Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Introduction :
With increasing commoditization of telecom solutions, a prospective customer looks at a near to real time response on the techno – commercial aspects of a solution, no sooner has he described his requirement.

A delayed response runs the risk of a loss in the client’s interest, the client broaching a competitive or a substitute product; leading to a loss of either the first mover advantage or the opportunity in itself.

The current process involves –
1) Feasibility confirmation from the feasibility team, with a Turn Around Time (TAT) of 3 days (near to cent percent SLA - Service Level Agreement compliance), with inputs on Business Case (for Near Net (< 500 mtrs. Of reach) and Farnet (> 500 Mtrs.).

2) The above details cover the quantum of capital expense, a case specific element having a dependency on the incremental distance of media connect from the nearest point of presence, need for investment in an incremental termination equipment and the like.

Business team structures the Business Case (BC), with evaluation of alternate options on Access (last mile), so as to strike a balance involving feasibility at one end and fitment within the client’s expectations, on the other - leading to a to and fro.

3) Once a last mile option, appropriate on each of technical and commercial criteria is arrived at, due approvals are obtained from each of Product, Finance and the Business Unit (BU) Head, post which a proposal is submitted .

This leads to a turnaround time that could extend upto 15 days. The benchmark is a proposal revert, within an average time span of 3 working days, a yardstick being met by industry peers.

The Challenge:
1) Need for a consolidated data on Onnet (connected sites) and a real time update on the spare capacity available both, in terms of the hardware as well as network (bandwidth), leading to a case specific validation.

2) On the Near net and Farnet front, fixed capital expense varies on a case specific basis, with the same ranging between a couple of lakhs to tens of lakhs per link.

3) On the Farnet front specifically, there are third – party dependencies like permission to lay fiber from Institutional authorities, which makes the roll – out time and the associated expense, difficult to predict.

Are there innovative ideas, on how to shorten the Turn Around Tme (TAT) and thereby increase on the number of addressable opportunities, translating to a higher business conversion ratio.

Constraints:
1. Lack of a ready reference of the network reach and available capacity
2. Project specific capex and a time to roll out
3. Lack of prioritization of access media option based on cost, capacity and service level ability

Known or Existing Solutions:
A Fast Track Sales Process (FTSP), now into it’s revised version release, that defines on obviating the need for a Business Case, provided the prospect commits on certain base business volumes, has been released. The same is currently for ILL, DLC, NPLC and PRI product lines over Fiber and Copper access media, with Work In Progress (WIP) for MPLS product line underway.
There is a parallel initiative being driven on structuring of a priority last mile access technology grid, based on parameters like cost, Service Level Agreement and technological limitations on bandwidth supported.