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Telus achieves smart home milestone with one million customers in Canada

Jim Paikos, Telus

Telus marked a significant milestone in the development of its home security business earlier this year, reaching one million customers in Canada and growing.

“Since launching Telus SmartHome Security in 2018, we’ve become the largest and fastest growing security and automation provider in Canada,” says Jim Paikos, vice-president, customer experience evolution, Telus. “In that journey over the past five years, we’ve seen significant growth while also providing exceptional customer service experience that has earned us accolades.”

(Telus SmartHome Security was acknowledged in the home security category of Brandspark’s “Most trusted awards” two years in a row.)

Growth through acquisition

A major step in the evolution of Telus’ home security business was its acquisition of ADT Canada in 2019. Several other acquisitions have followed in the intervening years, adding customers and critical mass to the company’s SmartHome division.

“Our customer base continues to grow across the country, both organically and through acquisitions,” says Paikos. “We’ve been very active on the acquisition front, ranging from buying entire companies to buying books of business and customer bases. There’s been lots of discussions with players in those markets. We continue to have those discussions and welcome those discussions.”

Reaching new customers

In terms of organic growth for its home security customer base, Paikos says Telus has seen significant gains in its home turf of B.C., as well as in Alberta.

In Eastern parts of Canada, Telus may still be best known as a mobility provider, says Paikos, but the company is working to increase brand awareness of its other offerings, including smart home services. “We are seeing lots of momentum in some of the other markets. Ontario and Quebec would obviously be the biggest ones,” he says.

He attributes some of that growth to the range of services Telus is able to bring to market, as well bundling opportunities that customers can take advantage of. “Customers really like the breadth of services that we offer and that’s helping us drive more market awareness organically as well,” he says. “We’re looking to offer Canadians more ways to protect themselves and their families and their businesses.”

Expansion of service offerings

The range of Telus’ services now includes SmartWear Security — personal safety devices disguised as bracelets, keychains or pendants equipped with a hidden button that will text the user’s GPS location to a group of contacts and/or a Telus monitoring team. The company also offers a PERS LivingWell Companion health service — with wearable medical alert devices that are monitored with 24×7 support and fall detection — as well as online security services to help customers protect their identity.

Earlier this year, Telus also announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a new smart living solution designed to help consumers reduce the complexity of installing and managing multiple connected devices in the home. The solution will leverage cloud-based technology and AI to allow those devices to be managed through a single Telus app.