By: Chad Dunavant
Many Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are becoming the central hub for consumers to get their voice, video, data and wireless from a single provider. As CSPs enter the race with Over-the-Top (OTT) players to provide content to consumers, they will become more entrenched in a consumer's life. This provides a significant opportunity for CSPs to increase loyalty, and ultimately, revenue.
Based on growth projections for bandwidth usage in the United States, the opportunity for operators is clear. Cisco Systems recently estimated that the average user in the U.S. currently consumes about 12GB of bandwidth per month (equal to about 32-40 DVDs). Cisco expects bandwidth usage to increase over the next few years to 15 Terabits per month—the equivalent of 3,750 DVDs per user, per month. This dramatic shift in the way consumers use voice, video and data services are creating new opportunities for growth.
This increase in bandwidth consumption, coupled with every device being connected, eventually leads to a world where all networks converge over a single IP service delivery system. That shift will dramatically impact how services are ordered, delivered, and billed across all providers. But, be careful what you wish for….
While the outcome of being a one-stop-shop for millions of consumers can start to feel like finding the end of the rainbow, the dark underbelly of what it takes to deliver and manage the consumer experience across services can be one of the biggest risks to unraveling the market share that any provider has gained.
Offering multiple lines of business often entails partnerships and many disparate systems working together to try to support a consumer experience across all services. This often ends up being less than seamless. The secret to success will be to eliminate "swivel chair" order processing and also streamline systems to make it easier for customer service reps to upsell and offer products across all lines of business from one screen. It's easier said than done. So let's take a look at a few scenarios that illustrate best practices for beginning the journey.
Creating Centralized Product Catalog and Offer Management
As consumers increasingly expect seamless service delivery across all of their devices, they will also expect seamless quality of service and customer support. Future growth will come from 1) increased revenues through value-added services, and 2) building customer loyalty by giving subscribers what they want, when they want it.
For CSPs, the natural next step is to effectively target and market those offerings to the right customer at the right time. Comprehensive product catalog and offer management solutions will be a critical component to directly delivering offers to the customer's end device. They will also help marketers more precisely identify which tiered service is best for which customer and to upsell customers appropriately.
