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  • 7/24/2019 Irr Customer Experience in a Digital World Final

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    IN A DIGITAL WORLD

    September 2015 | www.tmforum.org

    Sponsored by

    I N S I G H T S R E S E A R C H

    CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEAND ANALYTICS

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    2015. The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The Forum would like to thank the sponsors and advertisers who have enabled the publication of this

    fully independently researched report. The views and opinions expressed by individual authors and contributors in this publication are provided in the writers personal capacities and are their sole

    responsibility. Their publication does not imply that they represent the views or opinions of TM Forum and must neither be regarded as constituting advice on any matter whatsoever, nor be interpreted as

    such. The reproduction of advertisements and sponsored features in this publication does not in any way imply endorsement by TM Forum of products or services referred to therein.

    The big picture

    Section 1

    Rethinking customer experience for a digital world

    Section 2

    Service providers speak adoption, drivers and

    customers preferences

    Section 3

    Challenges and critical success factors

    Section 4

    Analyzing customer journeys is a big step towards success

    Section 5

    Being smart with analytics

    Section 6

    Make it happen: 12 strategies for CEM success and a

    ready-to-go toolkit

    Sponsored features

    TM Forums reports and publications are free for all employees of our member organizations to download by registering on our website.

    Rob RichManaging Director, Insights [email protected]

    Annie [email protected]

    Dawn [email protected]

    Sarah Wray

    [email protected]

    Paul Davis

    [email protected]

    Mark Bradbury

    [email protected]

    Charlotte [email protected]

    Nik Willetts, Deputy CEO & Chief Digital Officer, TM ForumRebecca Sendel, Senior Director, Customer Centricity Program,TM Forum

    thePAGEDESIGN

    TM Forum240 Headquarters PlazaEast Tower, 10th Floor

    Morristown, NJ 07960-6628USAwww.tmforum.orgPhone: +1 973-944-5100Fax: +1 973-944-5110

    ISBN: 978-1-939303-85-1

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    Welcome to TM Forums sixth annual InsightsResearchreport on customer experience, but the first

    primarily focused on the emerging digital world.

    Since 2010, customer experience management

    (CEM) has climbed dramatically up service providers

    agendas, shifting from being regarded as a cost

    of doing business (mostly driving a cost-reduction

    approach) or a nice-to-have, to being a competitive

    necessity and serious differentiator. Yet while service

    providers are busily executing on the principles ofcustomer centricity, the world is shifting again.

    The digital economy is characterized by the rapid

    introduction of new products and services, with

    new competitors and partners appearing suddenly.

    For service providers, new challenges include

    value fabric-based business and delivery models,

    new technologies, highly competitive pricing and

    customers who want to communicate via many

    channels, easily and uniformly. And all this when they

    are just getting a handle on improving more traditional

    engagements.

    In particular, customers multi-channel expectations

    have huge implications for the integration of people,

    processes and systems, and for all the partners

    who collectively provide a service. Service providers

    are struggling with how to gain end-to-end visibility

    of services and customers experiences, or even

    understanding how to approach ownership, control

    and accountability, all while accelerating product

    introduction.

    The scope of CEM is daunting for many, and

    overlaying the value fabric-based digital world on top

    of it greatly increases complexity, but the payback for

    leading companies that make the commitment and

    execute will be worthwhile. We believe that service

    providers who can differentiate themselves with a

    superior overall customer experience across the digital

    services fabric whether they choose the path of

    solution provider or enabler will be winners in the

    brave new digital world.

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    Read this report to get the answers you need to succeed with customer experience in the digital world:

    Whatinitiatives do service providers have underway to prepare them for the digital world?

    How have service providers approachesevolved around their objectives, digital services,

    perceptions of customers priorities and customer journeys?

    What are the business process and technology challenges,and critical success factorsfor

    CEM programs?

    Why exactly is analyzing customer journeysso important, and why now?

    Why are analyticsessential, especially real-time network and service analytics, and what are

    their challenges?

    So what? What does it mean for you, what actionsshould you take now and which toolswill

    help you get there?

    We hope you enjoy the report and, most importantly, will find ways

    to use the ideas, concepts and recommendations detailed within to

    improve your customers experiences, and ultimately enjoy greater

    profitability and business success as a result. You can contact me

    directly with your comments via [email protected].

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    SECTION 1

    Welcome to TM Forums sixth annual Insights Research

    report on customer experience, but the first primarilyfocused on the emerging digital world. Since 2010,

    customer experience management (CEM) has climbed

    dramatically up service providers agendas, shifting

    from being regarded as a cost of doing business or a

    nice-to-have, to being a competitive necessity andserious differentiator. Yet while service providers

    are busily executing on the principles of customer

    centricity, the world is shifting again.

    Increased agility

    Rapid the introduction of new products, services

    Speedy onboarding of new partners

    New competitors popping up fast

    New business and delivery models

    New technologies

    Highly competitive pricing

    Omnichannel customers

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    And all this when they are just getting a handle on

    improving more traditional engagements.

    For example, Figure 1-1 represents a high level

    value map for a digital health scenario, including a

    patient, insurance company, national health provider,

    medical device supplier and analytics supplier. Serviceproviders could play a key role in several places here.

    While a full explanation of this ecosystem is beyond

    the scope of this report, even at a high level, the

    complexity is clear.

    This has upped the ante in an already challenging

    environment for service providers. Customers expect

    an easy-to-use, consistent, seamless, transparent

    and secure experience, regardless of what they are

    consuming and whats happening in the background.

    This has huge implications for the integration of

    people, processes and systems, not only for the

    serving provider, but also for the partners who are

    stitching together components of the solution, which

    previously operated largely on an independent basis.

    Service providers are struggling with how to gain

    end-to-end visibility of services and resultant customer

    experiences, or even understanding how to approachownership, control and accountability, all the while

    accelerating product introduction.

    Source: TM Forum 2014

    1http://bit.ly/CEXmaturitymod

    No improvement is possible unless you

    know where you currently stand. Assess

    your company now.1

    ECOSYSTEM

    Communications

    Service Provider

    Insurance

    Company

    National

    Health Service

    Analytics

    Supplier

    Patient

    Medical Device

    Supplier

    http://bit.ly/CEXmaturitymodelhttp://bit.ly/CEXmaturitymodelhttp://bit.ly/CEXmaturitymodelhttp://bit.ly/CEXmaturitymodel
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    Service providers are confronted by much uncertainty

    here, but we see pockets of innovation, with a number

    of them moving forward on various initiatives. These

    are the keys to success:

    1. Experimentwith new digital technologies

    and methodologies to bring services to

    market more quickly and in a more agile

    way.

    2.Accept the customer trendtoward more

    digital and mobile channels. Make disparate

    interaction channels into a more cohesive,

    seamless experience some companies

    have launched omnichannel initiatives, but

    its still early days.

    3.Recognize the importance of understanding

    customer journeys,and dont just analyze

    results from touchpoints.

    4.Leverage new analytics capabilitiesto

    deliver a better experience.

    5.Adopt more of anoutside-in view of

    customer experience, though this remains a

    struggle for many.

    6.Engage cross-functional teams to simplify

    processes,especially from a customers

    point of view.

    7.Re-skill employeesto increase their

    effectiveness with new initiatives, processes

    and technologies.

    While most of these initiatives are at an early stage

    and face steep challenges, the much greater level of

    top management support now shows how big the

    opportunity is. These opportunities can only come

    to fruition if they demonstrate consistent digital

    leadership and customer-centric business practices.

    For players who get it right in customer and service

    visibility; data management and integration; critical

    skills availability and acquisition; and overcoming

    organizational inertia, the rewards will be huge but

    as shown below, so are the risks of getting it wrong.

