Communication service providers (CSPs) have had to deal with an ever-expanding list of customer demands over the past decade, as bandwidth and latency needs become larger and more pressing for personal, corporate and government clients alike. While this is true the world over, network offerings are especially burgeoning in markets like Panama, where companies like Cable & Wireless (C&W) Panama are trying to cope with an increasingly demanding — and exponentially expanding — customer base while maintaining revenue and quality of service (QoS).
In 2003, C&W expanded their network offerings to better support virtual private networks (VPNs). This was a massive challenge because C&W had been running their service on a legacy system. C&W turned to InfoVista to provide support for its transfer of legacy operations over to the new network while also providing new value-added services to the company's offerings.
Automation — and Transparency — Improve Customer Relations
Clients are often quick to blame their service provider when there is an issue with their VPN rather than actually identify potential flaws within their own network circuitry. For instance, if there is a latency issue at a specific time of the month, the client may simply be using more bandwidth than their VPN can handle — an issue that they'll need help resolving, but isn't strictly attributed to the CSP.
According to Hugo Aquino, one way that C&W decided to address this issue was by creating a Service Operations Manager tool. Developed with support from InfoVista and using our network management products, the Service Operations Manager is a web portal that allows clients to view all of their usage around bandwidth, timelines and trends. This gives customers the ability to pinpoint when in a given month their VPN used the most bandwidth and compare that to any related latency issues discovered during this period.
In addition to the Service Operations Manager tool, C&W has engineers on the case helping clients find a solution to any network issues, even if C&W services aren't necessarily to blame. Because problem solving and troubleshooting are both operations that are synchronized on the automated web portal, both can be accomplished in a speedy manner. This higher level of customer service enabled through the partnership with InfoVista allows C&W to both educate the client and maintain strong relations.
In many ways, this allows C&W to shake off some of the blame that customers may be quick to throw at them while at the same time empowering C&W to own the solution and deliver fast.
Giving Clients Visibility Smooths Relations While Increasing Revenue
C&W is able to offer the client another product alongside the Service Operations Manager in the form of on-demand reports provided by InfoVista. These reports give the client long-term, detailed visibility into their VPN usage on top of the information displayed within the portal while also granting them peace of mind regarding their provider. Visibility and automation are the key success factors of the relationship between InfoVista and C&W because gaining these QoS attributes allows C&W to focus on providing a whole new layer of support. C&W engineers can devote the time necessary to fixing a problem — and in a period of time that a customer can appreciate.
C&W puts the customer in the middle of every decision, which requires that they have a great tool to help their engineers solve problems but also give clients a resource they can use on their own.
C&W Panama is anticipating that client demands will only continue ticking upward in the future, which will mean the efficiency customers have enjoyed as part of the InfoVista partnership with C&W will be vital to guaranteeing future success.
