<img alt="" src="https://secure.smart-enterprise-365.com/362618.png" style="display:none;">
Login

Identifying Your Best Bandwidth Service Provider for Multi- or Single-Location Projects

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 17, 2022 9:15:00 AM

These days, with the amount of competition that plays out between different telecom companies, it can be a struggle to find the right bandwidth provider. There are so many different factors that determine the right provider, which leaves many searchers unsure about next steps.

Continue Reading

How a Fiber Locator Tool Streamlines Your CPQ Process

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 10, 2022 9:15:00 AM

Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software is an integrated process for accurately generating sales quotes fast, which enhances the purchasing experience. It also helps advance the selling process by removing cumbersome manual processes. Overall, it’s an automated, streamlined process that provides quotes quickly and accurately

Continue Reading

How BandwidthFinder's Algorithm Delivers Your Best Bandwidth Service Provider Options

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on May 31, 2022 9:15:00 AM

The demand for the highest-quality internet has never been greater. The internet is an integral tool in our personal and professional lives, and making it more valuable, cost-effective, and reliable is at the top of the list of connectivity demands.  

Continue Reading

Key Benefits to Making Your Footprint Public

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Apr 14, 2022 10:16:43 AM

The demand for reliable bandwidth solutions has never been greater. Nearly 80 percent of businesses rely on internet and cloud-based technologies to run their operations.

Telecom buyers, agents, and direct sales organizations are hard-pressed to find providers who are best suited to deliver services at their desired locations. Without access to a centralized platform that visualizes and connects them with sought-after providers and technologies, businesses often make ill-informed decisions

Continue Reading

How BandwidthFinder Delivers a More Efficient, Evolved Approach to Bandwidth Solutions

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Aug 19, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Advancements in technology have allowed local, national, and global communications to increase exponentially. Looking towards the future, communication needs are being met with $1.8 trillion in private sector investments in U.S. broadband infrastructure. With this influx comes more telecom provider options, so how should businesses go about choosing the right provider?

In the past, finding the right bandwidth solutions required a significant amount of time investment on the part of sales professionals. With today’s intelligence platforms, access to data information allows for a much easier research process that requires little more than an address from the researcher. Plus, it allows bandwidth providers to be found much more easily as well.

Continue Reading

The Value of BandwidthFinder: A Bandwidth Provider Serviceability Tool

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jul 29, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The internet has become infused into daily living and business operations. With 87 percent of people in the U.S. using the internet, a count that is expected to increase alongside increases in mobile devices and electronics markets, some argue that it should be considered a utility because it is essential for modern living.

For a long time, businesses seeking bandwidth services have delegated too many hours to researching bandwidth providers. These days, with the right tool, those hours that would have been dedicated to research can now be directed towards the business’s core competencies.

BandwidthFinder exists to make the bandwidth provider research process easier and faster for professionals in the telecom industry. All you need is an address to see which providers are available, and our algorithm quickly does all the work. Here’s how it works:

Continue Reading

How Global Address Management Allows for Bandwidth Providers to Level Up

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jul 9, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Worldwide, consumers and businesses have embraced the rapid growth of technology with more than 59 zettabytes of data captured in 2020 and an expected $3.7 trillion spent on information technology products by businesses in 2021. With these massive technology spending budgets, businesses are figuring out, first, what to do with the constant flow of information and, second, how to access it easily.

When performing bandwidth provider research online, a telecom salesperson is looking first and foremost for quick, relevant data. And for good reason: as part of the reported 2021 information technology product budget, businesses are expected to spend upwards of $704 billion on telecommunications systems.

Professionals in the telecom industry have access to a global address network, which is a database of fiber carriers and broadband carriers that provide services to a physical address, providing quick, relevant information. However, telecom providers leverage many different techniques to standardize or validate their addresses. There is no single method between all providers, which makes address matching between disparate systems a challenge.

Global address management is the ability to consume disparate address data from external sources and unify those addresses into a single structure that allows users to search a specific address and receive matches from all providers regardless of their address naming and validation methods.

With the right tool, such as BandwidthFinder, bandwidth service providers can gain a few benefits:

Continue Reading

Network Presence: The Telecom Aggregator Secret Weapon

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jul 1, 2021 12:00:00 AM

As providers extend their network through underlying supplier relationships, the lines become blurred between who is a carrier and who is a solution provider. The truth is, almost every provider out there is buying last-mile connectivity through aggregation techniques to fill in the gaps of their network and provide a more holistic solution for customers on one bill.

From wired to wireless to fiber connectivity, diverse telecom channels and service options have greatly expanded the network presence capacity for both carriers and solution providers at any given address.

This is especially true when solution providers aggregate telecom service from carriers to combine disparate networks into a single service that leverages multiple points of connectivity. As providers expand their network through these techniques, it becomes more important to look at a provider's network presence instead of just their owned network facilities.

Continue Reading

Use Multiple Location Analytics to Quickly Assess Both On-Net and Off-Net Locations

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 24, 2021 12:00:00 AM

It’s both necessary and a major pain point for agents to connect customers to the best telecom services options at their address. Knowing whether a building is on-net or off-net helps determine the applicability of different service packages, but it isn’t always an easy task.

Comparing connectivity among a set of on-net and off-net service options can be a challenge with manual research processes that have limited data analytics capabilities. Even with the most robust database at your fingertips, the amount of legwork involved in researching can take a significant amount of time that might be better used elsewhere.

