Market Changes Force Modification in Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support

Transcription

1 Sutherland Technology Platform Practice Customer Support Excellence Series Market Changes Force Modification in Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Contents 1. Data Traffic Explosion and its Impact on Carriers Stakeholder implications Changing the Customer Support Paradigm Conclusion About Sutherland Global Services Sutherland Global Services July Sutherland Global Services WP-SCSDHS

2 Foreword Improbable as it seems today, the modern mobile phone was invented over 40 years ago by Dr. Martin Cooper marking the beginning of an inflection point in communications industry that has changed the way people connect, communicate, perform business transactions and interact with the world around them. The mobile phones of today bear very little resemble to the original invention. The technology has grown exponentially from a basic mobile communication device i.e. the mobile phone to a multipurpose, multi-function utility addressing a diversity of needs of the digitally connected consumer i.e. the Smartphone. The authors of this White Paper are Ratul Sengupta and Pradeep Ramasamy, both principles in the SmartLeap practice at Sutherland Global Services. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 2

3 1. Data Traffic Explosion and its Impact on Carriers It is predicted that by 2014, mobility devices (Smartphone s & Tablets) will eclipse the traditional PCs and laptops as the primary device used to connect to internet. Also by the end of 2012, the number of mobileconnected devices will exceed the number of people on earth the sum of these two factors will drive exponential increase in usage.. A few significant data-points: 2011 mobile data traffic was eight times the size of the entire global Internet in Global mobile data traffic in 2011 (597 petabytes per month) was over eight times greater than the total global Internet traffic in 2000 (75 petabytes per month). With mobile connection speeds increasing by 66% in 2011 and expected to continue, the monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016 The implication is clear: higher user connect and contact times on the Internet resulting in significant increase in usage. However not all increase in mobile traffic is attributed to migration from fixed line internet (DSL, Cable etc.). Several unique apps for smart phones such as shopping, video, location based services and mobile games also contribute to the data consumption. With the accelerating advances in technology, many retailers have expanded their customer service processes to leverage social networks as a channel for proactively responding to customer complaints, answering questions, and/or tailoring their offerings. As a consequence, Carriers are coming under huge pressure to meet the increased data consumption needs of its customers by offloading traffic from mobile network to fixed networks. A corollary consequence is the diffusion of and the intensifying competition in the mobility device space. Over-arching these major changes is the emergence of the digital consumer and the Digital Home. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 3

4 The advent of the Digital Home is driving major shifts in the Customer Support paradigm Realities Device and Service choices are increasing Home Offices/Businesses are becoming more common Multiple devices and transports need to continuously interact to produce a specific outcome or experience Multiple enterprises - and brands - combine to deliver a composite transaction or experience Consumers have rising expectations and have found social media as a powerful outlet to share experiences Implications Ability to provide a customer experience covering the entire Device/Service usage lifecycle is becoming a key competitive differentiator Increasing span of devices and broadening user profile is amplifying customer support challenges Coordinated multi-channel support models are needed to cover an increasingly sophisticated, demanding, and often outspoken consumer What does proliferation of devices and increasing focus on ecosystem mean to device manufacturers? Brand loyalty & product differentiation has become a casualty of technology evolution in the smartphone space. Until about 5 years ago the purchase decision was driven by the brand & features of the phones and companies like Nokia and Sony Ericsson commanded leadership. The introduction of Smartphones starting with Blackberry, the subsequent launch of the iphone, and the successful adoption of Android by multiple manufacturers, has changed this marketplace dramatically. The device-feature based differentiation has become obsolete and the focus is on differentiation by Smartphone utility and usability. This change in the marketplace has created a conundrum for device manufacturers except RIM and Apple a where their choices are limited between Android and Windows mobile Operating Systems. While the rest of the manufacturers are grappling with this problem, Apple the dominant player is aggressively pursuing its strategy of integrating the OS (ios) with the ecosystem (itunes) and the iphone. The success of Apple is in stark contrast to the travails of Blackberry which is continuously losing market share as a result of inadequate apps. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 4

