Technology is transforming the UK telco industry

In early 2021, the UK Government announced a £5 billion investment into delivering giga-bit broadband. 

The investment will see the replacement of ageing telecommunications infrastructure with newer technologies (such as full-fibre connections), as part of the government’s plan to ensure 85% of all UK households have access to giga-bit broadband by 2025. 

It’s a necessary step in the wake of a pandemic and the sharp rise in remote working, and will also aid in promoting a competitive broadband market for UK consumers. 

Innovative new entrants in the sector – heavily backed by private investors such as Aviva and Fern Trading – are already seeking to capitalise on the initiative, with internet service providers (ISPs) vying for local contracts where they can either build their own infrastructure or rent fibre lines from established companies to deliver their services. 

For those which are able to capitalise on the opportunity and increase market share, the ability to rapidly scale operations to meet demand will be crucial to sustainable success. 

Why old systems fail in the new normal

While some of the younger ISPs are walking into the sector equipped with the latest technology to support operations, others are still struggling with highly manual methods such as spreadsheets or near-defunct CRM systems. 

Hugely inefficient, this not only leads to exorbitant expenditure but can also negatively impact employee and customer experience. 

As an example, today’s time poor customers demand efficiencies such as self-service bookings which allow them to quickly schedule an installation at a time that suits them. 

For companies still operating with traditional methods, the customer may go back and forth with a sales representative for days before finally locking in a convenient appointment time – if they haven’t given up and chosen another provider.

These broken processes typically extend to many other parts of the business. This could include field engineers: 

  • being overbooked or underbooked
  • arriving late to appointments
  • spending too much time on the road
  • customer care or service teams juggling hundreds of daily calls and emails
  • lacking crucial information when arriving at a job

Unfortunately, these systemic inefficiencies may ultimately lead to confused and burned-out staff, unhappy customers, and a company that cannot scale its operations. 

At a time when securing the best engineers and impressing customers who have review sites (such as Trustpilot) on the ready is vital, these are inefficiencies no telco can afford.

The future of telco scheduling

Embracing advancing technology in telecommunications also means telcos can embrace advancing technology in how they run their business. 

For example, Skedulo eliminates much of the manual and inefficient work that leads to poor worker and customer outcomes – with a functional, integrative, intuitive and highly configurable AI-powered and cloud-based platform. 

Some of the key features of Skedulo which we know are most important to telco companies include:

Self-service bookings for customers

Skedulo allows your customers to book an appointment directly on your website, with immediate confirmation and real-time updates when a technician is on their way. 

Your customer care teams can also use the internal-facing booking grid to quickly see who is available and when, so you can offer immediate appointments to customers at first contact (before they go elsewhere). This relieves the pressure on engineering managers who are typically responsible for manually scheduling their engineers in the field.

AI-powered scheduling

Apply attributes to any field service engineer and let Skedulo serve up “best matches” for new jobs based on current engineer locations, qualifications, and customer needs. 

Intelligent routing

Cut driving time with the Skedulo app, where engineers have access to best route navigation so they spend less time behind the wheel and more time on the job. 

Full oversight of people and resources

Know where all of your engineers and resources are in real time, so you can respond quickly and effectively to urgent jobs while understanding your capacity for new bookings weeks in advance. 

Engineer empowerment

Skedulo empowers engineers to manage their schedules, keep track of the hours they work (with automated timesheets that auto-populate based on real time job and travel data), access digital forms to apply for leave, and much more. 

Real time communication

Enable real time communication so field service workers can:

  • message each other in real time
  • communicate with managers or head office
  • receive instant updates about jobs
  • view past job notes
  • record and share new job notes, photos and documents

Skedulo also helps you meet sustainability goals by eliminating the need for paperwork with digital customer forms and signatures. 

Easy integration

Our customers love Skedulo’s flexible APIs and ability to integrate with existing systems. It allows telco companies to leverage the best in scheduling and field service management technology within the internal systems they have spent years building out. 

In addition, Skedulo is highly customisable so fields, forms and other features can be completely tailored to your unique business requirements – and easily configured as the needs of the business evolve over time.

To see Skedulo in action and how it can support your telco engineers while delivering a 5-star customer experience, simply book a free custom demo.

Schedule smarter today