Since 2003, Telstra Wholesale has facilitated the transfer among ISPs of broadband services delivered over Telstra’s network. In February this year, we processed the one millionth successful transfer. Wholesale Customer Transfers Manager, Jim Coburn shares his insights on what it takes to deliver this level of service to the industry.
“The introduction of automation in 2004 has allowed us to support increasing volumes over the years, leading to our recent achievement of the one millionth transfer,” explains Jim.
“For example, in 2005/06, we completed just over 98,000 transfers, compared with today when we transfer more than 233,000 per year.”
Adapting to market demand
The increasing growth of broadband services over the last decade has seen Telstra Wholesale expand its transfer processes to include DSL to minimise down-time associated with the disconnection and reconnection of broadband services.
“Thanks to our experience in building the eBill process for PSTN Rebill - which has churned almost six million services in the past decade - Telstra Wholesale was equipped to implement a robust Broadband transfer process, known in the industry as the rapid transfer process.
“To get an idea of the volume we manage, in 2008/09 more than 233,000 broadband services were transferred via this process.
“Over the years, we have also enhanced the transfer process to include additional products such as high-speed DSL, Telstra Business Broadband, and Spectrum Sharing Services.”
Automated self-service
The move in 2004 away from manual processing of orders submitted on spreadsheets to an automated solution via LOLO has ensured the transfer process is delivered via a robust and dynamic mechanism.
“The change to automation gave Telstra Wholesale’s ISPs access to direct status reporting and a link into the provisioning system meaning they could manage request submission and follow-up in a way that best suited their business,” says Jim.
“We find that with high levels of automation and the built-in validation checks, there is a minimal rejection rate when the transfer requests are submitted.
“Using this self-service approach, the activity is managed with minimal intervention required by Telstra Wholesale’s ISP customers, and the low number of enquiries we receive about these orders is testament to the robustness of the process.”
Dedicated team
Supporting the transfer process is a small team of experienced and dedicated Broadband transfer staff, based in Adelaide.
“Their depth of operational experience allows them to deal with transfer-related enquiries promptly and ensure the Broadband transfer process is a positive experience for our customers,” says Jim
“The team’s delivery is built on an in-depth understanding of the process. This allows them to efficiently analyse and resolve the small number of transactions that require manual intervention.
“Our team can also capably project manage larger-scale Broadband service migrations that come about due to acquisitions and mergers that arise in a consolidating ISP market.”
Find out more
http://telstrawholesale.com/operationalsupport/customer-products-transfers.htm
