Capgemini: How a few operators changed customer communication forever

Julia turns on her phone after landing in New York, ready for a two-week vacation. She already knows her coverage will be a problem – it always is. But this time, she is told that she is now roaming, and she is offered a 2 GB package for the duration of her vacation. “Good!” she thinks, “it’s better than having no data or paying full roaming charges per use!”

Alex reviews the family phone plans on the operator’s site: his wife’s, their son’s, his. Different blueprints, some used, some not – there must be a way to optimize… “Oh,” he thinks, as a banner appears for a family blueprint, “sounds interesting! ”

Léa has an old phone that is getting old. She’s also nearing the end of her commitment period, and she’s started looking at the various deals on the market – who might get her the new iPhone? Then she receives a promotional text – a new iPhone with a plan renewal: “Wow!” she thinks: “This time, “it’s like they read my mind!”

Customer relationships and engagement with them throughout their lifetime are essential to customer satisfaction and revenue generation. Individual engagement bases your customer relationship on trust and caring: a CSP must speak with one voice with a customer, treat them as a person, with individual behaviors, experiences, needs… and not as a person of a segment. It allows the CSP to accurately suggest the next best action or next best offer, helping each customer make the personal choice that is best for them.

Modes of interaction

As the examples above show, interacting with customers corresponds to different modes, with different requirements and constraints. They are all relevant, at different times, and meet different needs.

incoming mode

The customer initiates – in person, over the phone, or via a website/mobile app – and seeks information or requests assistance. The next best action then appears as a direct-to-agent recommendation or as a banner on the website or app. It should be calculated quickly, so no one has to wait for pages to load, and be delivered on the same medium. The next best action can be offering help or trying to sell a new option, offer or bundle. It can be tied to a seasonal activity or be tied to a specific activity or profile trait, or both.

Campaign Mode

The CSP has scheduled cyclical marketing campaign activities related to seasons, phone releases, deal generations, etc. Targeted communication is pushed to customers, typically to sell, renew, or drive usage. Personalization is important to promote the most relevant offers, and avoid ineligible customers.

Triggered mode

A specific event or activity occurs that signals a specific “moment” in the client’s life as an individual or in relation to the CSP. Then, the CSP may offer help and/or suggest an action, offer, or option. This is generally very specific and individual to the customer’s behavior and experience, and must be carried out in “almost real time” (typically less than five minutes), so as not to miss the critical moment!

Operational impact

In terms of organization, Marketing must be able to manage both recurring activities (campaigns) and the 24/7 operation of a responsive NBA/NBO engine. Automation is key, and the organization is geared towards setting up rules and scenarios, analyzing data and feedback, developing propensity models, scores, insights, and then implementing automation. What remains is monitoring – with tools similar to monitoring a telecommunications network.

Technical impact

The technical stack used to deliver customer interactions must be able to obtain reliable real-time data and insights and then make decisions quickly (50-100ms in some cases, 5 minutes in other cases) at high volumes . It should also be able to deliver campaigns to millions of customers. The technology must be chosen carefully and provided with sufficient resources to ensure scalability. It should allow the CSP to easily configure scenarios and rules, based on information from advanced analysis models.

Conclusion: a story of transformation

Such features are not available on all CSPs today. Today, most organizations still have siled channels with fragmented interactions, creating unsatisfactory customer experiences. A CSP eager to gain competitive advantage must develop a new view of highly relevant, real-time customer interactions aligned with their business goals. She is then ready to start a transformation project in two parts, the implementation of new processes and the implementation of a new customer interaction architecture, with an agile and iterative approach.

Capgemini has already enabled such transformations at many CSPs, leveraging strong telecommunications industry, change management, customer experience and data expertise. Let’s get in touch!

TelcoInsights is a series of articles on the latest trends and opportunities in the telecommunications industry – driven by a community of global industry experts and thought leaders.

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