A gradual return to the office has had little to no impact on business investment in virtual collaboration technology according to new data from Tradeshift, which found telecoms spending is almost twice as high as it was prior to the pandemic.

According to Tradeshift’s latest Index of Global Trade Health, which analyzes transaction data between buyers and suppliers, the number of telecoms-related transactions crossing the company’s platform was up by 90% in Q2 compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

The significant uptick in telecoms spending is in stark contrast to the dramatic decrease in travel and hospitality spending since the pandemic. Business travel was 30% below pre-pandemic levels but the volume of transactions processed by Tradeshift has been increasing consistently since the first lockdown eased.

TRADESHIFT FINDS TELECOMS SPENDING GREW FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER IN A ROW, INDICATING NO IMMEDIATE END TO REMOTE WORKING REVOLUTION

Corporate hospitality spending dropped 81% in Q2 2020. A year on and it’s tracking at the same level suggesting client entertaining and networking events will remain virtual, at least for the time being.

Christian Lanng, CEO, Tradeshift, said: “For a lot of businesses remote working began as a defensive act, a way to keep the lights on during a very challenging period. But the upside of collaborating virtually quickly became apparent.

“As economies open up, I think we all have a renewed appreciation of what it means to come together in person. But we’ve come too far to go back to ways of working which suddenly feel like they belong to a different era. Getting together is still going to be part of working life, but those opportunities will come at a premium. Zoom is going to do the same thing to professional services as the container did to physical trade.”

“For our own part, we decided pretty early on that this change is not temporary, and whatever we come back to will not look like what we were used to before. Like many companies we decided that the future of work was not a binary choice between a fully remote workforce and one that is fully office-based.

“A lot of our teams are spread internationally, so remote working makes a lot more sense than going into an office to sit on Zoom calls. For other teams, particularly sales, it’s useful to be able to sit together and bounce ideas around. Flexibility has been absolutely central to our thinking.”

---

Further Reading:

• Read more about Service Innovation and Design @ www.fieldservicenews.com/service-innovation-and-design
• Read more about Telecommunications on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/telecom
• Read more about Remote Work on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/remote-work
• Find out more more about Tradeshift @ tradeshift.com
• Follow Tradeshift on Twitter @ twitter.com/Tradeshift

WBR's Laura Anne Danaraj speaks to Margerat Dizon from Globe Telecom about balancing customer demands with efficient operations.

Communication through technology has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Today, we as consumers rely on a combination of mobile phones, broadband, and wireless data to stay connected with people, look up information or for entertainment. Think of a time where you are not using your phone, computer, or dependent upon the internet… Not easy is it?

Exceptional Customer Service

Just like how easy it is to connect online with a press of a button, the telecommunication industry understands there is phenomenal value in using technology to provide exceptional customer service and to transform practices in keeping their customers happy.

I had a casual chat with our Field Service & B2B CX Asia speaker, Margaret Dizon, VP of Customer Field Services, Broadband Business at Globe Telecom, a major telecommunications provider in the Philippines. She shared her experience and knowledge in managing their field service operations.

According to Marge, “Field servicing is not just exclusive to our field service agents. It is also empowering our customers to be part of the field servicing loop all together”.

Hence, Globe Telecom is trying to get the right formula for its balancing act in managing the demands of its customers while making sure operations are efficient.

“We try a personalized approach, making sure that we are physically present vis-à-vis leveraging remote tools, remote management and remote troubleshooting. As we are currently geographically dispersed, we want to ensure we have the right capacity and the right skills set in the field so we can deliver on time and of high quality, with no repetition.”

It seems then that the key to winning customer service drills down to technology and coordination – leaving customers feeling directly catered to while optimizing digital tools. Therefore, building a strategic approach to integrate digital technologies into field service management gives a business really an edge.

With several Telcos in the market for customers to choose from, and companies competing to gain market share, does cost eventually act as a barrier to provide good customer experience?

