Manual serviceability research, which used to be a necessary cost of doing business for bandwidth providers, is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to error.
Fortunately, modern automation technology has transformed the way bandwidth providers do business, allowing them to take serviceability on the go with the right tools. In fact, thanks to automated serviceability research, the days of combing through data and staring at fiber maps may be entirely a thing of the past.
With that said, offering a solid, mobile-friendly digital experi
ence that aligns with modern consumer preferences is essential for achieving success in today’s climate. Most serviceability tools are designed for desktop, because data and mapping technology does not lend itself well to smaller mobile footprints
In this article, we’ll share tips for evaluating mobile-friendlin
ess, plus discuss why it matters in the bandwidth service industry.
How to Assess Your Serviceability Tool’s Mobile-Friendliness
We get it: Adopting new technology can be daunting. You want to ensure that whichever serviceability tool you choose, it’s the right fit for your business—and one that will pay itself off in the long run, thanks to cost and time savings benefits.
Here are a few steps to assessing your software and whether it’s the right mobile-friendly solution for your service business.
1. Look for a solution built specifically with mobile in mind.
Not all data mapping technology is created equal. When evaluating different technology, make sure the solution you choose is built for mobile and offers convenience, flexibility, and ease of use from any location, on any device.
2. Ensure technology scales properly on mobile devices.
Your fiber finder technology should have a highly responsive design, with the ability to scale properly on all mobile devices. In other words, the solution should be able to adapt to fit the screen size, platform, and orientation of each device.
3. Be sure your mobile site loads quickly on your device.
Sometimes, even technology that’s compatible with mobile devices isn’t optimized for mobile. Test your fiber finder on multiple mobile web browsers to make sure it loads quickly on all devices, including Apple and Android phones and tablets.
4. Use Google’s mobile-friendly test to see how it ranks.
Using Google’s mobile-friendly test to assess your tool will help you test how easily visitors can use your technology on a mobile device. If your score is relatively low, you can use the tool to help pinpoint ways to improve your mobile performance.
5. Avoid 404 errors and content that isn’t supported by mobile.
Make sure all of your content is supported by mobile, and avoid 404 errors as much as possible. These limitations can impact usability and keep users from accessing your fiber finder.
6. Make sure search engines can crawl your image assets.
If search engines like Google and Bing can’t crawl your image assets, you’re missing out on several opportunities to rank for certain keywords and attract new customers.
7. Redirect mobile users to the appropriate mobile URLs.
If you have separate URLs on desktop and mobile, make sure you redirect mobile users to the appropriate mobile URLs to deliver a quality user experience (UX).
BandwidthFinder: Introducing the Mobile-Friendly Fiber Finder
BandwidthFinder was built with mobile in mind, to give users a great experience on any device, regardless of when or where they access it. During the design and development stages, we used modern UX and user interface (UI) technologies to ensure BandwidthFinder scales properly on mobile devices. The mobile-friendly fiber finding tool also offers a lightning-fast view of location and provider serviceability, with an easy-to-use interface that’s accessible from anywhere.
Interested in learning more about BandwidthFinder? Request a free demo to see what BandwidthFinder can do for you.