Solving Global Telecom's After--Sales Snags
September 1996

The rapid growth of global telecommunications has opened up profitable new markets for U.S. manufacturers of sophisticated equipment used by overseas telecom service providers. But even as international sales boom, vendors know that continued success is contingent upon their ability to deliver quality after-sales support for their products.

"Carriers have a very low tolerance for anything that threatens to interrupt transmissions," says Jack Noa, whose Chapel Hill (NC) consulting firm, J Noa & Associates, specializes in telecom service issues. "If you can't back up your equipment with outstanding service and support, your customers will turn to your competitors right away,"

Difficult enough at home, providing first-rate support can become an expensive headache when the customer is a phone company located halfway around the world. To many telecom service managers, the major challenge these days is to control costs of international service without diminishing its quality. This problem is not unique to the telecom industry. Many US electric utilities are now investing in overseas utilities, and the problem of providing support for systems that are thousands of miles away--for vendors and parent utilities alike--is becoming a common one.

The trouble with troubleshooting

Responding to this need, an innovative application of information technology soon seems likely to make such service much more efficient and cost-effective. The central issue here involves troubleshooters--personnel asked to diagnose the problem when a customer complains about equipment failure. Helping troubleshooters diagnose more accurately, experts say, is the single most effective way to cut costs.

One of a troubleshooter's key functions is to make sure that the problem is with the product, not with how or where it has been installed. According to such experts as Noa and Adrian Warren, director of customer service for Tekelec, whose Calabasas, California-based network diagnostic division sells 55% of its units overseas, the vast majority of supposedly failed products have nothing wrong with them. "When we see the product at the plant, we usually discover that the problem was only a configuration issue," Warren says. "There was no reason for that unit to be returned."

Ideally, configuration issues, as well as problems involving such local matters as excessive temperatures or interruptions of electrical power at the installation--should be diagnosed and resolved by local technicians, Noa says. "To be effective, these people don't need a great deal of training and expertise on every product," he adds, "but they do need access to specific information that can help them make the right decision, even about unfamiliar equipment."

"All too often they'll run the basic diagnostic test, won't find a problem, but will replace the unit with a new one because they don't know what to do. If troubleshooters receive the right kind of assistance, they can cut the manufacturer's costs dramatically by keeping 50%-80% of all supposedly defective units from entering the service pipeline."

For vendors whose equipment can be serviced only in the field, often at remote sites, proper initial diagnosis can similarly reduce costs. "It minimizes the need to fly expert technicians halfway around the world," says Noa, "as they rush to handle emergencies that usually turn out to be nothing but cases of faulty installation or incorrect use by the customer."

Phone home

Within the U.S., troubleshooters are generally part of an established service infrastructure involving distributors, third-party service centers, or various other arrangements. In the best cases, they receive regular training on new product releases and, when making a diagnosis, can get telephone help from technicians at the manufacturer's service facility.

"Direct telephone assistance is not the perfect solution," says Noa. "It's not cheap and there's frequently a lot of time wasted holding for the right person to finish another call. But if a service department has a computer system that gives technicians ready access to specific data about products and customers, these technicians can help troubleshooters pinpoint the source of the problem and, in most cases, resolve the situation right on the spot."

For global requirements, however, direct telephone assistance to troubleshooters becomes a less attractive option. International calls are expensive, especially when drawn out by language problems. Also, given significant time-zone differences, effective telephone assistance requires a manufacturer's technicians to be available around the clockÑsomething that only large vendors can easily afford.

Finally, since few companies can go to the expense of keeping distant troubleshooters up to speed by providing regular training on new products, such individuals typically need more information and guidance than their US counterparts.

The Internet to the Rescue

What's the most effective way of communicating with these remote technicians? By using the Internet, according to people like Roger Hoff, marketing director of Transnational Computer Technology (TCT) in El Segundo (CA) software company specializing in service applications. Aware of the telecom industry's growing global service and support needs, TCT is one of several software developers that have harnessed the World Wide Web to their specialized applications.

Hoff, whose telecom customers include Ericsson, Lynchburg, VA, and Motorola, Schaumburg, Ill, says TCT's new release of SARA, a service management system, was designed to empower distant troubleshooters and field technicians by giving them easy access to precisely targeted, in-depth information. "The need for repeated voice calls to the home service center is all but eliminated," Hoff says. "Troubleshooters anywhere in the world can get into SARA's data base at any time, night or day, simply by going to the manufacturer's homepage."

Once there, the user works from a dedicated master screen that enables quick navigation to subsystems and on to a recommended diagnosis of whatever type of equipment is being examined. The system offers up-to-date product information, gives the product's (and location's) service history, advises on steps that will locate the source of the problem, and recommends alternative approaches if the trouble cannot be identified through initial procedures. Schematics, videos, and voice instructions can be included in the information package --and all directions may be translated from English into several other languages.

"The important thing," says Hoff, "is for the system to provide easy point-and-click access to all the information that can assist a diagnosis, especially for a troubleshooter who hasn't had the benefit of recent training. Since there is no live person helping out, the system must be able to 'answer' any relevant questions. And the process of getting answers should be simple, clear, and involve no special data-entry skills."

TCT's main challenge, Hoff explains, "was to create an application program interface that would allow effective Internet access to the host data base while still maintaining the security and integrity of the manufacturer's system. Companies have various good reasons for limiting access, and so we incorporated a proprietary firewall that gives entry only to the area that's designated for service personnel use."

There are other ways of communicating effectively with service people in distant locations, Hoff concedes. "But for now," he says, "none is nearly as affordable as the Internet. I think this is a good example of how the Internet will become an increasingly valuable tool in the business world. People in various industries will keep finding it the most cost-effective solution to specific kinds of information-transfer needs. And in a few years, we'll all probably wonder how we ever managed to live without it."

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