    A survey published in April 2014 found a solid correlation between a strong CEM program and increased profits. It was carried out by

    research firm Dynamic Markets, on behalf of Avaya, with researchers interviewing 1,268 businesses with more than 1,500 employees

    across 13 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, the UK and

    the US. Some 54 percent were at senior-management level or above.2

    80% 46% 35%

    of those who have seen

    a significant increase

    in profits have a CEM

    program in place

    without a CEM

    program have seen

    profits remain static

    without a CEM

    program suffered a

    decrease in profits

    2http://www.avaya.com/usa/about-avaya/newsroom/news-releases/2014/pr-140429/

    81%

    have had CEM

    initiatives fail in the

    last three years

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    SECTION 2

    WHO?

    Mix of business and IT

    executives such as vice president, director and C-level

    HOW?

    WHERE? TYPE OF SERVICE PROVIDER

    Source: TM Forum 2015

    Fixed

    Mobile

    Converged

    13%

    22%

    43%

    9%

    13%

    Cable

    Data center/

    cloud services

    ASIA WESTERN EUROPE

    NORTH AMERICA LATIN AMERICA

    MIDDLE EASTEASTERNEUROPE/RUSSIA

    AFRICA GLOBAL

    In August 2015, we conducted research among a wide range of service providers from around the globe.

    93% sell to consumers

    83% operate a communicationsnetwork

    75% sell directly to businesscustomers

    56% sell wholesale communicationsand/or computing services

    48% of standalone data centeroperators resell capacity

    28% resell network capacity fromother carriers (mostly MVNOs

    and data center operators)

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    We asked our respondents which digital services they

    offer beyond communications. Most offer some digital

    services: Some are running large production operations,

    while others are just getting their feet wet. As shown in

    Figure 2-3, cloud services (54 percent) were the most

    popular, but close behind were digital media services

    (42 percent), machine-to-machine (39 percent typically

    through partnerships), and digital marketing and

    advertising services (37 percent).

    The next tier included security (both home and

    business monitoring as well as some information

    security services), some over-the-top services (both

    in partnership and home grown) and payment and/

    or banking services. A small number are involved

    in gaming, e-marketplaces and home automation

    services.

    Almost all, 94 percent, believe digital services will

    be important in two- and five-year timeframes, as

    illustrated in figure 2-4.

    We asked respondents for the top drivers of their

    customer experience programs. This years responses

    continued the trends from our past three surveys,

    with cost reduction, the leading driver from 2008-10

    relegated in favor of better customer satisfaction,

    increasing revenues, decreasing churn, strengthening

    brand, and differentiation from competitors.

    Increasing Net Promoter Score (NPS) finished

    seventh overall and improving customer effort score

    eighth. This may seem like a misrepresentation, as

    Cloud services (XaaS)

    Digital media (music, video, images, etc.)

    Machine-to-machine solutions

    Digital marketing / advertising

    Over-the-top

    Security (electronic / information)

    Security (home and business)

    Payment / banking

    Electronic marketplaces / clearing houses

    Gaming / game distribution

    Home automation

    0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    Very important

    Important

    Neutral

    Somewhat unimportant

    Not important

    0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    in 5 years in 2 years

    54%

    42%

    39%

    37%

    23%

    20%

    19%

    12%

    12%

    9%

    21%

    90%

    85%

    4%

    9%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    +5

    -5%

    0%

    0%

    0%

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    more than 60 percent of respondents found them

    either very important or somewhat important. This

    placement really reflects the broad support for the

    higher ranked aspects, with more than 90 percent

    rating customer satisfaction scores highly and more

    than 80 percent doing the same for increasing revenue

    and decreasing churn.

    Interestingly, NPS and customer effort score goals

    were slightly ahead of cost reduction last year. This

    may reflect a less optimistic view of economic trends

    among some service providers.

    Next we asked service providers what they believe

    their customers most want from them, relative to

    digital services. The responses reflect a change in

    view that seems to be slowly sweeping through

    service providers, indicating that while service quality

    for communications (especially data services) remains

    key, other factors are gaining in importance.

    We asked respondents to rate the most important

    aspects of customer experience from a customerspoint of view, now and two years from now, using

    a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very important and 1

    being not important at all. The aggregate results are

    shown in Figure 2-6 on page 12, sorted by the results

    for 2017.

    Importantly, while this is a survey of service

    providers, not customers themselves, the relative

    rankings of factors are fairly consistent with direct-

    user surveys we have reviewed. Naturally individual

    factors vary in importance, based on segmentation

    schemes.

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    Increase customer satisfaction

    Increase revenues

    Decrease churn

    Improve/strengthen/expand brand image

    Differentiate from competitors

    Reduce operating costs

    Increase Net Promoter Score

    Improve customer effort score

    0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

    Least Important 2 3 4 Most Important

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    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    1 = not important, 5 = very important

    Topping the list is service quality for applications and

    digital services, followed by mobility and the ability

    to create personalized solutions. Coming in fourth for

    2017 is service quality for data communications.

    This is the first time we have seen service quality

    for users applications coming in first in several years,

    and in fact if we were to rank these aspects on

    2015 responses, it would be in a virtual tie for first.

    The indication here is that while the communication

    Service quality, digital applications/services

    Mobility

    Ability to create personalized solutions

    Service quality, data communications

    Billing accuracy/transparency

    Multichannel purchasing /support capability

    Ease of service acquisition/purchasing

    Competitive pricing

    Self-service capability/quality

    Billing predictability

    Broad variety of services

    Capacity on demand

    Service quality, voice communications

    Security

    Contact center capability/quality

    Service provider brand

    Availability of managed network services

    Custom service level agreements

    Account team/retail effectiveness

    0 1 2 3 4 5

    4.56

    4.20+0.36

    4.44

    4.14+0.30

    4.44

    3.72 +0.72

    4.41

    4.17+0.24

    4.354.26

    +0.09

    4.30

    3.83 +0.47

    4.27

    3.91+0.36

    4.26

    4.19+0.07

    4.23

    3.60 +0.63

    4.15

    3.79+0.36

    4.15

    3.63 +0.52

    4.13

    3.80+0.33

    4.12

    4.11+0.01

    4.12

    3.68 +0.44

    4.03

    3.83+0.20

    3.88

    3.85+0.03

    3.85

    3.70+0.15

    3.85

    3.62+0.23

    3.69

    3.67+0.02

    2017 2015

    element is a critical enabler of the digital service, the

    performance of the digital service is the differentiator

    for the customer. This is an important distinction for

    service providers, as well as a healthy view of what

    counts in the future.

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    Our 59 big data use cases3and 8 CEM use cases4both

    include specific scenarios around personalization.

    3http://bit.ly/DataAnalyticsUseCase4http://bit.ly/CEXUseCases

    5http://bit.ly/RevAssSolutions6http://bit.ly/OmnichannelIntroGuide

    The TM Forum Revenue Assurance

    Solutions Suite5has all the tools you need

    to tackle the challenges associated with

    delivering a service and getting paid.

    Mobility is clearly an important trend, borne outover the last decade. Interviewees expressed the

    importance of personalization as an antidote to

    the complexity brought on by the proliferation of

    applications, devices and services on offer in the

    next few years.

    Note that voice service quality did not make the top

    ten priorities, though it remains important.

    Competitive pricing did make the top ten priorities,

    as expected, but did not score as highly as one might

    think time will tell if this perspective pans out,

    as previous surveys have consistently put pricing

    near the top. Indeed multiple previous surveys have

    indicated that pricing will get even tougher for basic

    services in highly penetrated geographies. The hope

    is, according to interviewees, that differentiated

    products and personalization will provide some relief

    from relying heavily on price to compete.

    Billing accuracy and transparency once again scored

    highly: Predictable bills stayed in the top ten (though

    only just), which again is not surprising given the

    desire by businesses and consumers alike to control

    their spending, especially in turbulent economic times.

    Multichannel purchasing and support remained strong

    and increases significantly by 2017, reflecting the

    move toward omnichannel. A bias toward online and

    mobile channels continues to grow, with self-service

    capabilities and quality remaining in the top ten

    despite tough competition.

