Over the last six months, The Network Collective (TNC) has been running the biggest- ever independent survey of network service provider performance in the UK. Using our unique position of trust at the heart of the industry, we have been asking companies throughout the UK to rate their experiences with their network service providers to build a detailed picture of the good, the bad, and possibly even the ugly.

Now the results are in, we are delighted to share them with you.

Background

As the UK’s largest independent network consultancy, TNC works with nearly 20% of all major UK organisations to develop and execute market-leading network strategies. This includes procuring and deploying these networks, as well as helping organisations manage these solutions over the long term. As a result, we have a unique role at the heart of the UK network industry, engaging with over 300 major end-users of network services, as well as all major service providers.

With networks becoming increasingly critical to many organisations, we noted that there was very little independent data on the “real world” service experiences of these organisations, and therefore we set out to fill this gap.

TNC’s 5-Step Action Plan

Whilst these stats show a concerning situation for both buyers and sellers of network services, TNC has designed a 5-Step Action Plan that organisations can implement to drive improvements, with many being changes you can make today.

Step 1 – Construct your contract to support better service

When designing and procuring your new network and telecoms services, think carefully about the service and resources you want your service provider to deliver in-life, and make sure you secure these through your procurement process. This is becoming ever more important as margins in the industry and getting tighter, leading to service providers increasingly working to the contract. For example, if your contract doesn’t explicitly state that you will have a Service Manager as part of your account team, don’t be surprised if you don’t, or if it becomes a chargeable extra.

The same goes for governance – make sure your contract specifies who you will meet with and how frequently, It’s vital that this includes more senior people. We’ll talk later on about peering, but make sure your contract mandates contact between your senior stakeholders and your service provider’s executives.

Step 2 – Ensure Effective Peering

One of the most common issues TNC finds with poorly performing contracts is that the only person anyone ever talks to is the Account Manager. This is always a real red flag. For relationships to work effectively, it’s vital that your contract mandates engagement between multiple people on both sides, and that your people peer with the service provider’s people.

Of course, this should include lots of engagement with the Account Manager, but also your service people should engage with the Service Manager, and crucially, your senior stakeholders right up to CIO level should peer with appropriate people in the service provider, and engage at an appropriate frequency. Typically, this might mean your CIO meeting an appropriately senior contact twice a year, your Director meeting their peer every quarter, and your managers meeting monthly. The key is that this peering happens, and is maintained throughout the contract.

Too often, TNC sees contracts that are failing with no mechanism for a resolution, because there aren’t any relationships at senior levels where issues can be discussed and addressed. Of course, it’s possible to try to get engagement at that moment but it takes time for relationships to build – much better to have them in place from the start.

Step 3 – Train Your People

Managing highly critical contracts is crucial to the successful execution of your IT and wider business strategy. However, doing so effectively requires specific skills, and all too often the people charged with managing these contracts haven’t been trained appropriately. Very often, this means they lack the confidence to lead contracts successfully, and the whole contract performance suffers as a result.

This can be particularly impactful for organisations that are looking to change their operating models. For example, if your organisation is looking to outsource more of the management of your network to a service provider, the very people who used to manage the network are now managing the service provider managing the network. That might sound similar but in reality it’s a very different skillset, and if they aren’t trained appropriately, they may well struggle.

Step 4 – Hold Each Other to Account

It’s all very well making sure you are set for success, but we all know that long-term contract management is a marathon not a sprint, and keeping to the plan for the full contract lifecycle is the key to success. This means sticking to governance regimes, being careful to continuously update documentation, and most importantly, ensuring these best practices continue as personnel change through the contract term.

The fact is that, over a typical 3-year or even 5-year contract, many of the personnel on both sides will change. It’s absolutely vital that you ensure the new people from the service provider are up to snuff and up to speed, and they should be doing the same with you.

Step 5 – Be An Engaged Customer

It might be a cliché, but it’s also a reality – “the squeaky wheel gets the oil”. In other words, it is those customers that engage with their service provider and demand the best performance that get the best treatment. However, that doesn’t have to mean one-way traffic – the quid pro quo of being a demanding customer is also being an engaged customer. You could and should offer references, testimonials, and giving your service provider first bite of the cherry on new projects, but only as long as they are delivering the quality of service they promised. It’s a shared endeavour – ask for what you need, work in partnership to get what you need, and reward your partner for delivering it. This is the path to long-term successful relationships.

How Can TNC Help?

TNC has been helping organisations get the best possible outcomes from their network and telecoms services for over 20 years. Whether it’s helping you resolve issues with your current providers, or helping you identify better partners for the future, TNC has the skills, experience, and expertise to help you get where you need to go.

Click here to talk to us today: https://www.networkcollective.co.uk/lets-talk/

TNC holds over 4.3m active market data points covering WAN, data networks, fixed voice and mobility

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