Telco Challenge I: Eroding Loyalties, Demanding Consumers
The telecommunications (telco) market is notoriously competitive and saturated in the developed economies. Providers encumbered with flat per customer revenues and increasing demand for data are compelled to continuously offer better services at lower rates just to keep existing customers let alone win new ones.
Providers are compelled to continuously offer better services at lower rates just to keep existing customers, let alone win new ones.
Smartphones and tablets further disrupt the industry by increasing pressure on telcos to provide services that will satisfy consumers hungry for new experiences afforded by larger screens and an increasing array of sensors that enable these devices to interact with their environment.
A study by analyst firm Ovum revealed that a third (38 percent) of all consumers cite poor quality customer care as the important reason for changing their mobile service provider, and over half (53 percent) state it as one of the key reasons.
It’s one of the key reasons that many telcos are adopting the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that measures the difference between the number of customer (current and potential) promoters versus the number of detractors as the central Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for running their organisations from the board room to the retail store.
It’s also a key driver for the adoption of analytics within telcos to better understand what their customers are doing — better understanding a customer increases the opportunities to upsell them on new services in addition to just keeping them satisfied with their current ones.