 

"Apart from CX, in a digital first world, Telcos need to ensure customers have a good omnichannel experience to survive and thrive..."

 

 “Our cost enhances the type of approach in delivering field service to our customers. So rather than seeing it as a barrier, I take it as a way to identify and deliver the best approach based on the customer persona we are dealing with.”

Given that, some customers might need a specific type or a premium brand to provide them personalized service.

“The fact is if they feel the sincerity from us, they would see the value of the service. It does not matter whether you have the basic or premium subscription with us; we always provide the right outcome. And with that, I would say it’s not really dependent on the cost,” affirmed by Marge.

A study by PwC, titled ‘Experience is Everything: Here’s How To Get It Right stated that 42% of consumers said they would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience, and 52% would pay more for a speedy and efficient customer experience. Customer experience has become the number one aspect for businesses to focus on, overtaking price and product as the key brand differentiator.

Apart from CX, in a digital first world, Telcos need to ensure customers have a good omnichannel experience to survive and thrive in such a volatile and complex ecosystem. How does Globe Telecom achieve this?

“We plot a map of a customer journey, where all the teams are engaged and all the channels that deliver customer experience are aligned. Once we have that map in place, we make sure we follow the guidelines whether it is the type of words that we use, the timing, the approach, the type of feeling that we evoke and the manner of how we deliver their expected service. We are all aligned to the kind of journey we are supposed to deliver to them (our customers).”

It comes down to the planning and execution as shared by Ms. Dizon. As Telco’s transform from a traditional communication service provider to a digital service provider, they have to develop the ability to orchestrate customer experience that supports them at every touchpoint in order to achieve their desired outcome.   

To end our casual chat, Marge shared that attending Field Service Asia gives her the chance to gather together with fellow Field Service leaders to share their experiences, challenges and best practices. Instead of just looking out for information on the internet, she gets to secure real life applicable case studies through this summit.

---

Futher Reading: 

• Read more about the Field Service and B2B CX Asia event @ https://fieldserviceasia.wbresearch.com
• Read more articles by Laura Anne Danaraj @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/lAURADANARAJ
• Read the PwC study, Experience is Everything: Here's How to Get it Right @ https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/future-of-customer-experience.html
• Read more about customer experience in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/CUSTOMER+EXPERIENCE
• Read more about Globe Telecom @ https://www.globe.com.ph/

Software AG and Tech Mahindra Partner to Deliver Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics innovation for Telco sector accelerating digital transformation and enhance service offerings.

The new partnership will see Software AG’s Cumulocity IoT and webMethods Integration Platforms integrated with Tech Mahindra’s IoT framework to support telecommunications customers.

Accelerating Digital Transformation in Service

Working together, Software AG and Tech Mahindra will provide Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and integration technologies, services and support. This will enable communications service providers (CSPs) and manufacturers to drive digital transformation efficiently, quickly and with maximum impact for their customers, employees and business.

Vikram Nair, President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Tech Mahindra, said: “As part of our TechMNxT charter, we are constantly looking to expand our partner ecosystem by connecting with industry-leading companies. This partnership will strengthen our existing relationship with Software AG, and will enable our CSPs to accelerate the roll-out of digital solutions empowered with advanced IoT solutions.”

As CSPs increasingly move towards more data-driven and value-added services revenues, powered by intelligent networks, they require substantial systems integration and solutions development work that can be best provided by Tech Mahindra and Software AG.

John Schweitzer, Chief Revenue Officer, Software AG, said “Our joint solutions will help CSPs to accelerate the rollout of new advanced IoT offerings. Working with Tech Mahindra, we have made it easier than ever for CSPs to build stronger integration with OSS, BSS and other parts of telecommunications enterprise systems. This will allow CSPs to roll out new advanced offerings and onboard new customers faster than ever before, offering an unparalleled customer experience.”

The connectivity of devices is playing a key role in service development and vendors working together to bring IoT to sectors will only assist service delivery. This new partnership will be key in deciphering the value of data-driven offerings from IoT.

