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I'm responsible for improving the digital adoption of the Proximus B2B Enterprise (as from 10 employees) customers in terms of online self-care. 
A major trend in the customer feedback related to this topic is: 'I don't believe that my ticket that I created online will be solved faster than when I just call the service desk or send an email to my trusted contact person in Proximus'.

I'm sure you've all been there.

Could we share some experience on this, and on how to motivate customers to go digital?
Surely, switching off our email addresses or contact phone numbers cannot be the answer ;-) 

thank you so much.

Francis
#CustomerExperience

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Francis Depuydt
Proximus SA
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Not experienced the problem of reluctance to use online ticketing systems to report an incident in the first case but my experience is in the Wholesale carrier business rather than enterprise customer segment. 

But where customers use their own systems internally, based on ServiceNow and the like, the main desire is for API based integration. 

The major issue I experienced is what happens after the original report. 

 In discussions in the past I have been told by B2B customers that they have a policy of calling, escalating and cajoling based on the principle that it is the squeaking wheel that gets the most oil. 

I also suspect that online systems provide the bald facts of the problem and the planned resolution. Often customers then want to argue the case for a different course of action that they believe provides a better outcome in their view. 

So far the only resolution to that has been the use of chat applications integrated with ticketing systems which allow some automation and allow agents to handle multiple sessions simultaneously. 

Then of course the possibility of chatbots for some of the interactions arise. 

This in turn leads to the notion of omni channel. For those who do not have ticketing systems to link to one can consider collecting ticketing information via bots connected to a variety of media. The idea being one of being where the customer is rather than trying to drive them to your Web page. Chatbots can now even present simple webforms for people to complete to structure the information captured.

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Derrick Evans
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Thanks, Derrick. Good suggestions - it's indeed an omni-channel (we sometimes call is 'opti-channel') play.
F

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Francis Depuydt
Proximus SA
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 13, 2021 04:05
From: Derrick Evans
Subject: How to convince B2B customers to get help online in stead of calling or emailing

Not experienced the problem of reluctance to use online ticketing systems to report an incident in the first case but my experience is in the Wholesale carrier business rather than enterprise customer segment.

But where customers use their own systems internally, based on ServiceNow and the like, the main desire is for API based integration.

The major issue I experienced is what happens after the original report.

 In discussions in the past I have been told by B2B customers that they have a policy of calling, escalating and cajoling based on the principle that it is the squeaking wheel that gets the most oil.

I also suspect that online systems provide the bald facts of the problem and the planned resolution. Often customers then want to argue the case for a different course of action that they believe provides a better outcome in their view.

So far the only resolution to that has been the use of chat applications integrated with ticketing systems which allow some automation and allow agents to handle multiple sessions simultaneously.

Then of course the possibility of chatbots for some of the interactions arise.

This in turn leads to the notion of omni channel. For those who do not have ticketing systems to link to one can consider collecting ticketing information via bots connected to a variety of media. The idea being one of being where the customer is rather than trying to drive them to your Web page. Chatbots can now even present simple webforms for people to complete to structure the information captured.

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Derrick Evans
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Hi Francis,
It would not surprise me if you can find the best answers inside your own organisation. Gather (preferably from several functions) 6-7 fellow employees. Give them a bunch of post-it notes. Then allow them 5-7 minutes to come up with as many ideas as possible for what hurdles prevent you from coming across with a compelling solution to customer self-service. Each member of your group works alone to write down their ideas. Then everyone vote on what idea they think have the most impact preventing the uptake of self-service. Take the ideas with the highest number of votes and turn them around by asking How Might We........Have each member of your group create solution ideas for the how might we. Work from there. If you want to have more on how to proceed, ask.

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Cato Rasmussen
Independent
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HI Francis,
There are several viewpoints that spring to mind here.
Firstly, I think the key word here is "motivation". Why would a B2B customer go digital?

• What do your customers reply to that question - besides the one above?

Secondly, how can you prove/show to them that going "digital" will provide them with at least the same perceived quality of response?

