Considering the current quoting process for a leased line; resellers enter a postcode, maybe narrow down thier search with an address, and get a price from the carrier as to how much they think it will be to deliver. They pass the quote across to the client and hope it’s accepted. You have no visibility of their geography or existing infrastructure that could aid or hinder installation.
In ICUK's first version of this tool they have opted to share Openreach data. maps indicate the location of ducts, including where they enter the building. Duct visibility can be helpful as it confirms that infrastructure is in place, so an access point is achievable, whereas it could be that whilst a postcode is recognised a customer's location is under construction or newly built. Understanding this can give an immediate flag as to difficulties.
The tool also shows fibre nodes nearby which may be in street infrastructure (e.g. underground fibre pits) or existing installations in buildings or street furniture. Existing fibre into buildings or nearby greatly reduces the likelihood of excess construction charges, and can immediately highlight challenges or potential delays to an installation. ICUK can also see category classification for the address, which is Openreach’s view on how tricky a location this will be to service.
Director, Paul Barnett, says "Armed with this tool your sales conversation isn’t just about rattling through the benefits of the technology and a price, you’re able to instill confidence in the customer that you really understand this product, and providing fair warning of challenges. This is in stark contrast to the normal “delivery is within 45-90 days” which can make hell for provisioning teams who have to deal with the reality that such time scales are generic and sometimes unachievable."
By plotting onto Google maps ICUK extends useful facilities such as satellite view and Street View adding new dimensions to this data. Resellers can now stroll down a road virtually and make sense of street infrastructure and existing fibre installations.
Barnett continued, “This is very much the start of our vision of making greater use of Big Data at our disposal. We want to arm our resellers with greater visibility of solutions, options and challenges as part of a quoting and provisioning experience. Integrating with Openreach is a start. We look to overlay other carrier and technology data extending this beyond leased lines into all of our current and future services.”