The inherent complexities of in-home Wi-Fi represent an extremely high risk for service providers.
You invest hundreds of millions each year in CapEx and considerable OpEx to deliver superior broadband services to your customers’ homes. From network architecture to customer premises equipment and residential gateways, that investment depreciates and becomes obsolete at an increasingly frantic (and frustrating) pace. Service providers are faced with supporting multiple generations of hardware and protocols, integrating ‘network architecture X’ while concurrently sun-setting network testing ‘solution X’ – sound familiar?
Meanwhile, satisfying the expectations of your Wi-Fi subscriber base is an equally costly endeavor. A whopping third of internet-connected device owners report experiencing loss of wireless connectivity with a reported 60% of support calls attributed to Wi-Fi and a third of those calls will require a truck roll.
The math can be staggering when you consider in-home Wi-Fi as a cost center, but stay with me for a second.
How service assurance converts to a winning Wi-Fi equation
As a service and solution provider, we realize that we have to consider all sides of the in-home Wi-Fi equation in order to be a valuable partner to service providers. Not just by way of an innovative technical solution for service assurance but rather how the value of Wi-Fi certification and performance monitoring breaks down in terms of revenue, profit and margin.
4 areas of profit loss and how to address them:
Lack of add-on service offerings
Earlier this year Broadband Tech Report, referenced a study that concluded ISPs could and should be taking advantage of the opportunity to provide network optimization services, “Nearly 60% of broadband households are willing to purchase a comprehensive subscription support service for $9.99 per month. Comprehensive subscription support services include services like setup and installation support, troubleshooting technical problems, and maintaining device security.”
Support services powered through an enterprise service assurance solution via proactive monitoring and remote diagnostics, mean issues can often be resolved without a home visit.
OpEx
Our case studies have a proven 20% reduction in care center call-backs and repeat field dispatches for service providers that deploy end-to-end service assurance. Improved diagnostic tools contribute to further OpEx reductions by eliminating of needless hardware swaps and reducing Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) while automated workflows can optimize processes.
Lost opportunity from Wi-Fi mesh and other hardware
What if you could identify customers needing mesh to improve Wi-Fi coverage? Or, identify customers requiring a device upgrade to increase Wi-Fi speed across their entire in-home network?
The market for Wi-Fi mesh and extenders is unprecedented and represents a significant opportunity for service providers, particularly those that can objectively justify the upsell to customers. Service assurance and installation toolkits that are vendor agnostic, with proven integration expertise can help not only in justifying the sale but also in optimizing placement and installation of Wi-Fi mesh and extenders.
Subscriber churn
Improving your Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a multi-faceted endeavor as it relates to Wi-Fi. High customer expectations and dynamic, complex installations are tough challenges for service providers looking to deliver a fast, reliable and differentiated Wi-Fi offering.
Service providers require situational awareness and control of the in-home Wi-Fi experience offered to customers, so they may address Wi-Fi related churn due to poor customer experience.
Based on evidence from a study of our Tier 1 customers, the impact of integrating a certification and performance monitoring solution and can be profound:
- 96% of customers were satisfied with Wi-Fi installation when technicians used XpertVu
- 33% faster download speeds using field app workflow and certification
- 84% of technicians indicated XpertVu helped them easily communicate issues to the customer
Source: Internal study of Tier 1 customer with 2500 technicians at the end of 20-month period of implementing XpertVu
Investing in enterprise grade service assurance is key to realizing the equation I’ve outlined above. Understanding the nuances of the complex in-home Wi-Fi environment and the challenges faced by service providers, we’ve developed a cohesive solution that is scalable and secure; ready to deliver value across the business immediately. From Field Operations to Customer Care to Business Operations teams, your entire business will benefit from a cohesive ecosystem that works within your environment and interfaces with existing OSS and workflow tools.
The bottom line (pardon the pun) is that a fully integrated view of the in-home Wi-Fi experience allows for measurable improvement to key business metrics across the board, particularly as it relates to profitability.
