New App Helps Rural Telecom Provider Enhance Service & Efficiency
G-TEL & Marist Collaborate Through Innovative Capstone Learning Strategy & Private Sector Partnership
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—When G-TEL, a regional telecommunications provider in rural Columbia County, needed help streamlining processes to provide better service to its customers, the company entered into an innovative partnership with Marist College in Poughkeepsie.
Marist students, under the guidance of computer science Professor Christopher Algozzine, developed the G-TEL mobile app as part of a Capstone Project for graduating seniors. The app automates tasks for the line workers, streamlining various services for customers. “Previously, the line workers had to manually record serial numbers from networking equipment while onsite at people’s homes and businesses, then call back to the main office, relay the information, ask for assistance, and discuss the results of certain tests over the phone with another technician,” said Algozzine. “Now those steps are handled by the application: the tech onsite is able to enter the serial number, or simply search for the device in the system by typing in a name or address. Then they can perform the diagnostics, reset passwords, reset lines, or even reboot or factory reset the devices without any need to call the technician in the home office.”
The application does all of this by sending secure network transaction requests from the technician’s smart phone, across the internet, to the servers in the G-TEL home office.
G-TEL estimates the app has improved time-to-solution for the line techs by as much as 20 minutes per dispatch. It has also allowed technicians in the main office to work on deployments, equipment provisioning, and other maintenance tasks. “The biggest benefit of this collaboration and resulting app has been better service to customers and a boost to line techs in the field. The workers in the field now have more control and a greater ability to solve problems unassisted and faster. Everyone wins,” said General Manager Frank Boscarillo of G-TEL.
G-TEL welcomed the partnership with past Marist alumnus and current employee Devin Overington leading the way. With a strong commitment from company ownership and management, Algozzine’s Capstone Project focused on efficiency of service delivery in the field, an objective important to the company serving a large geographic and rural area with broadband and other communications related products. Overington brought valued Capstone Program experience to the partnership making him and G-TEL the perfect industry partner. The final product represents workforce/skills development uniquely crafted with a focused delivery of results and defined deliverables in need by the private sector.
The G-TEL Service Automation Application created is now deployed and available on the web for any company employee with valid security credentials to use as a means of diagnosing and repairing service issues with their clients at their homes.