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Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

  • 1.  Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Oct 31, 2018 21:35
    Hi everybody,
    i have a question and hope that you guy will share with me your experience in this field

    My question is: What are the critical and piority requirements to implement CEM for a telco?
    i think it's not a simple question and instanly get the answers but at a basic level what are the needed things we want to prepare to do.

    Many thanks
    #CustomerExperience

    ------------------------------
    Tuan Anh Nguyen
    Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT)
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 01, 2018 03:13
    Hello Tuan,
    CEM is not something that can be discussed in a few words, but below is my quick thought. 
    My starting point would be where the customer touch points are: experience in using the network, in using the services and applications, in customer services, in complaint handling, in call center, in field technicians visiting your home, etc, etc. 
    Secondly there are many ways to measure the experience, for example network performance analysis, per customer usage experience analysis, customer survey and then analysis using NPS etc.
    After that one can do big data analysis to analyze which part is doing well and which part needs improvement, and the impact of doing so. Then implement the plan to enhance customer experience. 
    You can also see that any point mentioned above can be expanded into a huge topic for discussions. But I think I will just stop here.
    Best of luck!
    BR// Dominic


    ------------------------------
    Dominic Law
    PCCW Global
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 01, 2018 03:14
    On a small note-
    1. Consider tap interfaces -- most important (Gn/Gi/sGi/S4 for PS) and others for CS
    2. Consider DB vendor (eg., IBM Netezza/HP Vertica) for best performance based on you alaytics/reporting tool (eg., Cognos/SPSS)
    3. Consider planning of Network mirroring/TAP solutions
    4. Plan use of Aggregators
    5. Know the limitations/throughput of probes (DATA/Voice)
    6. Consider integrating CEM with BSS/OSS and contact center

    You can ask me any part of implementation related to CEM.

    ------------------------------
    Raman
    Whale Cloud (Formerly ZTEsoft)
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 01, 2018 04:25
    Hi Tuan Anh,

    Having implemented different CEM solutions for different CEM vision and different network (fixed, mobile), I would say that one of most critical topics is collecting network usage for CEM perspective (obviously when you want to look at this kind of customer experience). And it is more complex for mobile than fixed. You will have then to collect all events from customer usages and usually it's something you handle with probes (physical or virtual depending if NFV/SDN is implemented in your network) when already implemented in your network for trouble shooting.
    Probes will be used to get events from all gsm interface of interest for your project, but unfortunately you will have to do it differently depending on vendors probes. Furthermore, probes vendors change/translate GSM standard events (code and signification) and it's a task you will then have to manage on your own.
    I will add a second critical point. It's related to the CEM Use cases you want to implement. On my experience, my credo is "think big, start small, go fast". Think big in term of the UC list, start small in implementing 2-3 that will solve most of your business/network problems and prepare a roadmap for the others, go fast in implementing these use cases and always associate your business/network colleague soon in the project.

    CEM is a wide area and complex area. Anyone can have his own point of view and past experience but here is mine.
    Should you need any information, example, please feel free to ask.

    All the best

    Raynal

    ------------------------------
    Raynal Dupuis
    T&BS SAS
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 02, 2018 04:46

    Hello Tuan,

     

    Having experience with different CEM solutions, working both on the CSP side and as a CEM solution distributor, I believe that I gain solid insight into the subject. Depending on the vendor and the defined Use case, it can be implemented quite fast. Es an example, I can share experience of implementing specific CEM solution in segment of mobile data services in less than two months (connecting to the Gn interface of the GGSN), using internal data base and Big Data appliances and without „hardcore "integration with CRM or similar, but rather gathering file dumps on the daily bases. So, in the implementation side, it can be quite efficient. What I found most challenging is CSP understanding of the value that CEM can bring to them and detecting the "quick win" Use case to start with.

     

    I am available to share more info if you would be interested.

