Jack Sanders VP of Operations and Professional Services
Hello and welcome to the continuation of the Shared Technologies BLOG. My name is Jack Sanders and I am responsible for Operations and Professional Services. Today I will focus on the operations aspect of our delivery model and save discussion about Professional Services and Managed Services for future exchange as they are worthy topics individually.
You may have seen recent articles by our leaders regarding the technology advances in both the consumer and enterprise market space. Without listing the endless array of devices and technologies associated with these advances, there are critical business processes that are improved with their use. Terms like mobility, presence and collaboration are a few of the business drivers that are commonplace and many times independent of manufacturer or product reference. Additionally, you have seen coverage given to passion for service and sustainable customer relationships of mutual value. Partnering with customers to deliver process improvements specific to their requirements and providing long term support plans are critical elements of our growth plan.
So what does this have to do with Operations? In a word … change. Supporting the new converged services platforms requires change at many levels. Technical skill sets have become less about product and more about understanding the interaction of software, network and application services. Centralized resources with access to technical information and tools for tracking and developing patterns and even guidance to corrective actions have become more affective in responding to and resolving problems with the help of field technicians when needed. Staging and pretest of new equipment in a controlled environment is effective in maintaining consistent and trouble free installations with less site time and customer inconvenience. These changes are in continual motion without compromising SLA’s or leaving legacy customers behind.
Additionally, these technology driven business services no longer have a normal business day clock. The ability to use personal devices to access the web and company networks is “always on.”
The services are largely manufacturer independent in that standards based network protocol adoption (VoIP/SIP) has increased interoperability and allowed creativity to drive improvements to specific business needs using a variation of products and applications. This has fundamentally changed the way that Operations personnel interact with and support their customers. The typical field technician now has the ability to remotely support the customer in a timely manner day or night from virtually any location. This allows the use of specific skills and competencies of fewer engineers to be leveraged over a larger customer community.
Our market no longer has geographical boundaries due to today’s network through put and reach. Distance limitations for real time voice/data delivery are off the table and the playing field is global. Most of our enterprise customers now have international locations and there is no longer the need to separate networks or services between continents. Central resources in diverse 24 X 7 facilities with tools and automation once again facilitate the delivery of support for these business services.
And finally, the stakes have gone up. Business process and productivity improvements driven by technology become central to the enterprise success model. They are dependent on technology and the services engaged to support it. The urgency of service delivery has never been higher as multiple applications depend on the same network layers. More and more the single service provider across the enterprise has become the driver for the exchange about Managed Services that will follow in our series of articles.
So what does a communication company with 30 + years in CPE sales and service do to remain relevant through the changes and emerge as a leader in converged technology delivery?
At Shared Technologies we have invested in a central support infrastructure that never closes and is always backed by people and facilities that are geo-diverse. The Operations staff in effect becomes an extension of the centralized support infrastructure with all of the skill sets and competencies that are necessary to support the customer, providing the customer with the same local interface and combined with a much improved arsenal of central technical skills.
We have diversified our technical competency by product training, M & A activity and selective partnerships. Additionally, there has been a focused effort on identifying self learning opportunities both in our internal educational programs as well as courses more generally available. This training allows for much more general coverage of technician and engineering resources. We have adopted and developed monitoring tools with unlimited reach which allows us the a
bility to serve customers with international locations.
Most important is the reinforcement of the passion for service and building sustainable customer relationships of mutual value. When the stakes are high it is commitment that makes the difference. The operations commitment is support of customers, support of the sales strategy and support of our field resources.
Thank you for taking the time to read and think about what some of the market and communications service dynamics mean to your enterprise or area of responsibility. As always we invite your thoughts and comments and look forward to exchanging more ideas in the coming months.
