How Cloud-Based, End-to-End Service Provisioning Enabled One Service Provider To Take On Larger Rivals—And Win

Every year, the Calix Customer Innovations Awards recognize the “best of the best” in our industry. This means celebrating those broadband service providers (BSPs) that are breaking new ground in areas such as operations, marketing, and customer support—and becoming giants in their communities.

In 2022, the “Giant of Operations” award went to Sterling Local Area Municipal Broadband (LAMB) of Sterling, Massachusetts. Sterling built on its century-old roots as a municipal electric utility by launching internet services in May 2021. By partnering with Calix, Sterling deployed a state-of-the-art fiber broadband network and is now capturing market share at the expense of much larger rivals.

A key factor behind this success has been the speed at which it Sterling is able to provision subscriber services. In fact, by deploying its network on the Calix platforms—Calix Intelligent Access EDGE™, Calix Revenue EDGE™, and Calix Cloud®—Sterling LAMB is reducing provisioning time by 67 percent.

The Need for Speed

The ability to get a subscriber up and running quickly with a new service is vital. The era of taking days—sometimes weeks—to get a new service or subscriber online has long gone. When a subscriber signs up for a service from a BSP they want it to be instantly available. Moreover, it needs to be working as intended right from the start. Supporting this type of service velocity and agility puts increased demands on service provisioning processes, where problems can turn into poor customer experiences very quickly.

In the face of these challenges, a manual approach to provisioning is no longer sufficient. In the manual approach, there are too many manual steps that operations teams must go through to turn up new managed services. It can lead to delays in service and time to revenue—plus high failure rates and frustrated subscribers. It also means additional cost and complexity at a time when BSPs are seeking to streamline operations.

Revolutionizing Broadband Operations Using Automation

This is why the ability to automate end-to-end service provisioning is becoming a strategic priority for BSPs of all sizes. The Calix platforms and cloud software are designed to help BSPs make this transition. The Calix platforms simplify service deployment and workflows, which creates a framework for increased automation across broadband operations—including provisioning. For example, it enables operations teams to simply select an Optical Network Terminal (ONT), assign it the correct subscriber services, and automatically push provisioning to the correct Optical Line Terminal (OLT)—all using workflows that automate many of the repetitive manual procedures that were previously required. 

By leveraging the power of automated provisioning, BSPs are able to:

• Free up time for skilled broadband operations personnel to focus on more important, complex tasks.
• Reduce operating costs by streamlining provisioning processes and procedures—as well as accelerating time-to-revenue.
• Drive subscriber satisfaction by delivering a seamless, super-fast service turn-up.

Service providers such as Sterling are reaping the benefits of innovative service provisioning using automation. It is helping even the smallest BSPs to drive word-of-mouth success, increase net promoter scores (NPS), and compete head-to-head with larger rivals­—and win.

Discover more by downloading our latest eBook, "How Embracing Automation Can Boost Productivity, Lower Costs, and Transform Your Operations."