Happy customers generate the biggest revenues, so there is a strong business case for ensuring customer satisfaction by focusing investments on improving network performance. After all, the case for maximising customer lifetime value will always be more compelling than cost cutting.
This holds true for fixed, mobile and converged networks, where telecom companies are all in the throes of making big investment decisions over the coming months. In fixed, the government has its foot on the accelerator in the drive to deliver fibre to the premises (FTTP). In mobile, 5G deployment is continuing and the roll out will be a complete game changer in terms of services.
Against this backdrop and the economic fall-out from the pandemic, network operators are looking to prioritise investments where they can secure the biggest returns. They aim to focus on those areas of the network that will generate the most revenue, as well as meeting regulatory and contractual obligations by delivering services that work as their customers expect.
It may seem like a complex situation, but in the end it all comes back to increasing the focus on giving customers more of what they want.
This ‘end user first’ philosophy to network investment is the right approach when selling network services directly to all end users, including consumers and business customers. However, it also holds true when the network operator is selling to an intermediary such as a reseller or over-the-top (OTT) service provider. In both B2C and B2B scenarios it remains just as important to understand the key measures driving customer satisfaction.
Three components help put the customer first
Customer satisfaction: There is a direct correlation between customer satisfaction and revenues. A happier customer will spend more, whereas an unhappy customer will spend less or leave. Establishing the cause and effect relationship between changes in network performance and customer satisfaction is the key to making the right investments. Smart solutions can help providers see beyond conventional network performance parameters to reveal how these impact on the user experience.
Cost to serve: A poorly performing network or service is more expensive to operate, because unhappy customers will soon be in touch for help and supporting them effectively can be very resource intensive. For this reason, improving customer satisfaction clearly drives down the cost to serve. Tools that offer a clear view of the relationship between network performance and cost to serve provide another way to evaluate the impact of any network changes and target the right investments.
Network data: Each network component can provide details of how it performs, identifying issues and the maintenance required. Finding the link between changing parameters in individual network elements and the overall customer experience is not always straightforward, but measures such as the time taken to provide new customers with a service or how long it takes to fix faults will all have an impact. Any assessment should also include forward looking indicators such as network capacity, which could have an impact next week or next month.
How NTT DATA Can Help
At NTT DATA we work with clients to assess their network maturity, identify opportunities for focused improvement and evaluate future investments in relation to key business priorities.
The journey starts with identifying the relationships between customer satisfaction, cost to serve and the network. As the relationships are understood they can then be linked together to get a better understanding of how they improve customer lifetime value. This can then be weighed against the cost of network improvement activities to build a strong business case.
Contact NTT DATA for information about network maturity assessment and how it can point the way to improved customer satisfaction.