RSFT BUILDS COX COMMUNICATION’S REPUTATION FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

	Building the Nationwide Call Center
	Unique Challenges
	Providing Unexpected Services
	Efficiency
	Consultation and Design
	Unique Sattelite Office
	Move-In Services

When people think of cable TV, they frequently think of Cox Communications. With 3.4 million customers and 17 cable systems throughout the United States, Cox Communications is among the nation's largest cable television operators. Operating since 1962, Cox is also one of the most advanced. They lead the industry in the deployment of fiber optic cable with 187 miles of fiber and 5,395 miles of cable already laid in San Diego County alone. As a result, Cox systems throughout the U.S. have won the "Customer is Key" award on nine occasions. By earning this award so consistently, Cox has demonstrated its intense commitment to quality programming and responsive customer service. But one of the key ingredients in fulfilling this commitment is Cox's ability to depend upon its communications infrastructure vendors. These vendors are responsible for the design, installation, and upgrades of the structured cabling, network systems, and local area networks (LANs) that keep Cox's busy facilities humming and its customers satisfied.

According to Bill Hulsey, Cox's San Diego-based manager of information technology, Rancho Santa Fe Technology (RSFT) has made a significant contribution to Cox Communications' ability to fulfill its commitment to its customers both locally in San Diego County and nationwide. Since joining Cox Communications in 1993, Hulsey has relied on RSFT to provide the wiring infrastructure at key facilities throughout San Diego County. Among the most important facilities are the structures that house advertising representatives who sell commercial spots, the Customer Care Center that handles all subscriber and repair-related calls and the various product support facilities that act as warehouses and dispatch centers for field technicians who keep the whole system running smoothly.

Among the most ambitious projects supervised by Hulsey was the creation of the Cox Communications' Nationwide Call Center in 1997. The Call Center is the keystone facility for maintaining the company's customer service commitment, and it houses the staff that is responsible for providing cable service to new customers, answering billing questions, and handling all questions and concerns regarding service quality. Cox chose San Diego as the site for the new nationwide facility because the local staff had already proved itself by offering consistent award-winning support to local customers, who currently exceed 484,000 subscribers. The company decided to build upon that existing strength, and Bill Hulsey selected Rancho Santa Fe Technology to provide the voice and data communications infrastructure that comprises the structured cabling system for the 90,000 square foot building. To handle the high volume of billing and service calls from subscribers located across the country, it was necessary for the new facility to support approximately 700 personal computers (also known as workstations) 600 of them dedicated to customer care and 100 assigned for use in training and administration of the network.

For the new facility, RSFT installed Category 5 cabling for the local area network (LAN), multi-mode fiber for the LAN backbone, and Category 3 cabling for the phone system. The Call Center, however, is located in a warehouse-type of structure with a ceiling suspended 27 feet above the floor.  This was a situation that presented a series of unique design and construction challenges that Rancho Santa Fe Technology was able to handle without a problem. What made it difficult to install the project's cabling infrastructure in the new facility was the extremely tight schedule.  The cabling had to be installed during a six-week time slot during the months of August and September of 1997. Not only was RSFT limited to only six weeks to complete the installation phase, but it had to install the cabling infrastructure within a very tight time window that opened up between the completion of the ceiling's structural components and the subsequent installation of the ceiling tiles. Only during this period could the cabling be installed without disturbing the activities of other vendors who were part of the construction project. For Rancho Santa Fe Technology, this meant working around the schedules of the various contractors and being able to staff up quickly so that RSFT would have sufficient numbers of technicians to complete all of the work within the narrow time window. According to Steve Densmore, the engineer who guided the project for RSFT; "We had to be very resourceful on this project. That meant making sure that everyone on our team understood the challenge and had a real passion for getting the job done right. And before it was finished, we still had to find the time to test and certify performance in order to comply with standards at all levels for voice and data."

When asked about Rancho Santa Fe Technologies on-site performance during the construction project, Cox Communication's Bill Hulsey described the extra effort made by RSFT technicians and their ability to handle tasks that went beyond the confines of cabling installation. "They were always available to help solve additional problems that come up," he said, "even if the new issues didn't seem to be part of their skills set. For example, RSFT personnel helped to overcome a series of technical issues between the cabling and network products that no similar organization would have been able to provide. They are very motivated people, and they completed the work without a hitch. I've been working with RSFT for five years," added Hulsey, "and I can count on them to help me out any time. I can even think of instances where they performed work in highly technical areas that required them to work right alongside of my staff to complete a project. This willingness to step in and solve problems makes Rancho Santa Fe Technology unique as far as I'm concerned."

