Telecoms Cozy Up with Self-Service
Tue Jan 7, 1:08 PM ET
Kimberly Hill , www.CRMDaily.com
story.news.yahoo.com
Telecommunication companies are putting self-service tools at the top of their CRM project lists, according to a recent report by the Yankee Group. Author Lisa Cebollero told CRMDaily.com that -- after years of talk -- both landline and mobile phone companies are moving on self-service plans.
"Particularly given these rougher economic times," she said, "overall interest has really made self-service a top priority."
More Than Bill Payment
The report outlines three functional areas in which communication carriers are rolling out self-service tools: billing and collections, customer service and customer acquisition. The first, online bill payment, has been a mainstay of carrier Web sites for some time. Customers have been encouraged to receive and pay bills online to save costs both for themselves and for the company.
However, now carriers are moving troubleshooting and other customer service functions onto the Web, according to Yankee. Processes like rate plan changes and billing dispute resolution increasingly are being handled through online tools to avoid increased call volumes in expensive call centers.
Of the four telecommunications companies analyzed -- Verizon, AT&T (NYSE: T - news), BellSouth (NYSE: BLS - news) and Sprint (NYSE: FON - news) -- AT&T topped the list by offering 15 of the 17 functions researched through its Web site. Cebollero also pointed to Verizon's advertising campaign, which features self-service as a competitive differentiator, as an indication of how important the niche has become to telecom providers.
Revenue Still Counts
Companies are even moving marketing functions to the Web, said Cebollero. For example, carriers are encouraging customers and prospects to purchase calling plans, equipment and accessories through e-commerce transactions rather than through brick-and-mortar stores or by phone.
The business outcomes that carriers seek range from smaller customer service staffs to faster time, to service activation, according to the report. And, surprisingly, telecoms are still citing the potential for increased revenue as their primary reason for deploying self-service tools. This data stands in stark contrast to other recent studies indicating that only cost-saving measures are receiving executive attention at present.
EBPP Companies Build Out
Cebollero said that software vendors in the EBPP (electronic bill presentment and payment) space must begin to build out their application offerings to address the additional self-service functions demanded by their telecommunications customers. She pointed to the example of EBPP software developer edocs, which recently introduced a line of self-service modules and is aggressively pursuing this additional niche.
"They've built out their solution to become more of an account management and online service tool," she said. "I think the EBPP companies need to add these functions in order to survive."
Vice Versa
Likewise, said Cebollero, self-service software vendors are adding bill-payment modules at an increasing pace. Because enterprises are moving toward single-vendor models, many vendors are adding EBPP functionality so that they can continue to serve established customers, especially in the bill-heavy telecommunications space.
The stakes in telecommunications are high, and software vendors are well aware of their customers' needs. Telecommunications ranks at the bottom of the heap for call-center effectiveness, according to benchmarking data from the Purdue Center for Customer Driven Quality (CCDQ).
Some of these problems can be attributed to industry consolidation and market velocity, Deloitte Consulting partner Nidal Haddad told CRMDaily. But the telcos may finally be learning that they ignore the quality of customer service at their own peril, he noted. Letting customers help themselves can be part of the solution. |
