Can Self-Care Solutions Help Improve MVNO’s Customer Base?

MVNOs, or Mobile Virtual Network Operators, operate between wireless network infrastructures and the end user of wireless communication. MVNOs work directly with mobile network operators to negotiate bulk pricing, and then set up packages for the end user. As a result, the customer gets advantageous pricing, and a reliable company to provide billing and support, and the MVNO does not have to invest in their own wireless network infrastructure. 

A major component of an MVNOs value proposition is customer support. When wireless communication fails, end users need someone to reach out to, and most MVNOs step gracefully into that role. Setting up a strong customer support network is vital. Without a satisfied customer base, MVNOs would not be able to sustain a business. A balance must be struck between an MVNOs investment into customer service programs, customer satisfaction, and incoming revenue. 

Self-care solutions provide a fantastic and low-cost way to keep customers informed, attended to, and satisfied. 

A self-care customer support solution is essentially a glossary of everything a customer may need to know about the product or service they have purchased. An evolution of FAQ sections, most self-care solutions feature topical articles, video tutorials, and diagrams that explain aspects of the product or service to the end user. Some companies call these Knowledge Hubs, others call them Customer Portals, but most call them self-care solutions. The idea is to empower the customer to find answers to their questions without having to reach out to a customer support agent. 

If you are interested in setting up a self-care solution for your MVNO, consider including articles, flyers, or videos on the following topics:

• An outline of the packages available to your customer base. Customers that may be considering working with you or changing their existing services with you should be able to do their own research on what is available without having to call an agent.

• What happens in the event of an outage. Everyone today relies on mobile communication, and so the prospect of an outage strikes fear in the hearts of many. Assure your clients that your MVNO has a plan for outages by providing details of that plan that customers can find on their own.

• An explanation of your relationship with the mobile network operator that supports your customer’s communication plans. This will help them to understand where exactly their services are coming from.

These are just a few examples of self-care assets you can create to appeal to and improve your customer base. 

When it comes time to create the material for your self-care solution, make sure to consider the following elements:

• Content relevance. Is what you are looking to develop directly relevant to your audience, or is it only interesting to you as an MVNO leader?

• Content clarity. Wireless communication is a confusing industry with a lot of acronyms and complicated explanations for things that most people take for granted (like placing a wireless call). Remember to keep all of your content simple, clear, and easy for a layman to understand.

• User Experience. Make your self-care solution clean and easy to navigate. Put your most relevant pieces up top, and make searching simple and intuitive.

Remember, the heavy lifting you do now to set up your self-care solution will save your customer support team time and effort later on.

Maintain Network Operations with Care via Cutting-Edge Operations Support System

An Operations Support System along with business support system constitutes a major share of telecom operations. In the past, both OSS and BSS were considered to be separate paradigms; however, the line between them is collapsing very fast. The modern-day approach is about increasing efficiency, for which, it is necessary to have an overlapping of these two telecom business functions. A rise in the use of IT methodologies and virtual functions has made it possible to have a single interface for managing both business and operational tasks.

Support Better Service Delivery with Innovative Operation Support System

An OSS performs the following tasks:

·       Management of different network functions

·       Delivery of service

·       Fulfillment of service

·       Service assurance

·       Timely support to telecom customers

To perform these tasks, an OSS relies upon:

·       Management of data

·       Arrangement of sequence, in which, the tasks need to be performed

·       Upgrades in technology to meet growing requirements

·       Management of data and processes via relevant applications (APIs)

An Operation Support System performs the extremely important task of identifying errors and making the operation error-proof. Nowadays, telecom operations are carried out in a seamless manner and the OSS functions can be performed by a single intuitive interface.

Combine B/OSS with Quality Billing for Best Service

A single interface that manages all day-to-day telecom operations is nothing less than a godsend. Platforms like Telgoo5 offer both single and unified telecom solutions that work ideally for MNO, MVNO and MVNE.

Complete management via a single platform

When you have a state-of-the-art B/OSS model along with real-time charging, you can serve your customers in the best way possible. It becomes easier to have a single view of customers during monetization, service delivery and billing.

Greater revenue assurance

A real-time Online Charging System (OCS) ensures charging of transactions in a few milliseconds. Hence, there is no revenue leakage, and the billing is completely transparent for the subscribers.

Ability to launch differentiated products

Modern-day telcos need to think on their feet. A versatile telecom support system allows telcos to create attractive plans that combine a wide range of services. For example, you can monetize a video streaming service with a data pack. Also, you can manage the complete partnership with a third-party service provider. There is complete abstraction in the process i.e. the system does everything for you and you do not feel out of your depth even while creating complex service plans for the users.