    Kind regards,

    Jelena



    ------------------------------
    Jelena Stojanovic
    TERI Engineering
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 05, 2018 02:08
    Here are my two cents on this topic, while most basic aspects have already been highlighted for you by other expert respondents;

    1. Start by defining and mapping your CEX Assurance & Enhancement needs across the Technology & Business Units (Consumer+Enterprise) and try to come up with company-wide common definitions of CEX KPIs and Metrics that need to be monitored, else what the Technology & Business units may be reporting to top/board level may always have differences
    2. No matter which vendor or solution provider you select, make sure to choose the most standard and open technologies for your big data and analytics layers of the solution, as sooner or later you will have to make your CEM system inter-work closely as part of your company's wider data analytics landscape and choosing any vendor-specific/locked-in technologies can make that very hard for you to do that

    Good luck, and any questions are welcome for sure!

    ------------------------------
    Muhammad Imran Awan
    Saudi Telecom Company
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 05, 2018 07:24
    ​Hello Tuan,

    My focus on CEM is in all "customer facing processes"; that means to improve the customer relation with these processes and to be optimized through AI.
    Within the CEM workstream, we focus mainly on omnichannel CX and a lot on Sales, care, maintenance.

    The CEM workstream is busy with creating a new guideline omnichannel with as target to address:

    • Know the customer - customer expectation 
    • Evolve the existing guideline to CEM omnichannel 2025
    • differentiate with AI/ML in guideline – design with including AI
    • develop the all-round customer experience – not limited to transactions
    • develop the all-round customer experience – from intent to needs – to receive – to give feedback
    • apply for different use cases: sales, service, care
    • describe a methodology – deliver value in each engagement
    • balance AI – ML features in method combined with design thinking
    • apply for partner eco-system – different business models (incorporate Information guidebook IG 1194: customer experience integrator)
    • package the experience – customer experience component
    • think about the customers in the business moment
    • apply customer journey(steps) method – develop customer journey for example cases
    • understand/describe the effect of audience type and audience building with ML
    • Grow/optimize customer experience – measure CX
    • Manage evolution & innovation with incorporating some 2025 Market Trends: digital eco-partner system, all-round experiences, Customer experience components – catalog
    • Describe CX methodology as a best practice – maturity steps for innovation.
    • Address the organizational change – team – new CX approaches
    • Become the CX business – IT collaboration team
    • Measure CX performance – achieving goals
    • Describe applying RPA/BPM tools for CX
    • Share CX toolkits parts
    • Manage strong & flexible Guideline publication methods for different audiences
    • Segment your reader

    Please join us on the Monday call at 14h CET.

    Regards, Arnold

    ------------------------------
    Arnold Buddenberg
    Orange
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 06, 2018 03:16
    Dears;
    Thanks all for your precious comments, but really it is not easy to implement CEM in all networks, I mean Mobile network(2G, 3G, 4G); Fixe and Data network,  and IT,  it depends on several factors. Below my point of view on this subject : 

    • Company strategy
    • The maturity of the company in term of BPM 
    • Type of vendor provider solution: active testing or passive testing 
    • Metrics 
    • CEM should be interfaced with FM tool, Network performance tool, trouble ticketing tool, CC...;
    Regards-Hamadi

    Tunisie Telecom

    ------------------------------
    Hamadi ASKRI
    Tunisie Telecom
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 06, 2018 04:11
    Hi Tuan,

    For deploying a CEM platform, first the Telco operator must know how to extract all that composes the customer experience data from their network, OSS, BSS, and CRM, and make it seamlessly available in an intuitive IT environment. Most importantly is how to explore the customer's data to get better customer experience view.  The problem with all these is the gathering in one place, post-processing, correlating, analyzing, representing and reporting all correlated data. Hence, storage and mining is a big part of any monitoring strategy thus customer experience strategy. Note that the correlation between Network performances and subscriber usage is very important.

     

    Once an operator understands how and where to extract all these data, then a CEM platform/layer can be deployed. In my point of view, this is the fundamental issue to deploying a CEM platform.

    br,



    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi
    IPKO Telecommunication
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 07, 2018 05:29
    Hello All, 

    What are the risk with the implementation of this kind of solution.  As it can hold a lot a critical subcriber's data information, what can be the list of risk a telco company can face with the implementation of a CEM?