---

Further Reading:  

• Read more about IoT in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/IoT
• Read more about digital transformation in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more about the telecommunications sector in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/TELCOS
• Read more about Software AG @ https://www.softwareag.com/
• Read more about Tech Mahindra @ www.techmahindra.com

If there is one industry that should be leveraging data in every way possible, it’s telecommunications. The telecommunications industry services billions of people each day, generating massive amounts of data. Though not many telecom companies are leveraging this data, the introduction of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in this industry are inevitable.

A study by McKinsey, Telcos: The Untapped Promise of Big Data, based on a survey of leaders from 273 telecom organizations, found that most companies had not yet seriously leveraged the data at their disposal to increase profits. And only 30 per cent say they have already made investments in big data.

So while there is certainly debate within telecom companies about whether the return on investment is worthwhile, there is no doubt that data science, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) are inevitable when it comes to the industry’s future. Those that figure out how to leverage these techniques and technologies will thrive; those that don’t will be left behind.

By using data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence strategies, telecommunication companies can improve four areas of their services.

The importance of data science, ML, and AI to the telecom industry will likely present itself in these four areas in particular, which this paper will take a look at individually:

 

1. Troubleshooting:

One of the major challenges for telecom providers is being able to guarantee quality service to subscribers. Analyzing call detail records (CDR) generated by subscribers at any given moment of the day is key to troubleshooting. However, CDRs are challenging to work with because the volume of data gets massive and unwieldy quickly. For example, the largest telecommunication companies can collect six billion CDRs per day.

With data science, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI), companies can instantaneously parse through millions of CDRs in real-time, identify patterns, create scalable data visualizations, and predict future problems.

 

2. Fraud Detection: 

Verizon estimated in 2014 that fraud costs the telecom industry upwards of $4 billion a year. However, the faster that telecom companies analyze large amounts of data, the better off they are in identifying suspicious call patterns that correlate with fraudulent activity.

Cutting-edge ML and AI strategies like advanced anomaly detection make it much easier for telecommunication companies to identify “true party” fraud quickly.

 

3. Marketing:

The high churn rate in telecommunications, estimated at between 20-40% annually, is the greatest challenge for telecom companies. Telecommunication companies can use data to build better profiles of customers, figure out how to best win their loyalty (in the most scalable and automated way), and adequately allocate a marketing budget. With improved data architecture, they are able to harvest and store a greater diversity of data that provide insights into each customer such as demographics, location, devices used, the frequency of purchases, and usage patterns. By combining data from other sources like social media, they can have a stronger understanding of their customers.

Using machine learning gives a more accurate picture of which channels are most responsible for customer conversions for better ad buying as well.

 

4. Customer Experience: 

Telecommunication companies can enhance their services by analyzing the millions of customer complaints they get every year to figure out which types of improvements will have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and thereby increase customer retention. They can also leverage data at a larger and more automated scale to gain insights into the performance of their technicians.

The more that telecommunication companies can analyze data on customer calls, the more they can begin to recognize which types of problems are most likely to lead to unwarranted “truck rolls” and put in place measures to prevent those calls. Given the number of calls and the depth of analysis required, this necessarily dictates a machine learning approach - more specifically, a deep learning approach. Because analyzing the calls themselves means dealing with lots of unstructured data, it’s the perfect place to expand into ML and deep learning for big gains.

 

The future of data in the telecom industry

Data science is already a big part of the telecommunications industry, and as big data tools become more available and sophisticated, data science, ML, and AI will all continue to grow in this space.

In the coming years, companies that succeed will be those that figure out how to best use the massive number of data points that are flowing both through their network and around it to reduce labor costs, develop better technology and, to better understand what the seven billion potential customers around the world want to do with their smartphones and computers.

To learn more, download the whitepaper White Paper: Top 4 Growth Areas of Machine Learning in Telecommunications.