    Many interviewees indicated continuous

    improvement programs in self-service, and some

    also discussed Mobile First initiatives, addressing

    websites, apps and myriad other aspects.

    Ease of purchasing also stayed strong and

    strengthens going into 2017. Regular readers know

    that this is an extremely important priority for business

    customers, especially those who buy a broad variety

    of services or are part of a distributed company. These

    companies often buy some products and services

    Defines the operational functions needed

    for omnichannel customer experience and

    provides an omnichannel maturity model

    assessment.

    http://bit.ly/DataAnalyticsUseCaseshttp://bit.ly/CEXUseCaseshttp://bit.ly/RevAssSolutionshttp://bit.ly/RevAssSolutionshttp://bit.ly/OmnichannelIntroGuidehttp://bit.ly/RevAssSolutionshttp://bit.ly/RevAssSolutionshttp://bit.ly/CEXUseCaseshttp://bit.ly/DataAnalyticsUseCases
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    centrally, and others in a relatively decentralized

    fashion (such as at a departmental, location or

    individual level).

    Either way, they want effective, efficient and

    consistent ways of doing this, which also reflect their

    overall account status (as in discounts and custom

    terms and conditions) in these transactions. Many

    believe this will become more popular with consumers

    as well, as apps and services proliferate. This has

    certainly proven true with app stores.

    There are a number of other aspects described here,

    including capacity on demand and information security

    services, which finished just outside the top ten.

    Capacity on demand is seen as more important going

    forward, especially among service providers who felt

    Multichannel

    purchasing and

    support

    Online

    and mobile

    channels

    Continuous

    improvement

    programs in

    self-service

    Mobile First

    initiatives

    Simplification of

    purchasing and

    support

    Effective,

    efficient and

    consistent

    interaction

    2017

    they would see rapid growth and adoption of both

    cloud services and software-defined network services

    over the next two years.

    While these services likely will not reach full

    maturity in that time, they will certainly be rising

    rapidly, and will be an important forward-looking

    future proofing aspect of business offers, enabling

    network and computing infrastructure to deliver these

    services.

    These are key capabilities for service providers:

    Allowing them to provide, package, price and manage

    these services is critical to growth and customer

    retention.

    Security will continue to be important, whether its

    embedded as part of services or takes the form of a

    monitoring service. The biggest surprise with security

    is that it finished just outside the top ten, which is a

    cause for concern.

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    SECTION 3

    As we did last year, we broke challenges into two

    categories for service providers: business processchallenges and systems and technical issues.

    The breadth of the challenges demonstrates the

    complexity respondents face in delivering a superior

    customer experience. We asked respondents to rate

    challenges from 1 to 5, with 5 being most challenging.

    In addition, we asked them to forecast their biggest

    challenges two years from now, as more digital

    services roll out. As shown in Figures 3-1 and 3-2 on

    pages 16 and 18, respectively, service providers face

    myriad difficult difficulties now and in future. They are

    ranked by their 2017 scores.

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    TM Forums Customer Experience Lifecycle

    Model7helps service providers partner,

    design, integrate, operate and monetize by

    linking business and technical collaboration

    activities to ensure re-use of concepts,

    specifications and service componentsacross the value fabric.

    This allows for quick setup of partnering

    arrangements; efficient on-boarding of new

    partners through a consistent, repeatable

    process; ready swapping out of products;

    best practices for identification of partner

    touchpoints; and a path for evolving

    partnerships.

    Partnership

    Agreements &

    Requirements

    Partnering

    Monetization

    Operate Integration

    Design

    Business

    Collaboration

    Technical

    Collaboration

    Reusable

    Component

    Solution

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    1 = least challenging, 5 = most challenging

    0 1 2 3 4 5

    2017 2015

    Getting a holistic view of the customer

    Understanding customers needs

    Providing responsive support

    Understanding account profitability

    Meeting SLA conditions

    Providing customized solutions products

    Bringing new products to market

    Process complexity

    Management support

    Account management

    Partnering with others in the value fabric

    Agreement of core metrics

    4.56

    3.94 +0.62

    4.35

    4.15+0.20

    4.32

    4.00+0.32

    4.24

    3.83 +0.41

    4.18

    3.83 +0.35

    4.15

    3.83+0.32

    4.09

    4.03+0.06

    3.88

    3.63+0.25

    3.85

    3.83+0.02

    3.79

    3.47+0.32

    3.71

    3.58+0.13

    3.70

    3.59+0.11

    7http://bit.ly/TMForumLifecycleModel

    http://bit.ly/TMForumLifecycleModelhttp://bit.ly/TMForumLifecycleModelhttp://bit.ly/TMForumLifecycleModelhttp://bit.ly/TMForumLifecycleModel
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    First and foremost was gaining a holistic customer

    view, which is necessary to provide proper account

    management and support. Difficulties included

    fragmented legacy systems and data, issues with

    inter-departmental collaboration, partnering problems,

    and general process complexity. This is seen as

    especially difficult in the future, as more of the view

    spans the value fabric.

    Understanding account profitability is another big

    issue, especially across an ecosystem where the

    end customer may not be easily identified. This can

    be particularly difficult for business customers, who

    may have multiple accounts in many locations and

    subsidiaries operating under different names.

    Mergers and acquisitions also contribute to this

    problem, and the distribution of the workforce can

    mask this too. As if capturing all the revenue from

    these accounts is not enough of a problem, allocating

    costs correctly can be tough as well.

    Meeting service level agreements (SLAs) can be a

    complex problem, as service providers assume various

    roles in the value fabric and may have little visibility

    of the end product. In addition, perceived challenges

    in managing virtual environments contributed to

    concerns among our interviewees.

    Concerns about providing customization solutions

    feeds off a number of other challenges, including

    issues with understanding customers needs, rapidly

    expanding portfolios, limited end-to-end visibility,

    under-developed account teams, and growing pains

    with new technology and partnerships, among other

    things.

    8 CEM and 59 big data use cases representing business

    challenges with possible solutions mapped to TM Forum

    tools and best practices you can use now.8

    8http://bit.ly/CEXUseCases

    2017 2015

    Given the breadth of services and the dynamic

    forces shaping the market, service providers believe

    it will be increasingly difficult to predict customers

    needs, underlining the importance of business agility.

    Providing responsive support came in a clear third.

    It is a long-standing issue and also will be more

    challenging as services fragment across the value

    fabric. Shortage of skills, information management

    issues, poor sharing of information, inefficient legacy

    systems, complex support processes, divergent

    departmental goals, staff recruitment and training, andeven contract management problems (among other

    things) have plagued the communications industry.

    In addition, many have struggled with the rapid shift

    of customers to electronic channels and social media

    and the expectation of instant gratification.

    Leaders are looking to simplify processes and

    deploy analytics to better understand and address

    these issues, but difficulties remain in coordinating a

    rapid and effective response across the value fabric.

    http://bit.ly/CEXUseCaseshttp://bit.ly/CEXUseCases
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    Bringing new products to market remains a real

    challenge for many of our respondents. This is nothing

    new for the communications industry, which has long

    focused on delivering high-quality services, rather than

    experimenting openly. Fortunately this is changing.

    A number of the companies we interviewed are

    experimenting with approaches to radically reduce

    product development time. This includes working on

    more agile systems implementation and developing

    processes to introduce and promote new services

    quickly.

    Just as for business and process challenges, we

    asked research participants about systems and

    technical challenges. Yet again, the breadth of the

    challenges shows the complexity of the topic. We

    Process complexity in general continues to score

    high among respondents and is perceived to be an

    even bigger problem in 2017 given the need for

    speed. A few of interviewees told us theyve realized

    some success in their programs by simplifying

    everything, especially processes exposed directly

    to customers, but much remains to be done. This

    highlights the need for high levels of automation to

    drive profits in the digital world.

    asked respondents to rate challenges from

    1 to 5, with 5 being most challenging. The results

    are shown in Figure 3-2 above.

