Are your onsite field deployment technicians and engineers properly qualified?

Not all onsite field technicians or engineers are created equal.

Of course, they aren't, you shrug to yourself. Everyone knows that. Why should I be concerned about this?

You should be if you are a business or decision maker involved in onsite customer technology deployments or onsite customer field support.

Data, voice, network, point of sale or computer upgrades and refreshes, take your customers offline.

Are you concerned yet?

When your customer is screaming over the phone and telling you exactly what they think of you and the organisation you represent you may be?

Having the correct onsite field delivery resource at your customer site installing or repairing their lifeline to the world is a big deal.

Getting the onsite issue repaired or deployed quickly will make you the hero.

Let’s break down two onsite resource types that always seem to bring headaches and confusion to multisite deployments.

Level 1 engineer Vs Registered cabler

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Level 1 engineer

The first thing to understand about Level 1 engineers in a field deployment sense is that the term Level 1 engineer is very ambiguous.

Does a Level 1 engineer mean they are degree qualified or have any qualifications?

That’s not to say they are not good at what they can complete on-site.

It could mean that if they need to complete works outside a Level 1 engineer scope of work, they may fall short and require a more experienced field resource to attend the site and complete the work.

This means extra costs and extra time the customer is offline.

Registered cabler

The main purpose of being a qualified registered cabler is that you can connect telephone, data, fire, and security alarm systems cabling to the telecommunications network.

It’s a legal requirement, and tough penalties (including imprisonment) apply if you are not properly qualified and complete this work.

Registered cablers are also capable of completing Level 1 engineer scopes of work.

This means no need to engage another technician, no extra costs and the work will be completed within budget and on time.

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Connectivity providers

The confusion for providers is ensuring their deployment delivery partners provide the correctly qualified onsite resources.

The hard part for onsite field resources, and providers, is when the onsite scope of work is different than what was in the planned scope of work and the onsite technician cannot complete the work there and then.

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Some of the most common tasks that a registered cabler may be required to complete that a level 1 technician can’t complete include:

1 Extend computer, telephony, or data cabling.

Even temporary or cabling not installed in ceiling or wall space could be cabling considered to be installed by a registered cabler

2 Connect CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) devices to provider NTUs (Network Termination Units) NBN (National Broadband Network) or Internet provider

3 Repatching and upgrades of existing LAN (Local Area Network) including routers, security appliances, network switches, IP handsets, wireless access points, POS (Point of Sale) terminals.

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If you have any queries about what onsite resources your deployment scope of work should include, please reach out here, and we will assist.

A copy of the registered cabler provider rules can be found here

Looking to become a registered cabler, click here

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