Network service providers play a fundamental role in our daily lives, from enabling us to work from home to connecting us with clients and colleagues across the globe. None of this would be possible without a massive amount of behind-the-scenes technology that facilitates network planning, resource and inventory management, ordering, invoicing, and more.
In order to keep people, networks, and data continuously connected in a way that is both efficient and profitable, modern tools are needed to automate system processes and reduce network complexity. After all, delivering seamless connectivity while ensuring zero network downtime can be quite complicated and costly.
A suite of tools that work together to automate network planning, ordering, and expense management can streamline processes, reduce costs, and provide greater insight into network activities.
Let’s take a look at the many benefits modern network tools can deliver:
Automated network planning and design
Comprehensive fiber tools that deliver end-to-end physical network asset planning, design, and management, from cataloging the types and locations of equipment to showing how that equipment is connected and being utilized within the network, are key to achieving end-to-end network lifecycle management. These tools can also automate the design process to save time, deliver more designs with the same team, and improve collaboration. Optimizing network layouts to reduce construction costs will also lower new build CapEx costs.
Another benefit of utilizing comprehensive fiber tools for network planning and design is that teams will have access to the information they need when they need it. By providing a central location to access network data, operations and repair teams can quickly locate and find faults in the field. As a result of proactive troubleshooting and repair, service assurance automation, and this actionable daily network intelligence, network downtime is bound to decrease while customer satisfaction, field worker productivity, and reliability improve.
Automated order lifecycle management
Utilizing a simple, scalable solution for off-network ordering can streamline the service order lifecycle to reduce order errors, create automation across suppliers, and improve service readiness. The ideal solution will eliminate the manual handling of service orders and manage the full order lifecycle between customer and supplier via automation and rules-based validation. Automated tracking can also reduce the duration from order submission to service readiness, improving delivery of services and shortening time to revenue.
To streamline order tracking and fulfillment, billing reconciliation, and real-time reporting, disparate trading partner connections should be replaced with a common interface and database for all buyer/supplier orders. Seamless integration with inventory management systems, external data warehouses, and downstream reporting systems is also key for greater visibility into existing process management systems.
Automated expense management
A workflow-driven expense management application that spans procurement to payment can help reduce vendor and operational costs, mitigate risks, enforce financial compliance and controls, and increase operational efficiencies. When invoices are managed via an automated audit and payment workflow together with a software driven dispute management lifecycle, a true procurement-to-payment process on network expenses and disputes can be initiated across a carrier or enterprise organization. This single repository of expenses across all vendors and service types drives comprehensive accounting, validation, audit-savings, and payment governance.
Additionally, integrating the expense management platform with the order lifecycle management platform drives a closed-loop validation of the order to invoice commerce cycle. As invoices arrive, they are automatically validated against the completed order activity. Variances between invoice and order are quantified as disputes and real-time access to order lifecycle content supports the resolution process. This end-to-end process drives cost assurance from the initial billing of services and monthly thereafter.
Overall, real-time reporting and analytics, automated design processes, and comprehensive expense management capabilities can help mitigate risks, increase operational efficiencies, reduce downtime, and improve time to market. While each of these tools can stand on their own, ideally they will work together to create a complete solution. Utilizing automated network planning and design, lifecycle management, and expense management tools, network service providers will be well-equipped to simplify network complexity, provide scalability, improve reliability, and boost collaboration.