    Thanks;


  • 11.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 07, 2018 07:32
    Hi,

    In my view, the word "risk" may not be the right reference in the context of CEM. In relation to the subscriber data you have highlighted, there are data regulations (the likes of GDPR) that cover the organisation's risk ( if any) in being complaint and these regulations are geography specific.

    I would reword "risk" as complexity, as the crux of implementing a CEM solution is centered around identifying, gathering and aggregating data, to derive insight, understand customer behavior and eventually meet the metrics set for CEM. These solutions are similar to any Big data and Analytics kind of solutions and i believe the complexity of implementing and maintaining would be the same.

    The whole facet of CEM is to provide consistent customer experience in everything that customer wants across all systems of interactions and the benefit for a organisation in implementing such solutions would reflect in NPS, low churn and eventually meeting or exceeding revenue targets, ensuring the customers are ever happy with the offered products and services.

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    RAMACHANDRA DASARI
    Vodafone UK Ltd
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 08, 2018 01:28
    ​Collecting a call center report on reasons of calls, with subtypes a couple of levels down is a good start that will tell you where the value is (80:20 Pareto rule if you can).
    Then the necessary technical solutions may be implemented to monitor and react on key metrics of the Customer Experience.
    CEM could be a differentiating value-add of the "primary" Service Provider compared to say MVNOs.
    Where individual metrics are required (CDRs) it is wise to limit the scope of applicability of the above technical solutions to say a premium product offering, where SLAs could be computed and displayed in a customer-facing portal.

    ------------------------------
    Sergey Zak
    Telstra Corporation
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  • 13.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 08, 2018 03:07
    From my experience, it is very difficult to find solutions on the market that can (gather,) process and analysis data ( Network and user data) from all Telco segments. Meaning, there are quite some that work on Mobile network but not on Fix network ( cable, HFC, etc), then there are some that work on Data but then not on voice, but it is quite difficult to find vendor solution that renders good CEM feedback on all segments. (note if you happen to know any, please let me know)

    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi
    IPKO Telecommunication
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 09, 2018 06:25
    Dear Tuan,
    I will take a different approach to answer your question, if I may.

    Customers will forget what you say!
    Customers will forget what you do!
    But customers will never forget how you make them feel!

    I am not sure if you have been to an Apple store, it is the same going in to Orange in France (at least where I live in Cannes).
    Customers are greeted by a representative immediately after entering a store. This often have a small line before customers get to this rep. Immediately when a customer's approach this representative the customer willingly start talking about why they are there and questions or support they looking for. Whether you have god, bad or indifferent Expereince with this approach does not matter in what I am trying to get at, but it is very different to that of asking a customer "Can I help you"? The representative gets an immediate and better understanding how how they - the company can support the customer. i.e. some customers emphasise stability and others bandwidth. That tell something about the customer. just as an example.

    Whatever value proposition you company are suggesting, it must aim at providing customer with this value suggestion otherwise revenue will be earned on customer expense and not providing value. 

    To communicate, provide and continuously support this value need capabilities. Define and document these capabilities and if technical solutions are decided on, then these capabilities needs to be in focus. Old approach of functional specification, vertical process design and engineered data models and ESB based APIs are not the starting point.

    The starting point is the customer, identify you proposed value proposition the the customers and identify the capabilities needed. Then build hypothesis and test with customer if this brings value relative to jobs or activities. Then assess if this brings value to you company.

    If you do not do this, you may end up just incurring huge investment with limited return. 



    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 12, 2018 04:24
    Dear all,
    I'd like to share a though with you. I place it in this discussion as I feel it is relevant to the question asked.

    You may or may not know the various forum initiatives that World Economic Forum have, but they have quite a few one of which is about digital transformation.
    Particularly in our industry most companies, including vendors have peace-meal approach to digitise with minimal business effect. It has evolved a unison agreement that a fresh approach to business modelling is required and start with developing "Raw view" of customers.

    The Telco, its vendor partners and consulting partner are zooming in on customer journey. I have always been sceptical to this as it do not consider future but the past. How do you all think this approach would have worked for Netflix? see below.

