Managing telecom field operations today comes with many challenges. Aging equipment and network infrastructure assets must be repaired, replaced, maintained, and upgraded to serve the growing needs of consumers and businesses. Rising customer service demands are putting more pressure on already-stretched internal teams and field crews. And advancing regulatory standards are creating headwinds for telecom companies, making it costlier and more resource-intensive to operate in compliance.
These and other trends are prompting telecoms industry-wide to modernize the way they do business. To achieve their strategic goals and meet customer needs going forward, telecoms are searching for tools to automate manual processes, leverage advanced technologies such as 5G, enable real-time access to field data, and deliver faster, more reliable service to customers.
Fortunately, a new generation of telecom asset management software is fast emerging, including feature-rich digitization platforms that leverage geospatial telecom data and deliver the speed and functionality providers need to manage their workforce well and navigate the full complexities of their businesses.
Investments in these telecom software solutions are paying off. In fact, by optimizing the data and telematics yielded by workforce management software, telecoms can add 20% to 30% to their workday, according to McKinsey.
The most advanced solutions on the market serve as points of integration across the enterprise, connecting systems, applications, devices, data, and users across the continuum. When implemented, these solutions help telecoms achieve the following:
While these and other benefits can be realized with the right telecommunications software in place, there are many options on the market – and not all of them deliver on their promise. So, how can telecoms ensure that investments made in the near term will serve their businesses and customers well for years to come?
Here’s why deploying an enterprise-wide telecom asset management software solution is a best practice to follow, and what features are essential to modernizing field operations while delivering the high service levels today’s consumer expects.
Telecommunication networks are vast and complex, and equipment and infrastructure assets across the service area must be maintained and upgraded on an ongoing basis to deliver reliable, high-speed performance.
To keep networks up and running optimally requires field crews and back-office teams to have timely access to field telecom data for tracking, analysis, and scheduling purposes. With an advanced, telecom asset management platform implemented, providers can capture and synthesize real-time telecom data across the terrain to gain ongoing situational awareness on how the network is performing.
Once telecom data is imported into the workforce management platform, it can be disseminated throughout systems and applications, including critical GIS solutions, and business applications from companies like SAP and Oracle. Data can also be displayed, tracked, and queried via the solution’s interface, typically a digital map-based dashboard that is dynamically updated as conditions across the network change.
The most sophisticated interfaces these technologies offer allow operations management teams to drill down and view real-time performance data on network assets, plus their full production and maintenance history via highly intuitive touchscreens. These interfaces also map the whereabouts of field crews and equipment in real time, giving all users of the system a detailed, updated, 360-degree view of network field operations as they unfold.
As a result, all stakeholders can better communicate and collaborate. This paradigm helps telecoms better inform customers as well of service work in progress, as they can easily pinpoint on the map-based interface where field crews are, when they will arrive on-site, and what issues they will address once there.
Deep access to real-time telecom data also allows providers to create highly granular reports on network operations and performance, essential to remaining in compliance with today’s regulatory requirements.
With a feature-rich telecom asset management platform implemented, providers can automate repeatable manual tasks that otherwise impede their productivity and lead to service delays and human errors.
The ability to automatically track the availability and locations of field crews, including the thousands of full-time, contracted, and part-time workers maintaining the network, allows for a more informed, proactive approach to scheduling and dispatching. And with a scheduling engine integrated directly into the telecom asset management platform, field operations teams can automatically reconfigure crew schedules from the map-based interface, as needed, with drag-and-drop simplicity.
The most advanced solutions on the market automatically generate deployment paperwork for field crews as well, emailing detailed work orders and dispatching instructions to each worker automatically, without the need for manual processing – including information on the best routes to travel from place to place.
Learn the 7 ways to transform your telecom operations with GIS field management technology.
In addition to servicing the network, field crews are essential to keeping internal teams updated on the conditions on the ground. The ability for field crews to handle their communications and reporting tasks via mobile devices is a game changer for the industry, allowing workers to record pivotal telecom data faster and more accurately than in the past, when manual notetaking and hard-copy forms were used primarily.
Accordingly, the workforce management platform your telecom company selects should come with a feature-rich mobile app that is simple to use and easily downloaded on Android, Windows, and iOS devices.
The app should also offer full functionality both online and off, to accommodate crews that are servicing equipment where Internet and cellular services are lacking.
With these tools, crews can enter notes, complete digital forms, and capture imagery and videos all on their smartphones, and then upload their findings as soon as service is available. The ability to capture telecom field data digitally allows information to automatically feed into the systems and applications driving operational processes and decisions, without requiring internal teams to enter the data into systems manually.
Help your team navigate its mobile workforce digitization journey with our step-by-step guide.
The telecommunications industry is fast advancing, with the adoption of 5G, high-performance computing, and other innovations bringing new levels of speed and performance to consumers. To support new technologies as they emerge, telecoms must implement an enterprise architecture that is flexible, scalable, and extensible.
While there are many digitization technologies on the market that streamline specific aspects of an operational process or workflow, implementing point solutions from multiple vendors can create complexities within your infrastructure that can lead to workflow bottlenecks and disjointed user experiences.
To meet the industry’s advancing demands now and in the future, a platform-level digitization platform for telecom automation is optimum. Having this type of end-to-end framework in place to support your operations will provide your internal teams and field crews with the seamless integration across existing systems they need to leverage data and optimize technological resources.
A scalable, extensible solution will also bring to your teams the agility needed to implement new, emerging technologies and continue to deliver the speed, performance, and advanced features your customers will be asking for in the future.
The telecommunications industry remains a highly competitive marketplace, and nurturing customer loyalty requires the ability to keep pace with innovation. To ensure your telecom company’s investments fully deliver the reliable performance and advanced functionality your customers will need going forward, be sure to partner with the right technology provider, one with the development, implementation, service, and support resources on-staff that you will need to upgrade your network as new technologies are introduced.
Look for a provider with a proven history of success working with telecommunications companies, and that provides solutions that can be configured to meet your unique business needs now and in the future.
Having an experienced, full-service partner-provider by your side can give your company the competitive edge essential to growing and innovating – and for giving customers the superior network performance and responsive service they have come to expect from top brands.
As with any large technological initiative, choosing the right industry partner when implementing a geospatial data management platform is key to your success.
Since 2006, telecommunications companies have relied on Epoch Solutions Group to transform their field service operations by leveraging advanced geospatial and workflow automation technologies. Today, our mobile-first geospatial solutions automate operational workflows, thereby simplifying the work of field crews and back-office teams alike.
As our flagship solution, the EpochField platform delivers map-centric features and an intuitive user interface that make it easy for telecom employees to apply geospatial data as they manage the full complexities of their field operations. Built on advanced business process automation technology, EpochField combines a powerful back-office scheduler with work type authoring and work order creation applications to help telecom personnel create, streamline, and manage their asset workflows.
Fully customizable, EpochField can be implemented in the exact configuration your telecom company needs to optimize all your resources, expedite response times, and deliver the reliable service your customers expect and deserve. Let us help you meet the future head on.
