Veroxity Wavelengths • Category Archives • Customer Service
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- New Veroxity Whitepaper: VPLS for Any-to-Any Ethernet Connectivity
- Veroxity’s CEO Featured in Investor.com Article
- From Guest Blogger Jeffrey Harrington – The Outside Plant Puzzle: Pre and Post Build Process
- Customer-Centric Culture
- Google’s Plan for Fiber-Optic Networks
- The Consultative Approach to Disaster Recovery Planning: Part Two
- The Consultative Approach to Disaster Recovery Planning: Part One
- Upcoming Webinar: Any to Any Connectivity
- The QoS Question
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- carrier-class network
- continuous data protection
- customer-centric culture
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2010
From Guest Blogger Jeffrey Harrington – The Outside Plant Puzzle: Pre and Post Build Process
My title, Outside Plant Manager, might immediately bring to mind thoughts of pulling fiber through manholes and construction of plant up on telephone poles. Although I am on the construction side of the house here at Veroxity and am out in the field on a daily basis, much of what I do is more about the coordination, preparation, and maintenance that goes into the build rather than the actual build itself. I would argue that 80% of my team’s time is dedicated to these pre- and post-build phases while the other 20% is spent installing the fiber itself. Getting our fiber from point A to point Z is always going to be the name of the game but in order to do that, we have to hit every letter in between.
Relationship-building (with city officials, utilities, etc.), planning, permitting, surveying, and quality-control are all incredibly important pieces of the Outside Plant (OSP) puzzle. Getting the cable in the ground or on the pole is the easy part. Going through the tedious and pain-staking process of planning and permitting a route or working with impossibly long timelines that you have no control over is where it tends to get sticky.
Permitting and licensing has always played an integral role in fiber builds. But in a down economy with fewer licensors and increased competition, the timelines can be pretty daunting. The trick is to have alternative plans. Getting the customer up and running on schedule while abiding by every rule, regulation, and standard (and believe me, there are many!) is the end goal and in order to accomplish this, we usually need to adjust the original plans. For example, if it is going to take over a year to license a fiber-run aerially and the customer needs service in 8 months, then we have to find another way to get the job completed. Is an underground run an option? Can we construct our own conduit?
In addition, making sure every necessary detail has been carried out in all phases of the build process is essential to the success of each project. We are constantly looking for ways to expedite the entire construction process from start to finish. New and improved equipment, strategizing fiber routes around utility and city permitting timelines, and selecting contractors that are right for each specific job are all a part of this. Our project managers and field crews work tirelessly to support this methodology.
Don’t get me wrong; every now and then I definitely get my hands dirty. But it’s often with a pen as we painstakingly plan out the best ways for Veroxity to exceed our customers’ expectations.
Jeffrey Harrington
Outside Plant Manager
jharrington@veroxity.com
2010
Customer-Centric Culture
Customer service seems to come up quite frequently as something that sets organizations apart from their peers, whether it sets them ahead or behind the pack is a different story. There is not a company on the planet that wants to have, or be known to have, sub-par customer service, but there is a lot of it out there. How did we let the importance of the age-old adage, “the customer is always right” slip through the cracks?
I believe that customer service, especially for telecommunications providers, needs to be more of a value set or culture that is instilled within a company’s core. Employees need to genuinely believe in it. From my experience, organizations either have this true value set or they don’t, and it becomes apparent it’s either one or the other pretty quickly in most cases. Immediately upon entering a phone conversation as a customer, I can tell if I am the entity that is indeed ‘always right’ or if I am simply a burden amongst a sea of similar burdens that someone must take on during their work day.
In my opinion, we need to get back down to basics. Nothing works perfectly 100% of the time, we all know that. But what a difference it makes to know that in the event that something does go wrong, you can expect a fully qualified, living human being to pick up your call rather than a recording that is “sorry, but didn’t get that … please state the reason for your call today.” We have all been there, and never want to go back.
We’ve heard it a million times, and as cliché as it sounds, it is the truth. The customer is always right. They can make or break an organization. Technology today allows an unsatisfied customer to broadcast their opinion and experience to the world with the click of a button. As a service provider you need to be more than just a self-proclaimed, well-oiled customer service machine; because in the end, if the customer doesn’t believe it, you simply have a menu of services with nothing behind them.
Filed under: Customer Service, General
Tagged: customer-centric culture, telecommunications providers
2010
The Consultative Approach to Disaster Recovery Planning: Part Two
There are different reasons for needing any or all of these services. Your main concern might be email, application or database backup, or it might be that your servers and connectivity are active at all times. For some organizations, it might not be critical that email is undelivered for a short period of time in the event of a disaster as long as all of the emails within the database are backed up. In this situation, the focus is on database backup rather than constant connectivity. This is why our sale is very consultative in nature. If a customer asks for a connection from point A to point B, we need to understand what it will be used for. Once we understand the purpose for the connection we can gauge the need for diverse entrances, protected services, etc. The answers to these questions enable us to tailor the appropriate solution. It is so important to sell the right size tool for the job at hand. You would not go out and buy a John Deere riding mower to use on 10 x 10 patch of grass just like you wouldn’t grab a knife out of your drawer to eat a bowl of ice cream.
Many service providers today tend to walk into sales meetings with a menu and ask a potential customer what they are looking for. But that prospect may not need what’s on their menu; a different solution may be required. That’s why today’s sales HAVE to be more consultative. What is required by a customer to run their business as smoothly as possible? What exactly are these services going to be used for? Once we have the answer to these questions, we can customize and deliver the best possible solution.
