Mastering Omnichannel in Telecom: Benefits, Challenges, & Insights

July 8, 2024

CloudSense Team

Digital transformation and acceleration are reshaping the telco landscape, compelling companies to seek innovative ways to enhance profitability and customer experience. In an “always on” world where consumer expectations are constantly evolving, omnichannel has become a necessity.

Traditional siloed approaches can non longer support the complex B2B lifecycle. To thrive, telcos must adopt omnichannel strategies, ensuring they are readily available across multiple touchpoints. This approach not only meets customer demands but also provides value-added services, driving success in a competitive market.

In this blog, we explore why omnichannel is so crucial, discussing how a seamless omnichannel experience can transform customer engagement and streamline business operations.

What is an omnichannel customer experience?

Omnichannel refers to creating cohesive customer experience across various channels - whether online, in-store, through mobile apps, or via customer service interactions. It’s about ensuring customers have a seamless and integrated experience no matter how they choose to engage with your business. For telcos aiming to stay competitive in a rapidly changing industry, this means making their services seamlessly available to customers wherever and whenever they need them¹.

Implementing an omnichannel approach involves incorporating technology that streamlines and enhances customer interactions. It’s about understanding customers’ needs and ensuring visibility across all touchpoints without requiring them to repeat themselves. This approach is crucial for customer engagement, allowing individuals to start a process on one device and continue it on another effortlessly.

In essence, omnichannel allows telcos to deliver a unified customer experience, ensuring that every interaction is smooth and connected, thereby driving better customer satisfaction and business success.

Why are telcos adopting an omnichannel strategy?

1) Flexibility and visibility

One of the significant benefits of an omnichannel strategy is the increased flexibility and visibility it offers. With a comprehensive view of customer interactions across various channels, customers no longer need to repeat themselves, which enhances their overall experience and reduces the effort required to interact with the company.

Omnichannel strategies also generate vast amounts of data, providing businesses with deep insights into customer wants, needs and actions. By integrating data from multiple channels, businesses can better understand customer preferences and behaviors, leading to improved decision-making, personalized efforts and optimized customer experiences.

2) Seamless customer experience

An omnichannel strategy ensures that customers can seamlessly switch between channels without losing context. Whether starting a purchase on their computer and finishing it on their mobile app or engaging with a chatbot for assistance, the experience remains consistent and smooth.

Aligning different channels allows customers to place orders easily, eliminating technical complexities. Companies with robust omnichannel engagement enjoy an 89% customer retention rate². According to Forbes³, 91% of people make purchases using their smartphones, emphasizing the need for seamless experiences. Top-performing companies are 50% more likely to have well-designed user journeys⁴, facilitating clear communication and transitions across channels. Businesses failing to offer a seamless experience risk being left behind.

3) Business Transformation

From a business perspective, omnichannel simplifies operations and enhances team collaboration. By consolidating information in one spot, it enables superior customer service, reducing operating costs and increasing efficiency. Unlike siloed systems that require manual workarounds to address complexities, an omnichannel approach eliminates these inefficiencies, saving time and costs for telcos.

This transformation leads to long-term operational efficiencies by streamlining processes and consolidating systems. The result is a more agile and responsive business capable of delivering consistent and high-quality customer experiences.

Challenges in achieving omnichannel

Many businesses find omnichannel aspirational but challenging to implement. The biggest hurdle is achieving true integration across all channels to ensure a cohesive and seamless customer experience. This requires significant investment in technology and continuous refinement of processes.

Siloed, complex tech stacks lead to customer dissatisfaction due to inconsistent experiences and lack of transparency. Legacy systems, which include independent sales systems, dedicated product catalogs and various back-end systems, lack integration and a 360-degree customer view.

This fragmentation makes it difficult to provide a consistent experience across all channels. Additionally, achieving true integration requires significant investment in technology and continuous process refinement, which can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. These factors contribute to high order fallout and revenue leakages, complicating the implementation of an effective omnichannel strategy.

How to build a successful omnichannel strategy

Developing a clear strategy is crucial for omnichannel success. In order to create an omnichannel strategy telcos have to examine their systems and develop a plan for connecting customers and systems, eliminating any friction throughout the process.

1. Customer-centric design

The first step to having a delighted customer⁵ is having a single customer view, essential for personalization, as 21% of customers⁶ prefer a digital-only experience. Telcos need to redesign processes to deliver the most attractive offerings and relevant customer experience.

2. Consistent experience

Telcos need to ensure that the experience is consistent across all channels. While the interactions might differ slightly based on the channel, there should be a clear connection and relativeness that ties them together.

3. Architecture

Telcos need to implement the right infrastructure, including CRM, data tools, analytics and other solutions that enable seamless interactions across channels. This eliminates the perception that your systems are disjointed or outdated, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Final thoughts

Mastering omnichannel is about creating a unified and seamless customer experience across all touchpoints. While it presents challenges, the benefits in terms of flexibility, visibility and improved customer engagement are significant.

By focusing on customer-centric design, consistent experiences and architecture, businesses can unlock the full potential of omnichannel strategies, driving both customer satisfaction and business performance.