Ocean Broadband Gains Unparalleled Visibility with Salesforce and Google Maps

"Salesforce.com was the best decision I ever made, and we never looked back. Using Salesforce improved our processes so we were able to manage our growth."


Challenge
  • Ocean Broadband had customers spread over a large geographical area – 80 per cent outside of metropolitan areas
  • Because technicians were constantly on the read, there was a two week lag in reporting
  • An arduous reporting process meant days were consumed at the end of each month on this alone
  • Ocean Broadband needed a scalable solution to manage the company’s fast growth, as well as a central place to store data

Solution
  • Ocean Broadband deployed Salesforce to manage contact with over 3,000 customers and to view field technician reports in real-time
  • A customised a Web interface was created where technicians could lodge customer reports in real-time
  • A Salesforce-Google Maps Mashup was also implemented to map the locations of all customers in a particular region
The Mashup Story
  • A Salesforce-Google Earth interface was used to map and colour code customer locations and requirements
  • This allowed technicians to plan their travel time more efficiently, and view the maps directly through Salesforce
  • Customers were mapped out with pop-ups that hyperlinked to their account page in Salesforce
  • Google Earth also showed customers’ physical surroundings, so Ocean Broadband could see if there was something blocking a broadband signal

Results
  • Ocean Broadband could service customers faster and more efficiently, and had a solution that would scale to grow with the business 
  • Through Salesforce, Ocean Broadband was able to easily manage more than 3,000 customers with just four call centre staff
  • Customer call times were reduced from ten minutes to less than one
  • Reporting lag was also eliminated, and month end processing was reduced from two full days to just 22 minutes
 
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