Service Automation Suite for Video

Successful Installation of Digital Video Services Starts with Verification—Simply
... and in Conformance with Industry Best Practices

SupportSoft Service Automation Suite for Video™ (SAS-V) can automatically validate the installation of a customer's digital video service, while assisting in the diagnosis and resolution of problems if they occur - whether the problem is within the cable MSO's network or at the customer premises. SAS-V efficiently and effectively identifies problems, guides the user to resolution using best practices methodology, and verifies that the service is operating within acceptable parameters. Configurable service dashboards are adaptable to expertise levels within the customer care organization, providing a clear, real-time understanding of the quality of service (QoS) delivered. SAS-V is also highly flexible, integrating with and complementing a variety of work processes.

Service Automation Suite for Video can help improve the profitability of digital video services through:

• Reduced call center and truck-roll volumes via identification and resolution of problems before they impact the customer
• Increased customer adoption and reduced churn
• Reduced customer support costs by enforcing data-driven best practices for problem diagnosis and resolution for service representatives, field technicians and customers
• Increased revenue opportunities by verifying that added-value services, such as impulse pay-per-view (PPV) and video-on-demand (VOD), work on original activation
• Increased operational efficiency through targeted problem escalation
• Integration with SupportSoft ServiceVerify™ to provide service verification for bundled triple play offerings

Reduce Call Center and Truck-Roll Volumes

Performing a "whole-house check" during every service interaction ensures that problems are addressed before they become a call for help to customer service and potentially result in a truck-roll. For service installation or field service visits to the customer's home, SAS-V helps determine that the digital video service is working reliably before the technician is allowed to leave the customer's home. Without verification, it is quite common to have a digital video customer that either has quality or configuration problems at the time of installation or repair that prevents them from using their service, leading to follow-on calls to the call center and truck-rolls, as well as missed revenue opportunities for the provider. For help calls to the contact center, SAS-V assists the CSR in fixing problems, even problems the customer may not have telephoned about, before ending the call. Additionally, the subscriber is empowered to resolve her own issues or automatically send the issue to the most appropriate support representative for follow-up and resolution.

Reduce Customer Service Costs

Providing data-driven best practices to all service personnel means that even the most novice service professional can operate with the efficiency and expertise of the most experienced. The result can be a reduction in resolution times by eliminating unnecessary steps, which can often include truck-rolls. Unnecessary truck-rolls actually have two costs: the actual cost of the truck-roll plus the frustration factor on the part of the customer who waited for a technician visit that failed to solve the problem.

Increase Customer Adoption and Reduce Churn

Reducing the problems a customer experiences at the time of installation or throughout their use of their service, as well as resolving problems faster, can improve customer satisfaction. Additionally, making sure that the customer doesn't experience an unnecessary truck-roll and is receiving the highest quality of service further reduces the chance that they will churn from one or all of the services they purchase from their provider.

Increase Impulse Pay-Per-View and Video-On-Demand Profitability

Verifying that customers are actually enabled to use 2-way, dependent value-added services like impulse pay-per-view and video-on-demand can increase revenue above and beyond the normal monthly service fee. But without a good initial customer experience with advanced 2-way services, the revenue opportunity from that purchase, as well as revenue from future purchases, can be significantly reduced. Research has shown that 15-20% of all digital video installations are not properly configured for pay-per-view, which can lead to lost revenues and increased customer care costs.

Increase Operational Efficiency

Not only are truck-rolls used improperly, but often problems are incorrectly routed for resolution. SAS-V leverages data and embedded best-practices to make sure that a problem that isn't solved is routed to the best resource for resolution. Additionally, integrated reporting allows the service provider to track operational efficiency over time by analyzing metrics, such as the percentage of personnel who are verifying services and how many are successfully repairing services that SAS-V indicates aren't working. Over time, a service provider can observe performance trends with their customer-facing personnel and assess their quality of service. This data can highlight the need for further education, refinement of best practices or even the need to better tune service operational parameters.

Improve Service Across the Entire Triple-Play Offering

SAS-V integration with SupportSoft ServiceVerify™ provides the ability to verify VoIP and broadband Internet services, in addition to digital video service, to make sure that every triple play service is working properly in conjunction with the other. Further, this "whole-house" verification capability protects against situations where the installation or repair of one service breaks another service. Studies have shown that a customer who has a poor customer service experience with just one service in a triple-play bundle is more likely to churn out of all three services, not just the problematic one. As a result, it is critical that all services operate alone and together with the high-quality demanded by triple play subscribers.