By: Jesse Cryderman

Now that the concepts of customer experience management (CEM) have been integrated into the telecommunications industry, it's time to take a step back and analyze its impact. Several years ago, the industry was still trying to define CEM, a task which was complicated by the volume of solutions that re-badged as CEM during the height of the hype cycle. Today, we might simply define CEM as a process by which we ascertain and act on the voice of the customer, and consistently measure, validate, and re-assess our actions. 

From network upgrades to proactive customer care systems to loyalty programs and revised corporate mission statements, not all investments equal big returns in CEM land. What do customers really want, and how can service providers deliver on these needs? Following are CEM strategies that global service providers are implementing across various business units. The common element? These strategies are delivering results.

Verizon: CEM for SMB customers

Verizon evaluates the customer experience for small and medium business (SMBs) in two ways: products/services and customer support. When it comes to communications services, small and medium business owners recite a common phrase: “I just don’t want to worry about it.” However, the “it” in that phrase is changing. Voice reliability used to be “it,” but “now as more and more businesses move online, Internet reliability far outweighs voice reliability,” says Mary Yarbough, senior vice president, small business marketing, Verizon.

For SMB customers, it is crucial for the service produce to deliver a suite of services that meet business goals in an easy to consume and integrated fashion. This includes everything from install, setup, and provisioning services (since there may not be an in-house IT department) to security. On the network side, Verizion FiOS plays a key role. By leveraging fiber, Verizon offers symmetrical upload and download speeds (what it calls Speedmatch), a real competitive differentiator, especially as more and more high-bandwidth business and productivity platforms exist in the cloud. Businesses today must rapidly send large files, collaborate in cloud environments, and rely on rock-solid video conferencing. Time is money, a fact that becomes all too apparent when uploading a 10GB video file. So for Verizon, fiber is a key part of its business solutions strategy.

The other side of the equation is support. “We have an umbrella program called Business Service Spotlight,” says Yarbough. “We undertook an effort a couple of years ago to find where we could improve customer interaction.” The company identified three key areas:

Customer Order and Install: The first and most important interaction for setting the tone of the customer relationship includes a firm-price quote, a service package description in plain English, a service address pre-check, no-hassle installation. In defining a “no-hassle” installation, the key metric is zero impact on day-to-day business. This means scheduling installs on off-business hours, and timeliness. In fact, Verizon provides its business customers with a “Where’s My Tech?” tool developed by frontline engineers.

First 90 Days of Experience: “If a customer is happy, price becomes less important,” says Mark Adams, director, SMB marketing, Verizon. After years of frontline experience, Mark believes that business customers “absolutely recoil from thinking about switching services.” It is critical to closely monitor during the early months of a customer relationship Business customers don’t particularly like changing service providers, but are much more likely to do so in the first 90 days if there is a problem with the service. Contrary to what is sometimes seen in the consumer market, price is not the bottom line for businesses.

Same Day/Next Day Corrective Action: As rock-solid as modern communications networks are, problems do happen. The speed at which corrective action is taken is paramount. “The big deal is businesses need to be back up quickly—it is so important to get them back into business,” says Yarbough. This is a tremendous focus for Verizon, she said.