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Field Service delivery has become fundamentally reliant upon mobile computing technologies, almost all field service technicians now utilise a smartphone for at least some proportion of their work-flow during maintenance calls. 

So it is with keen interest that we look at Mark Jackson and Kevin Billings, Directors & Industry Principals, Telecoms & Media, Pegasystems predictions to what to expect within the realm of mobile across the last twelve months against a backdrop of transformative technologies and the latest regulations...

 

Prepare for fall of fixed-line home broadband

The advent of 5G means consumers will no longer need to rely on home broadband to access high-speed internet. For some customers, this means they will only require one internet contract which will allow them to seamlessly transition from the home to mobile. This will be particularly beneficial for rural communities who aren’t always able to access a fast internet service. In the US we’ve already seen Verizon going after cable-dependent areas, encouraging their customers to purchase a 5G hub as a replacement to home broadband, and we’ll soon see this trend appearing in the UK when 5G services go live.

 

Digitising the B2B offering – an untapped opportunity for telcos

As the B2B market grows next year, CSPs will have to pull their socks up to expand their service portfolios and dramatically ramp up their service levels. Business customers demand a differentiated ‘enterprise grade’ level of service, for example ensuring SLAs are met and the promised service specification is delivered in a certain timeframe. Fixed and mobile services are converging, and cloud-based solutions are being offered to reduce capital expenditure for customers and will open up new opportunities from connected devices and applications through IoT. To achieve this goal, an end-to-end automated digital operation is a must for CSPs to capture revenue, reduce operating cost and realise strong returns from new B2B services.

 

The mobile app is dead

 Hundreds of apps clog up the average smartphone and 2019 is going see a big app shake-up that could be terminal. Yes, smartphone memory is increasing, but the constant pinging of notifications, using up data and, battery consumption, has led to “App Fatigue”. Customers are simply ignoring or deleting all but their essential apps from their phones. CSPs will realise that investing thousands of pounds in an app that nobody will use is not the wisest initiative, particularly with today’s customers having more and more channels and devices available instantly to them to use - Alexa, WhatsApp, Skype and more. In order to support their customers’ digital demands whilst simultaneously increasing engagement, CSPs need to deliver a personalised experience via combined omnichannel AI and end-to-end Robotic Automation to enable streamlined, efficient journeys.

 

Can we cope with a connected everything?

IoT has become the fastest growing part of telco businesses. In fact, Samsung has announced that they want ALL of their devices to be connected - from your TV to your oven. While 5G will help facilitate IoT, it poses a myriad of challenges for the companies involved – who owns and is responsible for the data? On one hand, if businesses and individuals hand over their information in return for using an IoT network, companies can offer a better service or a cheaper contract. On the other, the responsibility of managing and keeping this data secure dramatically increases the burden of compliance. Companies need the right compliance tools to stay on top of this before it spirals out of control. Being able to prove CSPs are compliant to ever-changing rules means they, like the banks, will embrace regtech that can be created and configured easily and quickly without needing to have a deep knowledge of coding.

 

Strategic sales to raise new service development capital?

The development of new 5G networks is an overwhelming task, and telcos need to work out where to invest time and money in investing in new 5G networks. So, where do they start? With network rollout demanding a huge capital investment, next year will we see more and more telcos selling off businesses in other countries to raise capital to be able to invest in 5G network construction in their more profitable regions?

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The telecoms market is undergoing a huge transition in the UK and across continental Europe. A number of high-profile acquisitions have been made with analysts expecting further consolidation of telecoms companies still to come. The reason behind this spate of acquisitions? The attempt to bring to the market a quad play offer for consumers writes Tim Faulkner, Vice President EMEA ClickSoftware 

Quad play is a term that has been around for a while now. The idea is that a telecoms company can offer a fixed telephone line, broadband, TV and mobile service. For consumers, they get a one-stop shop for all their services. It means dealing with less providers, consolidated bills and makes the overall service much easier to manage. 

 

The last element of the quad play offer is perhaps the most important one. In research conducted by ClickSoftware last year, we found that over a third (34%) of consumers have either cancelled a service or stopped using a brand altogether as a result of poor customer service[1].

A staggeringly high figure to think a third of the customers that businesses come across on a daily basis can be so quickly and so emphatically put off spending any more money with them.

For quad play to be a compelling offer to consumers, it needs to improve the customer service aspect and ensure that there is consistency in service delivery across the company. Regardless of the role, every employee and contractor needs to be provided with the training, tools and information they need to perform a good job.

Whether it’s discussing a service over the phone or an engineer installing a solution at a customer’s house, everyone working for the company is a brand ambassador and the end user shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the levels of service. In order to succeed, customers need to feel like they are dealing with one company rather than four different suppliers.

