Posts Tagged ‘Call Center’

Testing for New Products

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Feb 23, 2011 at 8:21 am

Like most high tech companies, WOW! maintains a thorough testing process as it releases products to its valued customer base.  We don’t want customers to be the “guinea pig” for new products being introduced, and while we’re anxious to be on the “leading edge” of technology, we’ve always taken the tack that the “bleeding edge” is probably not a good thing….

That said, here are some of the testing phases that a product goes through before general release to the public.

Alpha–This is a testing phase where product is limited to the engineering teams that are involved in the development of the product.  Here various aspects of the potential product are tested and corrective action taken, if necessary, but notably, this is the phase where all necessary ancillary systems are tested, particularly billing, provisioning, customer care interface, etc.  Any bugs found are worked out, customer service scripts are developed, and internal processes are completed to support the product from every aspect.  Once this is completed, the product moves into…

Beta–This testing phase includes rolling the product out to other (non-engineering) employees, and very occasionally, a very limited pool of customers who can “beat the product up”, and make sure that it is ready for prime time.  This phase usually lasts a month or so–at least long enough to determine if the billing and provisioning systems are working properly with the product.  Installation procedures are developed and vetted with the tech ops teams doing installation.  Any small difficulties remaining are worked back through engineering for correction.  Occasionally, vendor involvement is required as well to smooth out any remaining problems.  The product then enters…

Limited release–this phase of testing may include a single market or portion thereof.  During this phase, installation procedures are refined and training of the technician force is completed.  Typically, tech trainers from all regions would converge on the “limited release” market to observe, make recommendations, and take their knowledge back to their home markets to prepare techs to install the new product as it is rolled out.  Depending on a number of factors, this phase is ideally rather brief, allowing our customers in other areas to receive the product quickly.  If, however, there is a customer learning curve on the product, markets are “rolled” gradually so that the customer service teams can effectively help and train customers in situ.

We have found over the years that this approach results in the best customer experience possible, and while change is always disruptive on some level, it is also the engine that drives our progress as a company.

Until next time…

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In the Grip of the Storm…

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Feb 02, 2011 at 3:34 pm

The last 48 hours have been interesting in much of the US.  Since most of WOW!’s operations are located in the midwest, we’ve had a particularly exciting time with the difficult weather conditions sustaining the service and needs of our customers.  The good news is that the situation is no where near as bad as it could have been.  The ice and wind “double punch” could certainly have damaged more plant than it did.  Most outages our customers have experienced have been due to local power outages rather than permanent damage to the plant.  At this point, even taking into account the power problems, the vast majority of our customers have full services in the 5 metro areas that we service.  The Columbus OH area and the Chicago IL area were particularly hard hit with ice and/or snow, so as of this writing our dedicated crews are still out restoring services to quite a few customers in those areas.

Given the ferocity of the storm, WOW! personnel prepared as much as possible ahead of time, including some of our Network Operations Center (NOC) and engineering personnel bringing camping gear in anticipation of a long night in our Chicago office to monitor systems and alert crews and engineers to problem spots in the network.  Our call center in Colorado Springs had additional staff scheduled to handle increased volume of storm related calls and troubles, as well as additional tier 3 support personnel to triage problems and supplement the skeleton NOC  crew in Naperville.   Our engineering teams in all regions have tools in place so that, when necessary, engineering support can be given to other teams from home at all hours of the day and night.  By planning ahead, work can proceed with minimal disruption and minimal worry for WOW! personnel safety as we support customers in these extraordinary weather events.

Of course, freezing rain can cause permanent damage to the plant, which then requires our crews to rebuild pieces from scratch.  While there are isolated areas that will require extensive repairs, we hope and expect that, as power is restored to homes, that for most,  WOW! services will be there ready and waiting.

Thanks to the many dedicated workers and support staff who have helped tame the effects of this fierce storm on our customers, and thanks to those customers who have been patient and understanding as crews work to restore service.

Until next time….

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Happy Thanksgiving!!

In: Customer Experience & Support

By: Bill Wright on Nov 25, 2010 at 6:52 am

 I wanted to give a little bit of my “Customer Experience” I have had with WOW!.

 I have always known that WOW! was a place that gave back to the community and back to their employees but a few special memories stick out for me.

 I remember a call that came in from a customer that had been late on the payments and having a very hard time getting by. They were just trying to make some arrangements to pay the bill. I do understand that cable TV is not a privilege and you can do without it, in most cases but to some it is the only contact with the outside that they get. I remember hearing that for the holidays, all the person really wanted was new towels for the bathroom. That’s it!! That is all the person wanted was her bathroom to look nice with new towels in it. That really put things into perspective. And guess what happened? Those towels, she had been wantin,g showed up at the home and you will never guess where they came from. What a company!!!!!

  This Thanksgiving, WOW! was able to give 20+ families Thanksgiving dinner that they wouldn’t have been able to afford on their own. An Angel Tree has been set up in the lobby of the Call Center with the Holliday wishes of children. We can’t seem to keep the requests on the tree because the employees are buying and wrapping gifts for these children. 

  This is just part of what I am thankful for. Being a part of a team that when the going got tough, they got tougher.  Always giving and never asking anything in return.

  It’s that time of year when you are supposed to look back and think of the things you are most thankful for. Why does it have to be only once a year?  Why can’t we all take the time, everyday, to look at the things, and people, that we should be thankful for?

There are many things in life I am thankful for and I appreciate them all !!

 Every day, I am thankful that I got out of bed on my own. What are you thankful for?

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To Better Serve You…

In: Customer Experience & Support

By: Bill Wright on Nov 18, 2010 at 8:52 am

 Have you ever had a problem, with a certain company, and the employees always seem to pass you off to another department?  How about calling into a call center and, after being on hold for a horrible amount of time, the answer you get is” I am going to have to transfer you to that department” just to be placed on hold again.  Not sure if that is a tactic to discourage your complaint or could it be that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing?

 In order to give the WOW! customer’s the best possible experience we can, we cross train our employees so they don’t have to transfer you somewhere else where you would have to explain everything all over again. Our employees sit with other departments to get a better understanding of what the customers want.  WOW! also tries to hire, for internal departments, within the company. Therefore, the employees acquire a wider range of knowledge to better support the customer needs.

 Of course, there will be times where you will need to talk to specific departments that are not the norm for a call center and can only be handled by them.  But very few get passed our wonderful front line agents. They are really there to serve you !!

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A Special Thank You!!

In: Customer Experience & Support

By: Bill Wright on Nov 11, 2010 at 9:16 am

  I just wanted to take today’s blog to say a special “Thank You!!” to those of you that have served in the military.

  To take a message from my FB friends:
   A veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. That is beyond honor, and there are far too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.

  Thanks to all the men and women, who have fought for the freedom we all know and love today. To all of the veterans that have worked at WOW! to give you the wonderful experience and to all of you veterans out there, THANK YOU!!!!

William Wright
Army Veteran

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