At Carolina Digital Phone, we’re proud and proven cloud phone system solution specialists. And that means “one-and-done” customer relationships don’t fit with our business plan. For us to succeed and grow — which we’ve been doing for nearly 20 years — we need our customers to succeed. It’s not an option for them, and it’s not an option for us.
And one of the ways that we ensure that our customers get full value from their cloud telephone system is by implementing a comprehensive quality assurance (QA) framework. Here are some of the best practices that drive our QA approach and strategy:
Pre-Implementation Site Survey
Before we implement a cloud telephone system on our customers’ premise (i.e. installing managed routers, back-up power supplies, IP phones, etc.), we conduct a comprehensive site survey to evaluate critical network aspects, such as usage patterns, traffic flows, WAN bandwidth, switches, and more. This deep analysis process enables our team to adjust and optimize the infrastructure as required.
User Experience Review
Our user experience review is integrated into the pre-implementation site survey process, but is worth focusing on separately because it’s such an important part of the overall QA framework — and one that businesses typically overlook or neglect when they work with mass market vendors (which basically involves getting some hardware in the mail and doing everything yourself).
As the term suggests, our user experience review is not so much about the technology, but about the people who will use it (as well as when and how). This data is then used to ensure that, once implemented, the cloud telephone system is immediately ready to support anticipated usage.
Quality of Service Prioritization
Another key part of our QA framework is analyzing and validating Quality of Service (QoS) prioritization settings. This ensures that the cloud telephone system is given suitable priority throughout different points of the network. Otherwise, there will likely be delays in packet delivery and other quality issues.
Establishing Metrics
It’s been said that “you cannot manage what you cannot measure.” This is true, but there is another piece of the puzzle that must be part of the equation: you must also establish the right metrics and key performance indicators (KPI).
With this in mind, our team establishes a suite of technology-based tools to monitor and optimize performance — not just during the implementation stage, but throughout the full life of the cloud telephone system. These metrics include (but aren’t limited to) burst density, compression, jitter, gap density, R-factor, mean opinion score (MOS), and many others. We also monitor end user experience by focusing on key network performance metrics, such as codecs, VLAN configuration, link utilization, etc.
Establishing Resolution Tools
Another wise saying that we subscribe to is “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” That’s why we install tools that give us valuable insight to identify and resolve issues that may emerge months or years down the road. These strategies include (but aren’t limited to) using VLANs organized by user groups to keep an eye on traffic patterns, setting alarms to detect when traffic/usage patterns deviate from typical baseline norms, and so on.
The Bottom Line
Perhaps the best thing about our comprehensive QA framework is the price that our customers pay: zero. And that’s because, as noted above, we don’t just hope that our customers get the most value, performance and ROI from their cloud telephone system. We need them to — and so do they!