Reimagining Telco CX, the touchless way

Cutting-edge technology has become a part of our everyday lives. As technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and cloud become more prevalent, consumers become more sophisticated. They’re digitally savvy, well-informed and open to exploring new ideas and offerings from the companies they do business with.

And as they cast their nets across a wide range of product and service providers, they gravitate toward those that deliver the best CX. In fact, CX has arguably become the single biggest factor driving customer loyalty—and therefore revenue growth—today.

This is certainly true in the communications and media (C&M) industry. Customers expect the high-quality, digitally driven experiences they encounter in other industries to be matched by their telecommunications providers (Telcos). Small and medium businesses (SMBs), in particular, are increasingly looking for Telcos to provide digital self-service—half of them are open to interacting with Telcos in this way—as well as to help them create an omnichannel approach so they too can deliver a best-in-class experience for their own customers.

Digital natives are raising the CX bar, which has led to new types of competition for Telcos. Yet direct competitors are no longer the only worry. Adjacent competitors like Netflix and YouTube provide intuitive experiences that customers are growing accustomed to—and expect their Telcos to provide. At the same time, Telcos are being measured against perceptual competitors like Instagram or Zomato—completely unrelated businesses that shape customer expectations across the board. The fact is, the expectations of customers—whether a consumer or an SMB—are only becoming more liquid within a rapidly changing business landscape. That’s the only way they will be able to give both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) customers the CX they’ve come to expect.

Of course, this is a massive challenge for established Telcos, which still face a wide range of legacy technology-driven impediments to delivering the kind of omnichannel CX customers today expect—and that are crucial for future growth. New foundational technologies are enabling Telcos to take advantage of the data and advanced analytics capabilities that power a seamless experience and interactions across multiple channels—including apps, call centers, retail spaces and beyond—throughout the customer journey.

With the right layer of technologies (such as cloud and virtual assistants that run on AI engines), data and analytics, Telcos can continually innovate their CX and transform themselves into true data-driven organizations. And that’s the reasoning behind Accenture’s five integrated digital solutions for Telcos. These solutions are enabled by Accenture partnerships across the ecosystem for scalability, and feature pre-built software assets and accelerators for faster delivery. Working together, they enable Telcos to transform the specific interrelated aspects of their businesses that are key to creating a CX that attracts customers and keeps them coming back for more:

There’s no question that customer behaviors and expectations continue to evolve, and Telcos will need to change accordingly to maintain loyalty and, ultimately, to grow. The focus is on delivering truly differentiated CX. By elevating the marketing, sales and service life cycle; investing in digital channels and innovative technologies; and adopting a modern, cloud-based, decoupled architecture, Telcos can clear the bar that’s been set across industries—and possibly set a new bar themselves.

In this fast-paced changing landscape, they’ll want to expand their ecosystems and partner with the right companies to help them along the journey. The right partners, combined with the requisite culture change, will enable Telcos to continue to put experience at the heart of their operations so they can capture—and captivate—today’s liquid customer.