With so much variance in the data points available to represent these various service options, algorithmic research is the only way to reliably synthesize the data and accurately assess your options. This is especially true when conducting research across multiple addresses, which makes the task of on-net and off-net research even more complex and difficult to achieve without a qualitative research process powered by algorithmic software.

In this article, we expand on the many benefits of an algorithmic software to make your sales process more accurate, time-efficient, and immediate.

Continue Reading

On-Net vs. Off-Net: A Tale of Two Connectivities

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Jun 17, 2021 12:00:00 AM

In the worst of times, telecom customers have been forced to find connectivity options at addresses where no telecom service has been connected in the past—meaning there’s always a small risk that their preferred service option will face an obstacle to installation.

In the best of times, customers have an abundance of choices that include telecom connectivity through existing infrastructure, as well as the ability to connect to service options by installing new infrastructure or connecting to wireless service.

These two scenarios illustrate one of the basic differences between on-net and off-net connectivity. On-net service, which refers to a carrier that owns network facilities at a specific location, is already connected at that location. By contrast, off-net connectivity refers to a solution provider that has connected to the location by purchasing use of the local network facility through a supplier relationship. As a result, off-net connectivity can involve more unknown and hard-to-identify variables that may affect not only connectivity, but also service quality at an address.

Although the worst-case scenario with off-net connection options may be scary to some customers, the good news is that strong telecom research automation can help you better understand these connectivity options before customers commit to a service option. As a result, telecom businesses can thoroughly evaluate connectivity and score service package options to avoid worst-case scenarios and give customers the type of telecom service they’re seeking at their locations.

Here are some key differences to emphasize as your customers weigh their options between on-net and off-net telecom connections.

Continue Reading

Take Serviceability on the Go with a Mobile-Friendly Fiber Finder

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 10, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Manual serviceability research, which used to be a necessary cost of doing business for bandwidth providers, is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to error.

Fortunately, modern automation technology has transformed the way bandwidth providers do business, allowing them to take serviceability on the go with the right tools. In fact, thanks to automated serviceability research, the days of combing through data and staring at fiber maps may be entirely a thing of the past.

With that said, offering a solid, mobile-friendly digital experience that aligns with modern consumer preferences is essential for achieving success in today’s climate. Most serviceability tools are designed for desktop, because data and mapping technology does not lend itself well to smaller mobile footprints

In this article, we’ll share tips for evaluating mobile-friendliness, plus discuss why it matters in the bandwidth service industry.

BandwidthFinder is the solution to your telecom serviceability worries. Learn more.

Continue Reading

How to Get the Best Fiber-Optic Access

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 3, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Fiber is often one of the most coveted forms of connectivity among telecom customers. But as a relatively new form of telecom infrastructure, fiber-optic access can be limited, depending on the customer’s location.

In cases where customers are seeking telecom services for a set of addresses, fiber-optic access may be fragmented, with only a percentage of those addresses able to connect with fiber service. In addition, presence is only one aspect of determining great fiber connectivity for a customer.

To fully evaluate fiber and determine which options offer the best fiber-optic access, telecom providers need to invest in research tools that can process complex fiber data and account for different variables that affect fiber performance. Here are some practical ways telecom businesses can connect their customers to the best fiber service possible.

Continue Reading

What Is Carrier Aggregation in Telecom?

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on May 20, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Given the significant cost of building telecom infrastructure to serve a single market, telecom providers have to pick and choose where they build their own technology, and where they’re content to lease the use of infrastructure built and maintained by other providers—including their competitors.

In telecom, leasing of infrastructure to enable local network access is known as carrier aggregation, and it’s an important component of the business models for both carriers and solution providers.

Solution providers, for example, can use carrier aggregation to build a regional or nationwide network of telecom infrastructure. From there, the provider can use suppliers to lease access on a scale ranging from local markets and regions to individual buildings. Carriers, meanwhile, rely on aggregators as a demand driver to justify expanding their coverage area, increasing their market share in targeted regions.

Although carrier aggregation offers a lot of potential value to solution providers, the cost and resource investment of this process can be a significant obstacle for providers to clear without software solutions to simplify this process.

Continue Reading

Bandwidth Service Providers and Data Privacy Control

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on May 13, 2021 12:00:00 AM

When performing telecom research online, the quality of your research is determined, first and foremost, by your ability to access relevant, quality data.

For bandwidth service providers, this important data comes in the form of public and private data sets that can be combined together to build a complete picture of bandwidth at any given address. As telecom sales professionals seek out the best bandwidth serviceability for their clients, they need the ability to access this full spectrum of data—and to sort and filter data to generate valuable insights relevant to any client’s needs

The right software tools can help your sales team and partners access public and private telecom data, bring disparate data together, and enable customized views to support efficient, accurate service—giving your business the insights it needs to optimize service configuration and quoting to meet your clients’ needs.

Here’s how an automated, data-connected tool like BandwidthFinder can support your research process.

Continue Reading

6 Things You Need to Know About On-Net and Off-Net Buildings

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on May 6, 2021 12:00:00 AM

When connecting customers to the best service options at their address, the difference between on-net and off-net buildings can be a big one. Service packages and the overall configure price quote (CPQ) process need to know whether any telecom services are on-net at a given location, whether it’s a carrier you represent or a competitor in the local market.

For our purposes in this article, “on-net” refers to a carrier that owns network facilities at a particular location. “Off-net” refers to a solution provider that connects the location to their own network by purchasing the network facility through a supplier relationship.

