Quoteception: Interconnectedness and Complexity of Customer Quoting

The term quoteception is meant to be a play on words related to the 2010 science fiction thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio called Inception.  In the film, Dom Cobb (Leonardo’s character) spends his time in a dream world using dream technology in corporate espionage activities. As the story progresses, they move into deeper layers of dream states with each layer becoming more complicated and potentially impactful. As things get more complicated, Dom uses a spinning top to know if he is still in a dream or back in reality. If the top spins without falling, he knows he is still in a dream and if it falls, he knows it is reality.   

MasterStream Quoting Engine

Inside our walls, we have coined the term Quoteception to describe the interconnectedness and complexity around quoting for our customers. While we don't need to use a top to determine reality around here, we do have a unique process for managing our system of complex quoting. Let’s walk through an example of what our engine processes on a daily basis.

Quoteception Layer 1

A Master Agent using MasterStream submits a quote request for 100 locations. Each location has three terms and the request is distributed to 20 connected telecom providers.

To count the unique quote requests, here’s the math:

Quoteception Layer 2

In Layer 1 of Quoteception, each of the 20 connected providers received 300 unique quote requests. To explain the next layer of Quoteception we need to make some basic assumptions:

• Assumption #1: Each provider can satisfy half of the quote requests on their own network and the other half require an off-net supplier,
• Assumption #2: Each provider has 25 off-net suppliers, and
• Assumption #3: Among those 25 off-net suppliers 10 are on the MasterStream platform while the other 15 must be called via API

Using our assumptions above, each of our 20 connected providers receive their 300 requests each, of which 150 are satisfied on their own networks and 150 must be sourced among their 25 respective off-net suppliers.

To count the unique quote requests, here’s the math:

• 20 providers x 150 on-net requests = 3,000 on-net requests
• 20 providers x 10 off-net suppliers using MasterStream x 150 off-net requests = 30,000 off-net requests
• 20 providers x 15 off-net suppliers NOT using MasterStream x 150 off-net requests = 45,000 off-net requests
• Total quote requests = 78,000

Now, let’s move to the next layer.

Quoteception Layer 3

We now have MasterStream processing 78,000 quote requests resulting from a single 100 location request.

Wait … Is my top spinning?  How do I get out of this dream?

Quoteception Layer Infinity

This process continues. Each provider’s off-net supplier represents a real network with its own on-net presence and often has its own pool of off-net suppliers.  The only limits to Infinity Quoteception are the time limits imposed by MasterStream and other systems in the supply chain. You can see how quickly the layers build when so many providers within telecom both compete and buy from each other.  

When your team engages you to tackle complex telecom quoting, don’t you want to use the team with the real tools (not a top!) to bring you back to reality?