---

 

Be social and share

One of the most important presentations at this year’s Field Service Europe Conference was delivered by Rajat Kakar, VP, Head of Product Related Services Business, Fujitsu as he tackled the question of what leadership will look like in the future. kris Oldland spoke to him about some of the key points...

The world in which we are living is changing and it is changing rapidly. Digitalisation and ever increasing connectivity is having an immeasurable impact upon the way businesses operate and the workplace of the future is going to be a vastly different environment to what it is today.

The question is how prepared are you and your business to adapt to these changes? It is almost a given that those organisations that can see the road ahead and are plotting a clear roadmap for their own evolution, are the ones that will thrive. Those who wait until the changes come, and try to react to them then... they may well find it is too little, too late.

As Leon Megginson, a Louisiana State University business professor stated in a speech some fifty years ago stated “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

This is why Fujitsu’s Rajat Kakar’s presentation at this year’s Field Service Europe conference held in Amsterdam is one that had attendees fully engaged - as it focused on the changes coming to all corners of industry and importantly how businesses must adapt.

If you think about leadership it goes into multiple dimensionsAnd of course at the heart of all organisational change must sit strong leadership - but what exactly does strong leadership in this brave new world of Digitisation, Automation and Artificial Intelligence look like?

“If you think about leadership it goes into multiple dimensions,” explains Rajat.

“We need to be thinking about how can we engage with and harness the next generation of people who are going to be driving service businesses forward and to do this we must start to think about things from the perspective of where the market is going to be developing.”

“Ultimately, everything comes down to this understanding of where the market is going - that is the first step. From there, if we can see how the market will evolve, then we can ask ourselves what kind of people do we need in order to be able to drive our businesses forward?”

For Rajat, globalisation driven by more effective connectivity is one such significant consideration.

“This opens up a complete new area, one which a lot of people have not really dealt with before,” he comments.

The service delivery mechanism is no longer just around the corner, the delivery mechanisms of the future will be in the global delivery centres“The service delivery mechanism is no longer just around the corner, the delivery mechanisms of the future will be in the global delivery centres. The delivery mechanisms will be possibly even be sitting in multiple countries depending on how you’re able to find your experts for the service element you want to be delivered.”

“These are the things we need to start thinking about today. We need to consider how we as companies are going to be managing our businesses moving forward.”

Of course, even today we are seeing how technology is changing the shape of our businesses and this is undoubtedly only set to increase in pace. We have been hearing talk about the fourth industrial revolution and of new business paradigms for many years now and concepts such as Industrie4.0 and Servitization are rapidly taking hold. However, Rajat asserts that this is just one aspect of the evolution service organisations should be aware of.

The fast changing face of the workforce will also add far reaching cultural changes to the way we work.

“The next element we must consider is that the workforce is changing which means that we will have a lot more experts moving into the market - you will be bringing on experts rather than developing them via the traditional organisational structures,” he explains.

It is clear that across all verticals, business leaders can expect to see wholesale changes as the combined drivers of technology and cultural shift make their impact known. One upshot of such impact Rajat predicts is a much more competitive and level playing field - which will be largely driven by the maturation of Big Data tools.

The ability to assemble data and then draw information from that data will become increasingly easier.“What I think is fascinating is that the barriers to entry will continue to become smaller,” Rajat states. “The ability to assemble data and then draw information from that data will become increasingly easier. What used to take a long time to achieve will be done in a quicker and more efficient manner.”

“To take an example, let’s look at the traditional Telco market. What happened traditionally was that you would have an infrastructure which had an clearly identifiable cost.”

“However, off the back of such infrastructure we will see a lot of small companies that are coming up who will actually achieve on the base of that infrastructure - but they could achieve a lot more, in a lot quicker way whilst avoiding much of the potential costs which a traditionally structured company used to have.”

“If you take for example a company which has been the traditional provider of telecoms such as AT&T or Telefonica you will see that more and more these organisations are getting into areas like content management.”

