SIP Trunk validation allows service provider to generate additional $35 million per year

SIP trunking represents a significant revenue opportunity for service providers to shift business phone and Unified Communications (UC) systems from traditional phone lines to leverage the Internet for calls. It’s estimated that businesses can save 60% to 80% on calls and telecommunications services with SIP trunks, providing a powerful incentive.

The challenge is to accelerate the migration to SIP trunks and ensure a smooth, consistent experience with little or no service interruption. One large telecommunications service provider turned to tekVizion to provide validation and verification services that could streamline its SIP trunk offering. This resulted in a 22% increase in revenue for SIP trunking services from the service provider, for an additional $35 million generated in one year.

Operating complex telecommunications systems is a highly involved task for even the most technically experienced solution providers. tekVizion helps customers identify existing and potential issues within these intricate connections between hardware and the software via continual testing.

Consistent and comprehensive validation of the company’s product offering required a deep expertise in SIP trunking interoperability testing. This large telecommunications service provider worked with tekVizion engineers to test the vast components of its network to ensure better, more reliable performance for customers. Success in this area ultimately lead to an increase in customer satisfaction and an expansion of new customer acquisitions.

“Our teams no longer receive escalation calls for SIP trunking products, and I attribute much of this success to tekVizion’s work with our teams to ensure optimal environment up-times. The more you test the components of a system, the better it will perform,” said the company’s executive director of product management.

The Challenge

Providing high operational uptimes with few to no service interruptions was a primary goal as part of its commitment to customer satisfaction. Yet the service provider’s own internal monitoring capabilities were not always adequate in delivering the uptime required. Further, the service provider struggled to anticipate service issues, making it challenging to inform customers with advance notice and get ahead of disruptions.

In fact, the inability to preempt downtime or properly inform customers in a timely manner of service issues created problems for both customer service and also sales. The service provider sought a solution that could provide more insight to upcoming issues and more time to address them as a means to boost uptime.

A more straightforward approach would be to resolve the occasional SIP trunking connectivity issues by proactively testing and anticipating issues well ahead of time – either for new deployments or finding issues within existing hardware and software infrastructure.

tekVizion was selected to collaborate with internal engineers and resolve these challenges. Working together, processes were automated for better efficiency which further streamlined the company’s approach to enabling their integrated and unified business communications systems’ interoperability through continuous testing.

The Solution

tekVizion provided the telecommunications company with a flexible testing plan that aligned to product introduction schedules from various vendors. This allowed teams to more effectively plan sales engagement with customers, noting the additional improved performance when migrating from legacy technologies to the SIP trunking that have been interoperability tested and certified by tekVizion engineers. Accelerated deployments also helped to increase time-to-value for return on investments (ROI) for customers.

These expanded testing and certification capabilities allow the telecommunications provider to shift solution development priorities as SIP trunking troubleshooting was all but eliminated. Focusing more heavily on new technologies, maintaining pace with industry trends and placing further attention on other business needs also contributed significantly to improved customer interactions.

Working with tekVizion, the company certified and validated 23 new devices and software applications, getting ahead of the latest SIP trunking business technology trends. In 2016 alone, the company generated over $35 million by improving customer satisfaction and easing service adoption for customers. The increase in revenue directly correlates with tekVizion’s implementation of interoperability testing.

 

Results

Success stories travel fast within industry segments and the telecommunications industry is no exception. News of the service delivery improvements and positive references attracted new customers for an annual growth rate of 22% for the provider’s SIP trunking business, helping boost their overall annual new customer growth to 15%.

Additional cost savings related to the reduction in deployment support costs contributed to the streamlining of the service provider’s overall business processes. A consistently operating testing environment with established protocols based on tekVizion experience and a dedicated support staff today delivers services to a very diverse customer base operating a multitude of products and configurations.

Additional benefits from an accelerated testing process deployment was the result of the service provider delivering access to specific technical data on system requirements, scheduling opportunities for pre-testing and the full range of devices and software to be tested. tekVizion provided dedicated engineers assigned to the project that guided internal IT teams through the testing and certification process, enabling them to more quickly deliver reliable results for their customers.

tekVizion provided customer-facing configuration guides to assist with further configurations of PBX systems, voice gateways and session border controls (SBC).

Provider Benefits 

• Scheduled testing as needed
• Remote connection to equipment directly installed in the tekVizion lab
• Data storage of testing results for analysis
• Comprehensive roadmap and customized progress reports on testing
• Certifiable configurations for improved performance and efficiency

About tekVizion

tekVizion accelerates the connected business to create competitive advantage. We validate, certify and automate communications and collaboration. Our deep expertise and vendor neutrality make us the most trusted partner in the industry.

tekVizion serves as the official certification lab for Cisco, and the “official testing arm for certification of Microsoft products including Skype for Business and Microsoft Lync” against their SIP Trunks. Ultimately, device validation and certification improve service providers’ customer experience, as they are benefitting from the interoperability testing matrix that tekVizion is publishing.

Contact me to learn more about how to get pre-tested and certified in UC interoperability testing for SIP Trunking Do you want to include your email – see who responds?

###