Introduction
Planet Networks has been known by several different names since its founding in 1994. Yet, all that time, their mission has remained the same. They provide reliable high-speed internet service to clients throughout the northeast. The deployment of those networks has always needed to be fast, but here we look at how planet networks used IKE to remove a critical bottleneck in their network deployment process.
The humble roots of Planet Networks play a large part in their business philosophy. Starting with just three modems in the garage of an old firehouse, Planet Networks built their business on fundamental principles of honesty and integrity. It has led them to be a popular and ever growing partner in the communities they serve.
And what are they serving? Speed, plain and simple. As they put it, “Not everything is in life is meant to move at a snail’s pace.” So, Planet Networks provides their customers with high-speed fiber-optic internet that blows the previously low rural broadband bar out of the water. But speed isn’t just tucked away in the fiber for customers. Planet Networks prioritizes speed in all parts of their process as they deploy networks.
The Challenge
As the global pandemic bore down, kids shifted to online learning, adults moved their work remote, and families searched for answers in telehealth. For Planet Networks CEO Robert Boyle, speed to market became more than a business proposition. It was a moral obligation for a community-oriented company.
When Planet Networks began to take a look at their field data collection processes, they quickly found out just how much of a bottleneck it was for them and their customers. In a newly remote world, slow and inaccurate manual field data collection processes on foreign-owned poles were slowing them down.
Before, fielders were using a stick to measure then recording the data on a spreadsheet. The process was painstakingly slow. Not just in the field, but across the workflow. Data from the field had to be digitized for pole load analysis, make-ready engineering, and new attachment permit requests. Often that data was incomplete or wrong. Someone would have to go back to the pole to correct it, costing valuable time.
The humble principles Planet Networks was built on would not abide a slow process that affected their customers, even if it was the status quo. Bob knew he needed to make a change if he was to maintain the integrity of Planet Networks and help the people in their community get connected.