Telecom is a difficult phenomenon to deal with in many aspects today. The telephone system was created as the second great mass communication system, over a century ago, to carry instantaneous voice. The problem is, it has been around for so long, and for so long, nothing could replace it. So, other technologies and practices began to piggyback over it, such as internet, customer service, shopping, banking and even commerce. This has made customer experience management in telecoms not only a difficult thing, but so very important.
You see, while a good number of people (especially in older generations) are used to telephones – few if any people are alive now who predate their inception – they’re an inconvenient and obtrusive technology in many cases. So, right off the bat, you can see that customer experience management in telecoms is a bit of a problem of dealing with annoyed people.
Let’s delve a little deeper. Many people today are used to the instantaneous nature of things like internet, and the quiet simplicity of text communication. Notice that the revolution of mobile phones didn’t take long to convert into portable computers to take up extended text communication far more heavily than voice comm. People like the ability to just type out a message, send it, and await an instant response. They can also choose to ignore messages if they don’t want to be bothered.
Ringing phones are a social obligation to answer, and while a conversation is underway, it ties up hands, or at least attention completely, silence and distraction intermittently being considered rude or at least something to avoid. Along with this, some people don’t like to speak verbally at length (this is more common than people may suspect).
When it comes to telecom in business, it’s an even bigger problem, because people are very busy, and this attention tied up aspect slows business down and makes it awkward.
Customer experience management is so important here, because it’s already inherently inconvenient. If you’re a telecom company, this doesn’t necessarily mean your only service is voice – you probably also provide data. With data service being a lifeline to people in this millennium, this is one service people won’t put up with being subpar – slow connections, censored access, capped bandwidth and the like are all utterly unacceptable.
Considering all the competition will mudsling, and accuse you of these aspects and claim they are not guilty of them, a good proactive customer experience management strategy is important here.
When it comes to a company who uses telecom to handle customer service, commerce or customer relations, well, you need a philosophy that works with people who are being inconvenienced. Reducing the complexity of phone trees, abating hold times and implementing a solid, empathic demeanor in your agents and sales people.
Never, ever use telephones for marketing under any circumstances. Telemarketing is an absolute sin that needs to disappear. Do not use telecom in this manner. Ever.
So, you can see the importance of customer experience management in telecoms, be it a telecom service or a company that relies heavily on this antiquated and thankfully fading communications infrastructure.