     


    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 13, 2018 03:22
    Hi Cato,

    I fully agree with you that we have to look at how to improve the future. However, for Customer Experience, we need first to understand its past , improve the present and build the future based on history for a good service towards the user. Even Netflix looked at the past in order to use Predictive Analytics and build products for the future. 
    Data acquired through Customer Experience platform is a great source for predicting the needs for new products and customize products based on patterns. But first, operators need to provide ( if needed improve) excellent service today and propose good customized products for tomorrow.

    regards
    Alma

    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi
    ipko
    ------------------------------



  • 17.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 14, 2018 05:00
    Dear Alma,
    thanks for your reply to my input. Sure we need to analyse customers and understand their patterned behaviours. However, it is the approach, methodology and tools being used to do that which makes the difference, at least in my OPINION, but that is just an opinion.

    Customers, whether consumers or business have adopted and interact with technology radically different today than just a decade ago, not to mention two decades ago. Most systems (BSS/OSS) are architected based on functional requirements gathered by interviewing staff.
    The World Economic Forum forecast that labour hours conducted by humans vs. machines will radically change. This goes for CSPs, Their business and consumer customers. This will, without doubt break up or fundamentally change current processes and sequences. Also, most of past have been focus on customers and their devices mostly mobile phones. Tomorrow, customer devices will be many more in IOT, or IOx. I communicate with my ALEXA (Amazon) for many things. BMW are implementing ALEXA in their cars just to mention one offering that impact customer behaviours and their journeys.

    I, for one and it seems that many agree with me (ref. World Economic Forum). We need to:

    Customer
    • Identify (fact finding's vs. opinions)
    • Understand (based on facts and not reports and surveys)
    • Visualize (possibly augmented)
    • Optimize (need sequences of interaction and behaviours)

    Own business
    • Identify needed business capabilities above that of functionality
    • Understand, how our value proposition point by point cover customer needs (facts)
    • Visualize, the business model
    • Optimize interactions with players and customer within an ecosystem as opposed to systems and employees only.

    I am willing to bet €50 that customer journeys will have changed from today's journey in 1-2 years, help by Moor's law. Hence, what is the point of betting on today's behaviour and data processed by old process sequences for survival tomorrow?
    Does it make sense for a manufacturer of electric car to analyse spare part stockage and supply chain of old fossils fuel powered cars?

    Interested in your response, as there most likely are angles I have not considered. 



    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 18.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 16, 2018 10:06

    Dear Cato,

    I can only agree with you, moreover based on observation, I would say customers have a totally different interaction not only compared to last decade but also to last 3 years and, yes, I believe also that in 1-2 years' customer journey will change completely.

    In my opinion, CSP's can foresee what those behaviors might be even if behavior is changing rapidly. I will explain below as it relates to your question "what is the point of betting on today's behavior and data processed by old process sequences for survival tomorrow?"

    I would answer that CSP's can do a lot by observing past behavior and patterns. However, they must change their approach to data analysis and customer experience and data segmentation. For that, CSP's (especially converged operators) sit on a goldmine composed of:

    • Tremendous data gathered in the last decade
    • Intelligence on the multiple technological changes occurred within the last decade
    • And foreseeable technological changes that are coming

    With a change of the approach in data processing and analysis by correlating the above inputs from all technologies, we could come to an idea of what the behavior/requirements might be in next year(s).

    With many different studies done recently, it is apparent that Telco operators are not using the potential of Big Data compared to other industries whereas most of the data sits within them. If we could only change our approach using the data we have, we could deliver much better services/products/offers to our subscribers and make a profound change to our industry or at least give a refreshed look to our industry.

    Another point I would stress is that using interviews should not be a tool any longer for CSP's: people are more honest with search machines than with interviewers. Per example, if we are seeking to check user satisfaction for a new connection installed, the operator would get much more inputs by analyzing the subscribers network usage and its interaction with the network (respecting GDPR, understandably) than by requesting a questionnaire to be completed after several weeks of usage.

    And yes, given Big Data potential, I believe facts are more important than opinions, it is just a matter of how we process and segment those data.



