Our survey confirmed that to attract and retain young, tech-savvy customers, communications service providers must act fast to enhance their current services, better understand these customers’ needs, and make their digital support channels easier to use. This involves analyzing the differences between younger and older customers, and using that information to retain them and build their confidence. CSPs must also ensure that efforts to personalize solutions and services deliver the expected value, and also provide the levels of security and privacy these customers demand.
Quality of Experience in a Digital World: A CSP Action Plan for Millennials a...Cognizant
Customers of communications service providers want easier to use digital channels, proactive and personalized offerings, and the ability to bring connected technologies to life, our latest research reveals.
A consumer research report from Echo Managed Services: 1,000 UK consumers give their thoughts and feelings around their billing experiences with everyday service providers and reveal which industry sectors are getting billing right and wrong.
Why companies should care about e-care, Digital customer service is now a strategic imperative, but its adoption is hampered by weaknesses in delivery strategies and incomplete measurement of its effectiveness
McCallum Layton conducted a Snapshots study in November 2015 in order to gain an understanding of people’s current attitudes to customer service, and the role it plays in their relationships with companies and brands.
Digital Process Acupuncture: How Small Changes Can Heal Business, and Spark B...Cognizant
Our latest research reveals that by applying digital remedies to precisely targeted process areas, organizations can relieve operational stress and generate improvements, yielding outsized results that ripple across the process value chain.
Optimizing the Content Supply Chain: What Manufacturing Can Teach the Broadca...Cognizant
By applying best practices and models used to optimize physical supply chains, broadcasters can more effectively manage their digital content operations.
Quality of Experience in a Digital World: A CSP Action Plan for Millennials a...Cognizant
Customers of communications service providers want easier to use digital channels, proactive and personalized offerings, and the ability to bring connected technologies to life, our latest research reveals.
A consumer research report from Echo Managed Services: 1,000 UK consumers give their thoughts and feelings around their billing experiences with everyday service providers and reveal which industry sectors are getting billing right and wrong.
Why companies should care about e-care, Digital customer service is now a strategic imperative, but its adoption is hampered by weaknesses in delivery strategies and incomplete measurement of its effectiveness
McCallum Layton conducted a Snapshots study in November 2015 in order to gain an understanding of people’s current attitudes to customer service, and the role it plays in their relationships with companies and brands.
Digital Process Acupuncture: How Small Changes Can Heal Business, and Spark B...Cognizant
Our latest research reveals that by applying digital remedies to precisely targeted process areas, organizations can relieve operational stress and generate improvements, yielding outsized results that ripple across the process value chain.
Optimizing the Content Supply Chain: What Manufacturing Can Teach the Broadca...Cognizant
By applying best practices and models used to optimize physical supply chains, broadcasters can more effectively manage their digital content operations.
Beyond Omnichannel: Determining the Right Channel MixCognizant
Many companies believe that simply adding more customer channels or reducing the time it takes to handle customer queries will boost customer satisfaction and enhance the customer experience. Yet the proliferation of digital technologies and touchpoints have made it more difficult to track customer preferences and purchasing traits. By identifying customers’ preferred contact channels, companies can more effectively engage, serve, and retain them while driving profitable growth.
Marketing Attribution: Valuing The Customer JourneyDung Tri
Marketers want to do more than simply justify their digital spend; they want to optimize it. They’re looking to attribution to understand how different media perform so they can adjust the media mix and improve performance.
Deloitte and Facebook team up to dissect reams of data, and then tell us that they have found out that "....young mums upload more pics after having their kids..."
A New Vision For Payments In Financial ServicesPenn Mutual
Financial service companies are under growing pressure from a seismic shift in consumer adoption and usage of smartphones/tables and social media driven by technology. This has opened the door for new and innovative competitors to challenge banks and financial services companies for market share in traditional banking services. Globally, millennials and consumers in general are rapidly adopting mobile payments as a primary method to move money. The lessons are the same regardless of industry - adapt, innovate, and engage or risk losing relevancy and market share. Learn how these trends are unfolding and how companies can respond to them.
Banking & Innovation: How Financial Services Can Embrace the Customer RevolutionComrade
Financial services companies are increasingly seeing opportunities to be at the forefront of innovation. Historically, banks have been slow to translate consumer demands into technologies like paperless statements and mobile check imaging. However, they were quick to implement online banking and, today, customers who bank online are typically more satisfied as well as more cost-effective to maintain. Banks have also responded to the shift in consumer demand for mobile banking on tablets and smartphones. The next challenge facing financial services is how to address the rise of consumer trends evolving mainly outside of the industry. We’re pleased to have partnered with Matchi to publish “Banking & Innovation: How Financial Services Can Embrace the Customer Revolution." This paper focuses on three phenomena that will ultimately impact every bank:
- Crowdsourcing
- Wearable Technology
- The Sharing Economy
We explore the state of each these trends, and how they relate to financial services.
Retaining Customers in a World of ChoiceEchoMarketing
This consumer research report from Echo Managed Services examines customer switching behaviours and attitudes across multiple sectors. It also looks at which sectors are getting the customer experience during the switching process right and wrong.
Pegging Brand Performance Measures to the Metrics that Really MatterCognizant
To help enable pharmaceuticals companies to accurately evaluate brands, we offer a framework for determining the most relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that take into account drug lifecycles, brand stage, geography, primary vs. secondary care and stakeholders.
