IP circuit monitoring, reporting makes or breaks success with carriers
The explosive growth in mobile data traffic is steadily adding complexity to how service providers deliver backhaul. Multi-faceted service level agreements ideally ensure that bandwidth is supplied in a reliable manner that gives mobile carriers real-time, granular service assurance down to the circuit level and accurate across multiple providers.
Consider a Tier 1 mobile carrier: Their backhaul strategy is based on ensuring numerous SLAs are closely adhered to in order to preserve consistency with budgets and to make sure subscriber needs are fully met. This multi-layered SLA process inherently has lots of room for error that can cost the backhaul provider dearly.
Raymond Chiu, CTO of Local Backhaul Networks and chief architect of OcularIP, recently discussed the importance of circuit monitoring and reporting in the context of enabling carrier agility through transport provider SLAs.
“Carriers and transport providers are tasked with reducing opex and complexity while improving customer experience. They have to know how their network is performing and present it in its best light to their clients,” he told RCR Wireless News. “With OcularIP, all stakeholders can access the portal and see, in real time, how their network is performing down to the circuit.”
That level of visibility reduces trouble tickets–by 17% in the case of one OcularIP customer–reduces calls to customer service centers, and as a virtue of that proactive deflection, reduces opex.
“Before this level of IP circuit monitoring and reporting was possible,” Chiu said, “transport providers would spend hundreds of man hours responding to customer inquiries. With OcularIP, those man hours go away.”
Detailed, real-time IP circuit monitoring and reporting has quickly transitioned from being a tool that would be nice to have to being a tool that competitive players must have to comply with carrier mandates.
AT&T, for instance, requires transport providers to offer a web-based service assurance portal within the first six month of turn-up. The portal must provide real-time monitoring of service metrics, as well as access to monthly reports classifying SLA compliance.
“Our customer portal allows you to provide insight into service delivery, and show you care about clients’ needs,” Chiu said. “Even when issues occur, OcularIP’s custom notifications allow you to let your customers know you are aware of the problem and working to resolve it. That’s a big differentiator.”
Ocular IP easily integrates with existing software platforms and can be implemented in hours to have an immediate impact on existing business and better position a transport to provider to foster new customers by standing out in the crowded space.
“Essentially,” Chiu said, “we’re helping service providers around the globe provide reports to their customers, and this is helping them win business. If you’re not doing this, you are susceptible to fall behind the competition.”
Learn what more than 80 transport providers around the world have by scheduling an OcularIP demonstration here.