When it comes to cost, industry commentators are undecided about whether it will lead to cheaper bills for consumers, however they are in agreement that bringing all of these services together should lead to better customer experiences. That said, in any acquisition, merging the companies together can be a difficult task.

This is further complicated when considering the multiple suppliers each company deals with and how these are integrated. For quad play to take off, companies buying others will need to work out their supplier roster quickly to minimise disruption during the transition.

For the telecoms companies, each should now be in a more powerful position to deal with suppliers. Because there will now be less telecoms companies to work with, the suppliers will need to compete more fiercely than ever.

The purchasing power will be in the hands of the telecoms companies but it will be up to suppliers to provide the best possible offer.

What we will see as a consequence of a quad play market is the development of a marketplace bidding system. Suppliers will need to tender their services via a marketplace platform and the telecoms company will then have to take its pick of the supplier it feels provides the best service.

This new way of working will also benefit the telecoms companies as they will be able to have full visibility across all field resources, including contractors. By extending the same technology utilised by the company to its contractors, they can better ensure consistent processes and level of service are carried out across the organisation.

 Regardless of which service provider is performing the task, the visibility should ensure consistency and a better customer experience. Not only will this achieve greater customer satisfaction but also does so without the need for additional staff overhead, by increasing capacity only when it is needed to maintain service performance levels through demand spikes.

The rest of the year will see the issue of quad play develop. We will see telecoms companies aggressively promoting the offer in order to acquire customers. It will be crucial that for quad play to really take off, the customer experience element improves right off the bat.

Utilising service providers in this new marketplace model is one way of ensuring this takes place

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[1]UK Service Industry Consumer Frustration Index

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Xplore Technologies Corp manufacturer of ultra and fully-rugged tablets, announced earlier this month that they have received an additional order for approximately 1,500 RangerX Pro fully-rugged Android tablets that will be used by a major U.S. telecommunications provider’s field technicians in its construction division.

“We believe that the RangerX Pro fully-rugged Android tablet is the best Android solution in the market today. It is the perfect solution for our customers’ technicians in the field” said Mark Holleran, president and chief operating officer for Xplore Technologies. “This order is a follow on order from an existing telecommunication’s customer and we are pleased to see this key relationship expanding.”

The telecommunications provider selected the fully-rugged RangerX Pro because it increases mobility for its field technicians with battery life of up to 10 hours to maximize time in the field, boosting productivity.

“This order reaffirms Xplore’s decision to expand its product line of ultra-rugged tablets to include fully-rugged products,” said Philip S. Sassower, chairman and chief executive officer for Xplore Technologies. “The RangerX Pro was chosen for its fully-rugged IP65 rating, and at 2.2 pounds field service workers have a versatile device built with Xplore’s proven rugged performance.”

The thin and light RangerX Pro, purchased by the telecommunications company, has optional integrated HDMI-In and Gigabit Ethernet ports enabling the technicians to replace multiple devices previously required to perform daily tasks.

Click Software continue to build their reputation as a stand-out provider of field service solutions to the telecommunications industry having won the contract to supply one of Italy’s largest mobile telecom operators WIND Telecomunicazioni Spa, with a new field service solution to enable greater mobile workforce management.

The solution will replace the Italian telecoms companies existing workforce management system and is being implemented by WIND to enable the company to build a more efficient mobile workforce by utilizing ClickSoftware’s assisted scheduling engine. The Italian telecoms company is hoping that by further improve the levels of service they are able to provide they will be able to firmly cement their position as leader within their sector.

Nicola Grassi, Chief Technology Officer at WIND commented:

“We have always been committed to fortifying the fundamentals that strengthen our core activities and that are able to increase the flexibility and efficiency of our operational services. Customer satisfaction is crucial to our business and we needed a solution that was reliable, easy to implement and develop, with a measureable amount of results,”

“We believe that we can meet such challenges working with ClickSoftware” he added.

With almost 1,000 field engineers, WIND’s dispatchers will now be able to capitalize on the benefits that a modern field service system such as the one ClickSoftware provide which incorporates powerful optimisation capabilities as well as delivering reliable, precise information directly to the smartphones of the field technicians out in the field. An added benefit of the solution is that the field management team at WIND now have the ability to gain visibility into all aspects of the business, especially in times of emergency.

 Commenting on the implementation Dr. Moshe Ben Bassat, Founder and CEO of ClickSoftware stated:

“WIND understands the strategic importance of customer experience, and ClickSoftware will help meet its service goals”

 “Our objective is to always help customers use their resources in the most efficient way while meeting its targets for customer satisfaction. With so many engineers in the field, ClickSoftware will make a considerable impact on both the reliability of information shared and time saved in completing jobs.” He concluded.

 

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