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    End-to-end control

    Data integration/management

    Systems complexity

    Business justification

    Quality of analytical tools

    Availability of critical skills

    Cross-organization priorities

    Ability to partner with other service providers

    Quality of COTS software

    Legacy system integration

    Cultural issues

    0 1 2 3 4 5

    4.13

    4.10

    4.03

    4.02

    3.91

    3.89

    3.63

    3.48

    3.88

    3.69

    3.67

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    1. End-to-end control End-to-end control of services has long been

    a problem, given the diversity of network

    elements, especially endpoint and device

    technology, and wireless customer roaming.

    When the complexities of operating in a

    value fabric are added where there are

    many more components and potential

    partners, and visibility becomes more

    difficult it is a much bigger problem.

    Data integration has always scored very

    high in our surveys and returns to its

    typical position in the top two of systems

    challenges. Simply stated, service providers

    face many problems driven by legacy and

    departmental systems, and this will likely

    be exacerbated by similar issues with value

    fabric partners. This is a major problem for

    service providers and will likely remain so

    for some time, given the diverse collection

    of systems and network elements that

    generate the data.

    2. Systems complexity

    Last years leading concern, systems

    complexity, remains a serious issue. Given

    the breadth of customer experience,

    influencing systems and the long history,

    gaining holistic views of customers and

    solving problems rapidly is a real challenge.

    So are replacement and upgrading systems.

    The situation is made worse by large,

    incumbent operators having a legacy of

    fragmented systems and data stores, as well

    as multiple heterogeneous networks and

    diverse processes.

    3. Justifying investment Close behind systems complexity is

    business justification for investments.

    Interviewees say this is difficult due to

    the fragmentation of priorities, as many

    systems crossed organizational boundaries

    and will cross company boundaries in the

    future (though this is as much a coordination

    as a justification problem). Moreover, the

    dynamic nature of the value fabric and the

    markets it serves worsens the problem.

    Agility costs money, and returns on

    investment are not always clear or finite.

    4. Quality of analytical tools

    The quality of analytical tools came next,

    not surprisingly, since there has been an

    influx of tools over the last few years, given

    the recognition of their value to managing

    customer experience for big and small data.

    The good news is that more suppliers are

    offering analytical applications to help with

    fundamental issues such as service and

    network visibility. This is a big challenge for

    vendors and service providers as markets

    expand, but at least it has become an

    important focal point for both.

    5. Availability of critical skills

    Availability of critical skills came in

    fifth, a little lower than expected, with

    concerns about complexity, agility and

    analytics capabilities, as well as the need

    to understand customers preferences

    and profitability. Dealing with cross-

    organizational priorities is a perennial issue.Most interviewees said they struggle for

    consensus on priorities across organizations

    and not just in organizations where

    management seems less concerned or

    active relative to customer experience.

    This is one reason that a holistic view of

    the customer and an outside-in orientation

    is so important: It can help direct priorities

    across organizations. Interviewees recognize

    this, but struggle with or sometimes feel

    powerless to lead change in this area.

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    Strong program governance and business alignment

    remained high on the list at fifth. Program

    management must facilitate the planning and

    achievement of program goals; raise program visibility

    cross functionally; proactively facilitate conflict

    resolution; and keep key initiatives on track. It is

    essential given the complexity of balancing cross-

    functional issues and implementation.

    Adoption of best practices and standards were seen

    as the next most important factor. Things like clear

    data models and associated entity and attribute

    definitions were cited as key, especially with the focus

    on data management.

    Similarly, the availability of well-defined process

    models and interfaces were seen as critical to

    speeding process definition, simplification, agility,

    conflict resolution, and improving communications

    with vendors and partners alike, especially across

    value fabrics. Several respondents commented that

    the importance of this will likely rise over time, as

    other aspects are addressed.

    Data management garnered strong support, though

    it was down from the previous year in terms of

    placement. Again, this is no surprise to regular

    readers, as it has been a key finding in many of

    our reports for some time. It assumes even more

    importance with the advent of initiatives like

    omnichannel.Accuracy of data, relevance and timeliness were

    identified as being fundamental to success, and there

    was special interest in the network. As in previous

    years, collection and synchronization of data from

    multiple diverse sources remain an issue, especially

    for convergent operators, but also for some of the

    wireless mobile players.

    Business process agility came in second, up from

    fourth last year, and nearly made it to the top ranking.

    Service providers realize that moving to digital will be a

    bumpy ride, and the ability to change dynamically with

    the market will be critical. Agility can help address

    market volatility and emerging requirements from

    partners and customers, while maintaining necessary

    levels of efficiency to sustain profitability.

    Service providers realize simplicity is a critical enabler

    of agility. As markets, services, technologies and

    requirements change, processes must quickly and

    easily adapt. Hence a clean and simple relationship

    between the service provider and its customers and

    partners will be essential for obtaining the speed

    and ease of use customers demand. Simplification is

    easier said than done, but almost all respondents feel

    it is necessary.

    Critical skills remain a strong factor, in fourth place

    for the last two years. Some of this is due in general

    to the breadth and complexity of the market, as well

    as processes, systems and technologies required

    by customer experience programs. However, it also

    applies to issues like holistic views of customers,

    understanding their needs, and leveraging analytical

    insights. Respondents also comment on business

    process design, social media, program management

    and change management skills, and various other

    skills, as well as how to leverage virtualization.

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    SECTION 4

    For the last few years, analysis of touchpoints has

    been a focus for service providers intent on improving

    their customers experiences. Many have worked hard

    to improve various aspects of their retail stores, onlineinterfaces, contact centers, and more recently mobile

    experiences. Some have also tried to address social

    media to some degree. While this has helped them to

    remain competitive, more companies now understand

    the importance of customer journeys, as shown in

    Figure 4-1 on page 24.

    Much of this shift is driven by customers changing

    behavior. In the burgeoning digital world, customers

    have unprecedented choice, not only in new products

    and services, but also in how they research, acquire,

    use, seek support for and express their opinions on

    those products. Consumers methods of interaction

    and resultant experiences are increasingly important,

    especially when dealing with digital goods and

    services, but to a greater extent with physical goods.

    Customers are adapting quickly to a broad variety

    of digital interaction channels, especially in retail,

    and demanding that their merchants offer these

    capabilities if they want to keep them. They are also

    demanding consistency across channels and using

    different channels in different places to do different

    things at different times of the day.

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    Done right, this approach can simplify and improve

    customers lives. Done badly, it leads to frustration

    and dissatisfaction. Hopping between channels

    needs to be seamless, allowing customers to switch

    without restarting their journey, and instead taking

    the appropriate contextual and historical information

    from one channel to the next. As the consumers

    perception of the service providers brand is

    influenced by all their interactions, journeys must be

    consistently supported for every step of all services

    and products.

    Define customer interactions and model

    based on unique journeys.

    Seven reasons to create and analyze customer

    journeys:

    Companies need to think the way their

    customers do; looking at things from the

    outside-in to achieve customer centricity and

    customer journeys facilitate this.

    Analyzing the journeys uncovers

    inconsistencies in channels, touchpoints,

    pricing, descriptive information, terms and

    conditions, and other things that would not

    necessarily become clear from touchpoint

    analysis alone.

    Journeys help build the full picture of how

    context is maintained (or not) as consumers

    hop from channel to channel customers

    hate having to re-enter data or repeat

    explanations when they switch.

    Analyzing the journey trends of more

    sophisticated customers can help service

    providers find better paths to help them

    accomplish their goals. These lessons could

    be applied to other consumers, lowering

    costs while achieving better operational

    efficiency.

    Following on from the point above, analysis

    of journeys and acting on what is learned

    can reduce the effort required of customers,

    increasing their satisfaction and lowering the

    number of abandoned journeys.

    14http://bit.ly/CEXLifecyc

    10%

    Source: TM Forum, August 2015

    2%

    88%

    Not important at all

    Unimportant

    Neutral

    Important

    Very important

    http://bit.ly/CEXLifecycle
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    Journeys often involve touchpoints

    operated by disparate departments.

