VPN Bridge Case Study


A European consumer goods company plans to integrate while also preparing to spin off.

  • Customer name: Nondisclosable

  • Business: Consumer products, foods, and tobacco

  • Number of sites: More than 350

Background

The customer is a very large corporation with more than 350 offices in all parts of the world. Its network is divided into three major regions, each with a major data center. Within the regions, the different companies share the network back to the data centers but generally have different office locations within the region. The customer has a long history with Equant, which provides FR to the customer within Europe. Within the other regions, other competitors are the main providers.

About one and one-half years ago, the customer issued an RFP to build a network to connect its three regions and data centers. It wanted any-to-any connectivity and a single provider because it felt it would be easier to support major application initiatives with such an architecture. An ERP application, SAP, was the leading application that drove the need for better cross-region connectivity. Equant won the RFP with IP VPN (MPLS).

Customer Issues/Objectives

More recently, a major issue for the customer has been preparation for a possible divestiture of subsidiary companies. The divestiture of companies and the resulting separation of the networks were the compelling events that required the customer to take action.

The account team had a good relationship with the customer. Therefore, as they became aware of the looming divestiture issue, they decided to take the initiative to develop a solution for their customer. As the incumbent provider of service within Europe, Equant had everything to lose. If the customer went out to bid, the risk of loss was significant.

Any major migration to separate the existing networks would likely require significant investment in terms of dual infrastructures for a period of time and in terms of nonrecurring charges. The account team developed a plan that would greatly reduce these charges through the creative use of Equant's new feature: the VPN bridge.

The VPN bridge is designed to act as a bridge or link between an FR network and an IP VPN. Using the VPN bridge for the customer's FR network within Europe, the account team was able to develop a plan to separate the customer's individual networks without the need for duplicate local access circuits, new access routers, or most of the one-time charges the customer would have incurred if it had tried to replace the existing Equant network with another provider's network service. Avoiding these expenses proved to be a strong motivator and was ultimately instrumental in keeping the customer's business.

The Account Team's Keys to Success

The account team credits their success in retaining the customer to several items.

The following success factors are examples:

  • Account management It should be no surprise that good account relationships depend on good account management. This account is no different. Successful mapping of the key decision-makers was important. The account team spent significant time and effort to understand the key decision-makers and influencers within the customer organization. One of the competitors did a poor job of account management, and this contributed to their loss; they spent time speaking with the wrong people, even to the extent that their interactions with the wrong people hurt their relationships with the right people.

  • Building trust The account team built trust with the customer in several ways. One was simply doing what they said they would do. Another was being honest with the customer by telling them things that the account team felt Equant could not do well and identifying areas that included some risk. Finally, the account team stated that they cut through marketing hyperbole to tell the customer what they needed to hear. Primarily, this meant providing customer case studies showing how Equant had helped other customers.

VPN bridgeAs mentioned earlier, the VPN bridge was an important part of building a creative and technical solution that, in the end, allowed the customer to deal with its compelling event in such a way that the cost and risk were minimized compared with the alternatives that other providers offered.

  • Price Equant offered a competitive price, particularly with regards to the nonrecurring charges. Again, this was thanks in part to the capabilities of the VPN bridge.

  • End results The account is worth more than $19 million in revenue per year. Equant provides the following services to the customer:

    - FR/IP VPN

    - Consultancy

    - IPSec

    - Private DSL

    - Project management

    - Dial service

    - Planned: IP telephony or IPT and application-aware VPNs

Case Study Conclusion

To summarize, from an SP account and opportunity relationship perspective you should always:

  • Look for the compelling event and then address it better than anyone else.

  • Build the strongest possible relationship with your customer/prospect.

  • If at all possible, avoid the RFP because it is too difficult to win.

  • Note that divestiture is as much a driver as mergers are and that hub site reconfigurations are difficult!




MPLS and Next-Generation Networks(c) Foundations for NGN and Enterprise Virtualization
MPLS and Next-Generation Networks: Foundations for NGN and Enterprise Virtualization
ISBN: 1587201208
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 162

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