‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…
Tomorrow morning, Mom, Dad, and the children are going to find all sorts of connected gadgets under the tree.
In most advanced countries, the average home already hosts nearly 30 connected devices and the number keeps on growing. Christmas is an auspicious time to deck the halls with games, health monitors, and surveillance systems to watch the house during silent nights.
Connected gadgets are great fun for the family, but maybe less so for Device Vendors, Content Providers, and Communication Service Providers (CSPs). Certainly, Device Vendors enjoy a surge in sales during this time of year. Once those gadgets are plugged in, Content Providers will be inundated with a stream of requests for movies, music, games, and medical advice. But neither Device Vendors nor Content Providers will know much about their customers or the way they are using their devices and services. They won’t know if customers are happy or disappointed until they are lost. They won’t know the causes behind churn since customers don’t usually announce their intentions. They just go.
Device Vendors and Content Providers won’t know how their devices and services stack up against competitors. Are their customers having a better or worse experience than the ones who didn’t buy from them? What factors impede full enjoyment? Are they geographic? Related to WiFi or Internet service? What about trends: Are certain age groups going ga-ga over a new game? Are people in a certain zipcode having a tough go of it?
The Device Vendors and Content Providers won’t have enough data to answer these and a thousand other vital questions. They won’t be able to measure the quality of experience of their new customers and thus won’t know how to improve or cross-sell.
Already by mid-Christmas morning, CSPs are going to be pulled into the act! As soon as the gift-wrappings come off and the boxes are opened, the shrieks of delight are going to die down. Lots of subscribers are going to have trouble hooking up their new hubs and mesh networks, smart TVs, cameras, and doorbells. Who they gonna call? Yes, their CSP, the one who brings the internet into their home.
Will the CSP’s Customer Service Reps (CSRs) know about the new devices? Will they know about interoperability? Protocols? Bandwidth requirements? Will they be able to discern the single gadget that interferes with the others? Will they be able to locate the root cause of problems and know how to solve them?
Finally, a Solution!
Veego gives CSPs, Device Vendors, and Content Providers complete visibility. “Fingerprinting” the new devices as soon as they get hooked up, Veego even discerns the model and firmware level. As soon as the devices start working, Veego classifies the services they are providing—gaming, movie streaming, music, etc. As far as connected devices are concerned, Veego figures it automatically what’s going on in the home.
With all this information, Veego is able to monitor the customer experience at all times. Whenever a condition occurs that reduces any user’s experience level, Veego detects it and looks for the underlying problem. Is it with the:
- Device or other devices?
- Service or other services?
- WiFi?
- Mesh network?
- Router?
- Last Mile?
- WAN?
- Content Server?
Veego determines the root cause and location of the problem.
Sometimes, the problem is due to a combination of factors. Veego notices that as well and often can figure out and solve very complex problems. What if one device is eating up too much WiFi, causing another device to time out or lag too much? What if the hub and the new smart TV are incompatible? Veego can not only spot the problem but determine what to do about it. Perhaps an OTA software update will make everything work in Christmas-carol harmony. Veego can notify the appropriate Device Vendor about the update. What if the user can fix a problem with a mere setting adjustment? Veego can deliver easy-to-follow recommendations to make everything run smoothly again.
Ho Ho Ho
Yes, ‘tis the season to be jolly. Connected devices and services that operate well are a joy. Let’s keep it that way!
