{"id":39590,"date":"2019-09-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/how-telecoms-can-embrace-the-omni-digital-era\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:19:12","slug":"how-telecoms-can-embrace-the-omni-digital-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/how-telecoms-can-embrace-the-omni-digital-era\/","title":{"rendered":"How Telecoms can Embrace the Omni-Digital Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

In all industries, customer experience plays an increasingly major role in purchasing decisions. <\/span>A study<\/span><\/a> found that it will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is especially true in the telecommunications industry. As prices and offers are often similar between competitors, the experience is already the main criteria of choice. While telecoms are at the heart of innovations such as<\/span> 5G and the use of messaging apps<\/b>, not all of them embraced the omni-digital trend for customer service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, we introduce <\/span>3 challenges that telecoms should address to engage with omni-digital customers<\/b> and differentiate through customer experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Prepare for the shift to a majority of digital interactions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Telecoms customers have several reasons to contact their providers. The central role of telecoms with the multiplication of their services (broadband, TV, mobile, data services…) explains the growth of customer enquiries in the industry. Some of the most common reasons of contact include technical issues, questions about invoices, contract cancellation, adding new options.<\/span><\/p>\n

While they were mostly relying on phone interactions in the past, customer interactions<\/a> are now moving to digital. A study by Gartner outlines this shift, with a forecast of phone interactions <\/span>dropping <\/b>from 41% in 2017 to 12% in 2022<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

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This transition is encouraged by customers\u2019 new habits: <\/span>72% of them<\/b><\/a> now expect to use their channel of choice to engage with companies. <\/b>These channels include the ones used in their daily lives, such as messaging (Facebook Messenger, <\/span>WhatsApp<\/span><\/a>, Apple Messages), social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), live-chat, email.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, <\/span>92% of customers<\/b><\/a> think that stores are not a must-have for mobile operators<\/b>. It highlights the expectations for a digital experience and the relevancy of digital-only players.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the notable benefits of digital channels for customers is the ability to contact companies whenever they want. Rather than being constrained by opening hours and wait on the phone, they can <\/span>send their request at any time<\/b>. Enriched features such as media sharing can also help to solve issues more efficiently.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

92% of customers think that stores are not a must-have for mobile operators <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This shift brings new challenges for companies. When managing interactions from multiple digital channels, it is necessary to adopt <\/span>new processes and tools, different from the ones used for the phone.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Processing large volumes of digital interactions requires to route messages with the right approach. By using AI, it is possible to classify and allocate incoming messages automatically. For telecoms, this means that a request is <\/span>assigned to the right team immediately after being received<\/b>: technical team, billing team, sales team. With the ability to process all messages from a unified interface, <\/span>agents\u2019 productivity is improved<\/b>, meaning that more channels can be handled with the same number of agents. (This kind of collaboration is also a hallmark of effective customer service teamwork<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

To further improve address this issue and freeing up agents\u2019 time, telecoms can also rely on AI to <\/span>automate answers to common questions<\/b>. Telecoms operators are receiving common questions requiring the same answers. These can be on topics such as SIM unlocking, invoices, subscription of new options\u2026 For this type of enquiries, customers expect <\/span>a fast resolution at any time, without necessarily talking to an agent<\/b>. A chatbot can provide instant 24\/7 answers to those kinds of basic questions. For example, Vodafone adopted this approach with <\/span>its chatbot TOBi:<\/b><\/p>\n

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