Communications service providers (CSPs) are flocking to invest in CEM solutions in the belief that they can help to reduce churn and to make their networks and services more attractive to other users, boosting subscriber additions. Retaining and recruiting customers has become increasingly difficult, because today’s subscribers are more discriminating and there are more choices available than ever, writes Mikael Grill
Delivering a better, richer experience through more effective CEM is now seen as a key contributor to future success. However, many of the available solutions seek to address different aspects of CEM, by solving specific problems that have been identified. Such approaches result in solution silos that do not support cross-departmental and organisational goals. They solve problems in one area, but do not deliver elsewhere.
It is crucial to recognise that CEM is more than a set of products. It is an orientation that spans all disciplines and affects the entire CSP organisation, as the customer relationship and lifecycle touches upon all departments and teams. Unless this key fact is recognised from the outset, attempts to enhance CEM practices will meet with only limited success and the creation of yet more disconnected silos.
The introduction of VoLTE has exposed the fault lines in such disjointed approaches. VoLTE is complex, has many challenges and requires considerable expertise in order to ensure successful delivery. If it is to succeed, VoLTE really has to deliver on the promise of enhanced voice and multi-media service capabilities and performance. Looking ahead, there will be further profound and disruptive changes in network design with the advent of NFV – indeed, many VoLTE deployments are likely to be based on NFV solutions. Delivering effective CEM will be fundamental to the success of VoLTE investments and even more so as migration to NFV gathers pace. VoLTE simply must deliver the performance that CSPs expect, so that they really can capitalise on the predicted cost savings. This requires a truly multi-disciplinary approach to CEM that supports the entire organisation.
To achieve this, a unified approach is required. The key to this is the continuous availability of real-time data from the network. If data is only available historically, then CSPs can understand why problems have occurred but do nothing to prevent them. The acquisition of real-time data from all domains in mobile networks, including VoLTE, is therefore of critical importance. Once available, it must be spread and shared throughout the CSP organisation to support CEM at all levels, providing the basis of a unified approach.
Polystar’s Network and Customer Insight solutions provide the ability to capture, sort and present realtime data from VoLTE and other networks, such as 3G and 2G, as well as for other services. They provide the means to consolidate, correlate and present valuable information that delivers insight to support a fully unified approach to CEM. Uniquely, they do so across all network technologies, from VoLTE to GSM, enabling a truly end-to-end perspective of session and network performance to be derived.
These tools enable different users to access the information they need, based on a common source – whether through interfaces and dashboard, or via integration through the open API to third party solutions. What’s more, our professional services team works with CSPs to ensure that data processing and information presentation is customised to the needs of each user group, from network operations and customer support, to marketing and executive management, as well as for the strategic requirements of individual CSPs.
It means that an effective, joined up approach to CEM can be adopted, using proven tools that are ready for the coming migration to NFV, helping make VoLTE deployments more successful. It clearly establishes a path by which a more active approach to CEM can spread through a CSP’s organisation, driven by the absolute imperative of getting VoLTE deployments right, first time.
