New Value in Customer Experience: ZTE’s Integrated Service Solution for Wireless Networks

 

Telecom operators are changing the way they think about OAM, moving towards centralization and focusing more on the customer and market. ZTE provides operators with new integrated wireless service solutions and technical support to help operators meet the challenges of transitioning to integrated service provision. ZTE helps operators improve their overall customer service and OAM efficiency, optimize resources, and reduce OAM costs.

Telecom operators face unprecedented challenges with mobile internet.

 

●    Revenue decline

Mobile phones have been steadily become more popular in China. By October 2013, mobile penetration across China will have reached 80% (100% in some cities). The potential to attract new customers has diminished, and revenue can no longer be solely derived by increasing the customer base. Rigorous competition between operators has also lowered tariffs and ARPU, and growth in traditional services, such as voice and SMS, is weak. In addition, a rapid increase in traffic has not resulted in adequate revenue growth. The ICT industry has been converging, which means that core services traditionally provided by an operator are now being provided by external parties, and value has been transferred. The core of the industrial value chain is being fragmented so that terminal vendors and internet companies are acquiring a larger share. As the market diversifies, competition is becoming more complex and is seriously threatening operator profits.

 

●    Urgent need to increase OAM efficiency

The development cycle for new technologies is gradually shortening, and 2G, 3G and LTE wireless technologies will continue to coexist for a long time. Consequently, network structures are more complicated than ever, a lot of manpower and resources need to be invested into network maintenance. This is the reason for high opex. With massive network elements and complex services, end-to-end network problems can only be addressed by skilled OAM personnel. The overall service quality of a network can sometimes be compromised when the importance of network technical indexes is overemphasized. Currently, a lot of effort and investment is put into optimizing network KPIs. However, it is somewhat misguided to assume that better KPIs translate into fewer customer complaints.

 

●    Greater expectations for better experience

Mobile users in the 3G era have growing demands in terms of higher data limits and better QoS. They are also more likely than before to make service-related complaints. Operators in China are increasingly aware of customer experience and are working out indicators that accurately reflect customer satisfaction. Three types of customers needs to be given top priority: VIP customers with high ARPU, silent VAP customers, and VAP customers with a complaint. Operators always need to monitor QoS for high-ARPU customers and promptly find and solve problems. Silent VAP customers may have bad service experience and are on the verge of changing to another operator. It is therefore necessary to identify these customers and address their grievances in order to prevent churn. Operators also need to develop a fast closed-loop response mechanism to respond to complaints of VAP customers. As well as optimal service experience, customers also need feature-rich value-added mobile services. Operators therefore need to constantly adjust their marketing mode and target segment and turn from extensive management to optimized management. Operators also need to offer appropriate service guarantees, and network OAM needs to be ahead of or close to the market. Innovative products should be released quickly so that an end-to-end, closed-loop process is developed. This process covers service research, design, development, testing, network construction, commercial launch, and market feedback.

ZTE has developed an integrated service solution for wireless networks. This solution helps operators follow the trend of transforming their OAM model. With flexible, customized service solutions, ZTE can meet the actual needs of operators and provide technical support for end-to-end, closed-loop OAM. 

ZTE’s integrated service solution comprises operational consulting, customer experience management, QoS management, and network performance management. The operational consulting service includes marketing optimization, new service development, and network development and construction. The QoS management and network performance management service guarantees customer experience. It improves network OAM according to market needs.

The operational consulting service includes customer behavior research and forecasting, business trend analysis and competitive benchmarking, marketing strategy proposals, service product development and planning, and network resource development proposals. This service is designed to improve responsiveness so that an operator can promptly meet the diverse needs of the mobile market.

With customer experience management, customer experience can be quantified and visually evaluated, and the root problems that affect customer experience can be solved. Operators can then guarantee and improve customer experience in more focused way. Troubleshooting is streamlined so that customer complaints are resolved faster. As a result, customers will be more satisfied, high-ARPU customers will be retained, and revenue will increase.

With QoS management, network elements associated with specific services are analyzed. The network is comprehensively analyzed to improve end-to-end QoS and to drive business growth.

With network performance management, sophisticated technical solutions are provided for different network scenarios. These solutions include network security assessment, frequency re-planning, capacity optimization and forecasting, optimization of multiaccess network collaboration, and expansion of network coverage. ZTE’s network performance management solution strikes the right balance between customer experience, service quality, and network performance and ensures that the ultimate objective of improving network performance is to improve customer experience and gain a competitive edge.

Network performance, QoS, customer experience, and market development strategies have to be closely coordinated in order to drive steady growth. ZTE’s integrated service solutions for wireless networks guarantee optimized network resources and performance, QoS, and customer experience.

ZTE’s integrated service solutions cover the whole lifecycle of wireless networks. The modular solutions provide operators with customized services to meet their specific demands at different stages of network development. Initially, an operator places more importance on stable equipment, good preliminary planning (to reduce capex), and quickly improving network performance. When the network is on track, an operator begins to focus on improving end-to-end service, centralizing OAM to reduce costs, and improving customer experience. After this, an operator focuses on customer management, expanding business, and reading market. They also seek to free themselves from heavy OAM work and look for opportunities to open up value-added space in the market. ZTE helps free up operators from technical burdens so that they can focus on maximizing profit.