CenturyLink’s map-based sales prospecting tool
Nylon Technology built a tool for CenturyLink’s salespeople to find relevant customers in Las Vegas for CenturyLink’s local internet infrastructure and other services. The sales team was able to work more efficiently, find more relevant prospects, and grow their customer base using this application.
Helping CenturyLink Grow in the Las Vegas Market
As Las Vegas grew in the early 2010s, CenturyLink decided to focus on it as a critical growth market for its high-speed internet services. CenturyLink’s marketing and sales departments needed a way to identify the best sales prospects located around their existing infrastructure and offerings. CenturyLink approached its design and marketing partner, LaunchPad Advertising, for an application where CenturyLink’s salespeople could enter an address or geographical area and locate relevant prospects near CenturyLink’s infrastructure hubs. LaunchPad Advertising reached out to Nylon Technology to provide the advanced technical capabilities needed for a project of this nature.
The project required compiling large datasets, consisting of transmission types, transmission methods, service points, central offices, connection maps, and bandwidth information from multiple CenturyLink data sources, and rendering it in a Google Maps-based interface for salespeople to search and select. This was a challenge because browsers of the time struggled to render large, data-rich, interactive maps. We were able to figure out several key technical interface optimizations that enabled users of the application to quickly filter, zoom, and toggle across many data points. Another unique feature of the application was that it computed the cabling distance from the central offices to each end user in order to determine the most reliable configurations.
Additionally, the application data was always up-to-date. We built a recurring import function for automatic data refreshes and administrative controls for manual data overrides when needed.
Highlights
- Complex integration with Google Maps API
- Heavy in-browser location data processing
- Quickly learned about telecom infrastructure and offerings
- Developed on an aggressive timeline
- Collaborated with client's creative agency
Large dataset management
Data points were complicated, consisting of a transmission type (fiber/coax/copper), transmission method (buried, aerial), service points, central offices, connection maps, and bandwidth information. The underlying data architecture was complex.
Performance optimization
The map display was taxing on browsers due to the large number of data points rendered at once. We did extensive testing and implemented creative approaches to get the browser to handle such a robust data interface.
Agency partnership
LaunchPad Advertising partnered with us as their technology team. We perfectly and non-competitively complemented their design and marketing capabilities.
