Tecnotree Newsletter
Issue 7/2013

Focus on short-term wins vs. long-term gains?

Our theme of the year ‘Boost customer lifetime value’ is drawing your attention as an operator to the dialogue between you and your customers. Why? Because we strongly believe that managing a customer relationship is never a one-time show, but rather a continuous effort to produce value throughout the lifespan of the relationship. Yet, in daily business you face the challenge to balance between short-term wins and long-term gains. Which ones should you focus on? Three essentials can help: an appealing portfolio of products and services, actionable insight from a vast array of customer touch points, and customer loyalty.

Based on experience, an appealing portfolio would include services that have undisputed local relevance such as news and weather, but also services that are vertically integrated, such as music, movies and e-payments. Important additions to the list are services offered by local authorities; filing a tax report or giving access to personal health records. A well balanced and longevity promoting service set is likely to yield long-term customer value.

To put actionable insight into works, you need to consider the two sides of the coin. The customer facing business processes pertaining to the overall customer experience, and the underlying BSS systems to present a consistent view of an individual customer, regardless of the touch point. The alignment of these two, together with calls to action drawn out of consistent rules and customer insight, will help you adjust future offers and better balance between short-term and long-term opportunities.

Recent research shows that consumers believe they are loyal to their operator. As an operator you should think of actions and offerings that can strengthen that perception amongst your customers. Hence, it is a no-brainer to invest in efforts that boost loyalty and reduce churn. The same study reveals how.

Operator research: LTE makes or breaks mobile subscriber loyalty

The results of a recent joint operator and consumer research, “Unravelling what makes a mobile customer loyal”, highlight that there is a disconnect between what drives loyalty among mobile customers, and what mobile operators believe drives loyalty. This same disconnect is also reflected in what drives churn: consumers focus on one aspect of their mobile service (device, tariff or network coverage). Mobile operators believe that a collection of issues will drive loyalty and churn.

LTE will be the glue that cements a customer’s loyalty with a mobile operator: if they are not first to market with 4G, they will need to talk about LTE to their customers now, as well as their rollout plans. If not, they will run the risk that nearly 60% of their loyal subscribers will switch elsewhere.

Additionally, the study shows that the longer a customer stays with a mobile operator, their loyalty increases – and their propensity to spend on non-communication services increases by over 20%.

Key to driving loyal are better devices and better tariffs, the ultimate weapon being the provision of 4G. A clear guideline for the operators from the results is that they need to ensure they are continually innovative and competitive – whether it’s about tariffs, services or even the headsets they offer to loyal subscribers. 

Download “Unravelling what makes a mobile customer loyal” whitepaper

Addressing true business issues with a solutions approach

The discussions we held with our customers at MWC 2013 in Barcelona confirm that BSS is about solutions more than ever. Ilkka Aura, Tecnotree Chief Commercial Officer, elaborates on Tecnotree’s solutions approach.

What does Tecnotree mean with a solutions approach? What does a solutions approach aim at?

Ilkka says: "A solution provider solves business issues in addition to delivering technological capabilities. To us, a solution consists of products, services, human resources, and an operational and business model. These together form a unique, customised offering that fits the operational environment of our customer."

He then continues: "The delivery of such a solution is measured by the service rendered. The target is for both the solution provider and the operator to speak the same business language. This instead of the application vendor addressing technical issues while the operator wants to hear about business benefits."

What is Tecnotree’s view on this approach? What are the benefits?
"This means that we as Tecnotree need to address true business issues instead of technological features and functionalities. Likewise, we provide applications and IT services that support running the operator’s daily business processes."

"The benefits are clear when the compensation for the solution is based on real-life business outcomes such as subscriber growth, platform availability and capacity, instead of a mere set of technological capabilities."

"True value comes from the alignment of the operator’s business objectives and our capability to deliver a solution that meets and exceeds the objectives, and, in the end, the capacity to deliver business success," Ilkka concludes.

For more information please contact Ilkka.Aura@tecnotree.com

Tecnotree partnering with Zain Kuwait and MTN Group

During the recent MWC, Tecnotree published partnership announcements with two customers: Zain Kuwait to launch consumer appealing Visual Voicemail, and MTN Group to boost operations across the operator group. 

Tecnotree and MTN announced a broader strategic partnership to make business critical IT solutions available across the group. Having partnered closely with Africa’s leading telecommunications group to provide business support systems and valued added services across 16 networks in Africa and Middle East, Tecnotree will be focusing on providing the MTN Group agile, innovative and best-in-breed convergent billing, customer management, and management dashboard solutions.

“In order to achieve the best return on our investment but also to provide the best service for our customer we are continuously harmonising operational practices and supporting IT systems across the group. We have invited Tecnotree to be one of our strategic partners in building the future with us,” says Jyoti Desai, Chief Technology and Information Officer of MTN Group.

Tecnotree also announced partnering with Zain in Kuwait, to transform its voicemail services into a visual application. Visual Voicemail enhances the voicemail experience by letting subscribers to browse on their mobile device a listing of received voice messages, and then listen to the automatically downloaded messages in the order that interests them most.

Visual Voicemail can be harnessed as a tool to re-engage with the subscriber to consume more operator aggregated services. Nadia Al Saif, Zain Kuwait, Value Added Service Director comments: “ Zain Kuwait is a pioneer in offering the latest and most innovative services to cater to its customers’ needs and demands. By partnering with Tecnotree we are giving our customers a best of breed voicemail service enabling them to manage their voicemails directly from iPhone and Android devices. For the first time, our subscribers will see the names and numbers of people who have left messages on their voicemail, instead of requiring them to call a dedicated number and navigate automated prompts.”