VoIP Network Assessment Tool: A Powerful Remote Working Tool for Your Customers
Working from home requires more than just having a plain old internet connection
If you now find yourself working from home, especially if your role has you talking as well as typing, this means you need more than just any old internet connection. You see, there’s a lot that happens between your computer, tablet or smartphone, and where the call ends up. Unlike a traditional POTS line, VoIP calls and web conference calls all need to deliver a buffer, packet loss and jitter-free experience.
Between the start and end of the connection, you’ve got a cable, fiber or DSL modem, a router, some Wi-Fi access points and maybe an ethernet connection. Then when the signal leaves your home, you’ve got to deal with the cable company or telco’s network to your house. This all means you need to have the latest gear, and the proper speeds to support voice and video. With more and more of your customers working from home due to the current climate, how do you (or your clients) know if their work from home setup is rock-solid?
Last year, SkySwitch launched a white label VoIP network assessment tool called NPAT (Network Performance & Assessment Tool). The NPAT was designed so that SkySwitch resellers could pre-qualify client sites before installation and perform VoIP readiness testing remotely. It was a huge value-add to the SkySwitch reseller product suite back then, and now in 2020, it’s an even bigger value-add because of the rise of remote working.
What Does the VoIP Network Assessment Tool Do?
In short, the NPAT allows a telecom reseller’s customer to perform three different performance tests: Route, Speed and VoIP. Within seconds after performing the test, full results will be emailed to the reseller so they can assess those results. Without the NPAT, the reseller would need to drive all the way out to a client’s site — which can be tedious. Why spend all that time commuting (especially with the current rampage of Coronavirus), when you can get an answer within seconds at the touch of your fingertips?
All of the NPAT test types available
The convenience of pre-qualifying and troubleshooting connectivity issues remotely was big news last year, and now as more companies are seeking the best communication tools for remote work, the impressive NPAT has just become even more relevant.
Why Are White-Label VoIP Network Assessment Tools More Important Than Ever in 2020?
With the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus, more and more companies are implementing work from home policies — escalating the steady trend we’ve seen for remote workers on the rise. While many would think that all you need is a working internet connection to work from home, that is far from the reality of truly productive remote working.
A hurdle that many remote workers face is effective real-time communication and collaboration with their teams. For example, issues like high packet-loss and buffer delay severely impact the quality of a user’s experience when using a web-based conferencing solution. When you’re in the middle of a great brainstorming session with your team, nothing is more annoying than a wonky connection and conferencing experience. This is just one scenario where we see the importance for remote teams to have the best remote working tools at hand — and where the use of the NPAT can troubleshoot, or even avoid a communication mess altogether if used before an employee officially begins to work from home.
Now, with public health factors contributing to the sharp uptick of remote workers, you’ll find that remote working communication tools will become high in demand. And as a reseller, MSP or IT services specialist, you’ll want to leverage the NPAT and how it helps bridge gaps between your customer’s employees working from home, or getting work done from home more efficiently than ever before.
All of the NPAT Features Explained (It’s More Than Just a Speed Test)
One of the most commonly asked questions we get is, “Isn’t the NPAT just a speed test?” And, the answer is no. You can find countless Speed Tests available for free online, but the NPAT provides you a much richer perspective, measuring throughput speed, capacity, packet quality, efficiency, data loss, recovery, duplication of data, retransmissions and even corruption.
All of these granular details are assessed collectively to give you a complete view of the user experience of a connection — and that’s what makes this VoIP network assessment tool so powerful and unique to the SkySwitch Reseller Community.
Watch SkySwitch Founder and President, Eric Hernaez, give an intro to the NPAT tool.
How Telecom Resellers Can Utilize SkySwitch’s White-Label VoIP Network Assessment Tool to Build Customer Relationships
Being able to offer your customers an easy way to assess if their work-from-home situation is all ready to go is a huge value-add — so make sure to let your customers know that you offer this awesome, convenient and free evaluation tool.
SkySwitch resellers have the ability to brand the NPAT with their own company logo and web domain. Simply log on to your Reseller Dashboard, and with a few easy clicks, you can customize the NPAT to appear as your own company’s specialized tool. Our unbranded NPAT tool can be accessed at www.npat.skyswitch.com, which also includes a glossary of terminology and FAQ section.
If you’re a SkySwitch Reseller and want more information about how to use the NPAT, feel free to contact us anytime! And if you’re a telecom reseller who’s not yet partnered with SkySwitch and like what you’re hearing — feel free to schedule a demo with us.