CRM for MVNOs: Part II

Since MVNOs pride themselves on their superlative understanding of their customer segment compared to traditional operators, Customer Relationship Management becomes a key focus area for them. CRM helps MVNOs manage entire lifecycle of Customers by supporting the following activities.

For an understanding of the business model of MVNOs, importance of the parent brand and customer segments and the changing MVNO Operator relationship, please go through my previous post here.

• Campaigns and Promotions: Since MVNOs normally target the same or similar segments that are targeted by their parent brand; a good point to start for them is to target the customer base from one of their existing lines of business. CRM provides the platform to extract the list, run the campaign, track customer responses and take suitable actions based on the responses.

• Customer Acquisition: Customer acquisition in a saturated telecommunications market is tough, costly and a complex process with multiple points of failure. No provider would want to create a negative impression at the very beginning of the Customer’s Lifecycle. CRM provides smooth on boarding of customers though automated Order Management processes, managing and updating inventories, coordinating with courier/shipping companies for delivery and close looping through Agent or IVR assisted activation and welcome call.

• Complete View of Customer: MVNOs try that much more to create a differentiator by bringing in information from multiple systems and presenting relevant information in a manner that is understandable easily to a BPO Agent or to a Customer availing Self Care.

• Customer Service Management: MVNOs strive to provide 100% resolutions to Customer requests, complaints and queries on the call without passing the buck to a back office team. Apart from higher level of customer satisfaction due to on call resolutions, this creates a suitable opportunity for up sell and cross sell since customers are more willing to listen once their issues are taken care of.

• Analytics & Real Time Decisions: Real time analytics and decisions are triggered by Customer actions. These events re-calculate churn scores of customers on the fly and based on historical patterns of customers with similar profiles, can throw offers at the customer. Customers are prompted for up sell or cross sell or may be offered incentives and customized solutions if identified as churn prone.

CRM for MVNOs: The Way Ahead

• Social CRM: MVNOs are, as mentioned earlier, customer driven companies. They need to be ahead of anyone else in terms of understanding their target segments and need to tune in to the changing tastes of customers through various social networking mediums and communities. The ability to identify micro segments within the broad segment, their unmet needs and specific tastes is what will keep them ahead of traditional operators.

• Cloud based Applications: MVNOs should look at cloud based solutions for their BSS stack. Cloud based BSS solutions are based on a subscription model and reduce setup costs by moving costs to an OPEX model. Cloud based models were not considered suitable for telecom operations earlier because of high transaction volumes, but have now been proven to be scalable and can handle MVNO transaction traffic.

• Integrate with other LOBs: While MVNO’s operate as separate companies within the parent’s brand umbrella and have separate applications and systems, an integrated CRM containing information of Customers across other Line of Business can be done to provide a complete perspective of the Customer’s lifestyle and behavior.

An example of poor service management

Kareems is a renowned chain of restaurants in Mumbai. I knew little about them before I went there on a Saturday a few weeks back. I love a well cooked meal and do not go to the restaurants to evaluate their service management, but this particular experience stood out so clearly that I had to take notice. It’s raining in Mumbai these days, and when we reached Kareems for lunch, it was raining really hard, so it was a relief when their attendant noticed that there were 4 of us and came down to the car with two huge umbrellas.

The waiter mentioned that the kitchen was closing and we needed to order immediately. Over time, I have realized that if I do not know much about the restaurant, it’s better to ask what will be available instantly. Normally, items that move off the shelf quickly would be recommended. For me this guarantees that other customers like the item and that the food is freshly prepared. This has worked for me well in the past and I followed my well rehearsed approach. One problem with the approach is that one has to rely on the waiter’s recommendation for quantity and I went with his recommendation. Not only did the food taste like leftovers, our waiter had forgotten to order one of the dishes, and now could not take orders because the kitchen was closed. I would have hoped that this was all, but it was not to be. When we tried to pay by credit card, we were told that credit cards were not accepted. So we paid by cash and were made to wait for the change. On asking for change our waiter mentioned that they were out of change.

An analysis of the ordeal will throw up some interesting concepts in service management. Kareems started on a strong point with their attendant at the gate setting the standards elevating expectations. Subsequent experiences went from bad to worse. The unpleasant experiences kept coming one after the other, a classic fault. In service organizations, if there are no ways to avoid unpleasant experiences, it’s important to pack them together and take them out initially, but Kareems segmented the bad experiences making them seem longer. While I gave them the opportunity of ordering their best dishes, they took away my power of choice not only by mentioning that the kitchen was closing, but also by not ordering an item I had requested. Taking choice away from customers after offering it is the last thing a service organization should do. Paying by credit card is like a ritual for me, but I was forced to pay by cash, for which I had to forage from everyone. By the time I got out, the experience had left a bad taste in my mouth.

The reason behind such service may have been because we had arrived for lunch late and they were short of resources, whatever the reason, at the least, Kareems lost future business it could have generated from me and a few people I know.