Solutions
User Experience Monitoring
Web performance
Many companies implement internal monitoring solutions on their networks to monitor the performance of their web sites. However, these solutions are not able to take into account factors like geographical location, the type of connectivity being used by customers and the bandwidth provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Qualica's UEM solution takes these factors into account by using servers which test websites from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and the United Kingdom across dial-up, ADSL and leased lines, using various ISPs. These tests are typically run on an hourly basis using different types of connectivity and ISPs. Each task is checked in terms of speed and success to ensure the site works fast enough to keep a customer satisfied. Another probe is placed behind the company's firewall to perform identical tests internally. The results from the external probe and internal probe are then compared to analyse where the differences are and what could be causing them.
Email performance
When correctly applied to an email infrastructure, UEM allows business leaders to gain access to critical information identifying the experience that users have when using their corporate email infrastructure, and drilling down to the root causes of any symptoms. Automated software "robots" impersonate users completing both internal and external email transactions on the company's servers, and provide updated reports and alerts when immediate action is required. The robots log information such as the email's total travel time, the time taken for each step of the transmission, the time taken to connect to the email server, the login time and the time spent in the user's outbox. The robots also simulate transactions from various locations within the company, within the local town or city, or across the globe.
Reporting
From an executive viewpoint, UEM gives a business perspective on how well the company is able to acquire and service online customers or its own internal users. It provides decision makers with an objective understanding of how customers experience the web site interactions and how easily staff can receive and respond to web- or email-based queries via company email systems.
There are three ways of presenting reports:
- Management level reporting - including trends, overall improvements or reductions in service levels
- Technical reporting - technical staff can drill down to the component level of the problem
- Alerts - real time reporting, allowing for improvements to ensure that service level agreements are met. Alerts can be via sms or email, or integrate with a network monitoring system to enable immediate troubleshooting