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Oxford Networks Receives Prestigious PPM Award
Proactive Plant Management Award Recognizes Innovative Telecommunications Providers
OCTOBER 26, 2007 – RICHMOND, VA – Oxford Networks, headquartered in Lewiston, Maine, has been named the 2007 recipient of the Proactive Plant Management (PPM) Award in recognition of the company’s significant work in streamlining operations and enhancing customer service. The PPM Award, given annually at Mapcom System’s M4 User’s Conference in Richmond, Virginia, spotlights telecommunications industry leaders who utilize innovative and efficient solutions to manage their operations.
Mike Ellingwood, Engineering Manager, and Wanda Pillsbury, IT Manager, accepted the award for Oxford Networks.
In making the presentation, Mapcom’s Vice President, Chuck Flournoy, noted that Oxford Networks has become a model for many independent telecommunications providers by making its Network Operations Center (NOC) the cornerstone of its customer service organization. Several traditionally independent departments, including customer service, dispatch, assignment, provisioning, installation & repair, and the help desk, are now organized under the auspices of the NOC, taking full advantage of the network visualization and database integration capabilities of the next generation equipment and technology that Oxford deploys.
“Oxford Networks is an industry leader in the creation of a “best of breed” operations platform which relies on the monitoring and integration of data from various applications flowing between multiple departments,” said Flournoy. “They have cut many steps out of their operational workflows, reduced unnecessary intra-departmental dependencies and redundancies, and empowered their employees with the information necessary to communicate effectively and efficiently with customers. As an organization, Oxford Networks is driven by maximizing customer satisfaction – and their deployment of our software as well as that of other vendors into a seamless geographical operations system is a solid testament to that commitment.”
“These are truly dynamic and exciting times for Oxford Networks and we’ve worked hard on many different fronts to achieve our success,” said Craig Gunderson, Oxford Networks’ President and CEO. “Utilizing M4 Solutions has been essential to proactively managing our plant and allows all departments to have access to critical data – thereby reducing costs and ultimately, improving customer satisfaction,” adds Gunderson.
Serving residential and commercial customers throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Oxford Networks offers a myriad of services including phone, high-speed internet, cable television and business-class connectivity. The company relies heavily on the M4 software to plan and manage their extensive network infrastructure, including new Fiber-to-the-Premise installations in Norway, Maine.
Since the implementation of M4, Oxford Networks has documented increased revenue and record productivity gains in key areas of plant management. For example, the company notes a 75% reduction in time for engineers to draw up new jobs and a 67% decrease in the amount of steps it takes to carry out construction related tasks.
“Today, using the M4 platform, our customer service employees have instant access in a geographical format to determine immediately which customers qualify for DSL or FTTP. In the past, an engineer or OSP technician would be dispatched to determine qualification,” states Gunderson. “Having ready access to this critical information is important in providing quality customer service and ultimately affects the bottom line,” Gunderson adds.
“Oxford Networks has maximized the capabilities of our software solution to run their operations more efficiently,” states John Granger, President and CEO of Mapcom Systems. “They exemplify the pioneering spirit of today’s top industry leaders,” he adds.
Previous recipients of Mapcom’s annual PPM Award include: SEI Communications, based in Dillsboro, IN; Armstrong Telephone, based in Butler, PA; diversiCOM/Melrose Telephone, based in Melrose, MN; Yadkin Valley Telephone, based in Yadkinville, NC; and Lackawaxen Telephone, based in Rowland, PA.
About Mapcom Systems
Mapcom Systems is the developer of M4 Solutions – a map-based Geographical Operations System (GOS) software suite that allows telecommunications providers to enhance their information flow by displaying data in a geographic view. The open-system approach enables users to integrate and correlate data from existing billing, accounting, GPS tracking and network monitoring applications with a geographically-correct land base map of all network elements in M4. Since 1971, Mapcom has developed one of the strongest reputations in the industry working with independents, cooperatives, fiber communities, and campus telecommunications providers of all sizes across North America and the Caribbean.
About Oxford Networks
Oxford Networks, headquartered at 491 Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine, was founded in Buckfield, Maine, in 1900. With a 600-mile fiber-optic network between Bangor, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Oxford Networks currently provides Internet, Phone, and Cable Television to more than 17,000 customers. For more information, visit the Oxford Networks website at www.oxfordnetworks.com.