    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi

    ------------------------------



  • 19.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 19, 2018 09:09
    Thanks Alma,
    I do not disagree with you. But, I would add and would be curious the have your reaction view on the below.

    1. many, if not most convergent CSP still do not have:
    • Single view of customer
    • Single point of contact
    • Single view of customer products and services portfolio
    • Single reporting environment

    These are due to disparates systems with different data formats. We have always said that CSPs have a wealth of information, their challenge is to normalise the date to actually make use of the information.

    Hence building analytics solutions is not a trivial thing, and most have failed. in my view due to a traditional Project management approach as opposed to a business model approach. 

    2. While CSPs in the past (eighties and nineties) had control of the communications environment, that is no longer the case. To collect data/information from own environment alone is not sufficient. Outside forces and trends, often within the same ecosystem have more impact on customer behaviour that the CSPs. E.g. AirBnB and their platform, joining tenants and landlords have influenced customers to willingly pay for sleeping in a strangers bed. Same with UBER, people are willing to jump in to a strangers car and pay for it.

    This is more about how people, and business interact with technology and make use of their services. Services that simply would not be possible without telecommunications.

    Outside influencers having impact on customers' and businesses' willingness to change their behavioural patters come from:
    - Technology trends - Moor's law
    - Market trends - According to some reports 80% of value creation are coming from companies started by digital natives
    - Industry trends - Will CSPs have access to capital the same way as they used to. Investors no longer see CSP as THE Dividend earner
    - Macro economics - Interest rates are rising as Quantitative Easing are being scaled back across the major economies.

    Interested in your views, and please challenge.

    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 20.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Nov 30, 2018 07:02

    Hi Cato,

     It is true that, as operators we generally do not exploit properly the wealth of data that we have, and that all those points you mentioned are correct moreover the external influences are very important on forecasting needs, profiling users, and generating insights.

    1. Outside influencers

    I believe the approach to developing a proper prediction analytics (and  with it, a customer experience picture and customer expectation) must be changed in the same way Telco Cloud/ NFV is seeking to change the mentality, composition and way that teams are working, and this is challenging on its own.

    To develop proper analytics we need cross-functional teams, not only teams that work in silos but teams composed of different profiles: engineering (SW  developers, radio, core, etc), commercial and marketing, sales. Only when such team work not on project basis but as a fully functional team, we can have proper Prediction Analytics, using AI and ML/DL and generate useful insights, thus improve the customer experience as such.

    Now, indeed for a small operator, it might be difficult to create such a team due to its cost.

     2.disparate systems:

    Definitely this is one of the first problematics but it lies on where the operator/provider stands on its digital path. Namely because of the historical way operators and service providers are organized, today, every silo is an island of its own.

    Yes, it is a challenge to normalize data, however wrangling of data is a common process in data science, no matter the format. It just takes some effort and plan ahead; it is not easy but it should be doable. Again a cross-functional team would help.

     3. OTTs:

    Yes, definitely the OTTs are game-changers, but that does not necessarily mean a bad thing. CSP's/operators must find a way to capitalize on the new way user interact with technology. At the end of the day, in order to interact with those OTT's they need to use CSP/operators infrastructure.

    Nonetheless, let's start from the beginning: how much does an operator need to know about what subscribers are doing exactly with i.e. Airbnb?

    Data that the operator/service provider needs are essentially in its environment, such as:

    1. we know which Apps and sites are visited, when and how long/much
    2. With roaming data, we know the travelling patterns
    3. With mobile network, we know when and where the network is used, as well as the network quality served.
    4. We know when they payments are done, when new products are activated, etc.

    All that is left is to correlate all these data and the outside factors.

    So how much do we need to know what exactly the subscriber is doing on different platforms in order to produce some exploitable insights?

    Just to add a note: not only mobile data is important but fix broadband as well for the same persona has a full life: outside using mobile network but also in-house using home network as well (Wi-Fi).

     



    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi

    ------------------------------



  • 21.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Dec 03, 2018 03:01
    Cheers Alma,
    If I am driving a car looking in the mirror, seeing what is behind me, I am all with you.
    However, if I look forward I am not at all sure if what I see can be based on the same approaches, methodologies and tool-sets.

