Following the consultation we completed in December, we ran a 5-week trial in June with three participating RSPs to predict and troubleshoot problems with intact ONTs prior to the activation date and prevent subsequent “failed intact” faults. The aim was to improve the number of customers successfully activating their fibre service remotely on time without issues.

We used several methods to identify intact connect orders with a medium to high likelihood of failure, then we contacted those customers to troubleshoot and offer solutions. If the problem could not be diagnosed and fixed over the phone, we arranged a technician visit.

Over the course of the trial, we categorised two main customer groups:

• Troubleshooters: Customers we were able to assist as they had full access to their ONT;
• Movers: Customers we could not assist as they were in the process of moving address, and they did not yet have access to the ONT or did not have the time to troubleshoot.

We found that the split between Troubleshooters and Movers was roughly 50/50.

In most cases, Movers understood there could be an issue with their connection, however they couldn’t do anything about it until they moved in. In the absence of Chorus proactively contacting these customers on their moving day, they had no choice but to seek alternate support by either contacting their RSP or getting help from friends or family.

Troubleshooters were able to diagnose if there was a problem over the phone. 36% required a truck roll to fix their home network, 14% were missing a power cable (which we sent to them), 8% of orders were placed against a wrong address or ONT record, and 42% had no problem - they just needed to turn on their ONT.

For the instances where we dispatched a technician, 90% were able to be resolved and connected on the activation day without requiring a subsequent fault ticket. This provided a better customer experience as the customer was connected on their originally requested activation date.

Overall, if we scaled the trial as-is, we believe we could reduce failed intact faults by up to 16%. We are now further investigating the best methods & tools to identify faulty network ahead of the activation date and engage with affected customers before they are left without service.  

Our next steps are to map out the ideal customer journey for both Movers and Troubleshooters, with the goal of having a communication channel with the skillset to diagnose any issues proactively and connect the customer right first time.  

We’re currently working to develop a documented Failed Intact process to enable you to take the best course of action when a customer reports that their newly activated service is not working. You can expect to hear more from us on this in the next few months.

Contact

For further information, please contact your account team.