The "spin" stops when a customer sends you a "thank you" letter for taking care of their telephony needs. It doesn't happen often but when it does, we are always very thankful. In telecom we often hear complaints about services or products, anxieties over technology and concerns about cost.Just recently, we were happy to replace a 10-year old IP-PBX. A few weeks prior, I just finished applying another band-aid on the system just to get one phone to work. The customer decided it was time for a new system. "We just need a plain system, nothing fancy" and we understood his concerns. Our primary infrastructure concern for his law firm is that it's in an old building with plaster walls and numerous other barriers and we had no intention of rewiring just so we could have phones without computers plugged in them.
We spent a better part of the day shoulder surfing the old system's programming and replicating what the customer wanted in the new system, then we added the enhancements and features requested by each user.
We installed an ADTRAN 1234 PoE switch with a Panasonic NCP-500. The 1234 switch is equipped with 4 onboard GIG ports. We also used the Surge Gate Com60 from ITW Linx to protect the AC power, CO lines, and DSL Ethernet handoff. The MinuteMan dual conversion UPS connects to the SurgeGate giving another layer of protection and battery backup. We also know that the existing server is being replaced and the customer will be on thin client services instead of PCs.
Just seven days after cutover we get a service call that phone lines were down. We arrived and found that the Surge Gate was blown; we replaced it, tested and found no other damaged equipment than the protector. There were no storms in the area and realize that "power line influence" is another reason you must protect your gear.
Recently, we got a two-sentence letter from the customer thanking us for "our swift response and attention." The second sentence is more important than the first: "I am looking forward to having many years of service out of the system."
This is what everyone needs to "get" and understand. Your gear, software or whatever it is you provide doesn't have label or brand recognition that you may think. "Years of service" is what this customer expects, as do many others like him. Flipping phones and systems every few years isn't not only un-cool, it's unexpected by customers. Get past all the hype and recognize that the names and phone numbers in many customer rolodexes aren't those of the factory guys. In the past, TDM provided "years of service" and in the present you can see that customers aren't expecting anything less. The old IP-PBX we replaced was "legacy" in its own right and after 10 years of service much has changed. The new IP wares are better but it still doesn't get us off the hook.