On the Call Center project, RSFT employees helped to install and test network access on hundreds of personal computers a LAN activity that originally wasn't part of the project. This task was followed by similar testing activities that involved the installation of the telephone instruments. According to Hulsey, "I knew they could do it because, aside from the nationwide Call Center, Rancho Santa Fe Technology has provided the cabling infrastructure at 20 sites used by Cox Communications in the San Diego area.  These projects have included extensive phone access systems with cabling running between PBX equipment and telephone equipment, fiber for the internal backbone cabling of a facility, and LAN access at each site. In addition, RSFT has completed the original wiring and five upgrades to the local Cox Communications headquarters facility located at the intersection of Federal and Euclid Streets in San Diego."

In 1998, Cox Communications decided to relocate some of its operations from a facility located in Vista, California to a smaller, more efficient facility located in Oceanside, about seven miles west of Vista. The original facility in Vista housed two types of activities -- advertising operations responsible for the sale of commercial spots and a field-service construction warehouse that contained converter boxes and was the local headquarters for Cox employees involved in planning, installing, and repairing cable in the cities nearby. There were two overriding purposes for the move. On one hand, the old facility in Vista was too large. On the other hand, the new 40,000 square foot Oceanside facility -- in addition to being smaller and more efficient -- would offer an upgraded network infrastructure and equipment.

Cox retained Rancho Santa Fe Technology (RSFT) to provide consultation and design services for aspects of the new facility in Oceanside, and the scope of work included both data and voice wiring. When embarking upon consultation and design projects of this type, the chief priorities for individuals such as Bill Hulsey are concerns that the structured cabling and network systems are properly conceived and executed so that they do not become a source of recurring costs and inconvenience in the future. The strategic goals and requirements of a system also must be reflected in the budget for the project, and the system must meet the company's unique voice and data requirements such as maximizing transfer rates, achieving network efficiency, meeting industry standards and manufacturers' technical guidelines. For Hulsey, RSFT had already demonstrated its abilities in these areas many times in the past, so RSFT was the natural choice for the project.

The new Oceanside facility, however, had a unique aspect that was of particular concern to Bill Hulsey of Cox. Located approximately 2,000 feet away from the main facility was a small satellite office that had to remain operational at all times during the relocation to the new facility. In addition, this satellite office required access to both the local area network (LAN) and phone services. Consequently, RSFT recommended a solution that included using a single-mode fiber to extend the LAN and conventional copper wire to extend the phone system service. Hulsey remembers having concerns about this recommendation; "I wasn't sure that these services would operate successfully with such a long extension. It was nearly half a mile between the main office and the satellite office, and RSFT had to prove to me that their plan would work." To demonstrate the effectiveness of their recommendation, RSFT quickly tested the links, and they remained operational during the entire relocation process.

Move-in services typically include overseeing the entire sequence of steps for taking apart the equipment at the old facility and reassembling the system at the new location to ensure that it is up and running on time and will not cause an interruption of critical business operations. During the upgrade and move-in to the Oceanside facility, as an additional part of the move-in activities, Hulsey relied upon RSFT to install and configure the personal computers that ran off the network. This was followed by a request that RSFT complete the phone installation as well -- a set of activities collectively referred to as "punch, configure, and install".  According to Hulsey, "This is typical of working with Rancho Santa Fe Technology. I can always count on them to go beyond wiring if it is necessary to finish a move."

According to Tres Conrique, Rancho Santa Fe Technologys' director of the Communications Infrastructure Group, "We know there is no second chance with mission-critical systems such as those installed for Cox Communications. Before we get involved with a project, we make sure that our team has -- in effect -- taken a walk in the customer's shoes. This means learning their business inside and out, as well as working out a solution that meets their needs and stays within budget." Conrique explains that this requires addressing every detail so that there are no surprises later on down the line. Adds Conrique, "Cox Communications is a valued customer of ours, and everyone on our team is fully aware of the high priority that Cox places on maintaining their reputation for high-quality customer service. So each time we go in there to work on a Cox project, their particular concerns are uppermost in our minds."

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