    I totally agree on your point of cross functional teams, but under the condition that these teams are guided by leaders and not managers. Def. managers focus on doing things correctly, leaders focus on doing the right things. Telcos (fixed and mobile) are by and large deploying managers to manage projects.
    Also, traditional project oriented approach work poorly when new thinking should be applied, also because of the managing aspect, tend to be victim of "death by politics".

    Consider this:
    If you get to know your customers behaviour in your world well enough. How well do you understand how customers view your impact on their world.

    Today most people are online, telco plays a fundamental part of this fact. However, most of the money is not online yet. 
    The drive towards going beyond search by Internet and Smartphones to also tackle e-commerce, meaning addressing other market with more significant business impact with new technological layers such as machine learning and crypto.

    This will most certainly put new demands (but also opportunities) on telcos. The opportunities and customers expectations will not be met if: 1. we manage by focusing on doing past thing correctly 2. Enter the challenge by old approaches 3. Existing methodologies

    Prince2, Agile, Waterfall are all methodologies for implementing systems to fulfil requirements. Requirements are specification that for most part are determined by staff and their activities, and not overarching business capabilities taking in to consideration new business architectures.

    With this said, most organisations, including telcos are seeing routine jobs being replaced by machines. If 50-60& of administrative work hours are moving from human to machines this will impact 2 things:
    1. decrease flexibility, and
    2, increase tolerance

    How will you then go about managing customer expectations?

    eager to hear your view. 


    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 22.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    Posted Dec 05, 2018 05:06

    Hello Cato,

    Basically, what I recommend is precisely new approaches, methodologies and tool-sets in order to get better insight and change/diversify/open our industry, but we have to start with what we have and what we have is customer data. This will definitely put new demands and open new opportunities to Telcos.

    Yes, routine jobs will be replaced by machines which will then open the doors to the creation of new jobs/profiles and probably some of them will include the management of costumer expectation in a new way.

    At the end of the day we are in a transformation phase.



    ------------------------------
    Alma Bytyqi
    Ipko Telecommunication
    ------------------------------



  • 23.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Dec 06, 2018 03:46
    Hi Alma, I guess for the first time I slightly disagree with you.
    Let me explain why:
    1. Transformation is a result and not a target/goal or objective. It is all about making fundamental changes.
    2. Where to make those fundamental changes needs to be identified, understood and visualised
    3. To curate the information needed, it will need to start internally 
    4. Decisions have to be made as to what segments/customers who are targeted
    5. Build and "intimate" understanding of that segment customer (this is deeper than profiling) it requires first hand collaboration
    6. With customer or enough representatives from the segment, agree on shortcomings or inefficiencies
    7. Quantify shortcoming and inefficiencies
    8 First then, can you come up with a value proposition - not before!

    I provided a link to a very interesting article, you should read it and I bet you find it interesting. No, I am not the author :-)

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-03/60-fortune-1000-companies-will-be-out-business-within-10-years

    ------------------------------
    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
    ------------------------------



  • 24.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 14, 2018 06:19

    ​That Netflix looks in the past is understandable, because for prediction you need data that helps you to learn. So why not using historical data if that is relevant to the question to answer.

     

    It will be different when we are using the customer journey method for delivering good customer experience. Hereby, first you define your business story line, then you define the journey for the customer; As third step, define the key data from that journey and measure those data during the moments that the customer steps along their customer journey.

    This goes along with the other message: "what is the raw customer need"?

    With these measured data objects, and I call them the "customer interests", you can only start learning what customers do when they walk through their journey, from this moment on. AI will help you then, only overtime, after you build enough cases that make the prediction statistical significant.

    You learn about the customer behavior in their moment related to that business story line.
    There are many story lines, many behaviors, many experiences perceived by the customer. After a while you start learning that some persona like or don't like certain experiences that you, as Telco,  deliver. The customer journey tells you then, where the problem is and where the customer_persona get lost or disappears from the journey or accept your story line that you push.

