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Another area Verizon excels is in providing options for assisted service. Besides a "live chat" feature which is offered after login, customers also get an "Email Verizon Agent" link on the summary page, and the ability to report problems via email.
Verizon's site also lets customers easily resolve a number of back-end tasks, such as bill paying, or updating customer information. There is an "Add/Change Services" tab, which shows a table of services, features, and options, and a "Change" button to add or change them. The Seybold report notes that "This is a cross-sell/up-sell page for marketing, not customer service," which is an apt observation--keeping in mind that a good customer service organization will always incorporate cross-sell and up-sell into their service features.
The fundamental dilemma of telecom, which is the need to provide more services at higher quality while constantly lowering prices, can only be offset by increasing ARPU, and this can only be done with cross-sell and up-sell. Understanding your customers' needs better, serve them with greater efficiency, and take that information and use it as a cross-sell and up-sell opportunity. This serves both the customer and the bottom line.
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"Even government agencies are trimming their own blubber with e-government initiatives and the like." |
ultimately make the "Concept of One" dream a reality. Similarly, 21CN transforms multiple legacy networks into a simpler multi-service network. Traditionally, each telecom service on offer required a separate network, with a separate infrastructure and OSS services to support it. The approach of creating an all-IP network helps to accomplish this desired convergence. In an IP network environment, each service is just another application, one of several that runs on a common platform with a common OSS.
Lessons from "Lean Manufacturing"
I've never met a monopoly that isn't "fat" and customer-unfriendly. Even government agencies are trimming their own blubber with e-government initiatives and the like. Even state Departments of Motor Vehicles--notorious for slow service and surly clerks--have re-invented themselves, give you options for automated service, online |
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OSS Convergence
Some telcos have gotten with the program. A few years back, AT&T came out with its "Concept of One," which consolidated multiple systems onto a single platform, and "Concept of Zero," which delivered services to customers in real time. Similarly, BT's 21st Century Network (21CN) re-engineered its OSS systems, enabling BT to deliver higher quality services.
AT&T isn't promoting its "Concept of One" anymore, but it hasn't abandoned its philosophy, and since being absorbed by SBC, AT&T is planning significant capital expenditures, and the plan now is to move towards an all-IP network--which would
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renewals, and in some states, a convenient kiosk in the lobby for self-service. But when was the last time you tried to pay your gas or electric bill over the counter? Many utilities don't even have a payment desk any more, instead forcing those who wish to pay in person to go to small convenience stores and gas stations and pay an extra fee, just for the privilege of handing someone your money. This is the mindset that the telecom industry comes from, and we're just now starting to figure out that in a competitive environment, that just doesn't work.
BT's 21CN is an excellent example. Described as a "fundamental remaking of our business,"
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