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Product simplification is a key to success

Communications service providers can unlock better customer experiences and drive more efficient business operations by paring down product offerings.

Ernest Margitta, Salesforce
12 Jun 2023
Product simplification is a key to success

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Product simplification is a key to success

The most successful companies in the new economy deliver simple product offerings powered by simple engagement processes eg. subscription pricing without cumbersome contracting methods. While systems transformation can be complicated, one smart business decision like simplifying products can transform the operating environment by removing complexity. Simplification also helps accelerate digital transformation programs and often addresses some of the historical friction that may exist between business & IT.

Simplifying your product offerings creates more customer-friendly experiences and has the added benefits of increasing revenue and reducing costs. Here are 3 steps for getting started on your simplification journey:

1. Start small

Don’t boil the ocean. You don’t need to simplify all products in the same motion. Start with one product line and prove out the process and benefits before expanding your project scope.

2. Put the customer first

Waking up dormant customers on old profitable plans can be considered a revenue risk, but Telstra’s approach during their highly successful T22 strategy was actually the opposite. Putting customers first and considering any revenue arriving from customers who are overpaying against today’s pricing as “bad revenue” freed up the team to provide customers with the benefits they were already entitled to but didn’t know about. Communicating the customer benefits turned out to be critical as the entire mobile base was migrated onto the simplified offerings.

3. Make a plan and stick to it

Along the journey to a simplified product world there will be hundreds of reasonable reasons to divert from the simplification goal and often this is where companies lose faith or severely dilute business benefits. To keep the project on track, get executive buy-in early, provide regular progress updates, and stick to the hard metrics to keep moving forward.

Taking the first step is a lot easier than most service providers imagine. IT and business teams often favor simplification from both a technology and product perspective. Find out more about how technology powers product simplification in the upcoming TM Forum knowledge webinar.