3/15/99 CIO fairly positive article on IRID
Mar. 15, 1999 Issue of CIO Enterprise Magazine
idg.net
IKE A LOT OF OTHER CUTTING-EDGE
electronics consumers worldwide, Ronald Naar spent
last summer tracking the progress and availability of Iridium,
the new satellite telephone service that promises to deliver
communications capabilities to the four corners of the globe.
Nine years in the making (see "Ground Control," CIO, April
1, 1996), the satellite network was only then getting into
place. And handsets, which run about $3,000, were (and at
press time still are) in short supply.
But Naar was a man quite literally on a mission. He
wanted—make that needed—an Iridium phone to help him
and his partner, Coen Hofstede, communicate with the
unfrozen world as they embarked on a 75-day trek and
parasail across the continent of Antarctica. Naar's first move
was to call Iridium's brand-new Global Customer Care
center (at 800 628-4910) to inquire about getting a handset
in time for the expedition's departure.
"We started in May and got a phone only two
hours before we were leaving [in November]," says Naar,
speaking over the Iridium handset on day 32 of the
expedition, when he and Hofstede were virtually becalmed in
windless conditions and temperatures of minus 34 degrees
Celsius. "We got just the phone. There were no instructions
and no time for training," Naar recalls. "I just took the whole
thing and ran to the airport."
Preoccupied as he was with anemometers, aluminum fuel
cylinders and para-wings, Naar most likely didn't give much
thought to the details of Iridium's customer-support plan. But
behind his initial phone call is a vast customer-support web
that's nearly as complex and ambitious as the satellite
network it aims to support. And as Naar eventually learned, it
can even advise Antarctic travelers to properly warm their
batteries before dialing.
Washington, D.C.-based Iridium LLC's Global Customer
Care (GCC) program offers 24-by-7-by-365 telephone
support in 13 languages to customers literally anywhere in the
world. Iridium customers, who use one telephone handset
and are reached at one telephone number regardless of their
location on the globe, call a single number from any country
to reach GCC and, after keying in a short code, are routed to
an operator who speaks their preferred language.
For times when the phone itself isn't working, users can
reach GCC via a toll-free or low-cost local phone number
from 70 countries. And GCC even promises delivery of new
handsets within three business days to those who have
damaged or lost theirs, in some cases navigating customs,
sensitive borders and other geographic vagaries to do so.
Behind the scenes, a virtual private network links the three
physical locations—Maitland, Fla.; Zoetermeer, Netherlands;
and Sydney, Australia—that make up the call center. Data is
instantly and constantly replicated among the three sites, so
customer files are always live regardless of which physical
location has fielded the phone call. Calls are automatically
routed depending upon time of day and the availability of an
operator who speaks the caller's language. A SIMM card
inserted into the Iridium handset transmits subscription
information to authenticate the subscriber and determine
access rights when a call is placed to the GCC center.
If all that sounds expensive and complicated, it is. Iridium
officials and Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc.'s consultants who
worked with the company to develop GCC strategy and
bring the GCC online all declined to put a price on the
program's development costs. But according to Mark
Gercenstein, Iridium's senior vice president of business
operations, the company plans to spend between $50 million
and $100 million on customer care over the next two years.
"Of course," he points out wryly, "if we have no troubles and
nobody calls us, that number could be a lot lower."
Money aside, the development team had to clear multiple
hurdles in its quest for a truly global customer service
program, including overcoming language barriers, negotiating
business agreements with telephone providers worldwide and
maintaining relationships with both customers and business
partners without alienating either group.
Given the time and trouble involved, why did Iridium
bother? The company has no alternative if it hopes to woo
and win the attention of the top-flight customers who are
likely to be its early adopters, says Jack Gold, a senior
program director at Meta Group Inc., a Stamford, Conn.,
research firm. "At $3,000 a handset and 3 or 4 bucks a
minute, you'd better make sure people are happy. You're not
just talking about dropping a dime into a phone here," says
Gold, who emphasizes that an entirely new technology like
Iridium is more likely to fail occasionally, so "solving
problems quickly and effectively is of major importance."
(For a cautionary look at the author's high-priced call to
Naar, see "No Price Cap to the Icecap?")
