Real-time multichannel account platform: Customers use a variety of channels to sign up for and interact with their accounts, so issuing a real-time multichannel platform that supports seamless movement between tablets, laptops, smartphones, and other channels is crucial, the idea being that a customer who starts a transaction in one channel would be able to continue it in another without interruption. Similarly, a customer would be able to make changes to his or her account from any device, which would be especially useful with family plans; Amdocs recently introduced such functionality in its CES 9 product suite.

Post-sales: For most CSPs churn is highest in the first 30-90 days following activation. Many customers leave the fold when they see their first bill, unable to understand how charges are tallied, so offering them a personalized postsales experience can have a positive effect on their likelihood to churn during this crucial time period. SundaySky’s personalized video interactions with CSP customers in the lead-up to and delivery of their first bill has resulted in reductions in churn of up to 18 percent when compared to the baseline. (Personalized text messaging and email contact can also enhance the customer experience after acquisition.)

• extensive mobile and online self-help portals, prepopulated with customer-relevant information;

• real-time visibility for agents into a customer’s device profile, personal profile and recent activity across all channels;

• a single-view customer interaction platform that integrates social media and extends through any customer contact point.

Loyalty: The most successful loyalty programs allow a customer to choose how he or she will earn and leverage perks. The airline industry presents the best example of this strategy; CSPs could dramatically improve their customer retention rates if they offered personalized loyalty programs on the level of, say, United Airlines.

Integrating the role of presence

The telecom industry has rapidly moved from doing business with a stationary address to doing business directly with a mobile user; not only has the nature of the service mix changed, but the points of engagement have grown exponentially. Adding the presence layer to a personalization strategy increases the connection with the user and improves the customer experience. As Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez told TechCrunch last October, “There’s a lot of potential in combining location technologies with personalization.”

In other words, presence delivers contextualized personalization.