Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Insights

Verizon's 2020 AWARD FINALIST CASE STUDY : Finalist in the Best Achievement in Technology Enabled Process Automation.

Written by BTOES Insights Official | Mar 4, 2020 12:00:00 PM

Read this article about Verizon, one of our finalists, in the category Best Achievement in Technology Enabled Process Automation (Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning, Cognitive Learning, Blockchain etc) , selected by the independent judging panel, for the 2020 Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards program.

The Digital Network Assistant project, “DNA,” is the culmination of a number of Verizon Network and Technology group initiatives to leverage conversational agents, AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA) to increase the efficiency of our workforce. DNA is an AI powered network assistant that delivers business productivity by ameliorating systemic issues found in all complex network information ecosystems—data redundancy and discrepancy between systems, laborious manual processes, and requirements for highly specialized system-specific knowledge among the workforce.

We focused on three critical areas:

1) improved self-service capability,

2) simplified information search, and

3) troubleshooting.

We capitalized on this opportunity by developing and delivering the Digital Network Assistant, DNA. DNA is an automated agent that is available 24/7 and can be accessed through a conversational interface or Verizon’s internal chat software of choice. DNA provides self-service capabilities for all Network and Technology end users within Verizon to be able to more quickly perform their tasks. It provides relevant contextual data, learns from user input, and automates clerical work, freeing up engineer time to focus on more critical activities. The DNA project was executed using Verizon’s SAFe Agile framework, with regular stakeholder review and input collected during sprint review. Features and functions were prioritized through stakeholder input and analysis of usage data from DNA and other systems. The project launched in 2018, and has been enhanced continuously since then. We began by developing the platform infrastructure (e.g., cloud-based technical infrastructure, DevSecOps pipeline, security protocols), and then implemented tasks, contexts, and automation features.

Adoption is monitored on an ongoing basis, and the DNA team actively promotes adoption within the network groups via a variety of channels. In addition, the team implemented a real-time operational dashboard to monitor the project on an ongoing basis. The dashboard provides readouts of most- and least-used skills, active users, and highest value skills implemented in the system.

DNA translates automation and self-service capabilities directly to increased productivity for Network and Technology end users. The business impact of the tool improved user experience and process performance across four functional areas: Network Planning, Network Engineering, Service Delivery, and Service Assurance. Each “skill” that the bot offers is assigned a value expressed in time savings, and based on our analytics, we are able to quantify the impact. These efficiencies mean that our workforce is able to accomplish more work in less time, reducing the time required to provision services to our customers.

The operational efficiencies we have achieved translate directly to customer benefits. These include the ability for end users to trouble-shoot enterprise customer issues directly via a self-service chat interface. Additionally, as DNA propagates automated healing operations resulting from root-cause analysis, system stability is increased, thereby reducing the incidence of issues requiring customers to raise trouble tickets. In addition, customers have increased visibility to known fixes and workarounds via the conversational DNA interface. Each prevented customer trouble ticket saves hours, and in some cases saves days of delays in certain task completions.

Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards 2020

About the Awards

The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Awards have been established to showcase globally the most outstanding organizational achievements through the application of Operational Excellence programs. Click here to view the Press Release.

The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence World Awards (BTOES) on Wednesday, March 25th, 2020, from 6.30pm in the Venetian Ballroom at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort.

The Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Awards are open to all organizations, both private and public sector, across the globe, which have implemented Operational Excellence programs to deliver outstanding business results.

The Awards will be held in conjunction with the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence World Summit, BTOES 2020 in the beautiful Venetian Ballroom on March 25, 2020 at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando™️. Click to access the agenda, view the current speakers, and watch the highlights video from last year.

 

BTOES.com

The issues in this article are just one of topic areas that are going to be discussed at the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence World Summit & Industry

BTOES is the industry’s biggest and best, senior-level, cross-industry gathering of Business Transformation & Operational Excellence industry leaders and senior executives.

It also hosts the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Awardswhich showcase globally the most outstanding organizational achievements through the application of Operational Excellence programs.

The summits hosts a number of private forums for C-Level & Global corporate-level leaders as well as business unit heads.

With over 150 speakers, over 100 sessions, 12 Keynotes, 9 Track Themes, 5 parallel tracks, 60+ track sessions, 50 roundtable discussions, 20 Interactive Workshops, 6 Thought Leader Panels, 5 Leaders Boardrooms, 5 co-located events, the Industry Awards Program, Site Visits, 20+ hours of social networking including 2 gala cocktail parties, dinners, numerous group activities, this is the ultimate event to benchmark, network and drive Operational Excellence to the next level.

 

Quick Links

Speakers

Agenda

BTOES Awards

 

There is a strong focus on Cultural Transformation, Customer Delight, Sustaining an Operational Excellence program, Need for end-to-end Business Transformation, Keeping up with new technologies/impact of digitalization and Leadership Buy-in & Understanding. We dedicated two tracks to advanced technologies, such as AI, Machine Learning, RPA, Predictive Analytics, Blockchain, Cloud infrastructure etc.

The agenda is designed to encourage active meaningful conversations though all day enhanced networking and interaction opportunities, including

  • All-day Refreshment & Themed Breaks

  • 1¼ Hour Hot Breakfast Networking Sessions

  • 1½ Hour Hot Plated Networking Lunches with Topic & Industry Sector focussed tables

  • 1½ Hour Roundtable Sessions by Topic & Industry Sector.

  • Keynote & Themes Panel Sessions

  • Hosted Welcome Receptions from 5.30pm

  • Expanded more lavish Awards Program

  • Newly launched Night Summit for attendees to meet after dinner

For more information or to discuss the summit in more detail please schedule a call below,

Click here to schedule a call.