Challenges

All around the world, communications service providers are investing billions to deliver converged services. These large investments in new infrastructure and next-generation service architectures are mandatory for survival. But can they help you stay ahead of your competition?

Probably not. Being the first to deploy higher-speed networks or offer desirable features can generate short-term competitive advantages. However, those advantages will be short-lived, because new services must be launched on industry-standard architectures that your competitors can also adopt.

In a world of converged communication and content, sustainable competitive advantage can only be achieved through your ability to consistently attract and retain profitable customers. Building customer profiles and then using this information to make smarter decisions at every customer touch point is the only way to minimize churn while maximizing profits. It is also the only way to make the right offers, at the right time, through the right channel.

But addressing customer satisfaction, retention and profitability in this manner is not a one-time activity. Nor can it be the responsibility of a single department. It is a cross-functional discipline that must become a way of doing business. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, so the organization must continually strive to learn all there is to know about its customers and then adapt to meet their needs.