At TM Forum's Digital Transformation World Series event, the author of this article James Kirby, Senior Vice President & Head of EMEA at CSG, took part in a panel on 15 October called 'Let's talk customer centricity'. He shares some of his insights below.When you think of great customer experiences, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Do you think of Apple, with their streamlined, sleek phones and devices? Or Netflix, with their personalized movie and TV recommendations, tailored just to your needs?
We often recognize technology brands like Apple and Netflix as providing the best customer experiences, with communications service providers (CSPs) trailing behind. But with advancements like cloud first software, open source APIs and cross-channel customer engagement, CSPs can close the gap between them and leading technology brands—and become front-of-mind when customers think of great customer experience (CX).
Harnessing the power of data
The telecom industry is dealing with a deluge of data. From calculating rating and charging based on the duration and type of call, to correlating and cleansing the data from billions of mobile devices, there’s almost more data than CSPs know what to do with.
But this data is a massive asset that CSPs can tap into. Every CDR, EDR and CRM entry can be analyzed and actioned upon, all to deliver a better customer experience. For instance, if a customer forgets to top up their voice minutes allowance every month, CSPs can provide proactive offers to upgrade their plan, or promote free calls during a specified time of day.
CSPs can also move from the micro- to the macro-level and analyze customer behavior in aggregate. For instance, CSPs can conduct customer feedback analysis from social media comments and discover key problems that customers are experiencing. On the wholesale side, CSPs are using active and passive testing to identify and block fraudulent calls on their network, which would otherwise potentially lead to bad call quality for the end customers.
Upgrading legacy systems
Internet and technology brands are often unencumbered by legacy infrastructure, which allows them to get to market faster with new services, respond to customer needs and scale on demand. In contrast, CSPs are often juggling multiple bespoke system across geographies and operating companies, making it difficult to get a single view of the customer and make rapid changes.
However, many CSPs are now seeking cloud deployment models for back-office systems like business support systems (BSS), though it may take a while for change to be adopted, with only 5% of infrastructure deployed in the public cloud to-date. Adopting cloud first technology like digital BSS and converged charging systems (CCS) will help CSPs be the best digital enablers to meet customer needs. With microservices to build off, open APIs to interconnect with key back-office systems, and software as a service (SaaS) models to enable regular upgrades, CSPs can leverage the latest technology to lead with customer experience.
In the same way that they update their back-office, CSPs can also take a page out of the internet brands’ book and redesign customer-facing experiences like an online storefront or billing portal to be personalized, intuitive and incorporate history, habits and preferences. Presenting clearer information about billing or enabling self-service empowers customers with the information they need to further engage with CSPs.
Engaging customers across channels
Technology brands have limited their interactions with customers to be strictly digital—either on-demand self-service or web chat. By comparison, CSPs manage more channels than almost any other industry, from providing voice, data and SMS services to interacting with customers over email, web chat, social media and more. These myriad channels can lead to a disjointed customer experience—almost 40% of CXOs and CMOs report that one of their top challenges in delivering good customer experience is the existence of internal silos.
But managing multiple channels shouldn’t be to a CSP’s detriment. Instead, it can be a competitive differentiator, as CSPs can be available to customers on more channels of choice. The key is to link all these touchpoints and channels into a seamless customer journey, so that customers who interact with a CSP on one channel can pick up that interaction in another channel without losing any context. In fact, some CSPs are implementing conversational AI to guide customers to the right answer to their question without any live agent interaction.
However, while automated customer interaction is gaining traction, CSPs can still stand out with a live agent experience. Agents should have access to a 360-degree view of the customer with insights into their interactions across channels to resolve any customer queries.
Leveling the playing field
Internet and technology brands are often recognized for their leading customer experiences—but there’s an opportunity for CSPs to level the playing field. By leveraging data and upgrading technology to deliver better omnichannel experiences, CSPs can stand out with CX.
