There’s a shelf in my house that’s not level. It’s off by just a little. So little, in fact, most people don’t even notice. However, every time I walk by, I cringe. When my husband sees my irritation, he tells me to tilt my head ever so slightly and it will look fine.
There’s also a hole in the lattice that covers space between our deck and the ground. Why? Because an aggressive rabbit chewed or kicked or karated it to create a front door to his home under the deck. The hole torments me every time I see it.
There are also times when I am watching my favorite show on Netflix, NBC, or ESPN, and I’m interrupted by pixelation and delay. Not always; just sometimes. Still, it makes me crabby. Whether it’s the Big Game or a sitcom — it’s the principle that bugs me.
And if my VoIP decides to jackhammer my ear during a conference call, I flash back to previous network reliability issues I’ve had. The cumulative effect makes me want to break up with
my LEC. Really.
Do you care? You should.
So what if I ignore the crooked shelf and rabbit condo under my deck? It only affects me (and a bunny or two). But, when proactive network maintenance is ignored, it impacts a LOT of your customers — who pay the company that pays you.
So, when you’re asked to work on network reliability, don’t view it as a pain in the test set. Instead, reframe it. Think of it as preventing folks like me from taking our ARPU elsewhere. Because for many of us, it’s the principle that matters — not necessarily the frequency or severity of the problem.
It’s the little things that your customers notice, like those missing bits and bytes. Without the proper maintenance, your problems have the potential to multiply like (Dare I say it?) rabbits.
