Meeting Customers’ Rising Expectations, Telecom’s Top Challenge

The telecommunications industry operates within one of the most competitive markets worldwide, where service providers understand the significance of retaining their existing customer base. Acquiring new customers can be a costly and challenging endeavor, making it imperative for telecoms to prioritize customer loyalty. However, the landscape of customer expectations is rapidly evolving, presenting a formidable challenge for telecom companies.

In this blog post, we will explore why customers’ rising expectations pose a top challenge for telecoms and how these companies can navigate this dynamic landscape to foster customer satisfaction and long-term success.

Telecom CX Business Challenges

The telecommunications industry faces several customer experience (CX) business challenges. Firstly, intense competition within the industry demands that telecom companies differentiate themselves through superior CX to attract and retain customers. Additionally, customers have become more demanding, expecting personalized experiences, seamless service across multiple channels, and quick issue resolution. The complexity of telecom services, such as bundling multiple products and services, further adds to the challenge of delivering consistent and satisfactory experiences.

Moreover, the rapid advancement of technology means companies must constantly adapt and innovate to meet evolving customer expectations. Finally, the high rate of customer churn in the telecom industry highlights the importance of addressing CX challenges effectively, as dissatisfied customers are more likely to switch providers. In fact, within the past year, 46% of customers have canceled phone, internet, TV, or cable contracts with their providers.

Keeping existing customers costs less than attracting new ones. So, telcos need to focus on building loyalty and trust to retain their customers and create a viable business.

The Importance of the Customer Journey

Customer experience (CX) refers to the overall impression that clients have of a brand throughout the entire buyer’s journey. It has a significant impact on a company’s image, brand, and revenue.

In today’s landscape, clients demand engaging, personalized, and satisfying experiences, underscoring the importance for service providers to prioritize digital innovations in order to enhance their CX delivery. Nowadays, information and services are easily accessible with just a few swipes, resulting in heightened consumer expectations. This is particularly evident in the mobile network services market, which serves as the mainstay for many telecommunications providers. Both individuals and enterprises heavily rely on their phones for planning their day, conducting business, communicating with friends, making purchases, finding entertainment, and paying bills. Consequently, their dependence on these services is significant, and any disruptions or issues can significantly impact their daily lives.

Telecom CX Challenges

Currently, telecommunications service experiences are not meeting the necessary standards. Why is this the case? Over the years, carriers have invested significant time, money, and effort into developing customer service applications. They divided the work among different departments and assigned specific groups to handle various problems, such as answering a phone call for cable TV service or responding to a text message for a smartphone service.

However, this approach is no longer sustainable. When customers reach out for assistance, they expect to interact with one unified company instead of multiple departments. They anticipate that anyone they speak to or chat with will have a comprehensive understanding of the services they use and their previous experiences, enabling them to answer their questions effectively. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

To provide such seamless services, carriers must break down the barriers that exist between their customer service channels. They need to be able to respond to customers regardless of the channel they choose to contact the company, be it phone, text, or social media, and address their questions, whether they are for billing or troubleshooting slow connections. Essentially, carriers need to integrate their applications, remove obstacles, and deliver omni-channel experiences.

However, upgrading the various applications poses challenges, as many of the existing solutions were built for outdated landscapes and do not align with today’s needs. Therefore, carriers need to enhance and modernize their applications. Additionally, achieving true omni-channel functionality requires the seamless integration of all systems into a cohesive whole.

Furthermore, carriers face complications due to their increasing reliance on various contractors and subcontractors who contribute to the overall customer experience. Therefore, telcos need to exercise caution and select partners who offer open and easily integrated solutions, such as field service management software. Only by doing so can they ensure a consistent end-user experience.

How to Provide Better Customer Experience

Telecoms companies need to retool their support infrastructure as new technologies have emerged to enhance their customer experience.

Cloud:

This software design simplifies application development and deployment. Previously, software vendors would create a central solution and then distribute it to customers in a hodgepodge manner. However, with the cloud, they maintain a central system that all customers work with, ensuring that updates are immediately available to everyone.

Data Analytics:

Telcos today collect more customer and system information than ever before. They monitor user movement upon entering the website and have complete views of every interaction. However, the information itself holds little value. Data analytics enables them to process vast amounts of data and gain valuable insights into their business operations. They can create reports that help analyze trends, allowing workers to identify patterns. Employees can then make informed and data-driven decisions to improve operations. The reporting features uncover hidden patterns, detect anomalies, and predict outcomes, enabling organizations to optimize processes, identify new opportunities, and mitigate risks.