Many consumers and businesses may not think about on-net versus off-net properties when choosing a location, but the availability of these services can have a big impact on both the services and service package pricing that makes sense for these customers. Here are six things you should know about the differences between on-net and off-net buildings.

Continue Reading

Taking Bandwidth Solutions up a Notch: Swap Data Stacks for Careful Recommendations

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Apr 29, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Data stacks provide an essential service in organizing data sets to store information and support easy management and processing of this data. But the infrastructure of these data stacks can vary widely, depending on the supporting software behind them.

Outdated or limited data stacks can create limitations for what you’re able to achieve through these structures, especially when it comes to evaluating bandwidth solutions and performing other essential services as a telecom business.

If you’re working with an existing data stack that requires a lot of manual lifting and restricts your data processing capabilities, you might be able to improve your telecom customer experience by upgrading the data stacks used in your bandwidth solutions.

Here are some of the benefits that can come with swapping out your data stacks.

Continue Reading

Top 4 CPQ Telecom Technologies Solving Provider Challenges

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Apr 22, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The growing pains brought on by digital transformation aren't endured just for the sake of putting businesses through unprecedented challenges. While the transition to these new solutions is often a gradual and sometimes difficult process, the end result of digital transformation provides benefits made possible only through modern solutions to long-standing configure, price, quote (CPQ) telecom problems.

This transformation is alleviating multiple pain points and limitations that have plagued telecom providers for years—and which have only gotten worse as telecom infrastructure has grown more complex. To keep pace with both the expectations of customers and the task of managing complexity around CPQ telecom services, new technologies are taking an algorithmic and rules-based approach that is necessary to build a sustainable telecom business model.

Here are four CPQ telecom technologies solving these pressing industry challenges.

Continue Reading

Why Connectivity Is Critical When Selecting a Bandwidth Provider

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Apr 15, 2021 12:00:00 AM

In business and in our day-to-day lives, we all live in a connected world. When it comes to choosing a bandwidth provider to support your business through telecom infrastructure, this connectivity takes on a different meaning altogether.

Although connectivity is important to any company that conducts at least some of its business online, the proliferation of digital tools and cloud-based business solutions has turned connectivity into a mission-critical service that must be accounted for when choosing a bandwidth provider.

Here’s a look at the way connectivity affects your business operations, your customer experience, and your ability to keep pace with the changes brought on by digital transformation.

Continue Reading

Why Telecom Sales Automation Is Essential

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Apr 8, 2021 12:00:00 AM

No matter where or how it’s used, sales automation is always hailed for one big reason: When it’s working on your behalf, you can count on it making your life easier.

Make no mistake—when software tools offer automated sales solutions to power your business operations, even the most reluctant adopters of this technology will eventually concede that access to automation tools helps them do their job better, and often with less stress involved. But that’s far from the extent of automation’s benefits, and those benefits play a direct role in maximizing ROI for your business.

For telecom sales channels and departments, automation offers some important material gains that improve on-the-job performance and raise the ceiling for revenue generation from these activities. Here are some of the biggest impacts automation can make on your business model.

Continue Reading

Tiresome Research Make Way For Bandwidth Solutions

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Mar 25, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The old way of researching bandwidth solutions is labor-intensive. Between tracking down location data and inputting data points, telecom businesses lose a lot of time to a research process that—despite its tedious process—doesn’t always deliver the most reliable results.

Manual research isn't just costly and threatened by manual input errors. They also restrict your company’s ability to scale its service to a larger customer base. And, as the demand grows more complex, involving larger sets of location data that both complicates data acquisition and input variables, the research demands of location and bandwidth solutions only continue to grow.

New research tools are desperately needed to help telecom businesses keep pace with the modern world. Fortunately, automated tools and customized dashboards are making it easier than ever to bring this digital transformation to your own bandwidth research process.

Continue Reading

Tiresome Research Make Way For Bandwidth Solutions

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Mar 25, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The old way of researching bandwidth solutions is labor-intensive. Between tracking down location data and inputting data points, telecom businesses lose a lot of time to a research process that—despite its tedious process—doesn’t always deliver the most reliable results.

Manual research isn't just costly and threatened by manual input errors. They also restrict your company’s ability to scale its service to a larger customer base. And, as the demand grows more complex, involving larger sets of location data that both complicates data acquisition and input variables, the research demands of location and bandwidth solutions only continue to grow.

New research tools are desperately needed to help telecom businesses keep pace with the modern world. Fortunately, automated tools and customized dashboards are making it easier than ever to bring this digital transformation to your own bandwidth research process.

Continue Reading

Tiresome Research Make Way For Bandwidth Solutions

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Mar 25, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The old way of researching bandwidth solutions is labor-intensive. Between tracking down location data and inputting data points, telecom businesses lose a lot of time to a research process that—despite its tedious process—doesn’t always deliver the most reliable results.

Manual research isn't just costly and threatened by manual input errors. They also restrict your company’s ability to scale its service to a larger customer base. And, as the demand grows more complex, involving larger sets of location data that both complicates data acquisition and input variables, the research demands of location and bandwidth solutions only continue to grow.

New research tools are desperately needed to help telecom businesses keep pace with the modern world. Fortunately, automated tools and customized dashboards are making it easier than ever to bring this digital transformation to your own bandwidth research process.

