A survey from Matrixx Software found that 64 percent of respondents said they would turn to another carrier if it offered a better customer experience.

At Channel Partners Evolution in September, speaker Tiffani Bova from Salesforce discussed the concept that the customer is the biggest disruptor in business today, not technology, according to this wrap-up in Channel Partners Online. Many partners have the right services, products, knowledge and talent, Bova explained, but they need to focus on customer experience.

Transparency and customer experience are more important than ever in the business world at large, and the telecom industry needs to act accordingly and evolve to meet demands.  

It’s clear that transparency, detail and deep insight surrounding real-time network traffic data is an area of concern for customers. So why aren’t all carriers providing this information?

Most bandwidth providers avoid letting customers know how much bandwidth they’re using minute by minute, hour by hour, because they don’t want them to realize when they’re overprovisioned. This knowledge could cause clients to cut back on contract terms; maybe they notice that they only need 750mb commitment next year instead of 1gb, for instance. Too much information can take money off the table for these providers. If, however, they provide that detail in a useful way and overdeliver on service quality and customer experience, their transparency can help to build the trust that will keep clients loyal in the long term.

And for carriers, it’s a simple question of whether they want to point out their mistakes in real time. Though it seems a bit counterintuitive to do so, being transparent allows carriers to fix small issues more quickly and earlier in the process, keeping those issues from escalating. This way, customers essentially become part of carriers’ network monitoring teams, alerting them as soon as issues arise. Carriers that offer transparency and own their own network are in an especially good position to help customers, as they can address concerns immediately without needing to open trouble tickets with various other providers. (Unfortunately, aggregators and resellers still would need to elevate the issue to several other companies to find resolution).

For a carrier’s customers, robust, real-time network traffic data can help them to save money — not only by keeping billing agreements on track but also by avoiding paying for outside monitoring tools. Indeed, many businesses look elsewhere for monitoring platforms that will go above and beyond the network traffic insight carriers have traditionally offered. This incurs additional, unnecessary costs and adds yet another disconnected platform, billing cycle and support team that companies have to deal with.

Another huge benefit to transparency is being able to quickly narrow down the source of a network hiccup. When a problem arises, a client can open up the monitoring dashboard and easily see whether the fault lies with the carrier or their own systems; if neither, they can move on to other potential causes. No more waves of blind trouble tickets to everyone involved in your network! This more tactical approach skips an entire layer of effort and complexity (and helps to reduce trouble tickets for service providers).

Robust network metrics can also allow carriers’ customers to have full insight into their entire communications platform, end to end, even if it’s a bit of a patchwork setup. How many carriers have no real visibility into the legacy side of their network? Far too many, and who they are would surprise you! Being able to see all calls and messages with the same level of detail across the entirety of the network, all on one pane of glass, is a true game-changer.