Channels for communication, whether via mobile or landline connections, have become essential for businesses to run smoothly. Organisations are therefore keen to have greater control over the relevant infrastructure, keep an eye on consumption, easily activate or deactivate SIM cards and ensure that all services are operational.
“Beneficiaries of telecoms services want greater freedom to adjust existing packages,” explains Jacques Kellner, the POST Product Manager in charge of the ControlCenter. “They also want access to comprehensive, transparent information about the services to which they have subscribed. This need first became apparent in relation to mobile usage, to better control consumption associated with a fleet as well as with particular users. Now, however, this expectation extends to all telecoms services, with users wanting full control over every aspect of the service.”
Subscribing, programming, anticipating, acting
In order to meet these expectations, POST has considerably enhanced its ControlCenter, to make it a unique interface.
It enables each customer to interact with the operator more easily and access a complete overview of the services available to them.
“Organisations can activate or deactivate SIM cards via the ControlCenter and the fleet manager has greater autonomy. They can schedule certain actions, such as an automated message to be sent when a certain percentage of the data volume stipulated in the plan has been used up,” continues Jacques Kellner. “They can also create groups of users and assign specific rules to each group. This allows for simpler monitoring and for fleet management to be tailored to the needs of the various profiles within the company.” The interface lets them keep costs under control by easily monitoring consumption and adapting plans as needs change. “They can receive alerts in the event of excessive consumption and, if necessary, block the SIM card or issue a warning to the user,” continues the product manager.
In addition, the organisation has access to all telecoms invoices, whether they relate to connectivity or fixed or mobile telephony.
Checking the status of services at any time
There are now even more ways for organisations to autonomously manage their services through the ControlCenter. For example, if a customer has subscribed to a service, they can check the status of their Direct Internet Access (DIA) (the company’s dedicated connection). In this way, the company can check bandwidth usage and better anticipate needs based on changes in the business. Companies that have opted for DDoS protection can check whether or not they are under attack at any time. Customers can perform real-time checks on latency in communications with the major European internet exchanges and public cloud platforms across Europe to which POST has a direct connection, including Microsoft and Azura. This is vital data for strategic business applications within the companies concerned.
A valuable management tool for companies
“The ControlCenter has become a key operational tool for fleet managers and IT teams. This is shown by the regular requests we receive for improvements or added functionality. Customers seem to find the transparency this provides to be essential,” continues Jacques Kellner. “More than ever, they want to know if everything is working as planned, and whether services that are essential for the development of the business are actually operational.”
Different roles can be assigned to ControlCenter users depending on the scope of their work. Cybersecurity teams will have access to data on attacks. The Mobile Fleet Manager, meanwhile, will be able to manage existing SIM cards and activate various options on subscriptions. The accounts department will be able to find information relating to invoicing. All of this is supervised by an administrator, who can grant access and authorisation to other members of the company. “In addition, the tool makes it easy to export data and compile personalised reports, for example to simplify changes in needs, monitor consumption and better envisage future needs,” explains Jacques Kellner.
The POST ControlCenter, which is now the single point of entry for the customer to all of the operator's services, will develop as needed to provide everyone with full control over all aspects of their connectivity. And it’s all included free of charge as part of the service.
