Delivering a powerful customer self-service portal for Neos Networks

A manual quoting process and changing expectations of B2B customers

B2B customers are relying less and less on personal interactions to make decisions, preferring instead to have control over their own buying journey with a human-led team on standby to deal with more complex requests.

As a next-generation telecoms company offering high-capacity fibre connectivity and collaboration solutions to UK businesses, Neos Networks saw the potential of embedding a self-service digital portal to address the changing buying habits of B2B customers.

Their previous system required Account Managers to manually respond to all customer quote requests. This process was restrictive and time-consuming for both the Account Managers and customers, and overshadowed the benefits of one-to-one contact. Without an instant response to requests or a cost benchmark for customers to self-qualify, the process was having a negative effect on the customer experience.

Neos Networks partnered with Tech City Teams to find and deliver a solution.

Putting the customer in control and freeing up internal teams

We worked closely with Neos Networks to identify the key objectives that would ensure the project outcome fully met the needs of the business and their customers. 

The solution needed to be dynamic and flexible, able to address customer requests at both ends of the scale, from time-critical quotes to more complicated requests.

To mitigate the delays caused by manual data collection, the Account Managers also needed pricing and availability information from a single point of access. To do this, the solution had to seamlessly integrate with Neos Networks’ CRM and external data sources. 

A dynamic digital portal capable of capturing the business needs of customers

We called on a range of disciplines and technologies to support the delivery of the solution, including UX/UI, data engineering, AWS DevOps, and testing.

In order to reduce maintenance and development costs, we used AWS serverless technologies for deployment and the latest in front end and back end for development. These included:

Architecture

• Microservices serverless architecture
• Single-page application front end
  

Development

• Python 3.10 for data engineering and the RESTful API
• React for single-page application front-end
  

Deployment

• Continuous integration and deployment using CircleCI, PyTest and Cypress
• AWS API Gateway backed by AWS Lambdas for the RESTfulAPI
• AWS Cognito for managed user authentication and authorisation
• AWS RDS Postgres as data store
• AWS S3 / Cloudfront for resource storage, offering fastest possible loading times
• End-to-end monitoring using AWS Cloudwatch and AWS X-Ray
• Deployed using AWS Cloudformation for single-command deploys

Analysis and reporting

• AWS QuickSight

The result was LIVEQUOTE, an online pricing, availability and ordering engine that integrates with both Neos Networks’ CRM and external data sources to provide customers with immediate self-service quotes.

Earning client confidence with our commitment to QA & testing

Delivering a self-service digital portal of this complexity required extensive planning and continuous dialogue with Neos Networks throughout the process.

Our integration platform helped facilitate this, with users and stakeholders able to track our progress and provide feedback on features the moment they were complete. 

"You've delivered so much it's almost too much to take in”
Digital Product Owner 

We also combined automated testing with an intense focus on quality control to reduce the need for manual testers and instil confidence in the quality of our work.

This approach fostered a deep level of trust from Neos Networks. They were confident that we understood and aligned with their needs and goals, and as a result we were able to suggest features and improvements to help take the portal to the next level.

An accurate and autonomous data platform for improved customer experience

For Neos Networks, the impact of LIVEQUOTE both internally and externally has been revolutionary. 

• Customers can take control of their own buying journey - LIVEQUOTE users can either self-qualify or speak to an Account Manager where requirements are more complex.
• Accurate quotes are now available immediately - Purchasing decisions can be made accurately and autonomously now that the need for manual responses and customer data keying removed.
• Accessible information -  Account Managers can now review quotes and orders, adjust pricing, ask for more information, approve orders for progression, and more.

This solution has put Neos Networks’ customers in the driving seat of their buying journey, complemented the skills of their human Account Managers, and helped this telecoms giant retain its competitive edge.

What’s next for Tech City Teams & Neos Networks

From becoming an official supplier of Neos Networks in 2020, to discussing Wave 2 of the LIVEQUOTE portal in 2023, we continue to enable Neos Networks to achieve more, grow from within and sit amongst best-in-class for innovation in the sector.

Thanks to the trusted relationship we’ve built over the last three years, we continue to work closely with Neos Networks on their development roadmap for different areas of the business.

Learn about other projects we’ve delivered for Neos Networks:

• The integrated data solution that saved Neos Networks £4m
• Efficient PIA data extraction for Neos Networks