by Steven Fitzgerald, Chief Technical Officer, Consistacom
“Can you tell me what’s in my switch, and what we are actually using?” That is the most common request we hear, usually from new call center telecom managers. They have a backlog of call flow change requests but don’t dare touch anything they don’t understand.
It isn’t surprising that the documentation is missing or out-of-date. That’s almost universal, and not just in voice telecom. What fascinates and perplexes me is that management allows the call center team, responsible for important interactions with customers, to rely on decades-old manual documentation and change processes. The data team has tools to auto-discover and map network devices. The warehouse has RFID tags to track inventory. Even web customers can get instant order status and package tracking. But the voice team cannot tell which call flow programs are actually being used and which can be recycled. If they hire a consultant to help them get up to Internet speed in making changes, access to the switch and its configuration data is usually by dial-up modem. The people that implement management’s constant drive to automate customer telephone interactions do it largely with outdated manual processes. It’s ironic for sure, but standard practice.
Some enterprises are starting to address this, usually when a big change is needed. Flattening distributed voice networks into a few mega-switches with VoIP capabilities is a common trigger. Switch management fiefdoms get examined, the lack of documentation becomes apparent (and often causes the project dates to stretch out), and the sheer number of people required to manage with current processes becomes impossible to ignore.
The good news is that there are modern standardized tools to automate call flow documentation, create indisputable change management audit trails, and even take over many labor-intensive switch programming tasks. Some large enterprises have become early adopters, having no other way to meet goals. SMBs and their switching system partners are catching on faster. This is a great opportunity for both. The small business can roll out new offerings and the call flows that support them more rapidly. Partners can offer hosted services using secure high-speed data connections to customer switches, replacing expensive on-site consultants.
This is the year better, faster, cheaper finally comes to the land of telephone switch management. How will your business profit from it?
Contact the author at tooltalk@consistacom.com.
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