The Telco Edge: Maximising average revenue per user and Retaining Customers through Improved Experience across the Customer Lifecycle

The Telco Edge: Maximising ARPU and Retaining Customers through Improved Experience across the Customer Lifecycle Telecommunications companies today operate in a hyper-competitive environment. Success means retaining customers and maximising the average revenue per user (ARPU). But maintaining – let alone increasing – ARPU is increasingly difficult. Multiple factors are converging to put the squeeze on telcos worldwide. The rapid pace of technology change, which provides the opportunity to keep offerings fresh, creates operational challenges. Competition is expanding from new players and even from new sources such as Google and Apple. Increasing commoditisation amplifies these challenges. E-commerce is a “must-have” channel for today’s telcos. Given the challenges and competitive climate, however, careful deployment with the right technologies is critical to deliver maximum value. A one-size-fits-all shopping experience will be viewed as one-size-fits-none from the customer perspective and will not foster the customer lo- yalty that is critical for creating business value. Without a holistic view of the customer relationship across all chan- nels and touch points, you simply cannot offer the right information to the right customer at the right time. Lack of personalisation and customisation capabilities minimi- ses your ability to offer targeted content and promotions to maximise ARPU and improve customer retention. This white paper examines how telcos can leverage multichannel e-commerce to maximise ARPU and retain customers by providing a true cross-channel experience across the entire telco customer lifecycle. The paper also provides insight into the e-commerce challenges that are unique to the telco industry and offers recommendations for key technology capabilities to consider when evalua- ting e-commerce solutions. Figure 1: A holistic view of the customer relationship across all channels is critical for maximising ARPU and improving customer retention. The Telco Edge 1 Customers Demand a Seamless, Multi-Touch-Point Experience The Internet and related technologies are changing the problem – it extends to customer service as well. How way all companies – including telcos – do business. many customers are frustrated by an inability of the Customers have come to expect to be able to interact call centre to resolve a problem that occurred during an with companies across a variety of channels. They re- online transaction? Or by an inability to help because quire choice – online, offline, mobile, and other options “that’s not us, it’s our partner”? for every stage in the customer lifecycle. They expect a superior, consistent experience within each touch point. The reality is that the telco customer relationship is And, increasingly, customers are demanding the ability complex with many “moving parts”. The foundation of to easily and seamlessly switch channels, sometimes any successful multichannel strategy is a data model even mid-transaction. that supports centralised product content management with the ability to publish out to various channels quickly But delivering a truly seamless cross-channel experi- and accurately. This provides the necessary base for ence can be challenging – and many telcos struggle in an e-commerce and e-service platform that addresses this regard. How often has a customer received a flyer the unique challenges of the telco industry to effectively with a promotion only to be disappointed, and even manage the entire customer lifecycle with the goal to angered, when the nearest store isn’t aware of it and maximise ARPU and lifetime customer value. cannot honour the deal? This is not just an e-commerce Figure 2: Customers use many touch points to interact with companies today; telcos must provide a seamless customer experience across all of them. Ericsson centralises product content management with hybris. ▪▪Has developed a central platform for managing all products and documents ▪▪Supports 20,000 business users and 300 editors ▪▪Delivers consistent communications to all partners and customers ▪▪Integrates with SSO and LDAP for seamless workflow The Telco Edge 2 Addressing the Unique Complexity of the Telco Industry In order to create business value, e-commerce for the need for printed materials such as product catalogues telco industry must meet a specific set of challenges and and documentation. Cost-effective production and demands created by an environment of complex relation- delivery across multiple channels requires the ability ships and requirements. Telcos must: to manage product information and rich media across multiple systems. →→ Maintain complex product and service catalogues. Telco product catalogues are extremely complex. →→ Support a wide range of complex business models In addition to a wide range of product and service and customer relationships. bundles, the near continuous cycle of adding new Even the broadest business-to-consumer (B2C) products and discontinuing old ones creates an enor- e-commerce operations must offer a high-quality mous management challenge. This is compounded by shopping experience to attract and retain customers. the variety of sale “types” which include renewals, up- Many of the capabilities required for successful B2C grades, add-ons, etc. Integrating product information e-commerce are also critical in the business-to-busi- management (PIM) technology is critical to ease the ness (B2B) realm but there is additional functionality management of these complex product catalogues. needed to address specific B2B requirements. Busi- ness-to-partner (B2P) offerings, such as white-label →→ Maintain brand consistency across different regions. e-commerce solutions for business customers, can Providing local products and services across differing create significant revenue opportunities but only when languages, currencies, tariff plans, and other re- they can be quickly and cost-effectively deployed. De- gional differences, while preserving global brands and livering advanced functionality for partners, including standards, requires careful orchestration. You need to the ability to independently administer websites, can be able to enforce standards while managing regional create a competitive edge. differences from a single flexible system. →→ Support a sophisticated and demanding customer base. →→ Support a multi-touch-point process. Whether they are consumers, businesses or partners, Multiple customer touch points require a consistent today’s telco customers are sophisticated and demand look and feel across channels such as point of sale, a high-quality experience across the entire lifecycle of Web, mobile, etc. Even more importantly, however, the relationship. Attracting new customers means de- each point needs to be “aware” of the others to provide livering a superior shopping experience. Maintaining a seamless shopping experience. For example, if a profitable customers requires superior service while promotion is offered by a service representative over keeping support costs low, which can be accomplished the telephone, there needs to be a record of the details by offering effective self-service support capabilities for when the customer goes to the retail store. and integrating customer relationship information →→ Create printed materials easily and cost-effectively. across all support channels.