Norwegian cable provider Get has been at the forefront of telecom technology in the region for more than 50 years. In 1969, it became Norway’s first cable provider, and in 1997 was the first to offer broadband. Today, Get offers industry-leading 1GB download speeds. It was acquired by Telia Norway in 2018. As a telecom pioneer, Get had groundbreaking successes, but not without a few stumbles® hybrid multicloud experience and go on to win customer support awards.
Delivering the Best Customer Experiences
Today, Get is an award-winning cable provider, but according to Arnesen, that didn’t happen overnight. There was a time when the company knew it needed to transform to be able to meet customer expectations. It adopted sense-and-respond models, which meant that it leveraged technology and lean processes to collect feedback and react quickly, making adjustments to its TV and broadband delivery. Get turned to its unhappiest customers as advisors to learn where it was falling short. Arnesen said, “What we did was to really take that in and say, ‘Okay, we need to deliver quality. And we always need to deliver what the customer needs, as they need it.’ So that’s one of the transformations—understanding the customer demand.”
Get’s transformation allowed it to be agile and to respond quickly and frequently—a must for a company delivering service to 540,000 Norwegian households and 1.7 million connected devices. The changes it implemented worked, resulting in an award for having Norway’s best customer center in 2018.
Taking the Right Risks
How did a traditional company adopt cutting-edge technology and processes? It started with leadership. Get has had technology-driven CEOs over the years who have hired and empowered other bold leaders and engineers who think like entrepreneurs. Because leadership has created a culture where innovation is the norm, employees have the freedom to experiment. This risk-taking culture helped Get become the first provider to bring Netflix to Norway, and the first in Europe to include HBO in its bundle. Arnesen explained, “While others think twice, our engineers just say ‘let’s do it.’ And then they empower everybody else to actually run forward and do it—and everybody delivers on it.”
This mindset prompted Get to use the NetApp Data Fabric and NetApp HCI, using public and private clouds to create a hybrid cloud infrastructure. This multicloud experience gives Get the ability to meet ever-changing demands like spikes in viewership, new device requirements, and updated content. It also allows the company to be more nimble, deploy new content faster, and gain the speed to stay ahead of the competition.
In an age where everyone can set up a TV stream by accessing how-to information online, it takes a lot of work to be the go-to provider. “So,” explained Arnesen, “We need to deliver the lines that people need, and empower our users to watch TV or use broadband, whenever they want, wherever they are.”
Staying Ahead of IoT
Although Get has achieved industry-leader status, its transformation isn’t over. It still needs to address today’s—and tomorrow’s—technology advances and threats. For example, IoT has a substantial impact on Get network performance. Inexpensive smart devices that remain dormant can tax and drain the network. “We need to build a resilient network,” said Arnesen. “And safety is a concern. We need to make sure that your IoT is your IoT and not somebody else’s. That’s had a huge impact on our business.”
With illegal broadband streaming and increased competition, it’s important for Get to use technology to be better and faster and to stay ahead, while remaining competitively priced. As Arnesen pointed out, “If you get too expensive, [customers] are going to choose somebody else.”
Planning for Peak Usage
Pricing is an important component, but delivering memorable content and experiences is crucial. So when there’s a popular media surge or a momentous TV viewing event like the beginning of the Game of Thrones final season, the Get team knows that they need to be ready. “Game of Thrones, when that airs for the first time, we’re going to blow out all the fuses,” said Arnesen. He explained that Get prepares for peak usage by using its network solutions and business intelligence data to ensure that it can handle the surge and continue to release content quickly, keeping their customers satisfied.
Empowering Customers with NetApp
By learning about the experiences that customers desire, Get was able to form the requirements that allow it to meet that demand. Tapping NetApp to help it maximize the best of public cloud and private cloud helped the company deliver a consistent user experience and delight audiences with content that informs and entertains.
