Technical experts at SDN Communications have been working diligently for several months to improve customers’ access to information.
Their work is not completely done. Developing ways to provide SDN customers with better information about their services will continue indefinitely. However, the new gateway to that information is far enough along for customers to start using it.
SDN officially launched a new and improved portal on its website for businesses and member companies.
The new portal is an electronic pathway that combines and updates two older gateways. It’s a secure, self-service path to a repository of private information about the services SDN provides to companies.
Opening a new portal might seem like a modest achievement. But for customers and the company, the connection point is a convenience of value and significant potential.
“It provides a single point of access. It’s more intuitive and easier to use. It gives customers access to all of the services they have with us,” said Becky Keen, project manager. “This is really just the first of multiple phases of the project.”
Developing the new portal was really a series of complex projects that involved employees from several departments, said Keen, who coordinated the team effort. They started working on the project last fall.
The company previously had two portals that served different lines of business; customers had to sign into them separately. Over time, the quality of the portals’ experience no longer met SDN’s expectations of providing customers with a high-level of service. So, they decided it was time for improvements.
“We had a very basic, underutilized portal. This one has an enhanced look and feel. It’s pulling data from a lot of different elements,” said Ryan Punt, vice president of sales.
“We envision this one as a tool and resource for enterprise customers. Down the line, it will have quotes, orders, invoices, and contracts. It will be an online interaction point between SDN and its customers,” he said.
It will eventually allow customers to drill deeply into product information and see, for example, exactly what Managed Firewall Service or Managed DDoS Protection is doing for them in terms of blocking cyber threats.
“We really want our customers to be able to see what we do for them,” said Joe Neubauer, manager of application development and carrier management.
Neubauer was one of the project’s sponsors and played a key role in getting it approved and launched. But he also admits work will probably never end.
Lead software engineer Graham Beynon and business systems analyst Jackie Johnson were among the other SDN experts who played important roles in developing the portal. They’ll also continue to refine the service as technology evolves and SDN offers new products and services.
Now it’s up to the marketing and sales staff to present the improved service to existing and prospective customers. It’s another tool that helps SDN customers enjoy the uptime.
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