“This is because they can see that the traditional means of delivering news or programmes etc which generally came via traditional broadcasters are quickly becoming less and less valid.” Rajat adds.

What is happening is that via such digital changes those who had traditionally been in the market suddenly gain a lot more competitors“So if these Telco’s are able to harness the information from their customers to be able to do more direct marketing and direct advertising, and do all these things effectively, what is happening is that via such digital changes those who had traditionally been in the market suddenly gain a lot more competitors - there are a lot more smaller companies that are now able to compete.”

“Once we get down to this, the question becomes what kind of a service mechanism are you going to need to support these type of companies moving forward - because they are not looking for the traditional services, everything can be turned completely upside down.”

These are all hugely important questions you absolutely must be working through today, in order to build a leadership team that will flourish tomorrow.

“You have to face up to the fact that the type of leadership you have in place today may not be the right type of team to take you forward. Because if this leadership is not in tune with the upcoming changes to the market,then they are not in tune with how to make your business elements strategic.”

“Their ideas will effectively become lost in translation. Remember, you’re going to be needing different types of people and your going to be needing different types of skill sets if you want to stay ahead of the pack”

To quote another American University lecturer, John Allen Paulos, a Mathematician from Temple University, Pennsylvania, “Uncertainty is the only certainty.” and no one can tell exactly where the future may lie.

However, one can make an educated guess based on fairly substantial evidence - and for those attending Field Service Europe, paying attention to Rajat’s shrewd assessment of the future is sure to give you a head-start.

Be social and share

Ericsson and MTS, the largest telecommunications operator in Russia, have agreed to upgrade the network of MTS. Ericsson will deliver the newest software features that will be continuously developed during the next three years.

The scope of the agreement also includes 5G-ready radio hardware, Ericsson Radio Systems and core network with the latest Ericsson Mobile Softswitch Solution (MSS), as well as User Data Consolidation (UDC), providing consolidation of user data for all network functions.

These solutions will upgrade the mobile networks for 2G, 3G and 4G. In addition, MTS will prepare the network for 5G with Ericsson software for Massive IoT solutions, including NB-IoT and Cat-M1 technologies. This enables a wide range of IoT use-cases including metering and sensor applications.

The agreement fully supports MTS’s strategy of preparing the network with 5G and IoT-ready hardware to enable a fast commercialization of these technologies. The deployment starts Q4 2017 and total value of the contract is expected to exceed EUR 400 million.

Andrey Ushatsky, MTS Chief Technology Officer, says: “In April 2017, in Moscow our companies demonstrated 5G technology with peak data rates up to 25 Gbit/sec. Now we have reached an agreement with Ericsson, which will supply MTS new equipment enabling our network to deploy first solutions based on 5G technologies starting 2020. After upgrade, MTS network will provide higher data rates, increased capacity and low latency. These characteristics are critical for IoT and digital services that we are starting to implement today".

 

According to latest edition of Ericsson Mobility Report, many operators will deploy 5G commercially from 2020, in line with the time plan for 5G standardization. In 2022, the number of 5G subscriptions is forecast to reach more than 500 million. The adoption rate of 5G mobile broadband is expected to be similar to that of LTE, and rollout will commence in major metropolitan areas, reaching around 15 percent population coverage by 2022. 5G will enable a wide range of use cases for massive IoT and critical IoT.

Arun Bansal, Head of Ericsson in Europe and Latin America, says: “Early deployment of IoT and 5G technologies positions Russia as an early adopter of the most advanced ICT solutions. Ericsson supports MTS in the company’s goals to meet growing capacity needs and be ready for huge opportunities that will come with 5G and IoT. 5G will be a major technology in booming industrial digitalization, creating and enhancing industry digitalization use cases such as immersive gaming, autonomous driving, remote robotic surgery, and augmented-reality support in maintenance and repair situations.”

