provider should be able to show progress on energy efficiency in networks and data centers, responsible device recycling programs, and fair work practices across its supply chain. Ask how the provider measures and reduces emissions associated with connectivity and IT services you consume. If your organization has targets for scope three emissions, request reporting that helps you account for the services in your footprint. Social value can be as practical as apprenticeships in regions where you operate, local supplier inclusion, or digital skills programs that align with your community work. A provider that treats these areas as real commitments, not marketing, is usually a safer long term partner.
Common questions
Will my numbers and email addresses change if I move to cloud voice and new connectivity. Your phone numbers can be ported and preserved. Email addresses are separate from connectivity decisions, but if you are reworking domain or identity setups as part of a move to cloud collaboration, plan those changes carefully. Coordinate cutovers so customer facing details stay consistent. Can I keep some legacy lines for alarms or payment terminals. Yes, but declare them early. There are simple adapters and workarounds, yet they need to be tested with your specific equipment. Do I need new routers to use SD WAN. Often yes. Modern SD WAN requires capable edge devices and centralized control. Many designs reuse some existing gear during transition, then standardize. What happens if there is a major outage. You should receive a clear incident update schedule, a workaround plan when possible, and a detailed post incident report with corrective actions. Ask to see examples before you buy. Can I start small. Absolutely. Many customers begin with a single site pilot or a defined project like moving the contact center to Teams. Successful pilots build confidence and refine the design. Will I lose control if I choose managed services. A good provider increases your control by giving you visibility and freeing your team from low value tasks. You should retain decision rights, access to dashboards, and the ability to approve changes. How long does migration take. Timelines vary by site count, complexity, and dependencies like number porting. A useful planning range for multi site programs is measured in months, not weeks. Insist on a project plan with milestones rather than a single delivery date.
What to watch next
The first year will be defined by three deliverables. Product clarity. The company should publish a simple, stable catalog that explains how core services fit together and what is on the roadmap. Operational stability. Customers should see smooth billing, dependable portals, and consistent support experiences as internal systems settle. Reference wins. The market will look for clear examples of multi site rollouts, voice modernizations, security transformations, and mixed fixed plus mobile deals that delivered measurable outcomes. Strong references beat any marketing claim.
Conclusion
O2 Daisy has entered the UK market with scale, ambition, and a promise to raise the standard for B2B telecoms. For buyers, the value proposition is a single accountable partner across connectivity, collaboration, mobility, security, and managed IT. The benefits are real when integration is done well. Fewer vendors to coordinate. Fewer gaps between products. Faster issue resolution. Mergers stress systems and people, and customers need transparency, stable service levels, and careful migration planning. The smartest way to engage is to treat the relationship as a joint project rather than a procurement exercise. Start with outcomes, demand clear designs and measurable service levels, run a pilot, and keep governance regular. If O2 Daisy executes on the promise it has made at launch, customers should feel the difference not in press releases, but in the small daily moments when technology quietly does its job. Calls connect. Stores stay online. Data stays safe. Teams collaborate without drama.