Wi-Fi is the most relied on form of Internet connectivity in the home. In today’s IoT driven world, even the most common household items connect to the home’s WiFi network. In this exciting, connected landscape, new opportunities for service providers to innovate and elevate their services are developing. Before diving into a digital transformation project, it’s important for service providers to gather and understand your subscriber data to glean unique customer insights that drive better decisions around potential services, maximizing your revenue growth.

Leveraging Data from Home Wi-Fi

Research from Parks Associates found that subscribers encounter a variety of technical issues with Wi-Fi, predominantly service interruptions and slow speeds. Add to this, the growing number of devices connected to the Wi-Fi network, video streaming and working/learning from home are adding significant strain. Parks Associates found that 44% of US broadband households find value in a service provider that monitors or improves Wi-Fi in the home. In order for service providers to capitalize on this and deliver an optimal, improved experience that subscribers not only want, but depend on, they need to invest in solutions that increases subscriber Wi-Fi network visibility.

To identify opportunities for value-added services and revenue growth, service providers must look to subscriber Wi-Fi to provide the data needed to make informed business decisions. Subscriber Wi-Fi networks show the types of devices connected to the network, usage information, and network health. With this information, service providers can develop smarter solutions to address existing subscriber pain points and develop new services that improve the subscriber experience. Managed Wi-Fi services powered by machine learning and AI adds value to the data gathered from home Wi-Fi networks, pinpointing specific events and correlating events that trigger Wi-Fi issues to begin with. With this information, service providers can streamline tech support calls and efficiently deploy a fix to impacted subscribers, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and more opportunities to improve services.

Innovate Around Customer Experience

Value added services are often used for marketing and subscriber retention. While value added services tend to be fee based, 77% of subscribers do not want a service that is going to increase their monthly bill. Customer satisfaction is a balancing act for service providers: delivering exceptional services that the subscriber wants while keeping subscriber costs competitive. Value added services play a pivotal role in service provider revenue growth as more subscribers shift to Internet only subscriptions, leaving pay-TV services behind. This means that WiFi, as a part of their Internet-only service, is more important than ever for service providers to deliver correctly and to the highest customer satisfaction.  Gone are the days of “WiFi to every corner of the home”.  Your subscribers need more meaningful services that bring value to their lives and services that they can’t live without.  These value added services to consider include managed Wi-Fi services, self-serve troubleshooting, self-healing networks, online cloud storage, parental controls, and partnerships with popular over-the-top video services.

Optim Managed Assurance Platform delivers various value-added services in one easy to use platform. Service providers who deploy Optim can offer their subscribers the following services, all of which improve customer experience:

• Advanced troubleshooting for common Wi-Fi issues – Wi-Fi experience is a major component of customer satisfaction. Subscribers with Optim can easily manage their own Wi-Fi and use AI powered trouble shooting tools to fix or optimize their Wi-Fi. In addition, Optim gives service providers visibility into the subscriber’s home network and proactively identify and resolve potential networking problems before they reach the customer. As a result, service providers who deploy Optim can utilize optimization tools to reduce operational costs, resulting in a 50% reduction in support calls, up to 19% fewer truck rolls, improved network performance, and more efficient troubleshooting.
• Security features powered by F-Secure – Through parental controls, IoT device security, and modular and configurable solutions, Optim helps you provide your customers with peace of mind. Subscribers are more aware of the potential security threats that can have a huge impact on their privacy. By providing subscribers with an all-in-one solution that includes advanced security solutions, service providers can show that they’re invested in their customer’s security concerns and provide effective solutions to secure the network itself and all devices connected to the network. Actiontec partnered with cyber security expert F-Secure to integrate all-encompassing security solutions into Optim.
• Network Optimization tools – Subscribers with Optim can improve their Wi-Fi experience with WAN speed tests, which test the speed of the entire network or a specific device connected to the network. With the speed test, Optim stores the data, along with other historical data metrics to prove speed targets. In addition to speed tests, Optim features automatic band steering that directs devices to the appropriate 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, depending on the speed needs of the device. Both these features help to identify and reduce performance bottlenecks to provide an optimal experience.

Optim has a profound impact on the service providers bottom line. Providers who have deployed Optim have reported a 75% reduction in call handling times. For context, the average support call costs between $10 and $30. Without adequate network visibility, the service provider likely deploys a truck roll that can cost $150 per visit with nearly a quarter requiring a second visit. If the service technician doesn’t have the information they need to resolve the issue, it can result in an unnecessary equipment swap that costs $50 to $100. Optim’s self-service features greatly reduce the need for truck rolls, tech support calls, and unnecessary equipment swaps.

Optim delivers the value-added features that subscribers need for today’s complicated Wi-Fi networking. The added security and self-service features vastly improve subscriber satisfaction while helping service providers to reduce operational costs. These benefits are only possible because of Optim’s uniquely designed platform and the insights it provides on subscriber home networks.

Optim has been deployed to over 5 million homes as the first managed WiFi and service level platform. Service Providers wanting to learn more about Optim’s home networking and data management tools, should contact us today.