Continue Reading

The BandwidthFinder Algorithm: Why Looking at a Fiber Map Will Be a Thing of the Past

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Mar 18, 2021 12:00:00 AM

For telecom businesses, the hours and days lost to evaluating telecom serviceability through manual research has been a necessary cost of doing business. However, digital transformation has paved the way to alleviate this burden through data-driven processes and automated research tools.

Thanks to algorithmic evaluation and improved data connectivity, today’s telecom serviceability research isn’t relegated to manual research involving tracing routes of fiber maps. Here’s a look at how modern telecom software is achieving greater speed of service while also providing more accurate results.

Continue Reading

Digital Transformation for Software Used in the Telecom Industry

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Mar 11, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Through improved infrastructure and expanded serviceability, the telecom industry is itself an engine of digital transformation, supporting innovation across all industries. But the benefits of this digital transformation can also be applied to the software used in the telecom industry.

Modern software solutions open new doors and unlock new potential for telecom businesses still stuck in the traditional ways of doing business. As adoption of these innovative solutions gains steam throughout the telecom industry, it will create a wider gap between the haves and have-nots among carriers, service providers and resellers of telecom services.

Here’s a look at how digital transformation is creating new opportunities through telecom software.

Continue Reading

Up to Date Telecom Provider Serviceability Isn't A Pipe Dream

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Mar 4, 2021 12:00:00 AM

In telecom, as in other areas of digital disruption, the speed and scale of transformation is often set by the quality of data driving that change. Serviceability quality can be quantified in multiple ways, including not just the volume of data, but the relative age of that data.

Continue Reading

Defining Serviceability Accuracy: Where Bandwidth Providers and Rating Precision Meet

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Feb 25, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Serviceability in dedicated and broadband technology services is a tug-of-war between the haves and the have-nots. Although serviceability data is crucial to connecting with the right telecom service at a given location, access to this data can be both costly and inefficient—and you and your team are often forced to choose between the two.

Continue Reading

Why Diversity in Technology Matters for a Bandwidth Service Provider

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Feb 18, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Fiber, coax, and the emerging 5G technology often get treated as the holy grails of modern telecom service. But the reality is that no single technology is the be-all-end-all when it comes to offering the best telecom service.

Continue Reading

Why Presence in Bandwidth Solutions Is More Important Than Owning Last-Mile Network

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Feb 11, 2021 12:00:00 AM

When it comes to maximizing telecom service availability to a single address or a group of addresses, telecom providers have typically viewed this effort as a war to win the “last mile” of connectivity for their customers.

Continue Reading

Integrating SaaS Telecom Sales Automation into Your Agent Portal

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Feb 4, 2021 12:00:00 AM

For telecom agents, the task of adopting digital transformation in their sales process can also bump up against the complications of making wholesale changes to their sales infrastructure.

Continue Reading

Introducing a Smarter, Cost-Effective Way to Find Bandwidth Solutions

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jan 28, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Telecom availability is one of the most important aspects of connecting customers to telecom service at their specific address. Sales professionals need to quickly and efficiently gather this data to inform their configure, price, quote (CPQ) process.

Continue Reading

How CPQ And Quoting as a Service Benefits Telecom Carriers

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jan 21, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Despite serving as one of the first adopters of application programming interface (API) technology as a tool for building collaborative, communicative business solutions, the telecom industry has failed to leverage the opportunities and efficiencies that come with this innovative software tool.

Continue Reading

How to Keep Up with Accelerated Telecom Infrastructure Buildout

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Jan 14, 2021 12:00:00 AM

5G isn’t the only factor driving the buildout of telecom infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid increase in demand for high-speed telecom spectrum, has accelerated the construction of this infrastructure by an entire decade, bringing swift and transformative change to the telecom industry.

Continue Reading

Digital Transformation in Telecom: Our Expectations for 2021

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jan 7, 2021 12:00:00 AM

From service infrastructure to the way brokers quote prices to their customers, digital transformation is touching every part of the telecom industry. As the calendar year changes, the disruption taking place on multiple fronts is going to affect both day-to-day telecom business operations, and the services and performance your customers expect.

As 2021 unfolds, here’s a look at the most significant changes taking place in telecom—and how it might affect carriers, solutions providers, and telecom brokers.

Continue Reading

CPQ Software Is The Edge Telecom Brokers Need

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Dec 29, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Telecom customers and prospects have high expectations when they solicit the services of a telecom broker. They want the best price possible, and they want a fast quote that can help them make their decision.

Because telecom brokers provide CPQ services across a range of carriers, they need CPQ software that can provide this speed and accuracy for all of their customers—especially as they scale, and especially as other telecom brokers embrace similar tech upgrades.

Adopting new CPQ software gives your brokerage the ability to deliver better services that improve your close rates and your sales revenue. Here are the specific benefits you can expect from this software.

Continue Reading

Location-Based Intelligence Impacting Telecom Go-to-Market Strategies

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Dec 22, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Geographic market areas are always in flux. Customers are moving in and out, and the needs of those customers continue to evolve based on their telecom usage and needs.

Location-based intelligence offers one of the most accurate, up-to-date sources of information related to the telecom behaviors of your target audience. As you plan an entry into a new market, this information should be a key component of your efforts to build a go-to-market strategy and market your brand to these prospects.

Here are some of the biggest contributions location-based intelligence can make to your go-to-market strategy.

Continue Reading

Telecom Quoting Can't Afford to Lag Behind the Competition

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Dec 17, 2020 12:00:00 AM

As telecom quoting processes embrace more software-driven solutions, telecom businesses face greater pressure to transform their operations and keep pace with the industry’s evolution.

