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STL Partner’s Research Director, Andrew Collinson, had a chance to speak to UPC Switzerland’s Chief of Digital, Urs Reinhard, on the topic of digital transformation at this year’s Total Telecom Congress
There was a period, not so long ago, when telcos had dreams of becoming global IT firms to rival the Googles of this world, but these ambitions slowly faded when the true scale of such a task became apparent. Even with the emergence of 5G, which offers a vast increase in the range of services telcos will be able to offer, telcos ultimately still operate in a different playing field to these international internet behemoths.
“Telcos are national giants, but they are not made for the global platform play,” explained Reinhard, responding to Collinson’s questions regarding digital transformation in the telco space.
But despite their differing roles in the digital ecosystem, telcos can still learn a lot from the hyperscalers, especially, as Reinhard states, when it comes to simplicity.
“You first need to simplify before you digitise,” says Reinhard. “If you digitise a crappy process, you just get a digital crappy process. What we should learn from the really digital native players is that they are super simple – their product, the way they interact, their proposition, are extremely simple. Netflix has one product with three colours – basic, standard, and premium. With us, even just on the TV side, you can have something like 30 different packages. That’s why it’s so difficult to play in the digital world where customers are used to having a two-click solution for everything that matters.”
Nonetheless, this process simplification for telcos is possible, insists Reinhard. As an example, he discussed the previously laborious process of transferring a customer’s services after they moved to a new house. In the past, customers were required to ring up the company call centre and be guided through the lengthy process of finding the correct solution. However, analysis showed that 80% of these callers were guided to the same two outcomes; hence these two solutions were automated and made available clearly and directly on the website.
“This is an example of where we took a process, simplified it, and put it online. Now the customer, in 80% of cases, is able to do the move process in only two clicks,” said Reinhard.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, this term digital transformation is gaining traction both in the telecoms sector and beyond, yet it remains frustratingly ambiguous. By focusing on process simplification with a customer focus, Reinhard argues that this transformation process can have a tangible, measurable impact on customer and employee satisfaction.
“These benefits are very real,” he said. “And the customers are using it and liking it.”
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