5 As a result, the following key trends are beginning to emerge: Smartphones are primary contact points for customers to use internet compared to PCs and Desk-tops The internet consumption behavior of Smartphones does not mirror that of traditional media; several mobile only applications like games, location based services generate organic traffic. Increased connectivity means more time for consumers in social media and resulting in changing internet usage and browsing behavior. Mobility devices (Smartphones/Tablets) will outsell PC s in the next few years and will amplify the challenges for device manufacturers & carriers. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 5

6 2. Stakeholder implications For Consumers All these changes will result in increased connectivity and mobility usage. Challenges on portability, with critical customer data such as contact information and apps being tied to provider of the ecosystem (OS & apps), Customers will face increased challenges in moving from one ecosystem to another. Cloud playing an important role in storage and will enable increased customer stickiness with the OS provider rather than the carrier or device manufacturer. An OS oligopoly dominated by Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM aggravate the difficulty in migrating across the operating systems. For OEMs Hardware features and performance are no longer adequate differentiators. Building brand loyalty & revenue will be increasingly challenging and there is a need to create offerings that will enable stickiness. The OS oligopoly has created significant barriers for new market entrants. For RIM there is an urgent need to reinvent the Blackberry model to stay relevant and competitive. For Carriers & Service Providers Struggle to create a meaningful relationship with the consumers as traditional VAS will be replaced by mobile apps tied to the operating systems. Lower revenue on traditional channels such as text messaging, voice calling (result of increased usage of VOIP), MMS etc. Increased interconnectivity of devices leading to higher consumption of bandwidth. For Customer Support Organizations Customer support has moved away from primarily managing billing and account related queries to focus more on device support for adaptability, migration, usability & continuity issues. With the increasing consumer focus on usability and apps effective Customer Support will be the key competitive differentiator for carriers and device manufacturers to build customer loyalty and advocacy. Challenges such as migration from feature phones to Smartphone s and more importantly migration from one ecosystem to another will become the pivotal opportunities to deliver better customer experience and create stickiness. This opportunity-challenge places increased demands on support operations to deliver consistent and exceptional services under pressure of increasing consumer expectations and demands. The focus on Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 6

7 customer satisfaction delivered through support services that enhance device usability and deliver a personalized and positive interaction experience are major departures in a market-space where the brand loyalty was traditionally built on hardware features and brand reputation. Smartphone usage complexities are multiplying customer management challenges General Queries & Settings Initial Smartphone / Tablet Setup Data Usage/ App Store Charging Queries Device Faults 45% 5% 20% 12% 12% Over 75% of calls relate to general smartphone usage Opportunity to improve customer experience by proactively addressing major set-up/ usage issues Mobile Broadband & WIFI Faults 8% Download Problems Network Faults 3% 1% Source: Sample of 15,000 level 2 Technical Calls in a recent month for a major European mobile service provider Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 7

8 3. Changing the Customer Support Paradigm The two key enablers of The Change are: 1. An Integrated Technology Framework based Customer Support Solution that provides multi-channel smart solutions i.e. high degree of automated/remotely managed issue resolutions 2. A proven methodology of measuring and driving Customer Loyalty through superior customer experience which results in increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) The challenges that most customer support operations face can be effectively addressed by an integrated technology framework that provides a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal /point solution. The framework integration is at multiple levels: Level 1: Components the various support channel components are from a single source and are designed to work in an integrated manner Level 2: Resolution the resolution capabilities are exponentially enhanced by a vast and continuously updated Knowledge Base integrated with a robust Self-Service capability supported by proactive Chat and expert Technical Resources for complex issue management. Level 3: Devices the resolution capabilities span all interacting and connected digital devices commonly found in most homes today. The integrated approach enables each component to act as a force-multiplier and deliver a much improved customer management solution. The Framework has a layered architecture designed to streamline service delivery with each layer seamlessly integrated with other layers provide an end-to-end view of the customer in the backend. Customer interaction is managed at two primary levels one that consist of several components in the front end and another in the backend that assists the agents and the front end tools to perform their activities efficiently. The major benefits of this integrated approach are: Single view of the customer - The integrated way of delivering support via voice and non-voice channels backed up a comprehensive CRM enables support operations to get single view of various customer interactions. For instance when a customer contacts the Customer Service Center the associate will have the ability to know the history of customer interactions e.g. what were the web self-service articles used by the customer? What were their queries in the past etc. Improved issue resolution on non-voice channels Implementation of effective self-service & online knowledge base result in basic issues and informational queries being resolved over without loading the voice and non-voice support channels. This effectively reduces the overall number of contacts and thus reduces the overall support cost. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 8

