Telecoms firms are fully aware of the need to react in real-time to events but only a fraction have the processes in place that enable them to do so, according to research from Progress Software that will be released later today.
The survey found that while 95% of respondents said it is important to be able to react in real-time to customer demands and events only 18% said they have the right visibility into the processes they actually need to be able to react in an efficient way.
Worryingly only 16% of respondents said business processes always keep up with changes in the business, meaning many companies will simply not be operating as efficiently as they should be.
Telecoms providers are aware of the issues, according to the research. Nine out of ten said current levels of visibility they have across their core order management systems are "less than substantial", while 78% claim the visibility they have into provisioning processes across bundled service offers is "less than excellent".
All this points to businesses being run inefficiently. According to the research half of respondents said they have tools in place to understand how effectively processes are functioning, but just 3% claim staff are updated on key performance indicators in real-time.
This can result in hidden inefficiencies that drive up the cost of doing business and drive customers away, according to Progress.
"As products in the industry have become more homogeneous, the services offered are no longer a competitive advantage. In addition, events such as number portability have resulted in the service providers having even less ‘stickiness’ to retain their customers. What the industry needs are tools that help them redefine excellence in customer service," said Sanjay Kumar, industry vice president of Communications and Media at Progress Software.
The ability to react to events in real-time will help telecoms first to gain new customers as well as keep current ones happy, says Progress. "Communication Service Providers need to provide customers with unique, interactive experiences to build stronger loyalty such as tapping into customer call patterns correlated with customer preferences to provide value added services to customise each customer’s experience in a unique and intimate way," added Kumar.
"The key differentiator for Communications Service Providers (CSP) today is the level of overall customer experience delivered that builds a loyal and long-term customer base. Key factors that hurt the overall customer experience relate to issues that arise, which service providers are not aware of and therefore cannot respond to," he said.
The study was carried out by Vanson Bourne and quizzed 107 senior IT decision makers in Telecommunication companies from 10 different countries.
Read CBR’s Q&A with Progress Software’s CEO Rick Reidy in which he discusses Responsive Process Management (RPM) here.
