How telcos can use digital self-service to boost CX

The wealth of new connectivity solutions on the market has enabled companies to connect to their clients 24/7, from anywhere in the world. This is a huge advantage for telcos and, when used in full, companies can take their CX standards to entirely new heights. 

With the advent of these new technologies, customers’ expectations for CX are increasing rapidly. Adopting a truly omnichannel approach means that telcos need to offer immediate communication to their client base. 

Alongside this, ever-evolving technologies require telcos to operate with complete flexibility, while also constantly managing, evolving and optimising digital customer journeys. 

So, how can telcos offer better digital support to their clients? And, what does a premium CX look like in this modern age of connectivity?  

To get the answers, we’ve spotlighted the services offered by Comarch, and explored how they are using digital self-service initiatives to dramatically improve telcos’ CX.

Comarch: the benefits that digital self-service tools bring to telcos

Comarch is a leader in telco transformation projects, with over 25 years of experience helping global telco leaders to use new technologies to advance their CX offerings. 

Its services include deploying specialist automation solutions, creating a system to manage digital customer journeys, and implementing intelligent assurance and analytics, to ensure telcos’ quality of service can be improved consistently, using data-driven insights. 

The company's core goal is to help telcos demonstrate the same forward-thinking approach as the disruptors of other markets, and for the industry at large to step up and assert itself as a CX leader. 

“Great customer experience has already been defined by market disruptors such as Amazon, Apple and Netflix. They have set the bar so high that other companies, including telcos, now find it difficult to see how high they need to jump, let alone to make the leap,” Comarch explained, in a recent whitepaper publication. 

“These disruptors’ domination in the e-commerce market clearly shows the great distance between native customer-centric leaders and followers. And, although Amazon and others are not direct competition for telcos, they do define how a seamless experience (especially digital) should look.”

According to Comarch, although telcos have been extremely successful in their own sphere, they are often generally associated with a lower level of CX. 

“Telcos have done a great job in bringing more reliable technology to the market… Despite this, telcos have also become the object of customer frustration; even if a telco product works as expected most of the time, a single disruption immediately draws the ire of customers. Perhaps customers see telcos as generating huge revenues and therefore expect more of them.”

As such, if telcos can successfully adopt digital CX strategies across the entire customer journey, the benefits can be immense. 

Recent advancements in digital self-service tools

Digital self-service is the term for online solutions (this can either be one singular solution acting in isolation, or a group of solutions that are designed to work together) that enable customers to operate autonomously on a company website. 

In essence, this means that they can find an answer to their query quickly and simply, through digital channels, without the need for them to speak to a ‘real’ person. 

Although telcos are very used to depending on their HR department or customer support call centres, these modes of service have become largely outdated. 

Increasingly sophisticated digital technologies enable customers to find solutions independently, with just a few clicks, rather than having to wait in long call queues. 

As you can imagine, achieving this instantaneous and intuitive service is a huge boost to CX. In fact, a staggering 88% of telco customers say that customer experience is just as important as its products or services. 

In addition to bolstering the company’s loyalty management, digital self-service systems can help telcos to boost sales, create a more subtle and impactful marketing strategy, give customers more agency, reduce the cost of customer service, and build a true, future-proof, omnichannel experience. 

In short, with the right IT tools in their arsenal, telcos can use digital self-service initiatives to automate these key customer support processes, while creating a seamless customer journey.