How To Set Up a Winning Broadband Operation With Broadband Academy

Before you open your broadband business, you'll need an operational playbook for staffing, customer service, ongoing network management, and common challenges and solutions. Thankfully, you don't have to start from scratch. Calix has worked with 75 percent of electric cooperatives, 60 percent of tribally-owned BSPs, and 71 percent of municipalities that have launched broadband businesses. Our collective experience can help guide the way.

One of the resources available to set you on the path to success is our award-winning Broadband Academy. The course Operate for Broadband Services covers how to run a thriving broadband business. Below, we touch on five lesson highlights that can help you deliver services and support to delight subscribers for years to come.

1. Put the right people with the right training in the right roles. First impressions count. Before you launch your services, you'll need to have the right staff and processes in place for functions ranging from network operations and customer support to sales, marketing, and finance. This will help ensure your business runs smoothly-and that subscribers experience high-quality service and support from the start. This lesson explores the different roles and responsibilities you'll need covered, and how to determine staffing levels.
   

2. Understand FCAPS, a framework for network management. The broadband industry loves acronyms, so add FCAPS to your list. It's a common network management framework. FCAPS stands for fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security management. These five tasks are key to keeping your network running smoothly and delivering reliable, secure experiences. We'll also discuss the role that a software-defined network plays in helping you manage the entire network, better perform FCAPS tasks, and simplifying your overall operations.
   

3. Automate, empower, and equip for success. Even the best people, processes, and technologies won't stop the inevitable from happening. At some point, network outages or equipment faults will affect your service. But you can sidestep some of the more common issues that negatively impact the subscriber experience. This lesson explores how you can automate network monitoring processes, empower support teams and subscribers with end-to-end network visibility, and equip field techs with real-time data insights. Together, these will make your broadband operations more efficient, productive, and cost-effective.
   

4. Prepare to provide first-rate customer service. Without incredible customer service, your network is just a network-no matter how advanced the technology is. Instead of focusing on speed, build a subscriber-focused culture. While it takes time and requires commitment from every level within your organization, it's well worth the effort to foster brand loyalty, reduce churn risks, and differentiate from the competition. We'll run through tactics for gathering real-world feedback and driving ongoing innovation that delivers true value.
   

5. Learn from the experiences of your peers. Thankfully, you're not alone. Other electric cooperatives, tribes, and municipalities have gone through the process of building and operating broadband businesses for their communities-and many are happy to share their experiences. Electric cooperatives like Tombigbee, Gibson Connect, and United Fiber, as well as the municipalities of Pharr, Texas, Sterling, Massachusetts, and Medina County, Ohio, have all partnered with Calix to build stronger, better-connected communities.

Understanding how to position your broadband business for operational success will provide essential connectivity and services for your communities-today and well into the future.

Visit the Broadband Academy page to learn more about what it takes to deploy and manage broadband services.