Automation and algorithm-based CPQ (configure, price, quote) processes are key to creating the efficiencies needed to accelerate these services. If you aren’t automating the aggregation of your suppliers, then you’re creating a manual process—which increases your quote intervals and causes you to miss out on more opportunities.

When businesses delay digital transformation, they end up creating more challenges in the future. Don’t let this happen to your telecom business—invest in solutions that keep pace with your competition.

Continue Reading

Achieving a Connected Telecom Partner Portal for Effective Quoting

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Dec 10, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Most telecom businesses view an effective partner portal as a tool to streamline the configure-price-quote (CPQ) process. But the connectivity of this portal also plays a significant role in determining how efficiently your sales teams can generate leads, deliver fast quotes, and close deals to grow your business.

Here’s a look at the benefits that come with adopting a connected telecom partner portal for your business.

Continue Reading

Accuracy Matters: An Analytic Approach to Telecom Provider Availability

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Dec 3, 2020 12:00:00 AM

When prospects are looking for a new telecom provider, availability matters. Poor availability will lead to service disruptions and dysfunction that increase downtime for the customer, grind workflows to a halt, and quickly turn your customers against your business.

Resellers must keep availability in mind when choosing the best services to provide their customers, but telecom network availability can be complex, and it may vary even in different floors of the same building. Effective CPQ (configure, price, quote) processes leverage analytics and a solutions-based approach to connect customers to the right telecom provider. 

Here are some of the factors that need to be considered in this process.

Continue Reading

How a Dedicated Telecom Quoting Tool Out Performs In-House Solutions

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Nov 24, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Most telecom businesses understand the value of implementing a quoting tool that streamlines or eliminates time-consuming manual processes, while also offering features that improve both the speed and quality of configured quotes being delivered to current and prospective customers.

If you’re in the market for a quoting tool that can modernize your quoting process, your business might be considering in-house development of a proprietary solution. While this may offer some attractive advantages on the service, it can also create limitations that you aren’t as likely to face with an outsourced quoting tool.

Here are some of the ways an outsourced telecom quoting tool can out-perform any potential in-house alternative.

Continue Reading

Digital Transformation in Telecom Necessitates Data Intelligence

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Nov 19, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Digital transformation in the telecom industry has set a pace that many providers struggle to match. The rise of fiber, broadband, 4G, and now 5G LTE, along with fixed wireless and copper networks, has caused enterprise data consumption to explode in recent years. The same is true for managed and cloud-based business applications.

The blurred lines between phone, cable TV, and internet consumption have further increased the demands placed on telecom services. As streaming has increased, so have the number of cloud-based services used by consumers on a daily basis.

Managing this increased data volume requires new data intelligence tools and strategies for telecom services. Here’s a look at some of the innovative solutions that will help you improve data management, and deliver improved quality of service, to your customers.

Continue Reading

Telecom Sales Automation for Higher Prospect to Customer Rates

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Nov 12, 2020 12:00:00 AM

Whether you’re a telecom carrier, broker, or reseller, the challenge of converting customers is the same: Stocking and converting your sales pipeline is often a time-consuming and inefficient process.  

Telecom sales automation gives you the tools you need to build and maintain momentum for your company’s growth, optimizing your engagement strategy to achieve a higher prospect-to-customer rate for those sales efforts. 

Here are the 8 proven methods by which telecom sales automation helps enhance customer acquisition rates.

Continue Reading

T-Mobile Launches MasterStream-RX

By Jeff Fraser on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Salestream Software, Inc., today announced the release of T-Mobile’s private instance of MasterStream-RX to support their partner program. The Un-carrierTM is breaking the rules again by becoming the first major wireless carrier to deploy MasterStream, the agent channel’s most popular sales automation platform. 

Empowered by MasterStream’s characteristic ease-of-use driven portal design, authorized T-Mobile agent partners will soon find quoting on-demand easier than ever when it comes to navigating the often challenging process of pairing devices and plan options with compatibility and configuration rules.

Topics: Quoting
Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP Helps MAXAIR Automate Their Quoting In Response To Covid-19 Demand

By MasterStream PR on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

IRVINE, CORONA, April 20, 2020 – MasterStream ERP (www.masterstreamerp.com), the makers of leading quote-to-cash automation software for telecom providers, master agents and agents, today announced that it is joining the fight with Bio-Medical Devices Intl. MAXAIR division to automate their medical equipment quoting and ordering to accelerate the distribution of critical lifesaving medical personal protective equipment (PPE) designed to abate the COVID-19 spread.

Continue Reading

CBTS selects MasterStream

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

MasterStream ERP has been selected by CBTS to enable CBTS Channel Partners to automate and simplify the complex quoting and procurement of IT services. "We are excited to bring the power of MasterStream to the CBTS partner community," said Chris Gellos, EVP of Sales & Marketing at MasterStream. "Automating and simplifying the complex quoting process will help CBTS partners streamline and optimize their sales process and allow them to quickly deliver cost-effective, accurate quotes.”

Continue Reading

MasterStream Now Quoting In 200 Countries With Expereo’s Global Reach

By Jeff Fraser on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Salestream Software, Inc., today announced the ability to quote telecom services in over 200 countries with the addition of Expereo to its MasterStream-RX platform. The addition of Expereo to the MasterStream platform allows the agent community unprecedented access to international quoting on demand from a proven leader in the industry. Expereo’s initial launch with MasterStream includes both Internet and IVPN services with each supported by a broad array of available access technologies. 

