James Frew: handling winter demand with AI Agents

Meet the team at James Frew

James Frew is one of Scotland’s most established property service providers. The family-run business has served local communities since 1911, delivering gas installation, maintenance and emergency services across residential and commercial properties. With more than 10,000 customer calls handled every month, the company runs a large and busy contact centre.

In 2025, James Frew partnered with Elyos AI to find a smarter way to handle customer calls, streamline service workflows and improve response times. It was crucial to achieve this while maintaining the systems and structure already in place.

Reducing Pressure on the Contact Centre

James Frew’s contact centre is always under pressure over winter months. Rising call volumes meant more time spent triaging enquiries and manually dispatching engineers, which slowed response times and stretched internal teams.

But introducing automation came with risk. The team couldn’t afford to disrupt existing workflows or compromise the tight integration between their helpdesk and Simpro. They needed a solution that was smart, reliable and industry-aware. They also needed a partner who could deliver it without compromising service standards.

That’s where Elyos AI came in.

Working with Elyos AI

Elyos AI worked closely with James Frew’s leadership, operations and helpdesk teams to implement a Daytime AI Agent, built specifically for the gas services sector and fully integrated with Simpro.

Nicknamed Jamie by the team, the AI Agent was trained on gas industry rules, emergency protocols and common customer scenarios. Jamie is designed not just to answer calls, but to intelligently triage enquiries, determine urgency and initiate dispatch—all without human input.

What made Jamie truly effective was his deep Simpro integration. Jobs, appointments and customer data were handled without disrupting James Frew’s existing processes. The Elyos AI team worked on-site with Operations Manager Angela McBlain and Helpdesk Manager Michael Loughran to test, train and fine-tune Jamie’s performance.

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“Everybody definitely agrees that it's been a great addition to the team. It has been so helpful. We're all very grateful for Jamie, really.”

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Customers responded positively too, with several commenting on how polite and professional the new Customer Service Agent was.

What's next for James Frew? AI That Scales With the Business

With Jamie [the AI Agent] now handling more than 80% of daily calls, James Frew has transformed its contact centre into an always-on, always-consistent point of service, without compromising customer service.

Elyos AI’s deep sector expertise, combined with its native Simpro integration, has made it possible for James Frew to deliver faster, smarter customer service while maintaining the standards expected of a century-old business.

Looking ahead, Elyos AI will continue to support James Frew with ongoing optimisation, new features, and additional AI agent capabilities. This will help the business scale with confidence and stay ahead in a service-led, customer-first industry.