The Beacon
June 2020
Looking for more content? Check out the Revenue EDGE Beacon here.
In response to your feedback, we are taking our renowned ConneXions conference from Las Vegas to…everywhere. The main content will run in the same time frame as originally planned, October 26-29, 2020 but in a virtual format.
ConneXions has always been where pioneers and thought leaders come to debate, collaborate, and learn how winning service providers are innovating and transforming their business models. This year we are virtualizing our gathering while delivering the same great content, thought-provoking speakers, deep technical discussions, while expanding the opportunities to learn from the best in the industry via our training sessions and workshops.
Over 96 percent of past ConneXions attendees would recommend it to their colleagues
You can be assured that this virtual ConneXions will continue our legacy of delivering a best in class experience that exceeds your expectations. To ensure that it remains our ULTIMATE event, we are taking additional time to finalize the details and will open registration in August. In the meantime, we will continue to update you on the event as we progress and as always you can expect early registration opportunities. As your next steps, please:
I anticipate that you will find this Beacon as interesting as it is for us to create it. We have filled it with insights for your customer support, technical and operating teams and look forward to helping you grow and improve your business. Enjoy.
Supporting the needs of Marketing and Business Leaders
The Revenue EDGE Beacon dives deeper into best practices and share insights from our customer who are effectively engaging their communities and understanding the data to build great experiences so that we can retain, grow, and attract new subscribers.
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In 1888 Cedar Falls Utilities was founded with the goal of making its community better through the transformational power of electricity. CFU has continued that tradition of community transformation through the power of fiber and was honored by PCMag as providing the FASTEST Internet service in North America. This honor comes when the importance of broadband has never been more evident, with communities turning to the Internet to keep connected socially and companies altering their models to work-from-anywhere.
Not only has CFU met the COVID-19 challenge without issue, they are furthering their technological lead with the Intelligent Access EDGE, an everyPON strategy, and the power of 10G to the home via the future-proof AXOS platform. CFU has positioned their community to stay ahead while they remain miles ahead of the competition. You can read about their journey here.
Your Recommended Action Plan
In May, we conducted a study with Moor Insights & Strategy to measure consumer perceptions about online security, privacy, and parental controls. Not surprisingly, 75 percent of respondents indicated that they’d either been infected with a virus or malware attack or knew someone who had. Our new white paper, “Addressing Subscriber Security Challenges with Comprehensive Gateway Security Controls” will help you understand the options available to subscribers today and provide you with context on the significant opportunity that exists, but only if you take action quickly.
Viruses and malware attacks drive growing call volumes, increase average handle times and if you do not have remote support in place, lead to costly truck rolls and a higher risk of churn as the subscriber often does not understand root cause issues. Below are four ways for you to turn the never-ending challenge of viruses and malware into an opportunity:
1. Educate your Customer Experience teams, and your subscribers, to embrace CommandIQ™: Providing your branded app that empowers subscribers to be more self-sufficient has a huge impact on reducing call volumes, but some segments of your subscriber base might be skeptical. To drive adoption, try taking a ‘what’s in it for me’ approach, highlighting how they can use it to change their network name or passwords. Identifying someone in your organization to own the effort to drive the adoption of CommandIQ is a great first step. This CommandIQ Quick Start Guide is a great place to start.
2. Update your Support Policy: Some service providers are coupling additional services with having CommandIQ installed to encourage adoption. Support Cloud now allows you to see who has it installed and who does not. A script for your call center agents should center on how important it is for the subscriber to be informed—the essence of the mobile application. Below are some sample scripts for your call center agents and technicians.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Senior Director, Solutions Marketing, Calix
In a recent survey, 93 percent of respondents indicated that the pandemic has driven them to move faster in deploying 10G PON. Over 50 percent of those same respondents recently took safety precautions, updating their deployment and installation procedures to ensure safe operations. As a result, they rapidly got back to business and are now actively fielding a wave of new subscriber service turn-up requests.
With major segments of the population shifting to work-at-home, the very real digital divide has been brought to the forefront. The business of delivering broadband is essential to getting our economies back up and running. Look no further than the massive infusion of broadband funding being provided by governments worldwide as proof that our industry is a critical part of this recovery. A great example of this is Ninestar working through the weekend to lay a fiber broadband connection to a Covid-19 testing facility.
So how can you deploy these services while keeping your teams and subscribers safe?
The effects of the pandemic will continue and the demand for broadband will to be higher than ever for the foreseeable future. With this in mind we continue to develop more educational content than ever to help you keep your teams and subscribers safe while you deliver the services that your subscribers not only demand, but need to be successful in the new abnormal.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Installation quality is part of every innovative Communications Service Provider’s (CSP) comprehensive strategy for improving the subscriber experience. Quadro Communications Cooperative, based in Kirkton, Ontario, is leading the way on quality of experience. They are up against larger, deep-pocketed competitors who tend to focus on price, so they have integrated Calix Deployment Enablement Services into their strategy.
MobilePRO makes it happen
The cooperative is now using the Calix MobilePRO App during installations to ensure quality and consistency. The app provides step-by-step guidance on every key aspect of an installation. It also gives field technicians an easy way to collect information and automatically generate benchmarks, complete with installation images and key metrics (like Wi-Fi signal strength and download/upload speeds).
