Front Page: The I's Have It

Many companies say they're looking for ways to reduce the time it takes to turn on a customer's service and start seeing revenue. One company thinks it might have found a way to measure--and improve--its time to market.

Net2000 Communications Inc. is taking a scientific approach to solving the time to market question. At the beginning of this year, the company began its "I4 initiative. "

The initiative's goal is to refine the process from the time the sale is made until the first bill is issued. I4 stands for "inking" the contract; "inputting" the service order; "installing" service; and sending an "invoice" to the customer. With I4, Net2000 says it hopes to realize revenue from its customers in a shorter timeframe than it once did.

"Time to revenue is extremely important," explains Scott Miller, director of competitive carrier analysis at New Paradigm Resources Group. "At one time it was just about getting customers. Now it's about realizing revenue from those customers."

Net2000 used its fourth quarter 2000 operating results as the baseline from which it would improve, says Duane Albro, Net2000's president and COO. At that time, it took the company an average of 225 days--7¹/₂ months--before it would see any revenue from a new customer. By the first quarter 2001, the company shaved 25 days off that average, and by mid-year, preliminary results showed that the span was 100 days, just 10 days shy of the 90-day goal that Albro had set to reach by end of the second quarter.

"Our goal for the end of the year is 60 days," says Albro. "For the first quarter of next year, it's 45 days. Forty-five days is the ultimate."

How has Net2000 made such great strides in shortening the time interval each process takes? Albro says it is a combination of improvements in the processes and back office systems the company uses, as well as rewards for employees that successfully complete their personal role in I4.

"Each [employee] gets a quarterly bonus comprised partly by company and partly by individual performance," Albro says. He notes that employees who are involved directly with inputting, installing or invoicing have a larger percentage of their bonus at stake in regards to meeting I4 goals.

As far as back office processes are concerned, Albro says Net2000 developed a matrix around the entire operation. This means tracking how many orders were input compared with the error rate and causes of errors in orders. Order processing and installation are tracked in much the same manner.

During the first half of the year, Net2000 discovered improvements could be made in its order processing methods, as well as its provisioning system. For instance, Net2000's order processing system mixed together adds/moves/changes of existing customers with orders for complete cutovers of new customers. Albro says studies show that processing time would be cut if adds/moves/changes would be handled by a separate system, removing them from the queue of new customer turn ups.

"Now we're pulling out those manually and inputting them separately, and allowing the more complex cutovers" to be handled by the automated processes, he says, adding that they're also working on an automated system for adds/moves/changes.

Albro notes that the company's IT staff also found and fixed errors in tables for provisioning and other inefficiencies in that system. The staff also put an automated process in place to find the root of future discrepancies so they could be corrected quickly.

As Net2000 strives to reach the 45 day "ink to install" span, Albro says the company will make further enhancements to its provisioning system, adding new modules and streamlining the process even more.