By: Tim Young
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.” –Steve Jobs
That’s right, folks. In honor of the retirement of Steve Jobs, I’m providing the obligatory former-Apple-CEO quote for your consideration. But it’s wholly appropriate, as this month we’re exploring the
complex world of customer experience. Who better to reference but a guy who understands customers
like few others?
But it may have been easier for Apple to become customer experience leaders than it would be for your
average CSP. After all, consumer electronics and digital content services are very different from 24/7 voice, data, and video services. A “Space Age” meets “Information Age” retail experience and some
clever devices won’t do it for CSPs. Nor will snazzy marketing. Not even a revolutionary shift in the way
users consume content is enough for service providers.
Customer experience in the communications space is a long game. It’s a game that can be lost at any
moment over the years and years that a contract lasts. And it’s a game being played with more players
and higher stakes every day.
In this issue of Pipeline, we explore the elusive customer experience in a variety of different ways. We
tackle the terminology, explore ways to improve customer experience, reveal CEM innovations, and
discover why now is the time when customer experience is really starting to matter like never before.
We hear from industry-leading vendors and service providers from Oracle to Comptel on what
customers really want and how to give it to them. We hear from Comarch on how automation and
SQM can alleviate network congestion, and how that improved QoS can greatly impact your customer
experience. We hear from Progress Software on how telecom can nurture their customers in a way that
both reduces churn and enhances ARPU.
We bring you all of that, plus the latest in OSS/BSS news analysis.
All the Best
Tim Young, Editor-in-Chief
