How Active Utilities Scaled 8x While Boosting Financial Efficiency and Operational Capacity
Active Utilities is one of Australia’s leading providers of energy, water, and telco services. As the second-largest player in its space, the company has been at the forefront of supporting the country’s shift toward greener energy—driving rapid growth and evolving customer expectations.
Industry:
Energy & Utilities
Impact Story Highlights
The Challenge
Active Utilities grew its operational footprint over eightfold in just six to seven years, quickly outpacing its in-house capacity.
Financially, the company needed to scale fast, without the weight of rising overhead.
The focus: strengthen critical functions like debt collection to protect cash flow, while building a long-term talent model that was both agile and cost-effective.
“When a customer calls us in the middle of the night, we generally have two to four hours to get there and make the repair. If we don’t make it in time, ice cream melts, meat spoils — major expenses occur. We have to make sure somebody answers that call, every single time. Putting that trust in the Philippines, in Booth — that was a big decision.”
— Sean Patrick, CEO, The Arcticom Group
The Solution
Booth delivered a strategic, phased outsourcing solution that began with the most critical financial need: a specialized debt collection team. This initial success built the confidence to expand and steadily evolve the partnership to take on more complex functions like engineering as momentum built.
With direct access to a responsive support team and personalized guidance at every step, they offer a level of care and adaptability that larger providers often can’t replicate.
Today, Booth supports every department within Active Utilities, enabling greater efficiency by creating specialized roles that allow the core business to stay focused.
“Every time we’ve needed to fill a role, Booth has delivered — a real pipeline of qualified candidates, pre-screened so we’re spending time on the right people. We’re not out searching. We’re selecting. And it’s not just skill set — it’s who’s going to fit the culture and stick around. That’s made our hiring sharper and our teams stronger.”
— Adam Knutz, COO, The Arcticom Group
By combining operational speed, role diversity, and embedded partnership, Booth helped The Arcticom Group build a Philippines team that answered calls, processed billings, and escalated service requests — not as a vendor, but as part of the company.
The Results
Active Utilities scaled its workforce to support eightfold growth, expanding operational capacity while sidestepping the mounting costs of an onshore-only model. But efficiency wasn’t the only outcome.
By investing in a strategic, offshore team, they upheld the same high standards that defined their local operations. Key performance metrics didn’t just keep pace—they often exceeded expectations. The result was a seamless extension of the brand’s service ethos, with no compromise on quality, added risk, or step back in performance.
“Now we truly do that 24 hours a day. We can have people in the US billing during the day, people billing here at night — and you’ve increased your productivity in that same amount of time. That’s been something we’re really excited about.”
— Sean Patrick, CEO, The Arcticom Group
A People Business, Built for Growth
For The Arcticom Group, offshore expansion was never just about cost or coverage. It was about extending a people-first company into a new market — and proving that quality, culture, and commitment don’t shrink when a team goes global.
“We’re a people organization. Without our people, we literally have nothing. Since we chose to come to the Philippines, we’ve made sure internally that the employees here are exactly the same as they are across North America — they’re our team. We train them the same way, provide the same opportunities for growth. We’ve really made sure people look at the Philippines team as our team.”
— Sean Patrick, CEO, The Arcticom Group
"Outsourcing with Booth facilitated our ability to increase headcount significantly without the equivalent overhead cost that would have been incurred in Australia. We haven’t had to sacrifice quality; in fact, our team here is now coming up with innovations that genuinely contribute to our bottom line—that’s a very good surprise."
Andrew Ross
CFO, Active Utilities
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