Harness Power of Innovative Next-Gen Telecom Billing Services to Succeed in 2021

In this age of technology, you need to be one step ahead of your competitors at all time. When it comes to the telecom industry, the competitive struggle is more intense because there are different types of operators in the industry. MNOs, MVNOs, ISPs and OTT service providers collectively form the entire telecom domain. Every player in the industry needs to be competent when it comes to telecom billing solutions, if it really wants to make a mark.

The Challenges for Telcos in 2021

2021 is expected to be extremely challenging for telcos, especially for the smaller players like MVNOs. Have a look at some challenges for telcos in the present times:

Revenue assurance

You simply have to deliver services as per your contract with the customers. Therefore, it is important to have complete revenue assurance. Considering the number of telecom services delivered these days, it is quite a challenge to be 100% accurate with revenue assurance.

Quick monetization of innovative plans

To break away from the crowd and provide unique telecom services, you need to have a billing system that allows flexibility in monetization. As a telecom operator, you should be able to combine disparate services and deliver them in an attractive manner. Also, the monetization needs to be quick if you want to exploit the trends prevailing in the market. For example, in the times of lockdown, you can provide conference calling as part of the package as more and more professionals are looking to connect remotely with their peers.

Management of third-party partnerships

There are simply too many things that an operator has to manage these days. It is impossible to grow one’s service catalogue – horizontally and vertically – at the same time without third party partnerships. Therefore, the complexity and challenge is huge, unless you have access to pro telecom billing services that offer APIs for third-party partnerships. A flexible system can manage various third-party partnerships with suppliers, video streaming vendors, payment gateways and shipping services. You can even manage an interconnect partnership for roaming services through an intuitive telecom billing platform like Telgoo5.

To overcome the numerous challenges, it is vital that a modern-day telecom operator uses telecom billing systems that have the necessary functionalities. Telgoo5 is an outstanding telecom support platform that simplifies day-to-day tasks and makes the challenge in 2021 simpler. The system comes with cutting-edge APIs that add new functionality and help in the evolution of telecom businesses.

What Is Next For The Telecommunications Industry In A Post-COVID World

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a widespread impact on people, communities, and businesses around the world. The fast-paced outbreak has already rendered a lot of business contingency plans null and void due to its unexpected and unpredictable nature.

Telecommunication companies have also been caught in the crossfire. Companies relying on store footfall to enhance their revenue and subscriber base have had to hustle to come up with other plans. On the flip side, the need to stay connected and social has skyrocketed with people having to stay at home. This can be a good opportunity for businesses implementing the MVNO model to find success.

In fact, both for consumers and businesses, there has been a massive surge in voice calls, data use, and streaming. A lot of telecom companies have already tried to help by removing data caps and introducing new packages. For the telecom industry, this situation can be an opportunity to build a much more loyal and dedicated customer base and to emerge from the other side of the pandemic with a much more established business presence. For those offering or considering offering MVNO solutions, working with a reputed service provider like Telgoo5 can be a smart, insightful option.

Important Focus Points

Businesses in the telecom industry would be best served to focus on specific short-term goals to survive and grow in these conditions. Some important focus points can include:

• Efforts to expand the customer base

• Bringing together customer data from all relevant channels

• Reducing support costs by dramatically improving customer experience

• Developing new strategies to enhance ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)

Unifying Customer Data

As things get back to normal, customers are more likely to start engaging with telecom companies over different channels. Implementing a CDP or Customer Data Platform can help companies merge all this data and provide a seamless and consistent experience to customers.

This can be a salient way to provide cohesive solutions to customers in online and offline environments alike. Contextual experiences can enhance the value companies offer to customers.

Expanding the Customer Base

A deep understanding of how customers can use your services during these times can be a key component in being able to expand your customer base. For example, you can analyze exit intent on your business website to find product and service offerings that really resonate with new customers during the pandemic and its restrictions.

Simple changes in your acquisition strategy, like free home delivery of SIM cards or driving the installation and use of your mobile apps can be a great way to enhance customer lock-in and engagement. MVNO companies can take advantage of streamlined MVNO billing solutions and other features from a provider like Telgoo5 to leverage customer acquisition efforts.

Increasing ARPU

Providing new, unique, and varied user experiences can be an excellent way to engage existing customers and drive revenue while people continue to largely stay at home. You can use social proof displays to drive and expedite purchasing decisions, provide a fun, gamified experience across your website and apps to enhance the lead collection, and focus on time-appropriate messaging to provide customized, tailored solutions to customers who are staying at home or working from home.

Looking Ahead

The Wuhan virus or COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the notion that being connected is a highly prized commodity. Keeping this in mind, it can be a good time for the telecommunication industry to embrace innovation and cater to a rising need for more customized experiences. In this environment, reacting to changes in customer expectations can be the most important element for telecommunication companies to keep growing and thriving. Forging partnerships with a company like Telgoo5 can prove to be decisive in such situations.

