How to Make Remote Site Technology Management More Cost Effective

Stop wasting time and money from remote site technology dispatches once and for all!

So, you have multiple locations all over the United States. Your team’s IT staff is 100% based at your corporate HQ. Consequently, you have very limited ability in the field to assist your remote sales and operations team at their locations unless you send one of your staff members on-site. This isn’t only expensive, but it’s disruptive to your team’s projects and ability to get things done in a timely manner. So, what’s the potential solution? Have you considered leveraging a partner who can solve your remote site needs? Someone who can handle emergency dispatches, after-hour dispatches, project dispatches, installation of networking equipment, DMARC extensions, electrical and workstation drops, etc., while project managing these installations with a simple hourly rate.

The problem with remote site dispatch

More often than not, it has been customary for our clients to send a company-provided IT staff member (typically a network engineer) to turn-up the site. After-all, they need to know what’s out there and it’s beneficial for IT to lay eyes on their remote team. What’s often the case is that there are a lot of potential issues that can arise that will cause this person to extend their stay from 1 day to several days. For example:

What if they can’t get the circuit turned up?
What if they don’t have the ability to extend the DMARC because they don’t have the right tools (a ladder, coax cable, Cat5 or Cat6 cable, fiber, etc.)?
What if the site has delays getting equipment to the location?
What if there are technical issues delaying the turn-up?

These are just a few of the many examples we’ve seen for why an install doesn’t happen according to plan. The next set of questions to consider when an IT employee needs to extend their stay to solve a remote issue is:

What’s the personal impact to this individual who has to put their life on-hold to solve for whatever issue that’s required?
What’s the impact to the company to have this individual in the field not able to do their typical daily work or project?
Who pays for the room, airfare, the meal stipends and any other expenses while this person is travelling on company time?
Is there a potential for loss of morale for this type of travel for these employees?

These are only questions your team can answer. If you don’t see an issue with any of the above questions, then perhaps a remote tech dispatch partner isn’t a practical or necessary solution for you, yet. However, if you’re still hanging with us after reading these concerns and find yourself nodding your head, then you are likely a great candidate for changing the way you address issues at your remote sites.

An example of remote site management done right

Here’s an example of what the remote site management process looks like when you partner with EnableIP: You have a technical need at one of your remote locations, so you send us a request to ask for assistance. You can fill out a form or we’ll call you directly to discuss exactly what’s being required and what the outcome needs to be. We will then send back to you a detailed document outlining the scope of the problem and solution, requiring your approval. This document will have a detailed pricing schedule that will be followed based on time and materials. Once approved the tech is scheduled. The tech will have a detailed list of what items they need to bring (work order), who they will be meeting at the site, and detailed instructions regarding what needs to be accomplished and how. Your IT team should only need to be involved roughly 2 out of 10 times to answer questions. Otherwise, the tech will work on any issues that arise on your team’s behalf.

All of this can and is accomplished for roughly ⅓ the cost of sending your own team member, and roughly 20% of the time. It hasn’t disrupted your IT team’s day whatsoever.

This scenario isn’t the exception — it’s the rule. We do this all the time. It’s not always pretty or smooth, but the job gets done and for far less money than sending your own staff.

The EnableIP difference

It has been through sheer necessity that we have had to provide our customers with remote site technicians. One of the biggest “gotchas” in the networking world is the extension of the customer’s telecom network (dedicated internet and MPLS), both fiber and copper, from the carrier’s MPOE (minimum point of entry) to the customer’s communication room or closet in their suite or building.

Again, by necessity and need, in order to provide a customer with a turn-key communication solution, we’ve had to put someone on-site to extend our circuit to the customer’s suite and then test the circuit to make sure the advertised speeds are being provided and documented.

We then test the customer’s equipment and applications to make sure they’re working as advertised.

Often, while we’re on-site, we also go ahead and do a site survey. This consists of taking multiple pictures of the location, identifying all circuits and equipment, and providing this as a comprehensive study back to the client. This generally only takes an additional 30 minutes and can often be invaluable to a customer if they aren’t aware of all the networking components at the location.

Are you ready to find a partner for remote site installs? EnableIP would love to be yours. Let us help you make your IT team’s day and quit sending them to your remote locations.

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About EnableIP

EnableIP is a telecom solutions provider founded by Wired Networks’ founder Jeremy Kerth and head engineer Steve Roos after they realized there was a deep market need for helping mid-size businesses establish better uptime rates for their Wide Area Networks (WANs). Armed with the best-in-class carriers and partners, Jeremy and Steve set out with a bold plan: Guarantee better uptime rates than the industry standard of only 99.5%.

Their bold plan became a reality. EnableIP’s solutions guarantee clients 99.99% (even 99.999%) network uptime. But we don’t stop there. Many telecom providers promise high availability network solutions but fail to deliver because they’re in the business of providing services, not solutions.

That’s the EnableIP difference: We deliver highly available networks by providing a complete system (called “Cloud Assurance”) that ensures 99.99% or above uptime.

We deliver this bold promise by:

Owning the entire customer experience. From pricing, contracting, ordering and provisioning to installing, servicing and billing—we do it all! This means no stressful negotiations, confusing setups, or finger pointing if something goes wrong. We actually deliver on our promise.
We manage the entire system, and monitor and manage issues as they occur so you can focus on your business—not your network.

The EnableIP solution is like no other. Contact us to get started and experience the difference of a system that truly delivers on its 99.99% network uptime promise.