MasterStream Blog

Fiber is often one of the most coveted forms of connectivity among telecom customers. But as a relatively new form of telecom infrastructure, fiber-optic access can be limited, depending on the customer’s location.

In cases where customers are seeking telecom services for a set of addresses, fiber-optic access may be fragmented, with only a percentage of those addresses able to connect with fiber service. In addition, presence is only one aspect of determining great fiber connectivity for a customer.

To fully evaluate fiber and determine which options offer the best fiber-optic access, telecom providers need to invest in research tools that can process complex fiber data and account for different variables that affect fiber performance. Here are some practical ways telecom businesses can connect their customers to the best fiber service possible.

1. Take an Automated Approach to Fiber-Optic Access Map Evaluation

Although fiber maps offer crucial information to help telecom providers connect customers to quality fiber-optic access, these maps are difficult to evaluate without the use of an automated software tool—especially if you’re hoping to scale up your configure, price, quote (CPQ) process to accommodate a growing set of prospects and inquiries.

With an algorithmic tool to analyze these fiber maps, telecom providers can quickly evaluate service options at a single address or a group of addresses. This improves the efficiency and value of your research process—and ultimately improves your ability to connect customers to the best fiber service.

2. Look for On-Net Addresses

For the most reliable access to fiber-optic service, some customers may prefer on-net addresses where fiber infrastructure has already been connected. These on-net properties also make life easy for the telecom sales agent, providing straightforward connectivity that will score high in our proprietary Rating Precision evaluation metric.

Even in locations with close proximity to a fiber network, connectivity isn’t always a given. This is particularly true in multi-story buildings where fiber installation could face multiple obstacles from building management or even the design of the building itself.

Geographic proximity isn’t always effective in determining which fiber-optic service is available at an address. With an on-net address, though, customers can have full confidence in their fiber access—and sales agents can be more confident that the resulting service package will lead to a satisfying customer experience.

3. Evaluate Routes and Other Infrastructure

Fiber-optic access at an address doesn’t tell the whole story about the quality of service that fiber cable can offer. Other variables, including the diverse route options coming into a given building or address, can play an important role in evaluating the quality connectivity fiber can offer.

Similarly, telecom sales agents need a research tool that can identify which solution providers are building a presence at that location by leveraging fiber technology from another carrier. This provides the agent with more comprehensive information about the competition at a specific address, which then informs the CPQ process.

Historically, telecom businesses have struggled to evaluate service across all of these data points because of the time and resource investment of conducting this research manually. By using an algorithm-based tool to automate evaluation, your research process can accommodate a broader range of data and identify better fiber service options while reducing the time spent in this stage of the process.

Be Prepared to Meet an Increasing Demand

Although the importance of an algorithmic approach to telecom research is evident from the diverse technologies and data points involved in this process, these challenges of conducting research will become even more urgent in the coming years, as fiber network traffic increases and new telecom infrastructure continues to be built. An algorithmic research tool will help you solve today’s research challenges while also making it easy to adapt to increased complexity sure to arrive in the near future.

See for yourself how MasterStream ERP can improve your sales process—request a demo today.