Customers are tough to get and easy to lose. The good news
is that communications
service providers (CSPs)have more and more options for attracting and retaining
customers. Here are nine strategies that will play out in 2013.
- Policy
will evolve from a isolated defensive capability to business integral offensive
measure. CSPs – particularly mobile operators – currently use policy to a
large extent to protect their network. Increasingly they’ll use policy to differentiate
their offerings and services based also on customer personal preferences,
purchase and usage history. This will require integrated solution between
PCRF and OCS, that enables a common product offer creation environment
that can be used for both voice and all data product definitions (WCDMA,
WiFi, Fixed Broadband).
- CSPs
will transform over-the-top (OTT) services from a problem into an opportunity.
Consumers want ubiquitous communications services. The only way
that CSPs can meet that demand is by accepting that for part of the time,
they’ll have to serve their customers over someone else’s network. CSPs
also have to accept that other CSPs and OTT providers will use their
network to serve their customers. Why? Because no one owns the customer.
If a CSP won’t meet their needs, they’ll turn to one that can.
Instead of viewing OTT services as a problem, CSPs will increasingly
look at them as a business opportunity. For example, a mobile operator could
provide a certain amount of bandwidth and prioritization to a video OTT
provider that agrees to share revenue because the QoS would help differentiate
its service.
- CSPs
will optimize their OSS/BSS infrastructure to accommodate increasingly
complex services. Billing and service assurance will become
more important for delivering an optimal mobile customer experience. As
more services are introduced, and as the underlying network technologies
become more complex, CSPs will focus on their OSS/BSS infrastructure as
the centerpiece for ensuring a great customer experience.
- Tailored
pricing and packaging will become a market differentiator. One size
doesn’t fit all. Not every mobile customer, for example, needs or can
afford 5 GB per month or 20 Mbps. Tailored packaging of e.g. social media
services at a low weekly cost will be one way lower the entry barrier and
grow in new segments. With any technology, differentiated pricing appeals
to a wider range of needs and budgets, enabling CSPs to cater to all
demographics while ensuring profitability.
- Smartphone
growth won’t plateau anytime soon. Sure, smartphone penetration is
already above 50 percent in markets such as the United
States. But globally, it’s only 15 percent. That’s a
lot of room to grow, and the grow will happen in customer segments that
has different needs and wallets compared to the first wave of smartphone
customer. Doing so requires differentiated packaging and pricing and other
innovative rate plans and service bundles, which in turn require highly
flexible BSS/OSS platforms.
- Mobile
broadband subscriptions will continue to grow. There are
2012 approx. 1.5 billion mobile subscriptions in the world. A big figure,
and still only representing less than 25 percent of all mobile subscriptions.
It is expected to grow to 6.5 billion mobile broadband subscriptions
globally by 2018, representing an uptake of over 70% of all mobile
subscriptions. So how can operators succeed to win in this new battle for
market share and avoid sever price erosion of broadband data pricing. One
key requirement will be highly flexible BSS/OSS platforms in order to
create innovative and differentiated offerings that appeal to new segments
and at the same time avoid price erosion in among existing customers.
- Customer
experience will matter more than ever. A reputation for poor service is
expensive to overcome. It’s a fact today and it is getting increasingly
important tomorrow, as the number of customers that operators are fighting
about is not increasing. The increase is in data usage, number of devices
and subscriptions. So in order to grow business existing customers need to
be maintained especially as the cost for acquiring new customers is very
high. Upsell of new services and subscriptions is difficult to customers
that are not happy, and on the other hand customers that are happy are
likely to buy more, talk well about you, and by that also help creating
growth. So make sure that you can deliver on your promise. For example, if they want to offer
business customers a premium experience at a premium price, you first must
have the tools in place to assess ensure that experience every step in
both the purchase process, activation as well as during actual service
usage.
- CSPs
will analyze customer behavior so they can capitalize on it. Simply
providing a voice-and-data pipe out to a customer and collecting a fee is
no longer a viable business model. Savvy CSPs realize this. They are
deploying OSS/BSS solutions that enable them to analyze how all their
customer (prepaid, postpaid and hybrid) are using their services and then
create tailored promotions and tariffs that leverage each customer’s or
customer group’s habits and preferences.
- CSPs
will turn customer disgust about being blindsided into a business
opportunity and market differentiator. The global backlash against bill
shock is just one example. CSPs suffer financially, too, when surprised
customers become former customers or share their anguish with their social
networks. CSPs also have the cost of fielding all those billing inquiries.
Those are among the reasons why mobile operators, MSOs and other CSPs will
increasingly provide customers with real-time control of minutes, messages
and megabytes used. This information is particularly important for
customers with shared, multi-device plans, such as a family or small
business.
Providing this type of granular information in a timely manner
requires an OSS/BSS solution capable of tracking, controlling
and aggregating it. This investment also enables CSPs to create specialized
offers, such as providing customers who are approaching their monthly allotment
with the option of buying another block of minutes or messages at a special
rate. This proactive outreach benefits the CSP’s reputation because now
customers perceive it as being sensitive to their budget rather than trying to
nickel and dime them.
About the Author
About Ericsson
Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.