    Analyzing journeys from the outside-in can

    foster a dialog between departments to

    improve overall effectiveness, overcoming

    departmental sub-optimization.

    Creating and analyzing a robust set of

    customer journeys is a huge help in

    providing test cases for an omnichannel

    solution.

    BUYING USING SHARING

    BE AWARE INTERACT CHOOSE CONSUME MANAGE PAY RENEW RECOMMEND LEAVE

    O

    BSERVE

    L

    EARN

    R

    EACT

    R

    EQUESTDETAIL

    R

    ESERVE

    S

    ELECTPRODUCT/SERVICE

    P

    LACEORDER

    R

    ECEIVE

    U

    SE

    R

    EVIEWU

    SAGE

    E

    VALUATEVALUE

    M

    ANAGEPROFILE/SERVICE

    R

    ECEIVEHELP

    R

    ECEIVERESOLUTION

    R

    ECEIVENOTIFICATION

    V

    ERIFYORDISPUTE

    T

    OPUP/PAY

    E

    NHANCESELECTION

    R

    ENEWC

    ONTRACT

    R

    EFERPRODUCT/SERVICE

    G

    AINLOYALTY

    F

    EEDBACK

    D

    ISCONTINUE

    CHANNELS

    WEB, DEVICE, EMAIL

    CALL CENTER / CARE CENTER

    STORE

    USSD / SMS / MESSAGING

    SOCIAL

    FIELD SERVICE / FIELD SALES

    MASS MEDIA, DIGITAL SIGNAGE

    Source: TM Forum 2015

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    First its important to always maintain an outside-

    in approach, and continually reinforce the value of

    this perspective. It is easy to fall into the trap of

    preconceived and biased internal systems, processes

    and touchpoints or to decide too early what the

    customer should do. Service providers need to

    consider what customers actually do and why they do

    it. It is also important where possible to use language

    natural to the customer. This will create context for

    both the changes made and for communication about

    those changes once they are made.

    Now for the process. We spoke with a number of

    sources about this. While approaches were different in

    each case, and most were in the relatively early stages

    of thinking, overall a four step process emerged:

    1. Focus with so many possible journeys to

    analyze, where do you start?

    2. Observe how are customers really

    behaving and why? Also where possible,

    explore perception, emotion and attitude.

    3. Analyze what should service providers do

    to improve the experience? What will be the

    impact? Whats the cost?

    4. Act and measure take steps to improve

    the experience and measure results. Where

    appropriate, communicate changes to

    customers.

    Heres a look at each step in more detail.

    Where to focus efforts? Most service providers

    suggest creating a list of journeys that reflect

    customer needs, such as acquiring a product,

    activating a service, using a product or service,

    gaining support, and so on. Then the effort turns to

    prioritization of journeys. Some speak of targeting high

    value customers, while others suggest looking at the

    journeys that have the highest potential for advancing

    Net Promoter Score (NPS). Some service providers

    mention journeys that would probably be most

    commonly executed; others look at journeys where

    execution was the most problematic. One company

    mentioned trying to select journeys that would be

    most profitable.

    There is clearly overlap among these, but the most

    important lesson is to begin with a goal or target to

    avoid trying to boil the ocean, and get faster return on

    investment.

    The biggest problem for practitioners is the

    predictability of their efforts. One service provider

    spoke of a lengthy project they implemented to

    improve the ordering process, expecting it to improve

    the NPS, but after implementation and apparently a

    smoothly running process, there was no measurable

    gain in NPS. We believe that there is no silver bullet;

    service providers should begin with a goal and

    strategy, measure results, and learn from their own

    and others experiences.

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    Its particularly important to follow journeys across

    multiple touchpoints, especially in siloed or stovepipe

    organizations, as there is a tendency for each silo to

    focus on its specific touchpoints or channels, sub-optimizing components of the end-to-end customer

    experience and measuring only those aspects. This

    is classic outside-in thinking. Customers evaluate all

    their interactions cross-company in assessing their

    experiences with a brand.

    Moreover, evaluating the journey can identify gaps

    between touchpoints and channels that frustrate

    customers, disrupt their journeys, and result in

    them abandoning the journey or moving to a more

    expensive channel.

    Like any other analytical tool, journey maps need to

    identify and solve problems; just as observation should

    capture customers perceptions of their experiences

    relative to their goals, needs and expectations,

    analysis should uncover the root problems inherent to

    the journeys and result in actionable insights.

    For example, we spoke of uncovering gaps

    between touchpoints and/or channels above. With

    clear identification of positive and negative customer

    perceptions, fit into the context of expectations, goals

    and behaviors, analysis should allow service providers

    to evaluate the impact of these gaps, understanding

    the value to the business of an improved experience

    and also to assess the cost of improving the journey.

    This knowledge could result in clear priorities for

    customer experience executives, and help galvanize

    efforts across the aforementioned silos.

    Just as journey analysis needs to cross touchpoints

    and channels, it needs to cross the organizations

    both responsible for and impacted by them. But this

    approach can only work if those organizations buy in

    to the concepts of an outside-in view and the holistic

    customer view of the brand. Without this, it will

    be difficult to affect change, short of organizational

    realignment.

    Now comes the time to put the actionable insight to

    work here the service provider must address the

    issues identified and evaluated in the observation

    and analysis phases. Again this will likely require

    a coordinated cross-functional effort, so a clear,

    achievable, accepted plan is an important first step;

    the old maxim measure twice, cut once applies.

    Among the most important areas to address in

    the plan is a clear, measurable set of indicators and

    In this phase, service providers must answer

    fundamental questions, such as:

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    benchmarks that describe success and a strategyfor obtaining them. Some metrics might include

    NPS or other customer loyalty measures, customer

    satisfaction measures, customer emotions (preferably

    at specific journey stages or touchpoints), and

    customer effort measures.

    Of course this is just the beginning, and there will

    be process- or touchpoint-specific measurements that

    evaluate relevance, importance and usefulness of

    features, functionality and information.

    When implementing these four steps, remember:

    1.Understanding your customers ultimate goal

    is important and a primary focus for your

    innovation. Keep in mind that customers

    goals may expand beyond your company,

    for example using your services with other

    outside services; understanding this could be

    valuable. For example, if you could somehow

    transform your services to be the best in

    the market(s) you operate in for accessing

    Facebook, YouTube, QQ, Baidu, Yandex or

    Flipkart, what would be the impact? How

    can providing infrastructure services that

    best support popular applications help you?

    Think broadly in choosing journeys.

    2.Customer-centric measures are of primary

    importance, but actions lowering costs,

    increasing revenues, and increasing

    employee satisfaction are also key. All these

    things can help sell an improvement, and

    should be considered.

    3.Explore ways to drive metrics into rewardand recognition systems, both for executives

    and staff. Remember the adage what

    counts is what gets counted and these

    programs can be powerful incentives for

    change.

    4.Make sure your priorities align across whole

    journeys. A wow moment at the beginning

    can be quickly destroyed by a failure down

    the line, creating greater frustration than had

    you not set such high expectations at the

    start.

    5. Communicate wisely! Just as your

    neighbors are unlikely to want to watch

    all your home videos, your customers

    are not interested in every tweak youve

    made, and what seems landmark to you

    may be mundane to your customers.

    Think outside-in and pick your places

    and personas. Finally there may be real

    opportunities to unobtrusively communicate

    changes that make life much easier for

    customers, or perhaps promote changes

    when you introduce new product or services

    customers are interested.

    We have 577 number Customer Experience

    Management Lifecycle Metrics for a

    standardized approach to measuring

    customer experience.

    15http://bit.ly/CEMLifecycleMetrics

    http://bit.ly/CEMLifecycleMetrics
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    SECTION 5

    A look at the business challenges outlined in Section

    3 show the potential for analytics, as every challenge

    can benefit from the careful application of analytics.

