By
Gareth Senior, Comptel and Karl Whitelock, Stratecast
The ramifications of the telecommunications industry's evolution towards customer-driven, lifestyle services is now coming to a head for many communications service providers (CSPs). CSPs that are providing businesses and consumers with these advanced offers are facing a challenge on two fronts. The first is managing the more personalized nature of these lifestyle services, which might involve everything from network access, service definition and payment plans to the type of media and entertainment content involved. The second is managing the heavy burden these lifestyle services place on network capacity and the overall management of bandwidth.
The sheer volume of user transaction data generated by these services impacts the carrying capacity of many CSPs' networks—and their ability to keep customer satisfaction high and costs in check, while realizing an acceptable level of profitability. Consequently, today's traffic volumes (from both mobile and fixed-line networks) and the long-term implications are forcing operators to change their business strategies and take a step into the flexible world of policy-enabled customer satisfaction management.
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CSPs are realizing that they need to engage in a customer-centric approach to policy control, to match end-users' bandwidth needs with the right business plan. |
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To support increasing traffic volumes and provide network connectivity at an acceptable level of service quality, CSPs have three choices—build additional network capacity, push traffic to other operators' networks or manage their available assets more effectively. While the first two options are feasible and likely to be implemented in some parts of the world as a means for eliminating customer dissatisfaction, they come with additional
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The Tug-of-War Between Data Usage and Customer Satisfaction
It's no surprise that businesses and consumers want to pay as little as possible to get as many minutes of use, or as much bandwidth and download volume as they can—expecting total customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, operators would ideally like to capture the most revenue to maximize profitability, while keeping their customers happy enough. CSPs want customers to stay and spend more, while they deliver as little network capacity as possible, to keep costs under control. Ultimately, as in all businesses, there needs to be a balance between the aspirations of customers and the business realities faced by all network operators.
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costs and no guarantees of new revenues. That leaves the third option, managing available assets more effectively, as the most likely choice for many.
CSPs are realizing that they need to engage in a customer-centric approach to policy control, to match end-users' bandwidth needs with the right business plan. Strategies incorporating a policy-based control function should recognize patterns of fluctuation in customer demand, and remember that not all businesses or consumers have the same needs and that these needs can change dynamically. Operators should also realize that the traditional way to influence customer behavior—through pricing plan and charging options—is not sufficient enough in today's dynamically changing market.
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