Midco Empowers Support Teams | Blitzz

With Blitzz app-free video support, Midco empowered employees with visual troubleshooting alternatives, enabling them to deliver exceptional customer experiences while maintaining safety across their five-state footprint.

About Midco

Midco is a premier provider of internet, TV, and phone services, serving more than 460,000 homes and businesses across 400 communities in Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Founded in 1931, Midco has grown from a movie theater company to a leading regional telecommunications provider, recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Midsize Employers in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Midco employs approximately 1,900 team members and operates as a joint venture between Midcontinent Media and Comcast. The company is known for its customer-first approach, offering 24/7 technical support through multiple channels, including phone, live chat, text, and in-person Customer Experience Centers located throughout its five-state footprint.

Midco's commitment to innovation is demonstrated through its $500 million Fiber Forward initiative, expanding fiber-to-the-premises across 22,000 miles. The company also delivers TV services through Midco Sports, a regional sports network, along with data center services and advertising solutions. With greater than 99.9% average fiber network uptime, Midco has built its reputation on reliability and exceptional customer service.

The Challenge: Supporting Customers Safely During Unprecedented Demand

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Midco faced a unique challenge. As an essential services provider delivering critical connectivity to homes and businesses across the Upper Midwest, demand for their services surged as customers transitioned to remote work, distance learning, and increased home entertainment consumption. At the same time, Midco needed to protect both their employees and customers by minimizing in-home service visits whenever possible.

Midco's traditional service model created several challenges during this period:

• Safety Concerns: Field technicians needed to enter customer homes for installations, troubleshooting, and repairs, creating potential health risks for both employees and customers.
• Surge in Service Requests: With more people relying on home internet for work and school, service calls increased dramatically, straining existing support resources.
• Phone-Based Troubleshooting Limitations: Customer care representatives struggled to diagnose equipment and connectivity issues over the phone when customers couldn't accurately describe what they were seeing. 
• Employee Confidence: Support team members needed tools that would help them feel confident that they could resolve customer issues without requiring physical visits.
• Extended Resolution Times: Without visual context, issues that could be quickly identified and resolved often required multiple calls or unnecessary technician dispatches.
• Customer Experience at Risk: Midco's reputation for exceptional customer service was built on quick, effective support—delays and miscommunication threatened to erode customer satisfaction.

Midco needed a solution that would enable their customer experience teams to visually assess equipment and issues remotely, guide customers through troubleshooting, and maintain the high level of service their customers expected—all while keeping everyone safe.

The Solution: Visual Remote Assistance for the Entire Support Team

Midco selected Blitzz Concierge—an app-free mobile video platform—to provide their customer experience teams with visual remote assistance capabilities. The implementation enabled support agents to see exactly what customers see, transforming phone-based troubleshooting into collaborative visual problem-solving sessions.

Key features utilized by Midco:

1. App-Free Access: A Midco customer care representative simply sends a link via SMS text message to the customer. When the customer clicks the link, the agent instantly gains a secure, real-time view through the customer's smartphone camera—no need to download or sign into third-party apps like Zoom or Teams. This frictionless experience was especially important for less tech-savvy customers who needed support quickly.
2. Visual Equipment Assessment: Support agents can immediately see routers, modems, cable connections, and TV equipment, enabling accurate diagnosis of issues ranging from improper cable connections to equipment malfunctions without relying on customer descriptions.
3. Augmented Reality (AR) Collaboration: Both the agent and 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 ports, buttons, and cable connections, guiding customers through troubleshooting steps with precision.
4. Self-Installation Support: Midco expanded their self-installation program during the pandemic, and Blitzz enabled agents to walk customers through setting up their own equipment via live video guidance, reducing the need for technician visits.
5. Employee Safety Net: Support team members gained confidence knowing they had visual tools available to resolve issues remotely, providing alternatives to dispatching technicians into customer homes.
6. Photo Documentation: Agents can capture high-quality photos during video sessions for case documentation, training materials, and future reference, building institutional knowledge for common issues.

Midco serves hundreds of thousands of customers across the Upper Midwest who depend on reliable connectivity for work, education, and daily life. With our app-free video support, their team can provide the visual guidance customers need to stay connected—without anyone having to leave their home

— Rama Sreenivasan, Founder and CEO of Blitzz

Blitzz’s leadership was the most collaborative and supportive of any customer support technology team we’ve worked with. They were genuinely invested in helping our organization improve through their solution. Their availability and willingness to accommodate our needs made all the difference.

The Results: Exceptional Service During Extraordinary Times

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into their customer support operations, Midco successfully navigated the pandemic while maintaining—and even improving—their customer experience. The visual remote assistance platform became an essential tool for their support teams across five states.

• Enhanced Employee Confidence: Support team members felt empowered knowing they had visual troubleshooting alternatives available, enabling them to resolve issues without requiring in-home visits.
• Reduced Truck Rolls: Visual diagnosis enabled agents to resolve many issues remotely that would have previously required a technician dispatch, reducing costs and keeping both employees and customers safer.
• Faster Resolution Times: Seeing the actual equipment and connections eliminated the back-and-forth of verbal troubleshooting, allowing agents to diagnose and resolve issues more quickly.
• Improved First-Call Resolution: Visual confirmation enabled accurate diagnosis on the first interaction, reducing callbacks and repeat contacts.
• Expanded Self-Installation Success: Customers were able to successfully install their own equipment with live video guidance from Midco agents, supporting the company's enhanced self-installation program.
• Sustained Customer Satisfaction: Despite the challenging circumstances, Midco maintained its reputation for exceptional customer service, with customers appreciating the innovative remote support approach.
• Collaborative Partnership: The Blitzz leadership team worked closely with Midco to ensure the solution met their specific needs, providing responsive support and a genuine commitment to helping the organization succeed.

Key Success Metrics

Conclusion

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into their customer support operations, Midco successfully navigated one of the most challenging periods in the company's history while maintaining their commitment to exceptional customer service. The visual remote assistance platform provided the "safety net" their support teams needed—empowering employees with alternatives to in-home visits while still delivering great customer experiences.

This transformation demonstrated that Midco's customer-first culture could adapt to unprecedented circumstances. With the ability to see exactly what customers see, Midco's support teams eliminated communication barriers, reduced unnecessary technician dispatches, and helped customers stay connected during a time when reliable internet and TV services were more essential than ever.

The partnership between Midco and Blitzz exemplifies what collaborative technology relationships can achieve. Blitzz's leadership worked closely with Midco to ensure the solution met their specific needs, providing the responsiveness and genuine commitment that set them apart from other customer support technology platforms.

As Midco continues to expand their fiber network through the Fiber Forward initiative and serve more customers across the Upper Midwest, Blitzz remains an essential tool in their mission to deliver reliable connectivity with exceptional customer service—ensuring that whether support happens in person, over the phone, or through live video, Midco customers always receive the help they need to stay connected.