Why CDR Meditation Is an Essential Part of Telecom Billing?

Telecom billing is probably the most confusing and scrutinized task in the telecom industry. The scrutiny comes from customers who are more often than not dissatisfied with their bills. This leads to confusion amongst the telecom vendors who start looking everywhere for new telecom billing solutions. Mostly, this problem arises because the telecom billing software used by them are subpar and do not meet the high requirements of modern-day businesses.

Why Telecom Billing Solutions Are Important?

All the efforts made by telecom service providers in setting up a network will amount to nothing if telecom billing is not up to standards. This is why, telecom billing solutions become important as they play a crucial role in accounting for those services. Not only is the revenue generated by a telecom provider dependent on billing, customers’ trust is also directly connected with the quality of the billing services. For instance, if a customer starts receiving wrong bills, his trust in the services nosedives from that moment onwards. On the other hand, if the billing services are sound, the customer stays faithful and brings in new customers.

CDRs: The Fundamental Unit of Telecom Billing Process

CDR (Call Data Record) is the fundamental unit of telecom billing process. All interactions between the user and telecom networking elements are captured by CDRs. A CDR has the following attributes:

1. Date and starting time of the call

2. Duration of the call

3. Calling party

4. Called party

5. Type of call e.g. voice, SMS, data etc.

6. Unique record sequence number that is used for identification

The captured CDRs are vitally important for the proper operation of a billing system. However, these CDRs are raw in nature, which means they cannot be interpreted by a billing system.

CDR Meditation System: The Unsung Hero of Telecom Billing Solutions

To ensure the captured CDRs are converted into a format that is understood by the billing system, a CDR meditation system is employed. The meditation system receives the unformatted CDRs, converts them into the necessary format and sends them to the billing system. Besides conversion, it also performs the operation of filtering out calls that do not meet set criterion by the telecom vendor. For example, if a call with duration less than 10 second needs to be filtered out, it is done by CDR meditation system. Moreover, if some extra information needs to be provided that is crucial for billing procedure, the meditation system gathers that information based on certain attributes and then sends it to the billing system via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is required for transfer of this information as both billing software and meditation modules are installed on different systems.

After the billing system receives the formatted CDR, it is able to interpret the information and rate the services utilized by customers.

Summary

Billing system in telecom is quite complex and requires processing of data at different levels for accomplishment of billing-related tasks. Although the user is not aware of what goes on behind the scenes, the role of systems like meditation system that converts raw CDRs into formatted CDRs is extremely important. All telecom billing solutions require correct formatting of CDR for reliable and accurate completion of billing tasks.

Don’t Let Your Customers Suffer Anymore, Switch to OSS Telecom Billing Software

Technology does not always change for the best. But, that does not mean it does not try to make things better. When we look from the perspective of telecom industry, BSS and OSS have been two pillars of technology that have transformed the way business takes place. And the good news, everything has changed for the best. Compared with platforms used in the other industries, these two solutions have been in the market for a long time and have garnered trust from most telecom vendors. So, if you are still clinging onto the telecom systems of old, it is probably time to let go and switch to OSS telecom billing software.

Why Change Is Important for All Industries?

When we look at industries of today, hotel industry stands out as the one that has probably seen the biggest transformation in terms of its operations due to technology. In the past, it was tough for hotel chains to manage their properties spread over different parts of the globe. But, with the coming of PMS and cloud-based technologies, almost all hotel chains are using it or planning to use it in the future. A study has revealed that in the next 4-5 years hotel companies will invest up to 8% more in cloud-based technologies.

Compared to hotel industry, operations in telecom industry are much more complex. Monitoring of customer, interactions, provisioning, billing, meditation systems, and the list goes on and on! A telecom operator requires all the help he can get. So, when the solution is staring at you in your face in the form of OSS telecom billing solutions, why not upgrade?

Drawbacks of Legacy Systems

Legacy systems are much more cumbersome and require manual intervention for smooth operation. This may lead to recurring errors that can diminish the customer’s faith in you. Let’s say a customer wants to upgrade his plan and calls up customer support. Upon receiving a request, the agent sends it forward for execution. Now, the system employed by the service provider lacks the service assurance feature normally found in OSS applications. In this case, there is a high probability that the request may be completed but not up to the service level agreement between the provider and the customer. This may reduce the trust of the customer in the system and he may opt for a different provider.

Now, compare this situation with an OSS-backed operation. The OSS telecom billing software has service assurance as one of its primary feature. Unless, there is a terrible malfunctioning of the system (which is very rare), it is highly unlikely that the request will be mismanaged or delivered incorrectly. All the more reason to employ, quality OSS telecom billing solutions, don’t you think so?