The individual challenges that fiber optic network owners face in maximizing network ROI, market penetration, and homes activated are diverse. But when it comes to insights into connection availability, there are some questions we hear almost every time a network owner requests a demonstration of our network resource management software. In this blog, we share a few of these most frequently asked questions about connection availability insights and explain how our software provides the answers.
The challenges of connection availability insight
It used to be that telecom fiber optic networks would only be rolled out, usually neighborhood by neighborhood, after about 40% or more of the future connections were ‘sold’ and a reasonably quick return was guaranteed for each one. These days, with the intense demand for high-speed connectivity, more large and complex networks are being rolled out purely with the goal of maximizing coverage and on the mere assumption of sufficient penetration.
With today’s fiber networks requiring enormous investments with little to no activations guaranteed in advance, that investment, understandably, creates a real urgency for owners to accelerate time to market and ROI.
From a commercial perspective, the earlier network connections can be made available for sale, the sooner the investment generates ROI. The pressure is on, and network owners need perfectly detailed, accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date insight into connection status and availability to quickly facilitate those sales.
Challenge: Knowing exactly what’s available when
Probably the most frequent question we hear from network owners is whether our software can show them connection availability early in the process. They want to know if it’s possible to see exactly what connections they have before, during, and after the rollout.
The solution?
The Gridsz AVAILABILITY module does precisely that. From the very first moment you upload your first network data file, it provides the most up-to-date overview of every single connection in your fiber network and its (expected) availability. It acts as a kind of shop window for your network, from day one.
Your internet service providers can see exactly which connections are available and immediately initiate the sales process. The system lets you decide exactly when, even if that is before a connection is complete. This makes AVAILABILITY an ideal tool for accelerating your network time to market and ROI.
Every type of network data file can be uploaded into the system, from scope lists to contractor files, for the earliest possible insights into connection availability. Once the network has been completed and delivered, an API connection to your network asset management system provides a continuously up-to-date overview of your network connections.
Challenge: Detailed status and connection insight
Many of the network owners we speak to about their issues with managing connection availability tell us that they don’t have the right kind of insight into the status and connections in their networks with their current systems and processes. That makes it difficult for them to keep visibility into exactly what is happening with any given connection.
The solution?
Our AVAILABILITY module makes the status of every single connection in your network visible in real time. It keeps track of everything that happens with each connection. That allows you and your salespeople to see precisely when a connection is expected to be available.
As the status of connections are updated from scope lists, contractor files, manual actions, and order fulfillment, you maintain one true, detailed, and up-to-date view into your connection availability throughout every step of the process.
To make status insight even easier, the system also allows you to filter along all sorts of parameters. For example, you can filter to provide numbers on realized versus planned connections, or to see which connections are in which status, who is working on what, etc. It gives you the flexibility to parse insights to suit the needs of different stakeholders.
Challenge: Aligning asset management and availability systems
Once a fiber network has been delivered, achieving a fully synchronized alignment between the network asset management system and the connection availability system is another issue many of the network owners we talk to struggle with. Discrepancies between the two systems can cause substantial confusion for providers and end customers, as well as create frustrating inefficiencies for engineers and field contractors.
The solution?
Gridsz AVAILABILITY provides an exact representation of the connections contained in your network asset management system to ensure that your overview of connection availability is always completely up to date, in real time. This significantly reduces any confusion for sales and everyone else.
Integration with your fiber network asset management system is part of the standard functionality in the AVAILABILITY module. It automatically processes ANI files from your asset management system to fully update every address and every connection in your network.
Even after the network has been delivered, it still synchronizes any post-rollout changes made because of orders, maintenance, or incidents. Address changes, component replacements, relocated cables, and whatever other changes are made to the network in your asset management system are all automatically updated. No matter how your network assets change over time, Gridsz AVAILABILITY always provides the most accurate connection overview.