9 Improved up sell and cross sell opportunities As a result of a comprehensive view of customer behavior the potential for additional revenue via up sell and cross sell of complementary products & services is significantly enhanced. Sutherland Global Services SmartLeap is an Integrated Technology Framework that distills over two decades of technical support experience and expertise to address and achieve the three core objectives of Customer Support: Increasing customer retention by enhancing customer experience; Increasing Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and Reducing the cost to serve SmartLeap also enables innovation of service models and generation of additional revenues, which subsidizes the cost of in-scope warranty services or fund the enhancement of existing warranty schemes. Customer Support Challenge SmartLeap Solution Impact Virtual desktop assistant with Improve Customer Knowledge Base, DIY kits, Fault prevention and quicker resolution Experience automated chat support & Self Heal and Self Service search capability across resources Reduce Cost-2-Serve Multi-channel capability Voice/Chat/ remote as necessary Better Resolutions Less Time.Less Contacts Out-of-Scope (OOS) Support / Additional Services / Cross & Up Sales New Revenue Stream Deflect calls across channels and locations (On/Off-shore) based on issue type. Get seamless integration across channels. Automate chat & voice channels High levels of tool automation in issue detection and resolution reducing AHT and repeat calls Optimize client s technical support processes by remodeling on Sutherland Pay-4- Support ecosystem services, offering models, technology backbone etc. Improve Customer Experience Reduce Cost-2-Serve Improve Customer Experience Reduce Cost-2-Serve Improve Customer Experience Reduce Cost-2-Serve Increase ARPU Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 9

10 4. Conclusion The Integrated Technology Framework based customer support solution is very relevant to the changing landscape of mobile environments & achieves the following benefits for service providers and companies. Enhanced relationships between service providers and client organizations where the focus is not transactional but strategic and the goals & compensation are based on outcome and not effort. Defocus from reactive complaint handling to proactive customer experience management. Increased alignment to business goals of revenue maximization and customer retention rather than cost optimization and reactive service. Increase stickiness with customers via differentiated customer service & enhanced technical support. References: Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, GfK survey on mobile loyalty, Nov 2011 A Few Questions to Think Over. If this White Paper has resonated in terms of relevance then the questions below may spark some thoughts and internal discussions: Do you have an effective process to manage an ever increasing support volume across the business? How satisfied are you with the way customer experience is managed and delivered in your business? Has the idea of providing a one-stop-shop customer support model been considered? Do you wonder who else may be serving your customer? In case you feel we can add value to such discussions, we will be delighted to participate and contribute. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 10

11 5. About Sutherland Global Services Established in 1986, Sutherland Global Services is a global BPO and Technology Enabled services company offering an integrated set of back-office and customer facing front-office services that support the entire customer lifecycle. It is one of the largest, independent BPO companies in the world serving global leaders in major industry verticals. Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., Unites States, Sutherland employs over 30,000 professionals and has 35 operational facilities in the United States, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, India, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Sutherland is certified as a Minority Business Enterprise by NMSDC. Customer Support Strategy for Digital Home Support Sutherland Global Services. Page 11