This announcement represents a milestone in the large-scale commercialization of IoT and 5G technologies in Russia. It follows the agreement of an extensive 5G Memorandum of Understanding signed by MTS and Ericsson in December 2015.

To further demonstrate the capabilities of 5G and IoT technologies, the two companies will roll out 5G demo zones during FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 

---

 

Be social and share

A shift in attitude & embracing new tools can help break telco’s poor customer service cycle writes Mussy Kurt-Elli, CEO of QubeGB and a keynote presenter at Maximize Europe Conference which took place in Amsterdam earlier this month.

While it’s no secret that telcos perennially end up at the bottom of customer satisfaction reports, a survey this summer by the Institute of Customer Service report actually shows signs of significant improvement in the space.

Not exactly time to break out the Dom Perignon, but any improvement is worth holding onto - although it has to be put into perspective.

So-called challenger brands, such as Tesco Mobile and giffgaff have apparently skewed the scores, so clearly there is still room for improvement.

And according to a more recent report, from market researchers Vanson Bourne, it’s not a wish that is exclusive to the telco sector. The report shows that nearly half of IT and field service decision makers surveyed across all types of organizations peg improving customer service as a priority area for investment. For IT decision makers, ¬field services fall below the popular categories of security, big data and analytics but it’s still significant.

 

To a certain extent it is unfair to compare telco with other sectors. Customer quantities and types of product vary but certainly telco has to keep working on improving service quality. The Institute of Customer Service notes “telecoms continues to generate the highest number of complaints, with one fifth (20%) of customers having experienced a problem.”

I shouldn’t complain. After all, the fact that most operators are struggling to execute high customer service themselves gives us an “in” to winning new business (we provide field engineering and managed services to all of the UK’s major tier one carriers, such as BT, Talk Talk, Sky, EE, and Virgin Media, as well as smaller aggregators, such as the Post Office, housing associations, and electrical retailers).

In my experience, the industry doesn’t suffer from lack of experience, but more often a lack of critical fundamentals, such as modern service tools, processes, training and front line service engineers to uphold customer service standards.

Without investing properly in these areas, the industry as a whole will continue to struggle with high levels of complaints.

In our own business, we deployed the ServiceMax field service management platform to formally manage our service teams in the field, and get insight into products, history, scheduled maintenance, and Cases and Work Orders to streamline customer interaction. Having the  right tools and process in place can lead to transformational change.

So what does this mean for telco customer service? Certainly change is necessary and this change is as much about perception of customer service as it is the processes and methodologies in making customer service and support more efficient. Empowering field service engineers and support staff to improve communication, response times and repair times (as well as increase transparency and efficiencies) is important for modern support teams.

 

The key is for telcos to recognise the true value of field service, not just as something which can impact customer satisfaction but that can also provide data and intelligence on customer trends, product deficiencies, new product ideas and the potential for upselling. Unfortunately, according to the Vanson Bourne study, in the majority of cases, organisations and board members are missing the link between ¬field services and customer satisfaction, let alone everything else. This means that boards are reluctant to support increase field service projects and improvements in customer satisfaction are slow.

In fact the telco sector has an opportunity here to make a leap forward. As a third party support supplier for the industry, we have seen huge improvements in the technology that can help us improve service provision for customers.

Improved reporting with more granularity, a clear feedback path for recurring product faults and transparent workflows are just some of the benefits we can now pass on. What does this mean to telco businesses? Ultimately a time reduction on each job which increases service capacity and therefore financial savings. We estimate that a ten-minute reduction on each job would increase service capacity by 50,000 jobs a month and earn a potential £6m in additional revenue a year.

 

It’s a strategic step that puts an end to the firefighting approach (chances are your service department has yet to modernise in terms of technology, dedicated service platforms, training or tools). Addressing the gap in field service delivery teams will not only increase customer satisfaction but also improve employee satisfaction and lead to greater job retention.

Telcos need to accelerate change and embrace the field service renaissance. Customer service after all is the new growth strategy for all businesses.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature