The ‘disruption’ in the environment
The telecom industry, is currently striving to address a wave of challenge and transformation – a blitz of ‘disruptive trends’ are altering the way businesses operate and how customer experience as a defining metric is envisioned and assessed.
This large-scale paradigm shift is shaped by a number of market forces – from Opex and Capex considerations to the emergence of highly competitive non-traditional players like Google and Amazon. These new-age digital behemoths are literally changing the landscape, even as we speak: shaping customer expectations and crafting consumer behavior.
Content delivery frameworks are also moving forwards at the speed of light, with a plethora of up-and-coming, cutting edge alternatives to choose from.
In fact, the rising preference for wireless communication has led to a downswing in demand for products that were once at the core of the industry, leading to rampant commoditization.
The road ahead – homogeneity and customer-centricity
What then is the way forward for the modern telecom operator? How is customer experience shaped and influenced by this tide of challenge and change?
Clearly, Digital engagement is an imperative element in configuring the customer experience matrix. The ‘constantly-connected’ customer has a completely fresh and vibrant range of demands – and companies must calibrate themselves both externally and internally to cater to the burgeoning demographic.
Further, in a highly competitive and saturated market place, a homogenized experience for end users across multiple interaction channels could act as a key differentiator. Providing a unified experience to subscribers depends on a platform that’s geared to deliver the same - the ‘right people, processes, and technologies’.
Additionally, Telcos can also leverage Big Data and advanced analytics to glean precious customer insights, streamlining preference-mapping and customer trend-monitoring.
What’s even more important is to grasp the bigger picture – Telecom Providers, must re-think the entire telco value chain actioning comprehensive digital transformation. As an approach, this is based on looking beyond mere front end user interfacing systems fundamental devices for an enriched process flowchart and thereby, improved customer experiences, would include the following:
Advances in virtual networks, Operational and business support systems critical to launching new services, Automation and process management, Foraying into markets, Forging partnerships, and Upgraded end-user experiences.
The shape of things to come – future-readiness
The modern telecom operator must therefore look at this essential strategic initiative; an end-to-end digital transformation pathway across customers, network, and IT lifecycles.
This would have a number of profound impacts – reduced time to market, extended costs management, and better buyer experiences. Customers would be ‘fully empowered’ with the ability to utilize any one or multiple channels, as per their convenience.
The telco digital transformation must however be integrated across existing and new systems – pointing at a larger organizational change of approach: re-imagining systems from a bottom-up perspective.
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