With a unique installed base in 200 countries and counting, Expereo is the leading local access centric Managed Networks Operator globally. Expereo provides Dedicated and Broadband Internet, Ethernet, Virtual Private Networks, SDWAN, Equipment and on-site Professional Services to multi-nationals, international carriers, cloud providers, master agents and integrators all in single bill, currency, contract, and support for your customers.

Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP Has Secured $2 Million in Growth Funding from SaaS Capital

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

CINCINNATI, NEW YORK, SEATTLE, CORONA, June 19, 2018 – MasterStream ERP (www.masterstreamerp.com), the makers of leading quote-to-cash automation software for telecom providers, master agents and agents, today announced that it has secured $2 million in growth funding from SaaS Capital, the leading provider of Committed Credit Facilities to SaaS Companies.

Continue Reading

Salestream Software Announces Corporate Name Change to MasterStream ERP to Reflect Broader Product Offerings and Enhancements

By MasterStream PR on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Salestream Software (salestreamsoft.com), makers of the leading quote-to-cash software for telecom providers, master agents and agents, announced today that it is changing its corporate name to MasterStream ERP. The name change, effective immediately, reflects the company's recent changes in its product catalog and its expertise in providing customized ERP solutions for the telecom industry. 

“Our new name – MasterStream ERP – better defines us as a modularized ERP solutions provider, which is also supported by our newly enhanced product initiatives,” said Chief Strategy Officer, Jeff Fraser. “As an established leading provider of software solutions in the telecom industry, our new name also reflects our commitment to expanding with breakthrough products and services that will help connect all the dots in the telecom quoting, sales and operational processes.” 

With MasterStream ERP, customers can manage their sales process at multiple levels with a customized solution designed to fit their specific business size and needs. Customers ranging from small agents to full Master Agents can all benefit from the personalized, flexible, and buildable modular ERP system that MasterStream has provided for more than ten years. And, announced this year in conjunction with the name change, the company is introducing the Drive! by MasterStream suite of products. Targeted as a right-sized solution for agents, a Drive! by MasterStream or HyperDrive! by MasterStream solution can provide more competitive pricing by engaging multiple suppliers, can automatically generate professional quotes to deliver to customers, and can provide faster response times. 

Continue Reading

TBI Signs 10 Year License Deal With MasterStream-MX

By Jeff Fraser on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Salestream Software, Inc., today announced a new long-term business relationship with TBI (Telecom Brokerage, Inc.). TBI has entered into a ten-year license of Salestream’s MasterStream-MX platform, making it Salestream’s longest license term ever signed. 

Recognized as one of the telecom industry’s highest performing master agencies for 25 years running, TBI is well known for its commitment to providing its agent partners with superior support. With more than 70 telecom providers in its portfolio, and more than 2500 agent partners, TBI’s administrative demands are extraordinary. With MasterStream, TBI aims to further improve the experience it provides to its partners with extensive on-demand quoting while reducing its operational overhead.

Continue Reading

Global Capacity Joins MasterStream Ecosystem

By Jeff Fraser on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Salestream Software, Inc., today announced the addition of Global Capacity to its MasterStream Cloud ecosystem for agent users. Agents using the MasterStream-MX platform can now quote Internet services on-demand from one of the industry’s most prolific providers of Internet access. Global Capacity’s nearly ubiquitous national reach means qualified agents will receive quotes for Ethernet, DIA and Broadband for more of the opportunities they request through their MasterStream portals. 

“Global Capacity is a great addition to our growing ecosystem and they’ll certainly be embraced by a large number of our agent users.” said Matt Clark, Salestream’s Vice President of Marketing. “With the ever-increasing demand for Internet services agents are looking for reputable providers who can deliver on both quality and price, and Global Capacity will be an excellent choice for them on both counts.” 

“Global Capacity’s participation in the MasterStream Cloud ecosystem combined with our brand promise of Connectivity Made SimpleTM, and differentiated products, like Asymmetrical Ethernet, will truly enable agent partners to win more opportunities and accelerate their business with us,” states Rob Olson, Global Capacity’s Vice President of Channel Sales.

Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP Named 2018 CUSTOMER Product of the Year Award Winner

By MasterStream PR on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

MasterStream ERP (www.masterstreamerp.com) – formerly Salestream Software – the makers of leading quote-to-cash automation software for telecom providers, master agents and agents, today announced that its Drive! suite of products won a 2018 CUSTOMER Product of the Year Award from TMC. This award recognizes the most innovative customer experience technology solutions brought to market. 

MasterStream’s Drive! suite of products enables resellers and agents to quickly gather information from multiple providers to deliver accurate and concise options to customers. A customizable sales management solution for telecommunications resellers and agents of all sizes, the Drive! suite allows resellers and agents to obtain quotes from nearly every major provider in a matter of moments and automate the follow-up required of complex quoting. 

“Today’s fast-paced telecom sales cycles require agents to deliver cost-effective, accurate quotes quickly,” said Chris Gellos, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at MasterStream ERP. “Our Drive! suite is enabling telecom sales to move at the speed of the networks they are selling. This recognition from TMC highlights the value we are delivering to sales teams across the telecom industry, and we look forward to continuing to deliver solutions that empower our customers’ businesses through automation.” 

The Drive! offerings enable agents to access multiple solutions and providers from a single platform, and has built-in checks to ensure the quoted options and prices provided to customers are available and accurate. This instant access enables agents to deliver even the most complex quote in minutes – even while they are sitting with or talking to a customer. 

