Data analytics tool helps Openreach

Qlik has partnered with Openreach, the UK’s digital network business, to transform customer service by using a data analytics tool - Qlik Sense – that has helped halve the time it takes to connect up fibre broadband customers.

Wednesday, 20th February 2019 Posted 5 years ago in by Phil Alsop

The solution works by collating data from Openreach’s multiple systems and presenting it in a user-friendly format, giving managers a clearer view of the nature of the customer orders they are working on, including how long each job has been waiting for completion and enabling them to react more quickly when deciding a course of action.

Openreach began working with Qlik in 2017 with a pilot to improve performance in its Fibre and Network Delivery (FND) team - which is responsible for the rollout of fibre across the UK, with a focus on Ethernet customers made up of businesses and key services providers such as schools, hospitals, and mobile cell sites.

The Qlik platform has now been officially adopted and used by 1,000 field based managers across the FND team. Openreach plans to roll out Qlik more widely later this year to include its service delivery arm and ultimately to make it available to its field engineers.

Despite Ethernet order volumes increasing, Qlik Sense has been one of the enablers which has;

Helped to reduce the average time between the order and installation of an Ethernet circuit from 75 working days to 35 working days; and
Supported a year-on-year increase in total orders completed, double-digit percentage increases in the installed customer base and unprecedented improvements in customer satisfaction scores.

Kevin Murphy, MD Fibre and Network Delivery, Openreach, said:“18 months ago, we set out to transform the service we offer to our business customers.

Our teams are tasked with improving customer service, and the latest analytics solutions have given our people the ability to make their own decisions on how best to complete orders and tackle problems in their local area.

Working with Qlik has significantly improved both operational efficiency and customer service and encouraged our teams to embrace data analytics.”

Johan Salendstedt, Vice President and General Manager, Northern Europe, added: “Our work with Openreach is testament to the impact that data analytics can have in supporting the evolution of the UK’s digital infrastructure.”

“Its applications have demonstrated how easily digestible data can improve the daily working lives of engineering teams, and subsequently, the service levels experienced by businesses that Openreach serves. The potential for telecoms organisations such as Openreach to benefit from a data-driven culture is huge, particularly as Britain undergoes this connectivity revolution.”