Walking the path of digital transformation
02 Dec 2016
Walking the path of digital transformation
‘Now’ is the one word could be used to describe today’s service culture. Today’s consumer expects to be able to order almost anything, from a cab ride, to a four course home-delivered dinner, a flight ticket or even a once in a lifetime encounter with wildlife, in less than a minute, from their smartphone. This has fundamentally changed people’s expectations in ways we simply couldn’t have predicted ten years ago.
This presents huge challenges for every organization, but especially for mobile network operators, which have the complex challenge of maintaining the infrastructure and systems which new service providers, such as Uber, Netflix or WeChat, run their services over. However, despite being the enabler for the services that consumers love, operators often find themselves unfairly compared to these firms when it comes to delivering the digital experiences that people crave.
According to our own research, operators consistently lag behind best-in-class brands in terms of creating digital experiences, compared to brands such as Amazon, Netflix or WeChat. Much of this perception is driven by a desire from consumers for simple, hassle free, customer service, with the objective of delivering a seamless ‘One-click’ experience.
This desire for a hassle-free engagement, which is exemplified by these new digital enterprises, has greater ramifications than simply improving customer perceptions. In a world where many core-operator services, such as voice and messaging, have become commoditized, operators are now looking to engage consumers with new data driven services. However, if operators fail to get their customer engagement strategies right, they will fail to occupy a piece of the consumer’s mind and won’t be considered a service worth paying a premium for – ultimately leading to the zero-sum price game.
This presents huge challenges for every organization, but especially for mobile network operators, which have the complex challenge of maintaining the infrastructure and systems which new service providers, such as Uber, Netflix or WeChat, run their services over. However, despite being the enabler for the services that consumers love, operators often find themselves unfairly compared to these firms when it comes to delivering the digital experiences that people crave.
According to our own research, operators consistently lag behind best-in-class brands in terms of creating digital experiences, compared to brands such as Amazon, Netflix or WeChat. Much of this perception is driven by a desire from consumers for simple, hassle free, customer service, with the objective of delivering a seamless ‘One-click’ experience.
This desire for a hassle-free engagement, which is exemplified by these new digital enterprises, has greater ramifications than simply improving customer perceptions. In a world where many core-operator services, such as voice and messaging, have become commoditized, operators are now looking to engage consumers with new data driven services. However, if operators fail to get their customer engagement strategies right, they will fail to occupy a piece of the consumer’s mind and won’t be considered a service worth paying a premium for – ultimately leading to the zero-sum price game.
Therefore operators need to move to become digital enterprises themselves. This means providing a consistent experience across all customer interaction channels, ranging from offline mall-based service centers to the internet. Operators also need to be capable of seamless sales, upselling and customer retention and provide customers with the highest possible levels of self-care. Other prerequisites include near real-time service delivery and activation processes, effective and integrated management of data assets from both within the company and external channels, and the ability to deliver the highest levels of customer experience.
This requires the application of a clear set of principles that outline a clear path to becoming a powerful digital enterprise. At Ericsson we have used our experience of working with operators across the world to develop six core principles for digital transformation:
A successful transformation should always be a journey towards a clear destination. Therefore, the first step in any transformation must always be to define that clear destination and let it steer the actions and the experiences are created for customers.
The front end is no longer just the outside of the back end, it should be a starting point engagement. Brands that excel in creating great customer experiences grow revenues 4-8% and get up to 14X larger life time value from customers.
Telecom was built on two simple services, voice and texts but today consumers look for much more than that. By collaborating with a wider service ecosystem and open closed telecom systems operators can leverage their assets in other services and become a reseller of other services through their own channels
In the age of digital, customers expect new services before they even knew they needed them. This poses a challenge for operators where idea-to-market can be anything between 36 and 64 weeks with multiple stakeholders involved. Therefore it is essential to break down the silos inside the organization to make collaboration easier, by using a modern, catalogue based platform. This means that different parts of the organization can work in a coherent way, in one single tool, all doing their parts in a completely transparent manner.
The day is coming when not being fully digital could make organizations out of business. However, building a digital operating model is not a question of one size fits all. Operators need to think about the unique kind of experience they want to create and let that impact their organization, culture, processes and the way they run technology.
It's quite a thing really, legacy. Once state of the art, today legacy is often more of a problem than a solution. But it is still the engine that underpins the entire operation. As we move into the era of digitalization, we need to treat it with respect. And then make it a thing of the past.
Of course, every organization is unique and therefore we have developed a digital maturity assessment that enables operators to assess their current position before developing an action plan for digitization. This tool has been the starting point for every journey we have embarked on with our operator partners, including, most recently, Canadian operator Videotron.
For Videotron, we worked with them to completely realign their systems and processes to make them more suitable for the needs of today’s consumers, who want to be able to engage with them, not by phone, but through mobile apps and online portals – much the same as they deal with other service providers. This has included an overhaul of their backend systems, moving away from their old mainframe infrastructure and delivering a new customer centric and cost efficient model.
To find out more about how digital transformation can accelerate your business, please visit our dedicated website where both the digital maturity assessment and other resources are available.
This requires the application of a clear set of principles that outline a clear path to becoming a powerful digital enterprise. At Ericsson we have used our experience of working with operators across the world to develop six core principles for digital transformation:
- Target a unique digital position
A successful transformation should always be a journey towards a clear destination. Therefore, the first step in any transformation must always be to define that clear destination and let it steer the actions and the experiences are created for customers.
- Design magical experiences
The front end is no longer just the outside of the back end, it should be a starting point engagement. Brands that excel in creating great customer experiences grow revenues 4-8% and get up to 14X larger life time value from customers.
- Engage with the digital services ecosystem
Telecom was built on two simple services, voice and texts but today consumers look for much more than that. By collaborating with a wider service ecosystem and open closed telecom systems operators can leverage their assets in other services and become a reseller of other services through their own channels
- Create services at digital speed
In the age of digital, customers expect new services before they even knew they needed them. This poses a challenge for operators where idea-to-market can be anything between 36 and 64 weeks with multiple stakeholders involved. Therefore it is essential to break down the silos inside the organization to make collaboration easier, by using a modern, catalogue based platform. This means that different parts of the organization can work in a coherent way, in one single tool, all doing their parts in a completely transparent manner.
- Operate a digital organization
The day is coming when not being fully digital could make organizations out of business. However, building a digital operating model is not a question of one size fits all. Operators need to think about the unique kind of experience they want to create and let that impact their organization, culture, processes and the way they run technology.
- Evolve technology into digital
It's quite a thing really, legacy. Once state of the art, today legacy is often more of a problem than a solution. But it is still the engine that underpins the entire operation. As we move into the era of digitalization, we need to treat it with respect. And then make it a thing of the past.
Of course, every organization is unique and therefore we have developed a digital maturity assessment that enables operators to assess their current position before developing an action plan for digitization. This tool has been the starting point for every journey we have embarked on with our operator partners, including, most recently, Canadian operator Videotron.
For Videotron, we worked with them to completely realign their systems and processes to make them more suitable for the needs of today’s consumers, who want to be able to engage with them, not by phone, but through mobile apps and online portals – much the same as they deal with other service providers. This has included an overhaul of their backend systems, moving away from their old mainframe infrastructure and delivering a new customer centric and cost efficient model.
To find out more about how digital transformation can accelerate your business, please visit our dedicated website where both the digital maturity assessment and other resources are available.
