Future Job Posting: DAS Consumer Advocate

This is not a current job posting - but may be a future role. I am writing about a very important role that is currently in demand, but almost non-existent in the market - this is the role of a DAS Consumer Advocate (DCA).

When do we need one?
More organizations (e.g., health-care industries, commercial buildings, public vanues, colleges, universities, etc.) are becoming aware of the need for a DAS inside their buildings. Some of these organizations are willing to consider a DAS for the building as one of the utility features. Since DAS is still in its infancy stage, there are not many people in any organization that understand the different aspects of DAS - legal and contractual aspects, network deployment, operations and maintenance, hand-set provisioning, etc..  Most of the time, someone proactive within the organization starts with Google searches, a few cold calls, start talking to sales departments of the wireless carriers, etc. Despite the tremendous amount of reconnaissance work she puts in, there is still room for confusion and missteps. When a Wireless Carrier identifies this customer to be a potential future customer with hundreds or thousands of devices and multi-year agreement, things can become even more complex. What this customer needs is a vendor & carrier neutral DAS Consumer Advocate (DCA).


What will a DCA do?
A CA looks out for customer's best interest. Customer in this case may be the owners of a health care entity, high-rise residence, convention center, commercial buildings or campuses, stadiums, airports, etc.  A CA can be an individual or group of individuals. Following is a list of items that Consumer Advocate can help the customers with. I intend to eleborate these items at later postings:

1. Assess customer's wireless and broadband service needs, create a road map of service development and implementation 
2. Help customer choose the right DAS platform that best serves the customer's road map - i.e., what fits the best for the customer considering his need, long-term plans and IT road map, etc.
3. Help customer to make proper contact with the in-building groups of different wireless carriers
4. Effectively identify the DAS performance parameters that match customer's need, 
5. Help client navigate through the Intricate contracts with the wireless service providers and help customer craft a win-win DAS agreement with the wireless carrier's 
6. Project Management: from network deployment, hand-set provisioning, device roll-out to customer care for a few months after the devices are distributed. 
7. Help negotiate contract with entities that can maintain the DAS 

Skills needed for the role:

1. Several years in the DAS industry
2. Great Contract negotiation skills
3. Be vendor neutral. Knowing different DAS platforms, pros and cons of each solution. Advice
4. Understand financial and legal aspects and ramifications of contract between the carrier and the customer
5. Understand hand-set features, and experience with provisioning. Understand the nuances of the different billing models 
6. Understand different KPI (Key Performance Indicators) of different technologies (i.e., GSM, CDMA, etc.) 
7. Good understanding of various technology platform and how each one of them can serve the customer
8. Network deployment experience
9. Has good Rolodex for the DAS industry
10. Great Project Management and People skills