Leverage customer communications for competitive advantage: GMC Software Technology

With the battle for customer loyalty in full swing, telecommunications service providers (telcos) today need to be sure they know what their customers want, says  JR Wong, Vice President (ASEAN), GMC Software Technology – and what they want is ease of access and convenience. 

Source: GMC. Wong.

"By giving customers access to the information they want, whenever they want and however they want it, telcos will enhance customer experience, turning customer communications into an effective customer retention tactic," he said. 

Ease of access, Wong said, addresses how people use multiple devices, but also have a preference for a particular device for certain tasks. "For example, one might prefer using a mobile app to track their daily to-do list rather than using an in-browser application or email calendar. Similarly, some consumers may choose to receive their phone bills on their tablet, or mobile, or via email," he said.

A strong example of how convenience can work for a telco would be around creating a dialogue so that customers can actually speak to their telco instead of having to go through set after set of automated menus. "By making communication easy for their customers, telcos will make the right steps towards enhancing customer experience, thereby getting one step closer to achieving the holy grail of customer loyalty and reducing customer churn," Wong shared.

In ASEAN Wong said customer experience is a clear priority for telcos, with many already recognised for their excellent customer experience. Wong named Shanghai Telecom as a telco which has done it right.

"In the case of Shanghai Telecom, what was understood was the necessity of an electronic business email system that could integrate multiple data sources, offer a unified management interface and enable multichannel output to better serve their customers," Wong noted. 

GMC worked with Shanghai Telecom to develop a solution that achieved what they wanted, and also enabled them to:

· Reduce printing costs;
· Obtain commercial marketing information of greater value;
· Offer many options for personalised electronic presentment; and
· Deliver improved interaction and communication with clients.

Telcos in the region are poised for a major shakeup, with great opportunity as well as great risk, Wong pointed out. "As the mobile telecommunications market in Asia has been gathering momentum, we are seeing many emerging markets in ASEAN that are bypassing traditional land lines and moving straight into mobile technology. This phenomenon is expected to swing the doors wide open for service providers and related industries. Future competition will lie not in increasing the number of consumers but in exploiting customer niches and value-added services in the area of promoting customer loyalty and enhancing their experiences."

To succeed, telcos have to build a strategy for customer communications that incorporates the consumers’ preferred channels of communication around the regional context, Wong said.

"In Singapore, where smartphone, tablet, and of course Internet penetration are very high, it is feasible for to offer communications on whichever device is preferred by their customers. On the other hand, in markets like Thailand and Vietnam, where smartphone penetration is still in the growth phase and where Internet penetration is (relatively) low, telcos will need to assess which means of communication will be most convenient for their customers," he said.
 
GMC's enterprise communication platform, GMC Inspire, enables telcos (as well as organisations in other industries) to consistently deliver personalised messages to their customers, at the right time and through the channel of the customer's choice. The channels can include mobile, email, SMS, social media, web, print, The Inspire platform also combines data on customer preferences, lifestyles and business transactions to provide an enriched view of each customer for relevant, targeted customer communications.

"This intelligent use of communications has enabled GMC clients to build loyalty that lasts, while driving down costs and reaching new markets and customers," Wong said.