Colt’s continuous automation strategy is to transform the way that customers evaluate and buy services from us by creating an online experience tailored to each customer type. Starting with that customers’ self-service-portal we consequently drive for eliminating manual steps, redundant data checking and re-keying on the entire lifecycle of the evaluation, buying and delivery process.
Colt’s online journey started with a self-service capability to check connectivity, was proceeded with price checks for our wholesale partners and is continued today with an online ordering capability just being piloted in the agent channel. It is complemented with a detailed tracking capability for orders, which is available with updates every next business day.
In order to build a seamless customer experience including the service build process as well, Colt are rolling out a brand new modular Multi-Services-Platform that can flexibly and with a high degree of automation deliver the ordered services remotely.
This step forward will be achieved by linking the customer facing ordering portals with order management and deployment systems. A remotely manageable platform benefitting from new technologies like Network Layer Integration and Network Functions Virtualization is increasing the level of self-deployment already today. Colt’s award winning modular Multi-Services-Platform is already rolled out into eleven cities in six countries with a roadmap covering all of Colt’s geographies within the next two years. Services build on the new platform have already proven benefits in reduced lead times and a better customer experience.
This foundation of customer self-service ordering capabilities and a highly automated information delivery platform is enabling extremely flexible provisioning and the development of a brand new set of products like services-on-demand in future.
The strategy to provide wholesale partners and customers with a self-service portal is supplemented with the development of machine-to-machine interfaces, intending to provide the same kind of services and level of transparency to our largest wholesale partners with their high number of transactions with Colt.
As a given, the development of machine-to-machine interfaces needs to take into account the customers’ specific requirements, driven by their own CRM or provisioning tools.
Colt connected their trouble ticketing system with the first wholesale customer back in 2010 using the e-Bonding (machine-to-machine) interface. This capability always needs customization to enable the next customers to manage their in-life services jointly with Colt. Up to now two wholesale customers and two large enterprise customers use Colt’s machine-to-machine interfaces for ticketing.
A quasi standard interface and procedure for quotations has just followed in 2013. Customers following that framework can easily link their CRM or bid management tools with Colt’s database providing connectivity checks and price information. Specific requirements – like always given when implementing machine-to-machine ticketing interfaces – can flexibly be supported and implemented by Colt as well.
The next step in the automation strategy is to receive orders from wholesale partners via a machine-to-machine.
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