• Display some metrics comparing digital to personal?

Perhaps Gamification is an approach to consider.  A TM Forum catalyst was looking at this last year:

• https://inform.tmforum.org/catalyst/2020/06/ready-telco-one-gamifying-the-customer-journey-to-increase-loyalty-and-value/

A quick look in our Inform part of the library has this article. If you'd like to chat with BT on their experience, just ask me in the first instance:

• https://inform.tmforum.org/insights/2021/05/bt-overcomes-the-challenges-of-digitizing-b2b-customer-experience-with-open-apis/

And we have a mature, collaboration program looking at Digital/Customer Experience that has several assets that you might entertain plus some new ones being created:

• https://www.tmforum.org/themes/?active=customer-experience-trust
• https://www.tmforum.org/resources/collection/customer-centricity-toolkit/

Hope that helps in some way?

Dave

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Dave Riches
TM Forum
Director, Member Solutions
+44 774 811 8071
driches@tmforum.org
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Hi Francis,

I believe in multichannel communication and it is important to keep personal connections with larger enterprise customers they want to know that there is a reliable person that handles their account, so much easier to extend the relationship. 

If you fill the self-service channels with relevant, easy-to-understand, and fast information you will automatically steer your customers to the digital channels.

Another way is to stream network data directly to your end customers so they can utilize it and build their own infrastructure on it, we try to push this but it still seems a little early for our clients to jump on this but we spark interest :-). We see this as extremely important for IoT enterprises, the CSP has relatively low ARPU on those and will not be able to provide all application support they want, so you should enable them to do it for themselves. If a client builds on the CSP data the lock-in factor will also be great.

Regards Fredrik

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[Fredrik] [Edwall]
[EVP Sales & Marketing/Co-Founder][Subtonomy]
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Dear Francis,

I think we need to look Inside out  view of this problem on HOW part, though it will be gradual shift in the mindset by adopting 3P menthods.
1. Proactive: Notifying and reaching out to B2B customer about their Problem resolutions, which any change in the status
2. Predictive: Identify and Notify the B2B customer about potential change, upgrades or issues using digital channels and engage them using the same.
3. Preventive: Enable digital channels to provide reventive remediations

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Rakesh Ranjan Tiwari
Value Team S.p.A.
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little late to the party but a thought provoking question Francis. Couple of thoughts from my perspective:

• I respectfully disagree with Rakesh's suggestion to approach the question from the inside out. I personally strongly recommend taking the outide in perspective, being that of the customer.  Every product, process, capability, etc shoul dbe geared towards the customer. The purpose of any organization after all is to meet the needs of some audience ie. customer
• secondly, what problem are you aiming to resolve. Are the emails and phone calls a problem for Proxiums? Could very well be in the sense of cost for example. On the other hand most service providers now emply an omni channel approach where they offer a multitude of channels for the customer to choose from depending on their preference. Beyond the classic telephone and email (not to forget the grandfather of them all the postal channel from yesteryear ;-) we now have the web portal along with its chat function, the different social media platforms along with the busines version of WhatsApp for example. Ideally all of these channels are managed effectively by for instance being linked to your CRM enablign the agent to have all the necesary information at their fingertips.
• Then there is the need to seduce the customer to opt for one of these other channels. The customer must feel compelled to try an alternative by raising the expectations as an alternative to their traditional choice that will result in a better experience. An obvious dependency is that your systems, processes and people must be ready and able to provide the servcie through this new channel. Another one is awareness for the customer that they're made aware of this new or other option. 
• Finally it may be helpful to consdier the JTBD (jobs to be done) frmework This requires a thorough understanding of what the customer is trying to achieve. The reasons why customers reach out or ask for help will differ on their context. Different needs may be best served by different channels.

I'm curious what progress you've made and insights gained this since your original post.

best,

Steve

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Steve Belgraver
NTT Group
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Chirag Raval
Lead Consultant
Infosys Ltd
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