This pandemic has resulted in telco operators shifting to digital platforms and integrating their physical retail channels into other online channels.
Inevitably, striking the right balance between in-store personal customer experience and impersonal digitization is difficult to achieve.
“It is one thing to have someone who understands the telco’s products, and it is a whole other thing to understand how the consumer is interacting with you through all those different channels and to be able to help synchronize the whole experience irrespective of the channel.”
This pretty much sums up what conundrum the telco industry is currently facing. It also brings to fore the importance of frontline workers operating in tandem with digital channels and effectively communicating with the customers within those channels.
In this special episode of One-to-One, Adam Baggs, CEO of Maplewave, shares his perspective on how telco companies can successfully weather the current storm by going digital.
He provides valuable insights on the importance of multi-channel integration, the need for comprehensive training for frontline staff, and what streamlining customer experience means in the context of digitization.
One-to-One gives you a glimpse into the world and mindset of CX leaders. If you liked this conversation and don’t want to miss future episodes, catch us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.
It is a misconception that COVID-19 will make telco businesses redo their whole digitalization strategy. On the contrary, Adam believes it is all about reorganizing your priorities and deciding what parts of the current strategy should be escalated while other parts should be put on hold. His recommendation is to go for the easiest and the most impactful delivery options currently available.
To not lose sight of customer experience when moving towards an omnichannel strategy, the top things to keep in mind are to not completely neglect physical retail and to put sufficient focus on soft skills. The cornerstone of maintaining this balance lies in your frontline staff staying focussed on the customer journey and customer experience irrespective of the channel.
Your major decisions regarding the adoption of new technologies should be taken with your end customers in mind. It is crucial to humanize the adoption of new tech and make your team understand the need for it from the point-of-view of customers.
The priority should be to make the frontline staff understand the current scenario in physical retail and why it is a cause of concern. According to Adam, your frontline staff needs to be trained in such a way that they can fit in with any of your channels and also interact effectively with the customers within the channel. To help telco companies provide efficient training, Maplewave has developed an e-learning platform where its customers can build educational training programs for their frontline staff.
The primary pitfall to avoid when digitally transforming any telco business is operating within the constraints of a redundant solution provider. This will slow down your transformation and affect customer experience. The best way to avoid this pitfall is to seek advice from a company that has experience in speedily integrating various channels and solutions within the architecture of the telco ecosystem.