The telecom’s industry is enjoying a welcome boost in reputation as businesses and consumers place an increasing importance on high-quality connectivity during the current health crisis. CCS Insight conducted a survey of more than 2,000 people across the UK and US, about how they view their telecoms provider and whether the pandemic may influence future buying decisions. Nearly nine out of ten mobile customers said they were either “very satisfied” or “fairly satisfied” with their service provider. A remarkable outcome due to the fact operators have had to maintain satisfaction with the soaring and often unpredictable recent demand under lockdown situations.
Clear opportunities are to be had for innovative operators. Consumers said they would be happy to spend more on their home broadband package in return for a better service. This sounds like welcome news for premium providers, who seek to lure customers from rival networks with an emphasis on network quality. Ahead of the market, Deutsche Telekom have introduced a concept called Magenta Business Home Office, which bundles hardware, connectivity, collaboration tools, security, consulting, and support in response to the ‘stay at home’ government initiative. As you would expect many operators will be following suit, offering a range of new bundle packages.
Equally where there is opportunity there will be hardship, as tough economic conditions are becoming a significant drag on people’s budgets for technology and connectivity. This is shown by a recent report from Gartner stating that global smartphone sales declined by 5.7% in Q3 of 2020. The past year has undoubtedly reset the competitive landscape and has opened both opportunities and challenges within the consumer market. Operators that continue to act quickly and think differently will undoubtedly benefit in terms of customer attraction and retention.
A key area they can look to invest in is within Digital Customer experience, especially within the context of service. While the reputation of service from mobile operators has improved over the past few years, there’s clearly more ground to gain. For instance, only 38% of consumers in the US say that customer care representatives understand their needs while 46% of consumers outside the US say they are happy with the CX strategy of companies.
We have worked with Malaysian mobile operator, Celcom, for many years on a variety of digital strategies which aim to better-enable subscriber’s access to information about their network experience. Their Service Checker allows Celcom’s customers to check network status in their area, register for automated updates and submit problem reports all via the corporate website and without need to engage the call centre. This acts as a fast route for digital transformation of existing service channels and helps form part of a wider drive for CX improvement across the business.
To learn more about this project, and request a case study, click here.