    Moreover analytics, and especially so-called real-time

    analytics have benefited greatly from advances intechnology over recent years. Accelerating advances

    in processing power, lower storage costs, solid state

    storage, and in-memory analytical and data-visualization

    capabilities have improved service providers ability to

    address complex, real-world issues.

    This is particularly true with network- and service-

    oriented data capture and analysis. Service quality for

    applications and communications are at or near the

    top of the rankings of customer priorities in Section

    3. These technical capabilities help companies deal

    much more quickly and effectively with issues like

    service and network outages, performance dips,

    identifying constrained capacity, network threats, theperformance of customers device and over-the-top

    applications and impact, and many other events that

    affect service quality.

    In addition, service providers are enriching this data

    with that from other sources to produce insights that

    are important to processes and strategies, which can

    improve customers satisfaction with support and

    revenue generation.

    For example, analytics can help to predict network

    and service performance, analyze customer behavior,

    and formulate attractive offers for customers based

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    on location, history or other factors. This can improveagility in an ever more dynamic market, increase

    customers confidence and potentially boost the top

    and bottom lines.

    Interviews with service providers for our big data

    report16earlier this year and this research demonstrate

    real enthusiasm for analytics. All are at least

    researching the use of real-time analytics; many are

    conducting proofs of concept or pilot tests; and a

    few have already implemented some early real-time

    capabilities.

    Service providers are also interested in analytics formuch more than just network and service visibility,

    going beyond these traditional areas. Now they

    are using the data for real-time customer support,

    managing personalized offers, addressing retention

    and churn, plus managing fraud, security and

    marketing campaigns. Its clear that while companies

    value network visibility highly, they see a number of

    other purposes as well for using network data.

    This is consistent with the results of our survey

    on big data analytics, conducted earlier this year.

    Several of the top applications identified then as areas

    of greatest investment were targets for exploiting

    network data. Figure 5-1 shows the results of that

    survey, published in May this year.

    0 10 20 30 40

    Network management

    Customer support/care

    Personalized offer management

    Marketing execution

    Revenue assurance

    Churn/retention management

    Service management

    Fraud management

    Security

    Business process optimization

    Network planning and design

    Channel/partnership management

    Device management

    Field/workforce management

    Data monetization/sharing

    New product introduction

    Social media analysis

    Web/mobile analytics

    New product development

    Source: TM Forum 2015

    This year Next 2 years

    http://bit.ly/BigDataLiftsOffhttp://bit.ly/BigDataLiftsOffhttp://bit.ly/BigDataLiftsOffhttp://bit.ly/BigDataLiftsOff
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    The enthusiasm for analytics potential was balanced

    by concern about a number of challenges. Quality

    and reliability of data were most often mentioned.

    This spanned being able to capture, correlate and

    ingest data from multiple network sources, but

    also correlating and synchronizing it with relatively

    static reference and historical data. This prompted

    discussions about the importance of data governance.

    Skills availability, both in systems design and

    especially in analysis, was a big concern. Service

    providers want analytical applications that reflect

    latest knowledge and best practices, and, importantly,

    produce insights that can be acted upon. While no

    one expected applications that can see everything

    or offer closed-loop capabilities, interviewees did

    expected them to at least offer solid trend analysis,

    prediction of likely future developments and some

    actionable recommendations.

    Big Data Analytics Guidebook design your operations for success

    Analytics Big Data Repository for the efficient and straight forward

    re-use of data for multiple purposes.

    1000+ big data metrics to measure success

    59+ big data use cases shares challenges and solutions16http://bit.ly/BigDataLiftsO

    17http://bit.ly/BigDataAnalyticsSolution

    Almost all respondents also cited the 3 Vs volume

    velocity and variety of data available as well as

    some approaches that might help. Most realize

    the importance of carefully selecting and scoping

    the problems to prioritize rather than trying to do

    everything at once. We got similar comments on

    scoping velocity that is, speed costs money, and

    service providers need to choose the right time,

    which is balancing cost and time intervals to gain

    optimal business value.

    There are many more areas we could discuss in

    analytics which, as mentioned, apply to most areas

    of digital services. They will assume an even stronger

    position as virtualization and the Internet of Things

    take hold. Readers might also be interested in our

    section on predictive analytics in our big data Insights

    report to get a better feel for the power of these

    capabilities. However you look at it, analytics are

    essential to success in the digital world.

    http://bit.ly/BigDataAnalyticsSolutions
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    SECTION 6

    Service providers understand the concepts and

    principles of customer experience. This is clear from

    the findings outlined in this report, drawn from our

    survey and in-depth interviews with them, as wellas discussions with suppliers and other information

    from white papers, strategy documents and product

    descriptions.

    Understanding is one thing, execution another. Plus

    the dynamic and diverse nature of the digital world

    will challenge you further how much will depend on

    your digital strategies and the scale of shift in their

    markets. Still a number of lessons stand out, some

    long-standing, others relatively new, based on the

    characteristics of digital markets and recent findings.

    Here are the top actions to take. They are not one-

    off tasks but require consistent, concerted effort, and

    they are closely inter-linked you wont succeed by

    doing things in isolation.

    The complexity and urgency of getting customer

    experience right means that any help with best

    practices, data management and domain frameworks

    will be save you money, speed up progress and

    reduce risk. For example, TM Forum has a number of

    useful assets for service providers and vendors alike

    see the TM Forum Toolkit on page 37.

    They have been developed and tested by your peers

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    many of them are already in use by a diverse rangeof companies around the world to address the same

    business issues that you are likely facing.

    The core of the Forums assets is the Frameworx

    suite of standards-based tools and best practices

    see page 39 developed and evolved by thousands

    of dedicated professionals from around the world

    working together within the Forum in small groups

    and on Catalyst projects.

    There are practical implementation guidebooks, use

    cases, maturity models and more around customer

    experience and analytics, as shown in the Toolkit

    section. Check it out. If youd like to know more about

    the Forums Customer Centricity strategic program

    and/or get involved, contact Rebecca Sendel, Senior

    Director, TM Forum, who leads the program via

    [email protected].

    Satisfying and even better, delighting customers

    is the number one goal of every person within a

    company, whether their job is directly customer-facing

    or not. That means you have to approach everything

    from the customers point of view.

    Can you get there in one jump? No. But you can look

    at what your customers want and expect, then draw

    up a roadmap of how you get from where you are to

    where you need to be.

    Each point of contact between customers and their

    service providers or partners contributes to customers

    perception, satisfaction and loyalty. This has a direct

    bearing on the profitability of a service provider. Good

    experience drives higher levels of engagement, and

    the purchase of more value-added services, ratherthan those that are increasingly commoditized as

    shown in Figure 6-1.

    This is where leadership and vision come in.

    Great customer experience every time is a destination

    youll never reach, because in the digital world, things

    change all the time, so delivering excellent customer

    experience is about continuous improvement and

    being as agile and smart as your customers. So, as

    clearly recognized in this report, and substantiated

    by so many others, strong leadership is perhaps the

    single most important critical success factor.

    Customer experience strategy must reflect the

    corporate strategy, which is difficult in a multi-faceted

    business like communications. Given the scope,

    cross-functional nature and complexity of planning

    and executing a customer experience strategy,

    top managements sponsorship of and approval is

    Source: TM Forum 2015

    BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS

    AROUND CUSTOMERS

    MEANS HAPPY CUSTOMERS

    WITH INCREASED

    BRAND LOYALTY

    WHO SPEND MORE

    & ARE MORE TOLERANT

    WHO RECOMMEND YOU

    TO FRIENDS, FAMILY &

    ON SOCIAL MEDIA

    & CHURN LESS OFTEN

    GIVING HIGHER MARGINS

    AND THUS INCREASING

    PROFITABILITY

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    essential. Improving customer experience is, afterall, a business strategy, and top management should

    proactively set both the digital and the customer

    experience agendas, preferably together.

