The single biggest challenge for the telecoms industry over the next decade will be managing the customer experience end-to-end. From a customer experience perspective, Hong Kong's CSL CMO Mark Liversidge said, 'There does responsibility end for operators as we effectively become broadband smart enablers?'
'If someone is streaming a high-definition movie and they've not getting a great experience, are we responsible' Liversidge asked. 'If you say you've not responsible, then frankly you've just a dumb pipe. If you become a smart-enabler, you have the challenge of understanding and controlling the massive volumes of content.'
A Telecom Asia-Stratecast survey of operators across Asia Pacific supported that view as customer experience management (CEM) and customer care/self-care were once again the customer-oriented functions receiving the most attention, with 55-56% of those polled indicating each was a top priority (see figure 1).
Business analytics together with business intelligence (BI) was ranked third - with 44% of respondents saying the area was receiving the most attention, up from 32% last year.
't's no coincidence that customer care, customer experience management and business analytics are the top three concerns,'Karl Whitelock, a senior consulting analysts with Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan.
They are related, and a focus on one creates a need to update the other. Customer self-care and knowing the customer's overall service experience is vital in today's always-on environment.'
In see-saw moves over the past two years, content partner management fell to seventh place from fourth last year, with the percentage ranking this a priority dropping to 25% from 31% in 2010 (it was just 15% in 2009). Interconnect and cost management also shifted back to 2009 levels - rising to 35% after dropping last year to 23% from 33% in 2009.
Turning to the number of operators offering customer self-care or e-care for most of their service, 57% indicated they did, while 13% planned to in six months. Some 21% were looking into the option and 10% had no plans to do so (down from 24% a year ago).
Just 10% of the operators polled claimed that issue of business transformation had been resolved. Almost 31% indicated business transformation was somewhat a concern but that no action had been taken while 59% said it was a major concern and initiatives had been started.