Portugal Telecom Drives Efficiency In The Field With Automated Scheduling And Mobility

Portugal Telecom is the major telecoms provider in Portugal, and globally has over 97 million customers. Its portfolio includes telecoms, pay-TV and IT services for both consumer and business customers. In April 2008, Portugal Telecom launched itself into the pay-TV market with a vision to become the market leader, as it is with all its other services. Being available over ADSL, fibre and satellite, by the end of June 2012 Portugal Telecom had 1.16 million customers and had become leader in triple-play, having reached 766 thousand triple-play customers.

The Challenge

When Portugal Telecom decided to enter the pay-TV market it realised its vision to become market leader hinged on providing the best possible customer service. In this highly competitive marketplace, it could only be done with a field workforce that is fast and efficient. A key challenge was how to enter a new market without affecting the customer service received by its existing customer base. This problem was compounded by the complexity of pay-TV hardware installations, compared with domestic telephone lines or broadband. Engineers would now be installing routers and switching hardware as complex as that found in the IT departments of small and medium-sized businesses.

Portugal Telecom's workforce in Portugal consists of over 4,200 engineers, making 2.1 million site visits per year. The management knew they were both core and strategic to the company's success as it expanded its service offerings.

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