Schurz Communications Accelerates Customer Support with App-Free Visual Assistance

The Challenge: Communication Barriers and Extended Customer Downtime

For broadband customers who depend on reliable internet connectivity for work, education, entertainment, and essential communications, service interruptions are more than inconveniences—they're disruptions that impact productivity, learning, and daily life. Schurz Communications' traditional customer service model created several challenges when attempting to diagnose and resolve technical issues:

• Communication Barriers During Troubleshooting: When customers called about connectivity problems, equipment malfunctions, or service issues, customer service representatives relied entirely on verbal descriptions to understand the situation. Customers often struggled to accurately describe technical equipment, wiring configurations, LED indicator patterns, or error messages, leading to unclear information and extended diagnostic conversations.
• Serial Number and Error Code Collection: Representatives frequently needed to collect equipment serial numbers, model numbers, MAC addresses, and error codes to validate warranties, check device compatibility, or escalate technical issues. Customers had to manually read long alphanumeric strings over the phone, often resulting in transcription errors, repeated spelling confirmations, and frustration on both sides.
• Inability to Verify Physical Connections: Without seeing the customer's setup, representatives couldn't visually confirm whether cables were properly connected, equipment was powered on, indicator lights showed the correct status, or physical damage was present. This lack of visual context made it difficult to provide accurate guidance and often led to unnecessary troubleshooting steps.
• Extended Resolution Times: Diagnostic processes stretched across multiple phone calls as representatives attempted to gather information, provide step-by-step instructions, and verify results—all without visual confirmation. This prolonged customer downtime and increased frustration, especially for customers who needed immediate connectivity for work or critical communications.
• High Truck Roll Costs: Without the ability to visually assess customer issues, representatives often erred on the side of caution by dispatching field technicians for problems that could have been resolved remotely. These unnecessary truck rolls increased operational costs for Schurz and often required customers to take time off work to wait for technician arrivals.
• Documentation Challenges: When issues were eventually resolved, representatives had limited documentation of the problem and solution. Without photos of equipment configurations, wiring setups, or error conditions, it was difficult to build a knowledge base for similar future issues or provide continuity if customers called back with related problems.
• Training Complexity: New customer service representatives faced a steep learning curve when learning to troubleshoot diverse equipment models, fiber installations, and technical configurations across Schurz's multiple broadband brands—all without the benefit of seeing what customers were describing.
• Customer Frustration: Customers experiencing connectivity issues grew increasingly frustrated with lengthy phone diagnostics, repeated attempts to describe technical details, and waiting for technician visits that sometimes revealed simple problems that could have been fixed immediately with proper guidance.

Schurz Communications needed a solution that could provide instant visual access to customer environments, streamline the collection of technical information, and empower customer service representatives to diagnose and resolve issues accurately on the first call—while maintaining the company's reputation for exceptional customer care.

The Solution: Real-Time Visual Support with Intelligent Recognition

Schurz Communications selected Blitzz Concierge—an app-free mobile video platform with advanced OCR capabilities—to transform its customer service operations and provide immediate visual assistance to broadband customers experiencing technical issues.

Key features utilized by Schurz Communications:

1. App-Free Access: A customer service representative simply sends a link via SMS text message to the customer. When the customer clicks the link, the representative instantly gains a secure, real-time view through the customer's smartphone camera—no need to download third-party apps like Zoom, Teams, or FaceTime. This eliminates friction and enables immediate support, even for customers who are not tech-savvy or have limited data connectivity.
2. Real-Time Visual Diagnostics: Customer service representatives can immediately see the customer's broadband equipment, cable connections, LED indicator patterns, router configurations, and physical setup. This eliminates the guesswork associated with verbal descriptions and enables accurate diagnosis on the first interaction.
3. Intelligent OCR for Equipment Information: Blitzz's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology automatically reads and captures serial numbers, model numbers, MAC addresses, and error codes displayed on equipment screens or labels. Representatives can instantly collect this critical information without asking customers to spell out long alphanumeric strings, dramatically reducing data entry errors and saving time.
4. Augmented Reality (AR) Collaboration: Both the customer service representative and the customer can use AR features to draw, highlight, and annotate directly on the live video stream in real-time. This makes it easy to point out specific cables that need to be connected, highlight LED indicators to watch, identify specific ports or buttons, and guide customers through troubleshooting sequences step-by-step.
5. Interactive Video Communication: Representatives and customers communicate via live video call, allowing real-time questions, clarifications, and problem-solving. This creates a collaborative diagnostic experience that combines technical expertise with visual confirmation.
6. Instant Problem Resolution: For many connectivity issues, equipment problems, and configuration errors, Schurz representatives can walk customers through fixes on the spot, restoring service in minutes instead of waiting for scheduled technician visits.
7. Photo Documentation: Representatives can capture high-quality photos during video sessions for case documentation, warranty validation, escalation support, and future reference. This builds an institutional knowledge base of common issues and solutions across different equipment types and broadband markets.
8. Reduced Training Time: New customer service representatives can handle complex technical support calls more quickly by using visual context to guide their troubleshooting, accelerating their learning curve and ensuring consistent service quality across Schurz's entire customer service team.

