For over 15 years, TIMETOACT has maintained an IT partnership with Vodafone that is second to none. What began in 2003 with the introduction of Netcool as fault management has since developed into a solid partnership between TIMETOACT and Vodafone. At that time, the aim was to make the transition from Cisco Info Center to Netcool as smooth as possible. Netcool was still quite rudimentary at that time and everything had to be prepared so that the mass rollout of Internet and telephone services could be implemented in 2005. TIMETOACT supported this demanding project in the OSS area with IBM Netcool and continues to do so today.
More customers with the same number of support staff
This successful start was followed in 2008 by the introduction of IBM Performance Management (IBM Tivoli Network Performance Manager - TNPM) and later Network Management (IBM Tivoli Network Manager - ITNM). The big advantage for Vodafone here was not only the smart and successful implementation of these two new projects, but also the cost savings compared to competitor solutions. Bert Großmann, Group Manager Cable Operations: "The use of the Tivoli Tool Suite has made it possible to grow from an initial 5,000 cable modem customers to more than 3.5 million cable modem customers and without having to significantly increase the number of employees in the Vodafone Network Operations Center (1st & 2nd level)." To this day, Performance Management is thus a central pillar of the reliable quality of Vodafone Kabel Deutschland services.
Without TIMETOACT, our projects would not only take more time and produce higher costs, but above all we would lack agility.
Dirk Haegebarth Manager Architect Operations OSSVodafoneTIMETOACT has been working with Vodafone for 15 years
In 2013, Vodafone introduced NetCam to isolate faults in the cable network in good time. The system is based on alerts, the analysis of performance data from, for example, the IBM Performance Management System, the IBM Fault Management System, and customer tickets, and ensures that faults are identified at the earliest possible stage, thereby improving efficiency and reducing the time spent on support.
"Updates and upgrades of the IBM OSS tool landscape are evaluated and tested by TIMETOACT for this purpose. This saves Vodafone a lot of time and we can concentrate on our core business," says Nadine Bulang - Group Manager Service Assurance at Vodafone.
After these joint projects, the topic of automation was on the agenda at Vodafone in 2016. Here, too, TIMETOACT convinced with its offer and carried out the first Runbook Automation tests in 2017 - followed by the implementation at the end of the year. Finally, in spring 2019, IBM Runbook Automation went into production mode. "Certainly, the Runbook project could have been implemented with someone else, but TIMETOACT simply knows the IT and network environments and that, after all, saves an incredible amount of time when you don't have to explain everything over and over again. It also minimizes the risk of errors and increases innovation," says Dirk Haegebarth, Manager Architect Operations OSS.
We have had the same contact persons at TIMETOACT for 15 years. They know each other very well, so that everything in the projects always runs hand-in-hand and is implemented extremely effectively.
Dirk Haegebarth Manager Architect Operations OSSVodafoneActive quality assurance
Service monitoring based on Fault Management, now Netcool Operations Insight (NOI), was introduced back in 2014. Service topologies were captured and monitored in conjunction with NOI. Since 2019, Vodafone has been using another IBM product - Agile Service Manager (ASM). The added value of this solution lies in the fact that it can be used to automatically monitor, measure and evaluate the quality of Vodafone's services, which ultimately means that the services offered can be continuously improved. Thanks to the high degree of automation of the ASM, the information is not only available and evaluable more quickly, but the results are also more far-reaching and meaningful. Jeanette Fürst: "If you define and describe services in concrete terms and then check them consistently, the quality of services can be continuously optimized - and that's what Vodafone does with the ASM."
Keep it up!
High standards for oneself and others - that is what distinguishes TIMETOACT and Vodafone, and not least their partnership. "We always treat each other as equals and with respect," says Dirk Haegebarth. "Partnership is very, very important to us and that is also our common key to success. Otherwise, our cooperation would not have worked successfully for so long. "With TIMETOACT, we have a partner that can be relied on at all times," says Nadine Bulang, Group Manager Service Assurance at Vodafone.
The agenda currently includes various predictive and analytics topics. The desire is to further improve processes and services so that Vodafone has a solid IT foundation on the one hand and the ability to react flexibly and quickly to market changes on the other.
Together with TIMETOACT, we have always managed to provide professional and successful IT support for the company's enormous growth - from just under 5,000 modems originally to more than 3.5 million end devices to be serviced in 2019.
Bert Großmann Group Manager Cable OperationsVodafone
Vodafone is one of Germany's leading communications groups and offers its customers Internet, mobile communications, fixed-network and television from a single source. With more than 50 million mobile communications cards, almost 11 million broadband customers, 14 million TV customers, and numerous digital solutions, Vodafone and its approximately 16,000 employees generate service revenues of almost EUR 13 billion.
Contact
Jeanette Fürst
TIMETOACT GROUPContact