StarHub has always strived to maximize technology's potential in optimizing its business which spans broadband, cable TV, mobile and fixed-line services.
The complexity in managing these multiple services and customer segments was putting a strain on the customer service operation, which until recently was still reliant on some manual processes. This stressing of existing resources presented the company with an opportunity to refresh systems and drive greater value from customer service.
According to Leong Peng Ham, VP of network operations at StarHub, two key areas were identified as focal points for change: customer request tracking and resolution; and management of network changes.
StarHub's network service assurance team outlined the problems associated with the tracking and resolution of customer requests (called ticket tracking). Ticket tracking was a manual and resource-intensive process, where trouble tickets not only needed to be logged into the system, but all fault cases had to be summarized manually into a spreadsheet.
"This legacy process not only required a lot of time and effort to update, but it was also susceptible to human error," said Leong. Another time-consuming activity was the change request process. Any changes in StarHub's IT environment required a number of forms to be manually filled out and then routed to different approving authorities before the change could be made.
Tools for change
After a careful evaluation, StarHub chose BMC's Remedy Action Request System to improve its operational efficiency. The Remedy AR System was deployed at the start of 2006 to enhance the trouble-ticketing and network change request management activities. The solution provides a request-centric workflow-based architecture for:
- Registering, assigning transferring, and tracking trouble tickets
- Planning, scheduling assigning, and tracking change requests
- Escalating high-priority trouble tickets and change requests
- Reporting customer circuits that affect service
- Scheduling maintenance and notifying impacted parties
- Generating mean time to repair (MTTR) reports
The users of this system include StarHub's operators in the network operating center, its network planners, and its technical support engineers who use the system for planning, scheduling, implementing and tracking changes within the organization.
Since implementing the system, turnover times for trouble ticketing have improved leaving customers happier than under the previous system.
Leong noted that StarHub now has greater visibility into and control over four main areas: incident management, change management, performance management and fault management. It has enabled its users to have greater awareness of upcoming changes to the network, has improved the control of trouble ticketing and issue escalation, and has simplified the approval process.
"Overall, the solution has enabled StarHub to improve its request response time by 72% and overall operational efficiencies by 82%," Leong added.