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Written by Start a WISP Site Admin
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Monday, 12 June 2006 |
" Howdy all!
I am curious on how many of the "old-timers" or gurus I should say, staff their WISPs. What job positions do you have and what are their day-to-day descriptions and what parts of the network/company do they touch and not touch.
I would THINK in the ideal WISP world things would be similar to this...
(I am mainly only concerned with the technical side)
Reason I ask is I notice with just about any company there is always a tiered level of technical support. Usually ranging from "Client, Plant, Core" levels.
TECHNICAL SIDE
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## Systems Admin
-Deals with upstream providers
-Deals with purchasing of equipment for techs
-Deals with purchasing of radios
-Deals with Servers, Outsourced Hosts, Domains etc.
-Deals with "Core level" of network (Backbones, Routers, APs)
-Deals with trouble tickets that field techs can't fix
-Capable of debugging high end technical problems
-Capable of working out problems related to RF
-Does not touch home/business installs unless serious problems need to be fixed
## Field Tech / Installer
-Does home/business installs
-Troubleshoots problems on installs
-Manages customer config (Email, AV problems, routers, etc)
-Has RF experience
-Has basic netorking experience
-Has good technical support experience
-Does not touch "core level" network systems"
John Galt:
You are missing the "Office Manager"...someone who answers the phones, deals with the mundane office work such as accounts payable and receivable, correspondence and such.
Don't expect the System Admin to deal with this type of stuff...it has to get done.
They will be busy doing other stuff.
AMD Phreak:
Well, I cover the tech side such as your listing of system admin. There is another admin who doubles as our RF engineer as well. The installer we have does the home and business installs and doesnt even touch the core.
I should point out that we are struggling with finding installers that can do more than the physical install. The technical is always what they struggle with.
We have a billing dept already for the other side of the house, so they handle contracts and billing.
cmaenginsb:
The one thing I've learned is that any serious WISP will have at least 1 person for sales and marketing. Most WISPs I know fail on this side because everyone focuses on the technical. It's important to have a balance.
On the technical side we actually had 4 different areas:
1. Sysadmin who was primary 3rd level tech support and responsible for the network.
2. OPs manager who was senior RF and responsbile for site buildouts, as the sites needed to be trusted to someone with a bit more qualifications than the installers.
3. Level 2 support, this person was responsible for all "upgraded" support calls and most onsite visits.
4. Installers were responsible for installs and some tech support.
We outsourced level one tech support the the company that did our web and mail hosting.
John Galt:
I think we are starting to talk about "hats" here...and what function those "hats" perform.
The question then becomes how many hats can a particular individual wear...and still perform effectively.
If you are a "one-man shop"...obviously you wear them all!
How do you add personnel to your business...and what hats do they wear?
Original thread location |
Business Operations 
