Find out how several telcos worldwide are collaborating to create more valuable B2B(2X) digital partnerships
Elevate digital experience with tangible business outcomes for B2B(2X)
The speed at which organizations must react to digital transformation means that customer expectation and experience are constantly under review - a particularly acute challenge for CSPs serving B2B(2X) customer segments.
A TM Forum Catalyst focused on an adaptive value-driven framework to better understand B2B(2X) “customers” and manage their expectations – examining how elevated digital experiences can forge more trusted digital partnerships.
CSPs serving B2B2X segments face a particular challenge. How can they maintain satisfaction amongst such a varied business customer segments, whilst organizations of all kinds react ever more quickly to digital transformation – meaning their own customer experience (CX) models are constantly under review, and their needs consequently changing.
Moreover, business customer relationships are more demanding than those in B2C, as customers in the B2B(2X) ecosystem often looking for partner to share the demand and the ownership – meaning CX needs to be managed more responsively to maximize return on investment (ROX). So, there are two aspects to address: a) treated as partners is a different form of relationship, the perceived experience by the partner is different than perceived experience by a customer; b) managed more responsively does not always mean a faster response, but a response that addresses value for the person who receives it. The partner considers and process the value differently compared to how customer values the response.
In reality, it’s not easy to define CX in B2B(2X), so demonstrating a weak/strong linkage between CX and ROX is not obviously – and, furthermore, responsibilities for CX initiatives tend to be siloed and not able to cover the whole spectrum (top level management to actual users), resulting business gaps for competitor to challenge the existing service provider.
Addressing these challenges is the motivation behind the Elevate digital experience with tangible business outcomes for B2B(2X) Catalyst, which is focused on developing an adaptive value-driven framework to help CSPs better understand B2B2X customers, and empower their partners instead of service providers and ultimately show how elevated digital experiences can forge more trusted digital partnerships.
What’s needed is a comprehensive CX model with redefined measurements spanning across customer journeys and sub-journeys – covering dynamic customer segments, products and touchpoints, in order to meet customers' ever-higher expectations and demands for personalized experiences. Currently, as CX model, companies’ welcome customers still more traditional mimicking walking into a shop. While with digital CX, the relationship is different, and that relationship is described and stored with data. The CX model reflects the relationship and that react to the customers' evolving expectations and elevating demands for personalized experiences.
This CX relationship model allows better understandings of how changes to CX can impact customer lifetime value, and thereby on the financial well-being of the business.
The Catalyst is based on existing TM Forum standards and documents, including an integration module designed to speed up service development. The project has developed an ‘agile plug and play’ integration module, an AI module that acts as a processing engine, and modules reflecting different scenario-based use cases to address challenges faced by the service providers involved.
The Catalyst team, which includes stc, Orange, China Mobile Anhui, China Mobile Guangdong, China Unicom, HKT, MTN, Huawei, inspur, tydic and Shaanxi Normal University; is hopeful that the new plug-and-play modules will eliminate onerous development processes and speed-up the deployment of new B2B(2X) products and services. Project members reached consensus on what elevated digital experiences are, and how their resulting Elevated Digital Experience Operations System can help manage customer expectations.
The system is based on a ‘1+5’ framework: a unified CX strategy must be established and then implemented through initiatives developed under five strategic pillars:
“Understanding what B2B(2X) customers want is the critical initial step,” says Mohammad S. Alsalim, CEX Strategy & Assurance Program Manager at stc. “There in no one solution that fits all, and solutions need to be industry-specific. With the implementation of the B2B(2X) Catalyst, stc is able to optimize and enhance its current operating model for faster implementation of any new service portfolio with the flexibility to serve different dimensions for SMEs or big business, as well as consumers.”
stc is developing a mobile solution to help banks with limited access in rural areas to serve customers with full fledge connected services, using stc’s cloud and 5G infrastructure and an HD video feed to enable communication with bank agents. Underpinned by an SLA guaranteeing customers’ perceived experience, stc’s mobile banking solution is designed to lower a bank’s branch-related costs by between 50% and 70%, while increasing revenues by 10% as stc expand the implementation to cover cities as well as rural areas in upcoming 2 years.
Other successful outcomes resulting from the solution amongst project participants include:
“Through this Catalyst, HKT wants to show the determination we have to nurture our digital ecosystem and host online services meeting customers’ health and other needs. This will create new revenue stream and protect our connectivity services through B2B(2x) business model," says Derek Chen, AVP of HKT.
“The Catalyst benefits not only telco operators, but all enterprises,” adds Mohammad S. Alsalim, Assurance & CEx Strategy General Manager, Corporate Customer Experience, stc. “It enables different industries to have an ecosystem of interaction serving B2B(2X) customers with the agile approach and flexible solutions that can be easily utilized across different customer types.” And if that agility can help achieve the successes seen to date, it can only be a good thing.
To add to this, as an Orange learning point from the Catalyst, is that for an ecosystem across different industries, the marketplace might enable data driven customer centric journey experiences to develop long term trust and incentivize return, however, due to the role of partner vs. customer, the realization is different. The relationship experience, as key in the CX model vision, might then be realized through:
a) Implementing creative trust practice and apply concrete story script collaboration with the customer/partner
b) Implementing collaborative stories to outcomes with audience through possible data patterns
c) Co-constructing the journey outcome with customer and innovative (marketplace partner) engagements that, with trust, transforms the customer relationship
d) Federating long-term customer trust-building through concept & process that is beneficial for sustainable business growth.