     
    Above is not equal to historical data from the customer; It is more date from "in the moment". Namely, the key data objects define what interest the customer have. And the captured "interest", that shows up during the journey depend on the conversation that you push. So the story line is the starting component and that must fit with the customer intent. This is the area of design thinking what you can use as methodology for developing a fitted business story line. A lot is thinking from the customer point of view, from the external "need" to the internal need (=requests) and map those events at your internal business journey.  

     

    For example, the business journey can be a sales, care or a problem solving journey; all with different story lines and all starting with an external customer intent. The experiences you offer the client in your conversation with the client determines if the customer moves with you along your business story. The "intent" is different from a customer request. An intent might result in a request; the request is then a need for information, or a click for putting the product in the basket, or "I agree to buy now". All these steps move the customer with an internal story line along a customer journey that finalize the sales, the care, or the problem solved.



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    Arnold Buddenberg
    Orange
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  • 25.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 15, 2018 02:58
    Hi Arnold,
    Thanks for that input. One thing you mention is: "It will be different when we are using the customer journey method for delivering good customer experience. Hereby, first you define your business story line, then you define the journey for the customer; As third step, define the key data from that journey and measure those data during the moments that the customer steps along their customer journey".

    The thing is that these journeys are set by CSPs i.e. Orange.

    I have been asking Orange for Fibre since last December, it seems I finally will get it in a couple of weeks. I have had no idea of progression and what upheld it. 
    Compare that with the following mention by an World Economic forum Exec. who said: He noted he can a $1 million piece of equipment with months of lead time, yet have almost no visibility of its location in the manufacturing process at any given moment. If he ordered a $10 pizza from Domino's online, however, he would know almost to the moment when the anchovies are added.

    Also, Uber machine driver and rider in an instant, as well as customers are willing to jump in to a stagers car, same goes for AirBnB. 
    How much customer date did they rely on to start? They prototyped and test the idea with actual people. Not forming ideas and falling in love with it before it got properly tested.

    Compare that with the way telecoms go about their identification of customer real needs. It is world apart.



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    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
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  • 26.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 23, 2018 17:39
    Team

    Great debate so far, many valuable points, if I might contribute my two cents I will like to take a step back and provide one alternative perspective.

    Most service providers (SP) will invest on customer experience over the premise that it is good business, happier customers are more loyal, less price sensitive and more willing to consume what you are selling, however, there are two big caveats, the first one is that not all customers are created equal, between 8% to 20% of customers actually generate a net negative margin contribution, 40% of the customer base provides 80% of the company profitability, second, not everyone assess value the same way, what might be a churn trigger for some will not move the needle for others.

    With those to big caveats in mind, and the fact that traffic is doubling every year but revenues are flat, the tradeoffs around where service providers invest their limited resources to deliver "quality" becomes the center of customers experience, in a data driven customer centric world.

    On these scenario the starting point is to assess the existing data assets, changing a machine learning model takes a single agile spring, however, acquiring a new network data dimensions from a wireless network might take years and a huge financial investment, so building short term success by incrementally improving the most business significant decisions with the current data assets is the right short term goal.

    Mid and long term are probably a much longer discussion, involving the SP strategy to evolve beyond a connectivity play in to a new platform era.

    Regards,



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    Alfonso Miranda
    Bell Labs Consulting
    Alfonso.Miranda@Bell-Labs-Consulting.com
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  • 27.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Dec 04, 2018 04:29
    I have learnt a lot about Customer Experience reading this discussion, my contribution is more in the form of additional questions:

    1. Someone mentioned that not all customers will be the same and this is true.  Does a notion of Customer Lifetime Value (what is it) and how does it  help to address different customers differently.
    2. In traditional Telco with CIO , CTO , CMO and all.. Who owns the Customer Centricity strategy and defines the how the organisations way of transforms to become more Customer Aware?


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    thembinkosi ndebele
    MTN Group Limited
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  • 28.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Dec 11, 2018 02:17
    Thembinkosi

    Follow my two cents on your questions:

    1.         When resources are limited it is central to ensure that wherever they are applied maximize the potential outcome, most network investment is intended to improve the perception of network quality to promote quality with the objective to promote loyalty, however, a loyal customer that produce a negative margin is not the best use of limited resources, here is where the concept of "Customer Lifetime Value" plays a role to evaluate customers value beyond ARPU to assess those that build the company profitability (normally the ultimate objective to maximize), there are many nuances around applying this principle within net neutrality constrains and privacy restrictions.

