kNOCking Down Maintenance Woes
Overview
West Africa has one of the lowest mobile internet adoption rates in the world, but this may be changing. In the last few years alone, unique subscribers ballooned to over 319 million by the end of 2020.
Many countries in the region also struggle with poor infrastructure in terms of fixed-line connectivity, and mobile networks make up the majority of voice and data users. However, this reliance has been hampered by slow network generation adoption, with the majority of the region relying on GSM and 3G networks.
This doesn’t mean change is stagnant.
One example is a recent effort and investment put into bringing LTE connectivity to Niger. A big part of this is the World Bank providing $100 million towards the digitalization of the country. In addition, fiber-optic networks originating in Burkina Faso and Chad provide further connectivity upgrades and cost reductions for end-users in surrounding countries.
These developments have led to even greater pressure on network service providers and site operators to provide consistent and stable connectivity. It has also put additional pressure on existing infrastructure to manage the growing needs and address any malfunctions or issues in a timely and effective manner.
This is exactly the case we are diving into today looking at how to optimize this process for one of our clients.
The Customer and Their Challenges
A major telecom site operator across West Africa operated a network of sites spread out across a wide geographic area. Managing these sites required in-person site visits on a location-by-location basis, and was a tedious task requiring constant manpower. Any errors that were discovered were entered into and managed by a manual ticketing system.
Complicating matters further, the client received a deluge of support tickets, and on many occasions, the ticket was false, or simply inaccurate. This made the process of problem remediation even more difficult and time-consuming, and lead to actual issues being missed in the chaos of the false flags.
In addition, trying to manage the tickets actively being addressed was extremely difficult, with no centralized space to organize and prioritize tickets. All of these issues created an extremely inefficient support situation requiring a great deal of time, travel, manpower, and cost to maintain.
Galooli’s Solution
Galooli’s NOC solution takes the guesswork out of ticket reporting and remediation. We automate the process and provide a dashboard to keep your alerts organized by severity, location, and any other parameters relevant to your organization. Together with Galooli Live, we provide overarching visibility for remote site networks and their energy assets and sensors, taking the necessity of onsite visits out of the equation for most issues.
By helping clients establish specific thresholds for their asset use, they are able to receive accurate alerts regarding actual events and malfunctions that need to be addressed. Our system is also able to filter out potential false tickets and provide a map overview of their location and detailed information on the event itself.
Used in synergy with our access controls, stakeholders can also receive alerts on unexpected individuals entering or exiting a site, or be provided information within a particular alert when the last time a technician visited.
Outcomes
The client was able to introduce overarching visibility into their remote network infrastructure and remove the manual ticketing system that had been used until that point. Our NOC solution streamlined and automated their support process and all but eliminated the event of false alerts or tickets.
We were able to reduce the need for periodic site visits with live monitoring of their remote sites and energy assets so that they can focus only on the most problematic or costly sites. They were also able to receive passive alarms on a centralized platform available both on the web and in a mobile app.
The client saw significant fuel savings of nearly 40% year-over-year since they introduced our solution through optimizing generator use. One critical aspect of that was our remote-control capabilities, which provided them with remote access to these energy assets in the case of sudden need or apparent misuse.
They were also able to reduce overall site visits by 45% by introducing our RMM solution, and avoiding unnecessary trips. Through our Cut-Through feature, they were able to adjust the thresholds on their various energy assets without needing to physically be onsite. This also helped mitigate severe malfunctions, and in the case of imminent outages, allow technicians enough time to arrive on-site and remedy the issue.
An unexpected outcome was also significant savings on replacing stolen lead-acid and LiB batteries. They were even able to recover another site providers’ batteries that were lacking Galooli’s tracking capabilities and were able to return them to the owners.
In this same line of securing assets, the remote management and control capabilities also kept the clients’ technicians safe. Due to political instability and the activities of groups like Al Shabaab in the region, minimizing the necessity for technicians to be in the field is paramount. Galooli’s remote controls allowed them to remotely turn on generators when they needed them from the safety of their office.
Challenges
- Major telecom site operator in West Africa operated a spread-out site network across the region
- Management of these sites required periodic onsite visits to each
- Troubleshooting issues relied upon a manual ticketing system, with frequent false flags
- Organizing and prioritizing issues to remediate was almost impossible
- All of this required a great deal of manpower, time, cost, and travel to maintain
Galooli’s Solution
- Galooli’s NOC solution is an automated ticket reporting and remediation system on a centralized dashboard accessible anywhere.
- Galooli Live provides overarching visibility for their remote sites and energy assets in real-time
- We created personalized thresholds to ensure alerts are focused on events outside of those limits
- Tracked site access in real-time and historically to help minimize potential events of theft
- Filtered out false flags and prioritized tickets by severity and type
Outcome
- Client was able to have complete visibility over their remote infrastructure and identify issues beforehand and mitigate further disruptions.
- Manual ticketing system was replaced with our automated and centralized NOC solution
- Client saw significant fuel savings of 40% year-over-year by monitoring and effectively managing their generators
- Reduced site visits by 45% annually and avoided unnecessary trips by eliminating false flag alerts
- Cut-Through and remote controls allowed them to adjust thresholds of their equipment remotely and allow technicians enough time to arrive onsite to prevent extended outages
About Galooli
Galooli is a pioneer in the green energy revolution.
The company is blazing a trail in energy management as a service with actionable insights into your operations.
Galooli’s remote monitoring solutions optimize energy usage, reduce operating expenditures and maximize alternative energy use.
Galooli provides a green and future-focused solution for multiple industries and use cases around the world, from metropolitan centers to the most remote installations.
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