The Drive! suite of products consists of three levels of MasterStream access and support: 

Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP adds Chris Gellos to their executive team as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing

By MasterStream PR on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

MasterStream ERP (www.masterstreamerp.com), formerly Salestream Software of Corona, CA, makers of leading quote-to-cash software for telecom providers, master agents and agents, announced the recent addition of Chris Gellos as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. 

With over 25 years of telecommunications industry experience, Gellos joins MasterStream with unique sales and marketing skills and a deep understanding of all areas of the telecom industry. Chris has implemented MasterStream products at his last four companies where he lead sales organizations. “MasterStream has proven to be the best software solution in our industry to expedite the sales process, increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction. MasterStream helped me increase sales faster than I ever would have been able to do without it, and I’m thrilled to be in a position to help more companies do the same.” 

“We are excited to welcome Chris Gellos to the MasterStream team,” said Jon Zakin, President of MasterStream. “Adding an executive with the industry and channel experience that Chris brings is an immeasurable opportunity for us. He’s knowledgeable and well-respected and we feel fortunate to have him here with us.” 

Most recently having served as the VP of Sales and Marketing of Alternate Channels at Frontier Communications, Gellos brings a wealth of executive-level experience to MasterStream from previous roles including, EVP of Sales at Broadvox (now Fusion), SVP of Sales at MegaPath, and VP of Sales at Speakeasy, a Best Buy company. 

About MasterStream ERP 
MasterStream ERP is committed to becoming the leading provider of quote-to-cash software solutions for the telecom industry and to eliminate the time-consuming processes, complexity, and errors associated with the telecom supply chain between providers, agents, sub-agents, and customers. This commitment continues to be the driving force behind all new development of our MasterStream automation system and continues to sustain our position as the leading provider of automation solutions within the telecom industry.

Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP Launches Drive! Product Suite for More Efficient Telecom Sales

By MasterStream PR on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

MasterStream ERP (www.masterstreamerp.com), makers of the leading quote-to-cash software for the telecom industry, announced that they have launched the Drive! by MasterStream suite of products, a customized sales management solution for telecommunications resellers and agents of all sizes. 

One of the greatest challenges for telecommunications resellers and agents is the ability to quickly gather information from multiple providers to provide accurate and concise options to customers. Configured from MasterStream’s time-tested MX platform, the Drive! by MasterStream suite of products simplify telecommunications equipment sales efforts by allowing resellers and agents to obtain quotes from nearly every major provider in a matter of moments. More than simply getting pricing, the solution automates the follow-up required in complex quoting. 

The Drive! suite of products consists of three levels of MasterStream access and support: 

Continue Reading

BCN Expands Partnership with MasterStream ERP

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Morristown, NJ, February 20, 2019 – BCN, a leading provider of technology solutions, announced the expansion of their MasterStream ERP partnership with the integration of a new, customized module designed to streamline the quoting of BCN broadband services. The Company’s broadband offering now includes over fifteen underlying network solutions with the addition of new network partners planned throughout 2019.

Continue Reading

MasterStream ERP Receives 2017 CUSTOMER Magazine Workforce Optimization Innovation Award

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

MasterStream’s Carrier-Essential Products Honored for Exceptional Innovation and Commitment to Improving the Customer Experience

Continue Reading

Fast Growing Lead-To-Cash SaaS Company Strengthens Resources

By Jeff Fraser on Sep 3, 2020 3:56:53 PM

Corona, Calif., Aug. 1, 2015 – Salestream Software Inc. (www.salestreamsoft.com) announced today that Matt Clark joined the firm on August 1, 2015, bringing with him more than 18 years of sales, marketing, and operational experience in the telecommunications industry. His broad experience includes ten years as an owner operator, as well as key executive sales and operations roles within the industry. He holds a B.S. in Corporate Communication from Radford University and an M.B.A. from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Continue Reading

3 Solutions For A "Concierge" Approach in The Telecom Channel

By Chris Gellos, EVP- Sales & Marketing, MasterStream ERP on Sep 25, 2018 12:00:00 AM

Distributing telecom products and services through the agent channel comes with a wide array of challenges. As options have become more complex, some Channel Chiefs have chosen to deploy a Concierge (white glove) approach to supporting and enabling their channel partners.  This approach typically involves a Channel Manager or other resource to personally process quotes and provide support for the agent. The strategy has been successfully deployed in many diverse use cases with varying degrees of success.  Let’s take a look at the model.

Continue Reading

Three Solutions for a High Touch "Concierge" approach in The Channel

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Sep 25, 2018 12:00:00 AM

Distributing telecom products and services through the agent channel comes with a wide array of challenges. As options have become more complex, some Channel Chiefs have chosen to deploy a Concierge (white glove) approach to supporting and enabling their channel partners.  This approach typically involves a Channel Manager or other resource to personally process quotes and provide support for the agent. The strategy has been successfully deployed in many diverse use cases with varying degrees of success.  Let’s take a look at the model.

Continue Reading

A Portal Strategy Is A Must for Telecom Providers in the Channel

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Sep 13, 2018 12:00:00 AM

If you were in telecom a decade ago, you'll remember when it seemed like every telecom Provider that played in the Channel was talking about their need to have a portal to provide quotes and information to agents. Channel Managers insisted that Marketing needed to provide a portal if they were going to have any chance at attracting and retaining agents. Sales leaders championed portals as the holy grail of lead generation. Agents, well Agents, they just wanted the information they needed without having to call a bunch of people or wait on anyone.