This verification assists technicians in properly placing the Calix premises systems and third-party devices. The information shared in the app is then used for immediate quality reviews by supervisors and stored for reference in case a subscriber calls with a problem in the future. If that trouble call does occur, the verification information will be used to help accelerate resolution and even prevent a repeat truck roll.
68 percent agree that subscriber experience is their greatest strategic priority
An EY report on the state of global telecommunications finds that network quality continues to be an important differentiator for service providers. For Quadro, installation quality is an essential component that enables them to differentiate their offers—especially in highly competitive environments.
Quadro can now drive better consistency across its premises installations, and the operations team can perform quality checks without having to bother the subscriber or access the premises. Improving installation quality and doing it right the first time not only helps Quadro compete more effectively, they improve the cooperative’s bottom line by reducing repeat trips and the associated reports.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Just like students in a classroom, we all have different learning styles in the workplace. Some are visual; some are auditory; some need hands-on experience; and still others prefer reading text or spreadsheets. Using the appropriate learning methods have shown to increase time to competency by 22 percent and increasing customer satisfaction by 16 percent*.
The Calix Education Services team knows that different learning styles are required, so we ensure our training caters to multiple styles. For example, our self-paced eLearning courses offer multiple combinations of learning styles, such as:
Our virtual instructor-led courses also follow this format with hands-on training labs, downloadable student guides, and certified instructors leading the courses and answering questions in real time. Many of our eLearning courses also contain assessments or quizzes following the training to ensure your employees are retaining the information and improving their necessary job skills.
You can count on Calix to continue our investments in learning and training to ensure that your teams are as successful as possible!
Your Recommended Action Plan
* Bridging the Gap: Integrating Learning and Work, Towards Maturity Benchmark Study, 2012-2013
We know that new graduates are the lifeline to the future. But in today’s competitive environment, a new graduate needs more than an education; they need experience. Summer internships help bright and eager students gain experience.
35 percent of students saw their internship cancelled this summer
Unfortunately, many students were robbed of this opportunity this summer due to COVID-19. A study conducted by Yello concluded that 35 percent of students saw their summer internship cancelled. The reasons varied, but many were due to companies’ inability to know how to transition and manage an internship virtually.
But not Calix. In April we saw this need and doubled the size of our intern program, which we had converted into a virtual work-from-anywhere internship back in 2019. Not only did we ensure that our students got great jobs, but we expanded our program to deliver weekly “Lunch & Learn” sessions so that the interns received regular instruction on other functions and capabilities across the organization. They were offered optional assignments, extra reading materials, access to an Audible and Blinkist subscription and a support system to gain feedback on additional skill development beyond their summer job.
Looking to do the same for your community?
We can help. We created a webinar on how we built an effective Intern Program. Of those who attended, only 1 company had an intern program in place but had not thought of the “Lunch & Learn” expansion idea. 100 percent of those who attended:
Interns are our future. They fuel our talent pipeline, it enables students to get real-world experience, and helps them earn money to put toward their education and personal needs. We will continue to build our program and look forward to sharing insights.
If you need additional assistance or wish to collaborate, feel free to reach out to me and I would be glad to assist your efforts as you invest in your community and the students who will make it great. I can be reached at cheryl.rodness@calix.com.
Role: Account Management Intern
Location: Wheatfield, Indiana
School: Purdue University
Educational Focus: Sales and Selling Management and Computer Engineering
Favorite Movie: Steve Jobs
Favorite Vacation Spot: Our family cottage
Fun Fact: In my free time I love reading business and computer coding books. I also am currently training for the 2020 Chicago Marathon!
Role: Customer Success Intern
Location: Montreal, Canada
School: University of Ottawa
Educational Focus: Civil Law
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Vacation Spot: Mexico
Fun Fact: I am trilingual—I speak English, French and Italian…and want to learn Spanish!
Role: Customer Success Intern
Location: Toronto, ON Canada
School: University of Toronto
Educational Focus: Economics and Cinema Studies
Favorite Movie: The Godfather
Favorite Vacation Spot: Malta
Fun Fact: I am a dual US and Canadian citizen
Role: Account Management Intern
Location: Portland, OR
School: Texas Christian University
Educational Focus: BS in Psychology, Business & Sociology Minor
Favorite Movie: Mama Mia
Favorite Vacation Spot: Croatia
Fun Fact: I am a duel citizen in Canada
Role: Sales Enablement Intern
Location: Toronto, Ontario
School: Concordia University
Educational Focus: Educational Technology
Favorite Movie: The Departed
Favorite Vacation Sport: Whistler, British Columbia
Fun Fact: I am learning to kiteboard this summer
Role: Events Marketing Intern
Location: Potomac, Maryland
School: University of Maryland, College Park
Educational Focus: Marketing and Finance
Favorite Movie: Rocky
Favorite Vacation Spot: Bethany Beach, Delaware
Fun Fact: I run the social media account of the largest student-run philanthropy in the state of Maryland!
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