Artificial Intelligence:

With computer processing power growing rapidly, telcos can revamp their business processes. AI enables the automation of repetitive and mundane tasks, saving time for both businesses and customers. By leveraging AI technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing, companies can streamline operations, increase efficiency, and reduce human error. AI-powered automation handles tasks like data entry and customer support, freeing up workers to focus on more complex and creative tasks. One example, Praxedo’s AI powered SmartScheduler automates scheduling and routing of service technicians with one click, increasing efficiency and streamlining operations.

Benefits of Providing Top Customer Experiences

Telecommunications is a complex, forms-based, process-oriented business. In the past, staff members spent a great deal of time ensuring that documents were filled out correctly and that best practices were followed. However, with the advent of digital technology, they are now able to offload many of the mundane tasks associated with such functions. In many cases, this benefits not only the company but also the customers.

Speed Up Sign Ups 

CX impressions begin to form as clients sign up for a service. Nothing frustrates potential customers more than encountering obstacles during the sign-up process. Many individuals become so aggravated that they immediately navigate to competitors’ websites. Therefore, it is crucial for these touch points to be efficient and user-friendly. Onboarding should be hassle-free, and the service should be installed, activated, and operational swiftly.

Thanks to digital technology, carriers can now offer self-service options, which shift the sign-up process from their staff to the consumers themselves. However, it is essential for the carrier to design a system that is easy to navigate and use. Consumers are not engineers and tend to resist complex and confusing workflows.

Automate Business Processes

AI powered solutions automate form filling and data flows. Rather than individuals ushering documents through the appropriate channels, the system does so automatically. Digital input eliminates traditional manual and paper-based transactions, streamlining the process and reducing personnel expenses. Praxedo’s field service software has a modern, digital design that simplifies and speeds up such processes.  Consequently, technicians spend more time tuning network equipment and less filling out paper, improving network performance and customer satisfaction.

Personalize Customer Service

Another advantage for the customer experience is personalization: AI enables personalized experiences by understanding user preferences and customizing recommendations and interactions accordingly. It analyzes user behavior, demographics, and historical data to offer personalized product recommendations, content suggestions, and customer support. This process takes various forms. Personalization in telecom can involve addressing customers by name, keeping them informed about their usage, and providing relevant push notifications, discounts, and special offers. Predictive care proactively identifies and resolves issues before clients engage with their provider, thereby reducing costs and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Drive Sales

Also, carriers can significantly increase sales through these new personalization features by leveraging upselling opportunities. By identifying micro-segments of customers and understanding their individual needs, marketing efforts become more targeted and effective.

In essence, these advanced capabilities enable carriers to extract valuable insights from customer data sets, facilitating informed actions that not only reduce customer churn but also drive revenue growth.

The Bottom Line Benefits of Exceptional Customer Service

Telecom suppliers’ businesses become stronger when they prioritize improving the customer experience.

Seventy percent of consumers consider customer experience a major factor when selecting a telecom service provider and are willing to pay up to 8% more for an excellent experience within the industry. A loyal customer tends to spend over 60% more in a single transaction, thereby ensuring unit profitability that is 23% higher than the average customer.

Transform the Customer Journey

Telecom companies must prioritize improving the customer journey to maintain relevance and competitiveness in the industry. Understanding customer expectations has become paramount for achieving top performance. Telecom companies need to adopt a customer-centric approach and comprehend their customers’ expectations. Carriers must provide convenience, accessibility, prompt issue resolution, and self-service options. Proactively enhancing the customer experience enhances brand value, boosts engagement, fosters customer retention, and cultivates long-term loyalty, ultimately ensuring business growth.

For further resources, read our ebook on How field service management software addresses challenges for telecoms operators 

Discover the Praxedo advantage

Praxedo has been a trusted provider of field service management (FSM) solutions for companies across the globe since 2005. Our success is attributed to our unwavering focus on delivering the best FSM tools in the market. Unlike other providers, we don’t aim to supply all enterprise applications. Instead, we prioritize our expertise in FSM and offer a cloud-based solution that streamlines deployment from start to finish.

Today, more than 1,300 companies including large enterprises and SMBs, and 40,000 users across the globe rely on Praxedo daily to optimize their field service operations. Our solution enables them to increase productivity, optimize resources, and facilitate seamless data exchanges between field personnel such as technicians and engineers, and their dispatchers.

Want to learn more?  Schedule a demo today.