Staying Ahead Through Experience-Driven Innovation
The telecoms industry is in a constant state of transformation, driven by evolving technologies, increasing competition, and ever-changing customer expectations. For service providers, standing still is not an option. To remain afloat and thrive in this dynamic industry, enhancing the overall experience for subscribers is paramount.
One of the most effective and easy-to-implement tactics for improving this experience is enabling subscriber self-service. Giving your customers the ability to set up, modify, and resolve their accounts and telco products – at their convenience – allows for a seamless subscriber journey where the service provider can take a more hands-off approach. While this gives subscribers a much more convenient experience, service providers also save money due to decreased customer support calls, fewer truck rolls, and streamlined onboarding. This approach ensures no subscribers are left in the dark, building customer loyalty and recuperating lost revenue from suspended accounts as fast as possible. Enabling subscriber self-service creates a win-win scenario by streamlining network operations, field technicians, customer care, and the subscriber journey.
Walled Gardens: Streamlining Subscriber Journeys
While walled gardens have been a part of the industry for years, their relevance remains strong when addressing modern subscriber self-service expectations. Walled gardens allow service providers to create controlled environments to manage user access, enforce policies, guide subscriber interactions efficiently, and have another touch point marketing channel with their customers to engage further. By leveraging Incognito's solutions, the operator implemented a walled garden that seamlessly works with customer network equipment to provide a cohesive and customized customer experience based on certain criteria the customer's subscription or device meets. The reliability, practicality, and efficiency of these solutions are the main reasons so many service providers have chosen to implement walled gardens.
Growing Pains: Why This Fixed Broadband Operator Needed to Implement a Walled Garden
One North American fixed broadband operator faced the dual challenges of scaling their network while maintaining efficient subscriber management. With a growing subscriber base as a result of acquisitions and net new business, the manual processes they previously used to manage account suspensions, device swaps, and onboarding new customers were no longer sufficient. A major concern for the operator was recovering revenue from a growing number of suspended subscribers who had not paid their bill(s).
To combat this, Incognito implemented a walled garden, using Incognito's Service Activation Center (SAC) and Broadband Command Center (BCC) to automate the redirection of suspended subscribers. SAC allowed their customers to be redirected to a customized portal that would prompt the subscriber with actionable next steps, the opportunity to renew their subscription, pay their bill, or the opportunity to self-swap their outdated customer premises equipment (CPE). Using BCC to configure the customer's device policies, our SAC solution centralizes all device setup and billing cases so that the customer receives the correct prompt based on their client class. While this policy-driven automation use case can be seen as a minor change, the results were consequential to the sustainability and growth of the operator's network.
Success Through Self-Service
For this service provider, the walled garden use case delivered significant benefits in a short amount of time. Incognito implemented this solution in just three months, allowing for a seamless integration. Key benefits included:
- Operational scaling: Automating the suspension, redirection, and device swap processes allowed them to scale their operations without overloading their field technicians and support team.
- Revenue recovery: Lost revenue from suspended subscribers was recuperated faster through the automated billing process.
- Upselling opportunities: The customizability of the portal with our SAC solution enabled opportunities to upsell, encouraging customers to upgrade their subscription or invest in new equipment.
- Cost efficiency: Automating device swaps and activations resulted in fewer truck rolls and support team calls. This, in turn, greatly reduced operational spending.
Most importantly, these improvements led to a superior subscriber experience. By automating interactions and providing a user-friendly portal, the operator was able to revolutionize the way they communicate with their subscribers.
Clear Answers, Happy Customers
The walled garden was a game-changer for this operator's fixed broadband subscribers. Instead of being faced with vague service interruptions, subscribers were redirected to a straightforward customer portal that outlined why their service was suspended and provided clear actions to resolve their issue. This approach reduced customer confusion, eliminated unnecessary customer support calls, and provided opportunities for subscribers to upgrade their plan or pay their bill without speaking with the operator's support team. The walled garden also simplified the device swap process for customers by allowing them to order and set up their new device themselves. All of this created an overall improved experience for the customer while efficiently recuperating lost revenue from suspended subscribers.
Want to learn more about how our solutions and other innovations can help transform your operations? Reach out to our team and discover how we can address your business challenges and take your network to the next level!
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