From Madison to Mexico

Amy Oldham:

You've travelled quite a bit in your tenure at Equinox. What is the importance of going onsite for training at the onset of a new project?

Christi Vanoye:

Our goal is to help solve real-world telecom business issues affordably and reliably. We've been doing just that since 1986. One reason we've been successful is the emphasis we place on relationships. We don't just deliver software. We deliver an entire solution—with training, maintenance, ongoing product enhancements, and, most of all, a partner who knows the customer's system. We work long-term with our customers, helping them maximize the benefit they get from our products. And that starts right from the beginning.

Amy:

Tell me about the implementation and training process.

Christi:

Preparation for implementation and training starts early. For instance, I review call record formats, provide hardware specifications, and interview potential customers about the way they do business before the sale is final or the software is licensed. After the sale is closed, I work with our support team and the customer to schedule product installation followed by onsite training. During the training, I walk the system administrators through the process of setting up user accounts and configuring the system to match the way they do business. Then, I work with system users to master the functional aspects of the application.

Amy:

After the onsite session do you have any interaction with new customers?

Christi:

Yes. We have a fantastic support team who works with customers on the day-to-day issues, for example scheduling product updates or helping troubleshoot a technical issue; however, there are cases when training is needed long after the onsite training is complete. For instance, the customer may have a new team member who needs to be brought up to speed on the application, or more frequently, we want to be sure customer are informed of current best practice recommendations as they relate to industry trends. I typically conduct individual web-based training in these cases, as well as broadcast the information via our documentation, newsletter, and social media channels.

Amy:

Can you give me an example of the type of information you provide during ongoing training?

Christi:

Sure. Protector is Equinox's automated fraud management solution. My goal in ongoing training is to provide information that helps further mitigate fraud exposure and avoid hard dollar losses. Here's a tip I recently shared. An important aspect of monitoring for potentially fraudulent activity is Protector's ability to “learn” your customer's calling patterns. Fraudsters have been known to target holidays in an effort to perpetrate their activity for as long as possible before they are detected. Protector's ability to define holidays lets you combat this problem by applying weekend thresholds for holiday usage. For the feature to be effective, I recommend that all customers regularly evaluate and update the holiday settings. Holidays that occur on the same date each year (e.g., New Year's Day on January 1) should be set to reoccur. All other, non-recurring holidays (e.g., Memorial Day) should be updated every year. I suggest adding a yearly event to your calendar to prompt you to evaluate and update Protector holiday settings.

Amy:

Is there anything else you'd like to say about implementation and training?

Christi:

Equinox is committed to exceptional service, and we want to be sure our customers get the highest return on their product investment. We are here to help in any way that we can, especially when it comes to fine tuning Protector and TeleLink to stay current with industry and business practice changes.

One last thing: Hawaii is one of the U.S. states in which I've not yet travelled for onsite Equinox training. So, if you're located there and are in need of revenue assurance, fraud management, mediation, or network analysis; solutions, let's talk! ☺