More Telcos Embrace Digital Self-Service for Customer Care, Heavy Reading Finds

NEW YORK, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As telecom services are becoming increasingly more complex, telcos are moving toward the digital sector to help provide a better real-time self-service (RTSS), according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Insider (www.heavyreading.com/insider), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

Real-Time Self-Service: Telco Transition to Digital Services examines the ways that telecom operators are learning from other sectors – specifically online retail – as they move to deliver improved consumer RTSS and self-care capabilities. It examines how the complexity of telecom networks and services and the state of legacy systems means that there are different ways that operators might move toward a consistent, multichannel self-service vision. It looks at the components of solutions that can deliver that vision, and profiles 14 leading vendors of such solutions.

For a complete list of companies covered in this report, please click the following link: http://twimgs.com/audiencedevelopment/LRHR/PDFS/hri0214_companies_2.pdf

"When telecom services were simple, customer care was closely linked to the billing process because most interactions with customers were related to account queries," says Danny Dicks, research analyst with Heavy Reading Insider and author of the report. "But services are much, much more complex now; telecom operators are turning themselves into providers of digital services."

A vision is emerging of a much more consistent and powerful, multi-channel, RTSS environment, Dicks says. "To help achieve this vision, operators are looking beyond their traditional operations/business support system (OSS/BSS) providers and watching enviously the ways other sectors, especially online retail and digital services industries, manage these issues," he continues. "There is no doubt that telecom operators are keen to improve the historically piecemeal approach to provision of customer care and, in particular, self-care and self-service to their users."

Key findings of Real-Time Self-Service: Telco Transition to Digital Services include the following:

• Telecom operators are learning from retail and ecommerce how slick consistent, multi-channel, real-time self-service can be
• Traditional customer care approaches need modifying, but the complexity of telecom systems means there must be a focus on BSS alignment, as well as channel alignment
• It is possible to deploy a platform-based RTSS solution to harmonize the customer self-service experience across interaction channels; integration between the platform and BSS/OSS is more difficult
• Some types of interaction are more complex than others to get right
• Vendors differ in their approach to RTSS: those from traditional BSS backgrounds tend to position RTSS as part of a broader, necessary BSS transformation

Real-Time Self-Service: Telco Transition to Digital Services is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (12 issues) to Heavy Reading Insider, priced at $1,995. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/insider. For more information about other Heavy Reading Insider research services, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

David Williams
Global Director of Sales, Research
Heavy Reading
858-829-8612
[email protected]

Press/analyst contact:
Dennis Mendyk
Vice President of Research, Heavy Reading
201-587-2154
[email protected]

About Heavy Reading
Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the research division of Light Reading, offers deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the global telecom industry. 

About Light Reading

Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) combines its research-led online communities and targeted events portfolio to help those in the global communications industry make informed decisions. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for telecom analysis for more than 350,000 subscribers each month, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading produces targeted communications events and focused one-day conferences each year for cable, mobile, and wireline executives across five continents.

SOURCE Heavy Reading