FINAL WORD
Wow your customer
Operators that want to serve customers
the way customers want to be served
need to strike a pitch-perfect note in every
interaction; they need to understand that
marketing, care, sales and support teams
have subtly different relationships with
subscribers and business customers, and if
the tone is jarring, the customer will notice.
The DSP is in search of nothing less
than the ability to serve every customer
according to their individual needs, through
the contact channel of their choice – the
much sought-after ‘personalised service’
ideal. Treat every customer like this and
you will have entered a zero-churn utopia
with unprecedented LTV, where upselling is
effortless and every customer is a fervent
ambassador for your brand.
The right BSS consolidates and homogenises
data, allowing decision makers at all levels
– from the boardroom to frontline sales
teams – to get to know their customers more
intimately. Profiling goes so much deeper
than names and contact history. Your BSS
needs to gobble up every piece of data
“
OPERATORS THAT
WANT TO SERVE
CUSTOMERS THE
WAY CUSTOMERS
WANT TO BE
SERVED NEED
TO STRIKE A
PITCH-PERFECT
NOTE IN EVERY
INTERACTION.
others – can be confident that the basics of
customer courtesy and SLA compliance are
being fulfilled.
available if it is going to provide you with the
actionable customer insights that will set you
apart from your competition.
The BSS must also cover the automation of
business processes. The individualisation of
service is best delivered in an environment
where employees – sales, marketing and
86
INTELLIGENTCIO
Your BSS needs to be able to guide your
people in their navigation of that activity,
so that customers never have that ‘starting
from scratch’ feel in dealing with you.
The same goes for digital channels and
self-care facilities. They can help to slash call
centre costs by allowing customers to help
themselves. Your BSS must cater to these
capabilities as they are an extension of the
omni-channel experience.
Although many customers may prefer to
speak with a representative, a growing
number of consumers will opt for self-care,
and if you do not offer it, they will remember
and they will speak out on social media.
Partner up – play for keeps
In such an environment, your representatives
can turn their skills to more one-to-one
interactions, humanising the experience
for the subscriber or business user. Indeed,
the starting point for some of the most
successful one-to-one interactions will be the
automatic, accurate collection of customer
data – everything they do and say; any
trifling indication of a want, dissatisfaction,
intention, plan or musing must be captured. In the age where your subscribers’ value
‘experiences’ over services, a robust BSS can
also help you win them over by extending
your offerings beyond just traditional voice
and data. DSPs can grow their own partner
ecosystem by onboarding third-party
providers – from airlines to health insurance
companies – swiftly, attracting swarms of
new customers in the process. Entirely new
streams of revenue can be created overnight.
Don’t forget omni-channel But remember, before you start counting
your digital chickens, you need to consider
the partner experience. Finding themselves
in a sea of CSPs trying to become DSPs,
potential partners have a lot of choice –
just as consumers have – so it is vital that
you empower them with the same level
of service and experience, when they do
business with you.
Digital natives want what they want,
when they want, and via the channel they
want. They have power and are discerning
because they have choice. And the ease
with which they can change their minds has
never been greater.
Maxim Nartov, Customer Solutions
Director, Nexign
branch – back in the days when they were
the only channels about which you had to
worry – today, they will expect the same
continuity between all their traditional and
digital interactions.
The omni-channel experience has grown out
of that power. The modern business cannot
afford to dismiss gripes such as “Why can I
not place an order via WhatsApp?”
If your subscribers are using WhatsApp,
then you must make it your business to
deliver it as a channel option. So, you must
seek out a BSS that allows you to offer that
experience. And just as your customers
would have expected seamless convergence
between online, phone and a physical
To this end, your BSS needs to be up to the
task of delivering on partner expectations
such as easy self-onboarding, self-care and
transparent reporting.
Becoming a DSP and pleasing digital
natives every day is not an easy journey.
But staying relevant in a market driven
by millennial demands starts and ends
with your BSS. It is your brain and your
consigliere. Use it wisely. n
www.intelligentcio.com