Tell Your Customers Before You Turn Off the Internet

A Manual, Repetitive Process

Before we automated the process, it was slow and relied heavily on manual effort. Operators received outage alerts via email. Each email contained a table of optical lines due for downtime. However, these messages did not include direct links to customer contacts, making them hard to use. Operators had to open each email, find the service IDs, look up the corresponding MSISDNs in a separate CRM system, calculate the start and end times of outages, and then manually write and send SMS notifications.

Every outage required shifting between mailboxes, spreadsheets, and CRM tools while repeating the same steps. The process was prone to errors, took a lot of time, and used too many resources, especially during busy times when multiple outages were announced at once. This put a significant strain on operators, whose time could be better spent on important tasks.

This is where BitSwan automation made a difference. We set up an automated system to process emails from the outage mailbox in real time. The automation reads each message, pulls relevant service identifiers, and cross-references them with internal CRM exports to get customer contact numbers.

The automation also detects the type of outage message received—whether it's a new outage notification, a cancellation, or a rescheduling notice. This helps maintain accuracy and reduce noise.

From Email to Actionable Data

After mapping is completed, the automation creates a list of affected customers and a ready-to-send SMS template. The message contains all necessary information: start time, end time, and a clear notice of the planned outage. Instead of spending time collecting data and writing notifications, operators now access a clear, pre-organized view that shows all active and upcoming outages.

A Clear View Built for Operations

Each outage is presented with all relevant details. Operators can quickly see which customers are affected and what messages are prepared. They can copy the list of phone numbers and send SMS messages without further formatting. It’s fast, reliable, and easy to use.

Smarter Team Collaboration

The automation supports teamwork by showing which outages have been processed, which ones are still underway, and who is handling what. This prevents duplicating efforts and makes it easy for team members to hand over tasks.

Handling Complex Scenarios with Precision

A key challenge was that one planned outage might be announced across multiple emails, each with different affected lines. Without proper management, this could lead to duplicate entries or missed contacts. BitSwan automation resolves this by identifying and merging related emails using a shared outage identifier found in each message. It updates existing records when new customers are mentioned and maintains one clear source of information for every outage event.

Managing Cancellations and Reschedules

We also considered changes in outage plans. Emails about cancellations or reschedules are identified and processed automatically. If an outage is canceled, it is marked in the system so operators don’t waste time preparing unnecessary messages. If the time changes, the automation deletes the old entry and creates a new one with updated information.

A Smarter, Scalable Process