SureWest investment in back-office automation pays off

All of these back-office electronic systems, which have been in the IT camp of SureWest, are acutely aware of what is happening at the premises, which is normally a telecom function, Dotson said.

"We're able to do extensive monitoring like QoS and troubleshooting but also things like statistics," Dotson said. "To protect consumer privacy, statistics are done in aggregate to give us an understanding of what the consumer response and reaction is to various products and services. Not only are error rates reduced by electronically activating these devices, it significantly reduces human efforts in the entire process as well, in terms of install crew and repair crew costs, and we are able to be in closer touch with the customer."

This same approach to back office fulfillment now also applies to SureWest's DSL and traditional telephony services over the copper network, Dotson said. All of SureWest's consumer services are covered. Often customer orders are also entered electronically, via an online portal, and that self-service model also reduces errors.

This process has taken place over a period of years and required significant investment, but Dotson believes SureWest is now in a better position to get and retain the talent it needs as a result. The steady stream of interest from other telecom service providers – Sure West shares information with non-competitors – has reinforced SureWest's position of leadership in this arena.

"Very few people across the country have endeavored to automate the back-office IT systems to the network," Dotson said. "Flow-through provisioning has required a significant investment in years – for about 10 years. What that has forced our IT folks to do is become very network-aware. Most traditional telephone shops haven't asked their IT shops to do that."

What SureWest has found is that the learning curve is shorter for an IT person already up to speed on IP technologies to understand telecom gear such as gateways, DSLAMs and CO switches than for a telecom person to learn IP.

"IP software technology takes years to master, whereas these guys that come from traditional IT software backgrounds, for them, these telephony devices are just like one more device," Dotson said.