    Top management must set the vision, determine

    affordability (at least at a guideline level), allocate

    appropriate resources, ensure cross-functional

    coordination, and sometimes remove the key

    obstacles that inevitably pop up during the course of

    implementation. There is a reason top management

    support was cited as the number one critical success

    factor in our survey.

    The top team has to be united and complement and

    support each other to make it happen. Disagreements

    at the top will create factions throughout the

    organization, and being customer centric is nothing

    if not about joined up thinking, planning and

    implementation. Having a customer-centric culture is

    vital and you wont succeed without it, no matter how

    good your technology is.

    Moreover, a continuous sampling of customer

    experience as behavior and even the structure of the

    digital ecosystem changes lends itself nicely. Several

    of our respondents are already pursuing this approach.

    Again, this is fundamental to success, and no effort

    should be spared in gaining that understanding.

    This is tough, not least because a lot of the time

    your customers dont know until they see it, or until

    something doesnt work properly.

    Customer journeys, as outlined in Section 4, are

    a hugely valuable means of gaining insight and

    understanding where processes break down, becausethey ignore departmental boundaries and look at the

    overall experience around any given task or issue.

    Customers preferences and behavior shift all the

    time, at the micro level depending on what they are

    trying to do at any particular moment (we discovered

    the performance of applications was identified

    by respondents to our survey as the single most

    important thing to customers) to them embracing

    larger trends. The massive rise in streaming video via

    mobile is a good example.

    While Amazons Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos

    Responsible for driving all aspects of customer relationships

    throughout the customer lifecycle.

    The CEO must own the companys overall vision, working to develop

    it, selling it to the board and driving it forward.

    The role of the Chief Marketing Officer really depends on the scope

    of responsibility and influence of that position versus that of the CCO

    A Chief Information Officer is usually involved with re-engineering

    business processes, identifying and developing the capabilities

    needed to use new tools, and identifying and exploiting the

    enterprises knowledge resources.

    The Chief Digital Officer is responsible for the companys digital

    business models, and the management and delivery of digital

    assets.

    The more fragmented a companys data, the more difficult it is to

    manage and protect, and the more likely it is that sensitive data

    could be compromised. This has created a new post in some

    companies, the Chief Data Officer.

    CCO

    CEO

    CMO

    CIO

    CDiO

    CDaO

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    claims, Were not competitor obsessed; werecustomer obsessed. You need to keep your eye on

    whats going on in the market. Even so, a key strand

    of Amazons strategy is building an ecosystem of

    content tightly tied to its devices (Kindle, Fire) the

    core of Apples astounding success.

    Yes, specific aspects like service quality and

    competitive pricing should be priorities, but service

    providers must develop and manage an enterprise-

    wide vision of all aspects of customer interaction to

    deliver the right experience, at the right time in the

    right context.

    Importantly, the vision must reflect the view of the

    customer, a difficult change given the long-standing

    internal focus service providers have had. An overall,

    enterprise-wide outside-in view is most certainly how

    the customer experiences a provider, as that customer

    interacts with individual departments within the

    companies organization through multiple channels.

    Collecting, collating, analyzing, managing and

    securing data to pull out timely, contextualized,

    accurate and meaningful information is a big part of

    creating a complete picture. This is difficult as data is

    generated and stored right across a service providers

    organization, in every imaginable format, and at times in

    conflict with the similar data from other sources. Data

    management programs must, therefore, address quality

    issues, and ensure data accessibility and usability.Good management of customers data is

    increasingly difficult as the number of sources

    increases and extends outside the company, for

    instance to partners involved in service delivery and

    also social media.

    Always remember that customers data is a huge

    corporate asset and you are in a position of trust,

    hence privacy and security are very important aspects

    of data management. Many, well-publicized incidences

    of companies failing to safeguard customers data

    have demonstrated that failure to live up to that trust

    can do massive brand damage, in addition to havingto pay compensation and fines inflicted by regulatory

    and legal bodies, and is the extreme opposite of good

    customer experience.

    Privacy was a top issue in our initial survey on

    customer experience two years ago, and remains

    there today.

    Each customer is unique and looking for a tailored

    experience. Suppliers must develop a deep

    understanding of the customer across the lifecycle. As

    we look across the big picture of the total experience,

    there is sometimes a tendency to lump customers

    into one big group, or segment broadly.

    This is exactly what service providers should not

    do; certainly other members of the value fabric are

    moving away from this. Each individual has their own

    set of circumstances, needs, history and experiences.

    Service providers need to recognize this and

    develop and empower their customers to tailor their

    experiences if they are to improve and deepen the

    customer relationship.

    Although at first glance, stripping back your portfolio

    to its core products looks like the opposite of offering

    tailored services, it is essential. It is just not possible

    to automate the dynamic bundling of products

    and services to customers if you have hundreds

    or thousands of them. And automation is the only

    affordable and operationally feasible option.Typically adding another product has been the

    approach to offering variations on an existing theme

    or a bundled offer in the communications business,

    often adding different processes and systems. This

    is not sustainable, as its too slow and costly to run

    and prevents you from getting to market quickly,

    and especially it inhibits your ability to offer tailored

    packages to customers.

    You need processes you can replicate and reuse

    to build services rather than start over every time.

    So once youve started to really understand what

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    customers want, simplify your portfolio, which willenable you to radically simply the processes that

    enable them and streamline the systems they run on.

    This will give you greater business agility in general,

    as shown in the graphic, taken from our free how-to

    guide, How to become an agile business.18

    And the really big thing to remember is not to slip

    back into old ways, doing things in a hurry and creating

    additional, customized systems and processes that

    sooner or later (and probably sooner), will inhibit your

    agility and fracture customers experience not least

    because a cumbersome IT structure is a hurdle to

    integrating with your partners systems.

    The Virgin Media case study19is a great illustration

    of all these points.

    In a market based on a digital fabric, partners are an

    extension of the service provider. For partnerships to

    work they must all treat each other, in some respects,

    like customers. This is yet another reason that the

    customer experience strategy needs to fit the overall

    business strategy, driven by top management.

    Extending many of the recommendations here to

    partner management will serve the service provider

    well dont forget youre only as strong as the

    weakest thread in the value fabric and your customers

    dont care whose fault it is when stuff doesnt work.

    There are four key elements in successfully managing

    partnerships financial, contractual, operational and

    technical.20

    Also, our new Quick Insightsreport, Digital services:

    Developing successful business models and roles21is a brief but comprehensive guide to the options and

    roles available to various partners within the value

    fabric. Download it now, free, by registering on our

    website.

    As noted in our research, and shown in the graphic

    above, program management and governance was

    strongly supported in the critical success factors.

    RADICALLYSIMPLIFY

    PROCESSES

    SIMPLIFY

    PORTFOLIO &

    CHANNELS

    CLEAR VISION

    AND STRONG

    LEADERSHIP

    SIMPLICITY =

    customer experience

    and agility up, operating

    costs down

    RADICALLY

    SIMPLIFY

    SYSTEMS

    UNDERSTANDING

    THE CUSTOMER

    GOOD

    GOVERNANCE

    Source: TM Forum 2015

    https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/becoming-an-agile-business/http://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/featured/2014/12/case-study-gain-agility-configurability-faster-launch-times/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/digital-services-developing-successful-business-models-and-roles/#sthash.X0mFsL2X.dpbshttps://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/digital-services-developing-successful-business-models-and-roles/#sthash.X0mFsL2X.dpbshttps://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/digital-services-developing-successful-business-models-and-roles/#sthash.X0mFsL2X.dpbshttps://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/digital-services-developing-successful-business-models-and-roles/#sthash.X0mFsL2X.dpbshttp://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/featured/2014/12/case-study-gain-agility-configurability-faster-launch-times/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/becoming-an-agile-business/
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    You cant do everything at once. Accept that different

    parts of the business will move at different speeds,

    driven by priorities, which themselves might change.