Topics: Quoting
Continue Reading

Why your portal might feel like it's a door in the middle of nowhere.

By Chris Gellos, EVP- Sales & Marketing, MasterStream ERP on Sep 13, 2018 12:00:00 AM

If you were in telecom a decade ago, you'll remember when it seemed like every telecom Provider that played in the Channel was talking about their need to have a portal to provide quotes and information to agents. Channel Managers insisted that Marketing needed to provide a portal if they were going to have any chance at attracting and retaining agents. Sales leaders championed portals as the holy grail of lead generation. Agents, well Agents, they just wanted the information they needed without having to call a bunch of people or wait on anyone.

Topics: Quoting
Continue Reading

How a Quoting as a Service Model (CPQaaS) Outperforms a CPQ Model

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Aug 31, 2018 12:00:00 AM

For the majority of businesses, the desire to handle lead to cash workflow processes in as few systems as possible has a strong attraction.  Most organize their processes around a strong CRM and compliment that with an integration to their order/provisioning/billing system.  There are several complex services that pull businesses into more systems, but one such service is quoting. 

Topics: Quoting
Continue Reading

Quoting as a Service (QaaS) vs CPQ

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Aug 31, 2018 12:00:00 AM

For the majority of businesses, the desire to handle lead to cash workflow processes in as few systems as possible has a strong attraction.  Most organize their processes around a strong CRM and compliment that with an integration to their order/provisioning/billing system.  There are several complex services that pull businesses into more systems, but one such service is quoting. 

Topics: Quoting
Continue Reading

Pork Belly or the Whole Hog?

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Aug 2, 2018 12:00:00 AM

Being the Texan that I am and knowing how I love to grill, BBQ, and smoke meat, this thought popped into my head: When you’re shopping around and searching for solutions to optimize your business, increase sales, and drive profitability do you want the pork belly or the whole hog?

Continue Reading

Buying the Whole Software Suite vs. Buying A Portion Of It

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Aug 2, 2018 12:00:00 AM

Being the Texan that I am and knowing how I love to grill, BBQ, and smoke meat, this thought popped into my head: When you’re shopping around and searching for solutions to optimize your business, increase sales, and drive profitability do you want the pork belly or the whole hog?

Continue Reading

Quoteception

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jul 24, 2018 12:00:00 AM

The term quoteception is meant to be a play on words related to the 2010 science fiction thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio called Inception.  In the film, Dom Cobb (Leonardo’s character) spends his time in a dream world using dream technology in corporate espionage activities. As the story progresses, they move into deeper layers of dream states with each layer becoming more complicated and potentially impactful. As things get more complicated, Dom uses a spinning top to know if he is still in a dream or back in reality. If the top spins without falling, he knows he is still in a dream and if it falls, he knows it is reality.   

Continue Reading

Quoteception: Interconnectedness and Complexity of Customer Quoting

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jul 24, 2018 12:00:00 AM

The term quoteception is meant to be a play on words related to the 2010 science fiction thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio called Inception.  In the film, Dom Cobb (Leonardo’s character) spends his time in a dream world using dream technology in corporate espionage activities. As the story progresses, they move into deeper layers of dream states with each layer becoming more complicated and potentially impactful. As things get more complicated, Dom uses a spinning top to know if he is still in a dream or back in reality. If the top spins without falling, he knows he is still in a dream and if it falls, he knows it is reality.   

Continue Reading

To Build or Buy a Quoting Solution? And Bigger Questions to Ask

By Don Roots, VP of Sales, MasterStream ERP on Jul 12, 2018 12:00:00 AM

As software developers, we spend a fair amount of time listening to folks struggling with the question of whether to build “it” themselves or buy a SaaS solution that does “it.” This question seems never to escape their purview as they work through their discovery process. The challenge I’ve seen time and again, beginning with this cost comparison approach, is that in almost every instance the effort and priority given to come to the answer to this question derails companies from the most critical questions they should consider for their business. Unfortunately, as a result, the most important questions a business should be asking are the ones that are never asked.

Topics: Insider
Continue Reading

To Build or Buy? There Are More Important Questions to Ask.

By Chris Gellos, EVP- Sales & Marketing, MasterStream ERP on Jul 12, 2018 12:00:00 AM

As software developers, we spend a fair amount of time listening to folks struggling with the question of whether to build “it” themselves or buy a SaaS solution that does “it.” This question seems never to escape their purview as they work through their discovery process. The challenge I’ve seen time and again, beginning with this cost comparison approach, is that in almost every instance the effort and priority given to come to the answer to this question derails companies from the most critical questions they should consider for their business. Unfortunately, as a result, the most important questions a business should be asking are the ones that are never asked.

Topics: Insider
Continue Reading

Keeping Telecom Sales and Operations Working in Harmony

By Matt Clark - President, MasterStream ERP on Jun 15, 2018 12:00:00 AM

We all know the tension that can be maintained between sales and operations.  Even the best teams struggle with the quality of new orders and the ability to deliver on customer expectations.  A slightly misaligned product configuration from a salesperson can produce quota attainment, but that same sale can translate into a missed installation interval for the project manager assigned.  Round and round we go … doing our best to hit the sales number and also hit the installation-revenue numbers. All the while dealing with challenging customers who don’t understand or appreciate the complexity behind the scenes.

Continue Reading