Customer connectivity is essential in today's world. We're thrilled to partner with Schurz Communications to help their team provide faster, more accurate support that gets customers back online quickly while reducing operational costs.

— Rama Sreenivasan, Founder and CEO of Blitzz

The Results: Faster Resolution and Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into its customer service operations, Schurz Communications transformed its approach to technical support, leading to measurable improvements across multiple dimensions:

• Rapid Implementation: The customer service team was up and running with minimal training required. Blitzz's intuitive interface and app-free design meant representatives could start providing visual support almost immediately, without extensive onboarding or technical training.
• Faster Time-to-Resolution: Issues that previously required multiple phone calls, repeated information gathering, and extended diagnostic cycles can now be resolved in a single video interaction. Representatives can see equipment configurations, verify connections, and guide customers through fixes in real-time, dramatically reducing the time customers experience service disruptions.
• Eliminated Serial Number Transcription Errors: The OCR feature automatically captures equipment serial numbers, model information, MAC addresses, and error codes with perfect accuracy. Representatives no longer spend time asking customers to spell out long alphanumeric strings or dealing with transcription mistakes that delay resolution.
• Reduced Truck Rolls: By visually confirming issues and guiding customers through self-service troubleshooting, Schurz representatives can now resolve many problems remotely that would have previously required technician dispatches. This saves both the company and customers time and money while freeing field technicians to focus on complex installations and repairs that truly require on-site expertise.
• Improved First-Call Resolution Rate: With the ability to see customer equipment and environments visually, representatives provide accurate solutions during the initial support call, dramatically reducing callbacks, escalations, and repeat issues.
• Enhanced Photo Documentation: Representatives capture photos of equipment configurations, error conditions, wiring setups, and successful resolutions. These images support warranty claims, provide visual records for escalated cases, and build a comprehensive knowledge base for training and future troubleshooting.
• Better Customer Experience: Customers appreciate the faster resolution times, the elimination of frustrating verbal descriptions, and the convenience of not having to wait for scheduled technician visits. The visual support approach makes customers feel heard and understood, strengthening their relationship with Schurz Communications.
• Accelerated Agent Training: New customer service representatives gain confidence and competence faster by using visual context to guide their troubleshooting. They can learn on the job while still providing effective support, reducing the training burden, and ensuring consistent service quality.
• Operational Efficiency: Customer service teams can handle more support requests per day with shorter average handle times, maximizing the impact of Schurz's investment in customer care while maintaining high satisfaction scores.
• Cross-Brand Consistency: Visual support ensures that customer service representatives can confidently support customers across all of Schurz's broadband brands—Antietam, Burlington Telecom, Hiawatha, Long Lines, NKTelco, and Orbitel—regardless of the specific equipment or configurations used in each market.

Key Success Metrics

Conclusion

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into its customer service operations, Schurz Communications eliminated the communication barriers and diagnostic delays associated with traditional phone-based troubleshooting. Customer service representatives can now see exactly what customers see, automatically capture equipment information with OCR technology, and guide customers through solutions in real-time—all without requiring app downloads or complex setup. The intuitive platform required minimal training to implement, allowing the customer service team to start providing visual assistance almost immediately and begin delivering value from day one.

This transformation has enabled Schurz Communications to significantly reduce truck rolls for issues that can be resolved remotely, improve first-call resolution rates, and deliver faster support that gets customers back online in minutes instead of hours or days. With comprehensive photo documentation capabilities, Schurz now maintains better records for warranty validation, escalation support, and institutional knowledge building. The visual support approach has strengthened customer relationships across all of Schurz's broadband brands—Antietam Broadband, Burlington Telecom, Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Long Lines Broadband, NKTelco, and Orbitel Communications—ensuring consistent, high-quality service regardless of market or equipment type.

As Schurz Communications continues to expand its fiber broadband footprint and invest in cutting-edge technology, Blitzz has become an essential tool in the company's mission to deliver exceptional customer care. By combining more than 150 years of service excellence with modern visual support technology, Schurz ensures that when connectivity issues arise, customers receive fast, accurate assistance that restores their service and maintains the trust that has defined the company across five generations. Blitzz enables Schurz Communications to uphold its legacy of connecting communities while meeting the demands of today's digital world—ensuring that reliable, high-speed connectivity remains at the heart of everything customers do.