REMOVING CUSTOMER CHALLENGES WITH TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE Telstra’s Global Assurance Strategy is guaranteeing broadcast customers an integrated video delivery experience with exceptional service assurance and management
roadcasting seems like a glamorous business. Major sporting events delivering memorable moments to billions of
viewers, live reporting from the scenes of critical events, endless channels of content delivering everything from the ridiculous to the sublime. But keeping that amazing content flowing requires the kind of diligent attention that, a generation ago, was reserved for NASA missions. Broadcast has a special set of requirements; large amounts of media traffic need to be moved around the world seamlessly and delivered at high quality to viewers – no matter where they are, or what they’re watching on. Service disruption is not an option, particularly for big live events, where advertisers might be spending $1m a minute. Telstra Broadcast Services (TBS) delivers content for the world’s biggest media companies, covering some of their highest-profile events. The company’s Global Assurance Strategy is a robust system for maintaining top-quality broadcast, while meeting a high standard of customer service and driving operational efficiencies across the business. Sonny Hinwood, TBS head of broadcast operations, is responsible for making sure Telstra customers are confident global audiences engage with their content. “Our frontline operational team speaks with broadcasters every day, dealing with issues on the spot. The expectation from customers is that there’s someone they can call, that has an intimate understanding of their service to address any problems immediately.”
A GLOBAL NETWORK OF TRUST The global reach of Telstra Broadcast Services means business continuity is managed in-regions closer to customers. The TBS Global Assurance Strategy incorporates operational efficiencies with a distributed support platform, including distributed master control rooms (MCR), a distributed bookings capability and distributed field operations. The power of distributed services means you don’t have to reproduce hardware-based services in every region you’re serving. We are dealing with a variety of customers across a wide geography, which requires good coordination and alignment of processes and tools, including a single, shared scheduling system worldwide. “You need to be singing from the same song sheet,” says Hinwood. “It’s critical we’re all working collaboratively for the good of the customer.” Telstra’s Broadcast Operations Centre in Sydney was the first of its operational centres and has visibility over Telstra’s broadcast and media networks. The centre is staffed 24/7, with a master control team of operators – including a senior operator – always on-site, with visibility of the entire media operation. Telstra replicated the model in other regions such as Hong Kong, London
and Pittsburgh, to ensure customer support is available when and where a production is taking place, with local service assurance just a phone call away. Hinwood observes that, while the tendency has been for most service providers to consolidate their customer support into central locations, many Telstra customers want them as a partner in-region, particularly in the US, Europe and Asia. Telstra’s London BOC has become one such deployment, offering critical in-region support for the company’s growing European business. The company also incorporated an MCR
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