    2.         Most private telecom companies are profit driven, since profit comes from the cumulative consumption decision of the customer base to remain loyal, willingness to pay and consume our services, then, most companies should consider maximizing those outcomes at the center of their strategies, independently of the business vertical. Any strategic decision should be mapped to the positive and negative potential outcomes over those dimensions, data science and big data provide ways to map lessons learned from the past to be able to estimate the potential future outcomes for many of these decisions, and yet, just a few operators are currently tapping this knowledge to drive their future decisions. The specifics around the "how" vary per operator and relevant decision.

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    Alfonso Miranda
    Nokia
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  • 29.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jan 04, 2019 04:15
    Edited by Shashank Singh Jan 04, 2019 04:46
    Hi Tuan,

    As you can see from so many replies, the premise of your question is so broad that it's quite natural to get responses that touch a variety of areas of CEM implementation.

    I am not sure if you are asking this question from a vendor's or an operator's perspective, but normally, a CEM implementation request is initiated by an operator (or indirectly planted in the operator's brain by the vendor), I am assuming that you are asking this question from an operator's perspective.

    Here are the critical and priority requirements based on my experience and perspective - 
    • Perform NPS (Net Promoter Score) on all the major customer focusing areas in your organization. Areas can be as broad as SALES or can be as trivial (but important) as Customer Bill Enquiry. You can assign this to a trusted organization as well.
      According to Macquarie, all the areas that have scored less than +50, should be your priority areas in your CEM implementation. 
      These are the areas where the revenues might still be coming in, but the customers might be with you just because of lack of choice. Reasons for customer dissatisfaction can range from issues related to business process optimization to time-out issues to time-to-market or anything else. If needed, there should be an RCA for each NPS area to drill down to the actual reason for dissatisfaction.
    • Futuristic approach - With more and more systems concentrating on customer's 'happiness index' and being more 'customer focused', your prime area too should be to implement strong data analytics, predictive analysis systems which can estimate customer opinions into constructive inputs for your system optimization. The whole idea behind this is proactive involvement with the customer and their needs.

    • Opportunity - Now that there are enough reasons for a system overhaul, we need not limit ourselves to 'typical' customer experience systems. It would be the most appropriate time to reconsider network efficiency, network slicing, 5G use-cases, market competition, etc. It might be possible that the reasons for NPS being less-than-par score be related to sub-standard operational procedures and systems.

    Goes without saying, there are many topics left untouched. If you have a specific scenario/case/vision in mind, do share with me. We can have an open discussion on the same.

    Here is the Maquarie link that I mentioned above - https://macquarietelecomgroup.com/news/what-is-net-promoter-score-nps/

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    Shashank Singh
    Cerillion Technologies Limited
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  • 30.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jan 14, 2019 20:43
    This starts by alignment with corporate DNA, i.e purpose, vision, strategy, business, and operating models, and any maturity assessment that was run in the past, specifically the TM Forum digital maturity assessment, this is is when the time comes to go through the following steps:

    1- Assess your customer experience maturity.
    2- Identify key challenges, here you can use eToM domains as categories for brainstorming.
    3- Choose high-value use case is available and create one if not.
    4- Choose building blocks for these use cases. 
    5- If you have enabled big data analytics you can choose the big data analytics repository.
    6- Update your transformation roadmap.

    Thanks,
    Luqman

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    Luqman Shantal
    Makman Technology Consulting
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  • 31.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jan 15, 2019 08:55
    The source of the problem is that telecom looks at CEM primarily as a noun when it is actually a verb with the nouns in the background.

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    Jim Warner
    Westport Group
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  • 32.  RE: Requirements for implementing CEM for a telco

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jan 16, 2019 04:53
    That is a heck of a point Jim. Not sure it sinks in to everyone, but I would urge people to think about your line.

    Very, very good point

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    Cato Rasmussen
    Independent
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