    Sure, a consistent experience is important, but this

    will only be achieved over time, as you balance

    investments across domains.

    So pick some areas where you can make the

    biggest difference fast. In addition to improving things

    for customers, it will also demonstrate that your

    strategy is right and bearing fruit. It will give your staff,

    partners, shareholders and customers confidence in

    the strategy and help your business case to secure the

    investment you need to make continuous progress.

    We hope youve enjoyed the report, and most

    importantly, will find ways to use the ideas, concepts

    and recommendations detailed within to improve your

    customers experiences, and ultimately enjoy greater

    profitability and business success as a result.

    This is not surprising given the scope, complexity andorganizational conflicts that must be addressed in a

    customer experience program designed to meet the

    complex needs of business customers.

    This could be even more important when dealing

    with new business models, as program management

    may well extend beyond the traditional enterprise,

    and the ability to understand and align with partners

    strategy will take on new meaning.

    Technology isnt the trickiest thing about customer

    experience; the company culture is. In every business,

    the quality and attitude of the people makes a huge

    difference, especially but not only those people who

    are facing the customer.

    Smart companies know that proper sourcing,

    development, and reward and recognition programs

    are key to acquiring, improving and retaining the talent

    pool that is responsible for their most important asset

    their customers.

    18http://bit.ly/1KDkzpU Becoming an agile business is free to download by registering on our website19Watch the Virgin Media video and see the infographic at http://bit.ly/1PAvhBW20See page 1621http://bit.ly/1G742cE

    Ultimately, what is important to remember is that while the overall effort may seem daunting, the payback

    for leading companies who have made the commitment and executed has been worthwhile. We believe that

    service providers who can differentiate themselves with a superior overall customer experience across the

    digital services fabric, whether they choose the path of solution provider or enabler, will be winners in the

    brave new digital world.

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    Agile Business & IT

    TM Forums Agile Business and IT Programhelps enterprises

    optimize their IT and business operations. New features include:

    n A dynamic policy approach to end-to-end SLA managementfor

    hybrid operations, underpinned by the worlds first information

    model for the hybrid environment.

    nA catalog approach to creating services through internal service

    components and external sources, supported by a federated

    catalog model, a UML catalog model in the Information Framework,

    DevOps and agile product lifecycle management.

    nA Procurement Survival Kitbased on procurement patterns,

    ecosystem partner management, NFV procurement packaging,

    federated catalogs and maturity models.

    Open Digital Ecosystem

    TM Forums Open Digital Ecosystem Programhelps service

    providers, enterprises and technology suppliers create and manage

    complex, innovative services. New features include:

    n End-to-end assets to support for any organization in any digital

    business, using partnership best practices (B2B2x), service

    platform architecture (DSRA), and APIs. They have been validated

    by use cases for smart energy, digital health, smart city, Internet of

    Things (IoT) and others.

    n The Digital Services Toolkitprovides a structured methodology and

    process to map business contexts to Frameworx assets.

    Customer Centricity

    IoT, smart everything and virutalization will impact customer

    centricity and the use of analytics. This program is building a

    common language, tools and resources to enable the transition to an

    omnichannel, customer-centric digital future:

    n The Customer Experience Management (CEM) ROI Calculator

    supports better decision-making around investment.

    n The Omni-channel Introductory Guidehas a new maturity model

    and an more than 70 new requirements to accelerate discussions

    internally and with suppliers.

    n The 360-degree view of the customerexplores how a repeatable

    approach and common language streamline better, personal

    interactions.

    nEight new business-oriented use cases for data analytics, bringing

    the total to 59, for service providers and suppliers to simplify and

    speed up data analytics projects.

    Security & Privacy

    TM Forums Security & Privacy Programrun across all projects in the

    strategic programs outlined above. New features include:

    n The initial blueprint for a Privacy dashboardidentifies the aspirations

    of individuals and organizations.

    n Privacy management is integrated into the Frameworx Engaged

    Partywork, which to date includes the Information Framework

    and Business Process Framework.

    TM Forums Security & Privacy Program also focuses on

    orchestrating security functions end-to-end across virtualized services

    see the Catalyst project Security Functions in NFV.

    Core Frameworks

    Updates to the core frameworks widen their applicability to digital

    ecosystems:

    n The Supplier/Partner concept in the Information Frameworkhas

    evolved the Engaged Partywork to reflect the range of partnerships,

    relationships and models needed for multi-industry digital

    ecosystems.

    n TheApplication Frameworkis more granular to maximize the re-

    use and consistency of common functionality. This also simplifies

    procurement of applications.

    n Assets from the Security & Privacy and Customer Centricity

    programs are embedded into Frameworx 15.

    Frameworx Conformance Certification

    Frameworx is used by 91 percent of the worlds largest service

    providers and 82 percent of respondents to TM Forums 2014

    Frameworx adoption surveymandate Frameworx in requests for

    proposal.

    More than 85 products, solutions and implementations from more

    than 30 companies have been certified as conformantto Frameworx.

    Read in the Case Study Handbook 2015and Perspectives 2015how

    Frameworx helps companies across multiple industries make digital

    business a reality.

    The latest version of blueprint for digital business success,

    TM Forum Frameworx 15, gives Forums diverse global membership

    actionable information that can be used immediately.

    https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/more-agile-virtualized/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1127-end-to-end-virtualization-management-impact-on-e2e-service-assurance-and-sla-management-for-hybrid-networks-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/technical-report/tr244-tm-forum-information-framework-enhancements-to-support-zoom-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1129-product-lifecycle-management-comparison-of-traditional-and-virtualized-plm-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1133-nfv-procurement-survival-kit-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/more-connected-to-partners/https://www.tmforum.org/open-digital-ecosystem-2/https://www.tmforum.org/open-digital-ecosystem-2/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/apis/https://www.tmforum.org/digital-services-toolkit-2/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb962e-customer-experience-management-roi-calculator-user-guide-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1125-omni-channel-introductory-guide-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1134-360-degree-view-of-a-customer-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb979a-big-data-analytics-use-cases-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/security-privacy/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/tr243-privacy-management-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/information-framework-sid/https://www.tmforum.org/business-process-framework/http://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/featured/2015/05/learning-how-to-orchestrate-security-in-the-virtual-world/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/suite/gb922-information-framework-sid-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/suite/gb929-application-framework-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/suite/gb929-application-framework-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/tm-forum-frameworx/adoption/https://www.tmforum.org/conformance-certification/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/case-study-handbook-2015/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/perspectives-2015/https://www.tmforum.org/tm-forum-frameworx/https://www.tmforum.org/tm-forum-frameworx/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/perspectives-2015/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/research-and-analysis/case-study-handbook-2015/https://www.tmforum.org/conformance-certification/https://www.tmforum.org/tm-forum-frameworx/adoption/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/suite/gb929-application-framework-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/suite/gb922-information-framework-sid-r15-0-0/http://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/featured/2015/05/learning-how-to-orchestrate-security-in-the-virtual-world/https://www.tmforum.org/business-process-framework/https://www.tmforum.org/information-framework-sid/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb922-engaged-party-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/tr243-privacy-management-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/security-privacy/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb979a-big-data-analytics-use-cases-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1134-360-degree-view-of-a-customer-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1125-omni-channel-introductory-guide-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/gb962e-customer-experience-management-roi-calculator-user-guide-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/digital-services-toolkit-2/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/apis/https://www.tmforum.org/open-digital-ecosystem-2/https://www.tmforum.org/open-digital-ecosystem-2/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/more-connected-to-partners/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1133-nfv-procurement-survival-kit-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1129-product-lifecycle-management-comparison-of-traditional-and-virtualized-plm-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/technical-report/tr244-tm-forum-information-framework-enhancements-to-support-zoom-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/resources/standard/ig1127-end-to-end-virtualization-management-impact-on-e2e-service-assurance-and-sla-management-for-hybrid-networks-r15-0-0/https://www.tmforum.org/strategic-program/more-agile-virtualized/
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