TELUS is the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country. TELUS provides a wide range of wireline and wireless telecommunications products and services including data, Internet Protocol (IP), voice, video and entertainment services. Their wholesale division, TELUS Partner Solutions, supports service providers around the world with connectivity, consulting and outsourcing services.
The Business Challenge
TELUS Partner Solutions wanted to improve its quoting process for service provider clients. The existing semi-automated process was becoming resource intensive because many clients required multiple quotes for large network design projects. As part of the enhancement, TELUS also wanted to accelerate turnaround times to ensure faster response and closing cycles. There was also a desire to centralize quoting to improve tracking and reporting capabilities.
TELUS chose to automate the quoting process to achieve its objectives. After investigating solution options, TELUS chose NDA because of:
- NDA’s knowledge of telecom pricing issues
- Previous positive experience with NDA’s products
- NDA’s experience with other major carriers
- The solution’s simple maintenance and adaptation to ongoing change
Solution Provided by NDA
NDA’s solution for TELUS, the Customer Facing Pricing System (CFPT), is a web-based, TELUS-branded application that allows customers to instantly create and save private line quotes. Customer-specific rates are automatically applied as appropriate. If pricing requires TELUS review or customers have questions on quotes, a TELUS rep is notified with the click of a button.
Internal TELUS team members also use CFPT to view customer-generated quotes, create quotes and engage product management when required through CFPT’s workflow capability. Internal users also have additional functionality including entering special pricing and creating reports on quoting activities. Win/loss activity is also tracked for management review.
NDA monitors tariff changes on a daily basis and provides bi-monthly updates to CFPT. TELUS is able to update proprietary rates and service availability indicators without programming.
NDA customized CFPT for TELUS in six weeks.
Results
CFPT was released to customers in January 2008. TELUS’ customers were pleased to have access to CFPT to be able to quote at their discretion, receive instant pricing and do “what if” scenarios. CFPT is now a critical tool in TELUS’ daily operations.
Louis Wei, Product Manager responsible for overseeing CFPT’s use at TELUS, is impressed by the solution results. “In less than a year of CFPT implementation, TELUS’ quoting resources have decreased by 90%, and turnaround times for quotes requiring manual intervention have decreased from 48 hours to 12 hours. Quote volumes have also almost doubled.”
When asked about TELUS’ satisfaction in working with NDA, Louis remarks, “We are very satisfied with NDA’s service. NDA is very quick to respond to questions and issues. We find the trouble ticketing system really valuable, and I’ve seen very fast response times.”
Future Plans
TELUS plans to roll out additional products in 2009 for customer self-quoting including Carrier WAN, IP Connect VPN and Carrier Ethernet Optical.