How The Connected World Automates and Transforms Network Connectivity Buying
Maria Sterck, Connectbase VP of Product
Keeping Pace with Connectivity Needs is Difficult…and Competitive
It’s no secret that customer network connectivity requirements continue to accelerate faster than ever. A direct result is an increasingly competitive business environment for network service providers, managed service providers, and data center operators. Customers needing faster connections or connectivity to new locations due to expansion expect RFP responses, quotations, and ultimately deployments in days or weeks, not months.
To address these challenges, Connectbase was founded in 2015 to transform and automate how network connectivity is bought and sold. A core element of the Connectbase Connected World platform is comprehensive building information for more than two billion locations around the world, including detailed addresses, latitude and longitude, footprint, number of stories, number of tenants, and more. We call this “Location Truth.” Location information is then correlated to network connectivity providers, service options, and pricing for each location of interest, both on-net as well as near-net.
Connectbase Buyer Cloud Streamlines Business Processes
One problem service providers must overcome, especially for large opportunities, is that the requirements for most customers extend beyond the reach of a single operator’s own serviceable locations. Usually, providers must identify, manage, cost, and buy bandwidth services from partners to fulfill all the connectivity needs of a new prospect.
In the past, identifying partners, establishing formal partnerships, managing them, costing, quoting services, and ultimately placing orders was a highly manual, time-consuming, and error prone process. But now, The Connectbase Buyer Cloud automates and streamlines four key capabilities that help providers improve time to market, enhance customer satisfaction, and accelerate their business:
- Identifying new partners
- Improving pricing accuracy
- Accelerating RFP response times
- Automating ordering and market buying
Identifying new partners: After validating and correcting address details for consistency, the platform automatically identifies the available connectivity options and the providers offering them for on-net locations and near-net locations within a specified radius for each location.
Improving pricing accuracy: Through API integrations with hundreds of local, regional, national, and global network infrastructure providers, pricing information is updated continuously. Built-in intelligence and automation identify the best potential partners for optimizing competitive bids and maximizing profit.
Accelerating RFP response times: After finalizing the connectivity options for all of a prospect’s locations, the Connectbase Configure/Price/Quote (CPQ) module will generate a detailed customer quote. Faster, more accurate bids and RFP responses mean an increased win rate and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Automating ordering and market buying: Buyer Cloud can automatically generate emails to request pricing from existing partners and/or new potential partner providers. Automating partner initiatives and activities significantly increases sales’ and carrier relations’ efficiency compared to prior manual processes, freeing up time to pursue other opportunities.
Optimal Outcomes Drive Growth and Profits
The Connected World platform greatly improves the efficiency, productivity, and time to market for both network connectivity buyers and sellers enabling network service providers, managed service providers, and data center operators to drive business growth and maximize profits.
To learn more about The Connected World and the Buyer Cloud module, click to watch our overview video, and for a deeper dive, click to view a demo of the Buyer Cloud.
Want even more information? Attend our upcoming live webinar, Automating Network Connectivity Sourcing and Buying.
