It’s not an easy time for today’s CSPs. The dynamic new data-centric mobile experience presents a steep learning curve both in terms of monetising the explosion of digital transactions and real-time applications whilst also defending market share against disruptive new entrants and OTT providers.
At the same time, it is imperative that they not lose sight of the most important asset they have: their subscribers. Now more than ever in such a competitive marketplace, CSPs need to offer outstanding quality of service (QoS) to their subscribers, says Jennifer Fellows of MDS. To do that, they need to shake off legacy systems and adopt a new flexible, agile and responsive approach to their subscribers’ needs whilst also being able to offer innovative new services that make the most of the transition to digital – all in real time.
The subscriber at the heart
A managed convergent billing solution puts the subscriber at the centre of everything that a CSP does. It gives them greater insight into what the customer is doing, in terms of usage, and where, and how much. Not after the event, when this information is no longer useful, but in real time, as it happens.
What this means then, is that a CSP can – armed with a consolidated real-time charging and offline billing solution that delivers payment and service convergence at all levels – not only see what their customer is doing but also react to it with personalised offerings. Nor does it matter what type of subscriber they are either: consumer, SME, corporate, government or M2M. They can all be catered for.
When this real-time billing solution is integrated with customer management functions, the real-time environment enables real-time (online) rating and charging, balance management, real-time notifications for subscribers and provisioning for third party solutions. .
Getting personal
This empowers CSPs with meaningful and actionable business intelligence, for a more informed approach to understanding and monetising customer behaviours. What does this actually mean for the subscriber? It means a bespoke, flexible service that adapts to their usage. It avoids bills shock. It enables them to add bolt-ons or to only pay for what they use. It is the personalised service that every subscriber wants from their service provider.
Imagine the scenario: John goes on holiday to Spain. Usually he’d turn off data roaming as soon as he lands to avoid incurring unreasonable charges. But his new service provider offers self-service tools and real-time management controls. This means that John, using the self-service app on his phone, can set his own thresholds so that he can control how much he spends whilst he’s away, all in real time. He could, if he wanted to, also set the threshold for his daughter’s phone, whose bill he also pays. Best of all, John’s service provider can monetise this roaming activity where previously there would have been no opportunity to do so.
Cutting off customer complaints
In addition to self-managed policy control, a managed service also offers performance monitoring. The ability to flag up any problems – before their impact becomes critical – and proactively manage the relationship with the customer, is another win for CSPs looking to provide exemplary service to their subscribers. If the CSP can automatically monitor its performance and provide this in real time to its customers, it automatically reduces the need for crisis comms around service issues, as well as showing that the CSP is fully confident in meeting its obligations.
One size does not fit all
What a managed service enables is the evolution beyond the ‘one size fits all’ approach. No two subscribers are the same: why should their tariffs be? If a CSP can put the subscriber at the heart of everything it does with a managed service, it has the intelligence it needs to be able to adapt to its subscribers’ behaviour and give them the personalisation that they deserve. In real time, all the time.
The author is Jennifer Fellows, SVP of Product Management and Marketing of MDS