While Iridium officials say the per-minute price of the
company's satellite service can be as low as a dollar or two
depending upon where and when a customer is calling, they
don't dispute that cutting-edge technology needs a high level
of customer service, particularly among the diplomats,
high-volume business travelers, and maritime, construction
and oil and gas workers who have thus far been the earliest
adopters of Iridium technology.
"You get only one chance to do it right," says Global
Customer Operations Director Lynn Williamson of Iridium's
decision to come right out of the gate with a blue-chip
customer service operation. "If we want to put a premier tag
on this service, we have to be there with a premier support
product at the beginning." In addition, a fully realized
customer-support center raises the bar for potential
competitors down the road.
"Highly mobile customers basically need a very different
type of customer service," says Patrick Zerbib, vice president
in Booz, Allen's Communications, Media and Technology
group in New York City. "If you've contracted [for Iridium
service] in Italy and you're traveling in China, you might not
even know how to dial Telecom Italia from where you are."
A single worldwide phone number solves that problem for the
user and protects the integrity of the Iridium brand name,
Zerbib says. Moreover, there are varying customer-support
standards in different countries. Because Iridium service is
offered by local mobile telephone providers, the company
might have chosen to leave customer care to the individual
providers. But, outside the United States and Japan, 24/7
support is far from being the norm.
Given the need for truly global customer service, Iridium
and Booz, Allen set out to make that vision a reality. The
project involved more than a few unique challenges.
Language, for example, was one large stumbling block. "We
can put 56 satellites up in the air, but we can't get everyone to
speak the same language," Williamson says.
Iridium's solution was to establish its call centers in three
locations where bilingual and trilingual employees are more
readily available. The Florida center handles primarily
Spanish and English, the Netherlands center handles
European languages and English, and Australia covers Asian
languages and English.
Such requirements make staffing the call centers a
challenge, says Kathy Eisenhart, Iridium's executive director
for global customer care. In addition to their language
skills—which in some cases are tested by an outside
translation service—applicants must demonstrate proficiency
on the computer, be able to type and talk at the same time,
and pass basic listening comprehension and grammar tests,
which are administered as part of an interactive PC-based
program.
The decision to support 13 languages (plus a separate
language line for other dialects not covered) caused a
particular headache for the people charged with setting up
terrestrial backup lines for customers to call when they have
problems with their Iridium phones. "The easy 800 number
was a big challenge," recalls Peter Grambs, a principal with
Booz, Allen's IT group. "It had to be done country by
country, and each time we needed 14 different numbers, one
for each language plus the language line."
There was no alternative to simply slogging through,
striking agreements with local service providers one at a time
for toll-free numbers or, where those weren't available,
low-cost local phone lines. That same principle applied when
it came to building a network of delivery companies that
would be able to make good on Iridium's promise to replace
broken or lost handsets.
For all the preparation and problem-solving, the concept
of Global Customer Care as a strategic selling point is still an
unproven and expensive gamble. The Iridium network itself
was officially launched Nov. 1, 1998; but with handsets still in
short supply, it's difficult to guess when customer numbers
will ramp up, Iridium officials concede.
So far, calls to the GCC have been primarily
informational—the phone center doubles as a sales support
and inquiry line—or have been from first-time users anxious
to get going without reading their manuals, according to Lisa
Smith, global client process consultant for Sprint Telecenters
Inc., which is contracted to run Iridium's Florida call center.
"People are just getting their hands on the handsets, and they
want to know how to dial and how to use the phones," Smith
says. The most common themes are what am I doing wrong
and how come I can't make a call?
More exotic problems such as Naar's difficulties with
frozen batteries aren't yet the norm, Smith says. Local service
providers that have just begun to offer Iridium to their
most-valued customers tend to treat them with kid gloves. As
a result, questions that may one day wind up at the GCC are
being handled on a local level for now. For example, Naar's
local carrier, the Netherlands-based Glocall, which has been
aggressive in both supporting and promoting him, solved his
battery problem by suggesting he first warm the battery unit
(via solar panels placed on top of his tent) before placing it in
the handset.
At this early stage of the game, the GCC staff remains
convinced that the global call center makes good business
sense. "Consistency of service across the world is going to be
a significant contributor [to satellite market growth]," declares
Eisenhart. "This service has to work to meet your
expectations, and we think a one call, one phone number will
be a big attraction."
Tracy Mayor is a freelance writer and editor based in
Beverly, Mass. She can be reached at tmayor@shore.net.
|