Transforming Finance and Accounting to Optimize Financial CloseCognizant
Many firms are working to accelerate and improve the daily financial close, but are far from ready. By formalizing the F&A value chain, modernizing and strengthening their F&A platform, assessing and optimizing existing service models and heightening overall F&A governance, companies can achieve this goal, supported by a set of success factors for measuring progress and aligning transformation activities.
The First Word: Digital Reinvention Requires a Radical CIO MakeoverCognizant
To lead digital transformation, CIOs need to go beyond technology prowess and develop new work styles, people skills, and political savvy to energize the organization for change.
An Integrated Simulation Tool Framework for Process Data ManagementCognizant
Digital simulations play an increasing role in product lifecycle management (PLM) processes and simulation data management (SDM) based on the PLM XML protocol, which is a key interface with computer-aided engineering (CAE) applications. We offer a framework for aligning SDM with the overall product development process to shorten lead times and optimize output.
In their efforts to decrease costs, improve customer loyalty and extend brand reputation, organizations need a holistic, long-term view of enterprise quality management systems.
Beyond Omnichannel: Determining the Right Channel MixCognizant
Many companies believe that simply adding more customer channels or reducing the time it takes to handle customer queries will boost customer satisfaction and enhance the customer experience. Yet the proliferation of digital technologies and touchpoints have made it more difficult to track customer preferences and purchasing traits. By identifying customers’ preferred contact channels, companies can more effectively engage, serve, and retain them while driving profitable growth.
Marketing Attribution: Valuing The Customer JourneyDung Tri
Marketers want to do more than simply justify their digital spend; they want to optimize it. They’re looking to attribution to understand how different media perform so they can adjust the media mix and improve performance.
Deloitte and Facebook team up to dissect reams of data, and then tell us that they have found out that "....young mums upload more pics after having their kids..."
A New Vision For Payments In Financial ServicesPenn Mutual
Financial service companies are under growing pressure from a seismic shift in consumer adoption and usage of smartphones/tables and social media driven by technology. This has opened the door for new and innovative competitors to challenge banks and financial services companies for market share in traditional banking services. Globally, millennials and consumers in general are rapidly adopting mobile payments as a primary method to move money. The lessons are the same regardless of industry - adapt, innovate, and engage or risk losing relevancy and market share. Learn how these trends are unfolding and how companies can respond to them.
Banking & Innovation: How Financial Services Can Embrace the Customer RevolutionComrade
Financial services companies are increasingly seeing opportunities to be at the forefront of innovation. Historically, banks have been slow to translate consumer demands into technologies like paperless statements and mobile check imaging. However, they were quick to implement online banking and, today, customers who bank online are typically more satisfied as well as more cost-effective to maintain. Banks have also responded to the shift in consumer demand for mobile banking on tablets and smartphones. The next challenge facing financial services is how to address the rise of consumer trends evolving mainly outside of the industry. We’re pleased to have partnered with Matchi to publish “Banking & Innovation: How Financial Services Can Embrace the Customer Revolution." This paper focuses on three phenomena that will ultimately impact every bank:
- Crowdsourcing
- Wearable Technology
- The Sharing Economy
We explore the state of each these trends, and how they relate to financial services.
Retaining Customers in a World of ChoiceEchoMarketing
This consumer research report from Echo Managed Services examines customer switching behaviours and attitudes across multiple sectors. It also looks at which sectors are getting the customer experience during the switching process right and wrong.
Pegging Brand Performance Measures to the Metrics that Really MatterCognizant
To help enable pharmaceuticals companies to accurately evaluate brands, we offer a framework for determining the most relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that take into account drug lifecycles, brand stage, geography, primary vs. secondary care and stakeholders.
Transforming Finance and Accounting to Optimize Financial CloseCognizant
Many firms are working to accelerate and improve the daily financial close, but are far from ready. By formalizing the F&A value chain, modernizing and strengthening their F&A platform, assessing and optimizing existing service models and heightening overall F&A governance, companies can achieve this goal, supported by a set of success factors for measuring progress and aligning transformation activities.
The First Word: Digital Reinvention Requires a Radical CIO MakeoverCognizant
To lead digital transformation, CIOs need to go beyond technology prowess and develop new work styles, people skills, and political savvy to energize the organization for change.
An Integrated Simulation Tool Framework for Process Data ManagementCognizant
Digital simulations play an increasing role in product lifecycle management (PLM) processes and simulation data management (SDM) based on the PLM XML protocol, which is a key interface with computer-aided engineering (CAE) applications. We offer a framework for aligning SDM with the overall product development process to shorten lead times and optimize output.
In their efforts to decrease costs, improve customer loyalty and extend brand reputation, organizations need a holistic, long-term view of enterprise quality management systems.
FinfraG: Opportunities & Challenges for Global Trading PlatformsCognizant
The Swiss Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FMIA), commonly known by its German name, FinfraG, spells out regulations for global derivative trading platforms and central clearing parties, including reporting, clearing, platform trading and risk mitigation. The act also incorporates laws pertaining to insider information/market abuse and shareholdings/public offers.
The Last Word: The 50-Year Journey to Digital BusinessCognizant
To make good on the promise of the digital age, established companies must master a veritable Rubik's Cube of thorny challenges. The solution lies in understanding three key historical precedents and four perennial seasons of change.
Identifying & Overcoming Gaps in the Specialty-Pharmacy EcosystemCognizant
Specialty drug expenditures in the U.S. are rising dramatically, compelling manufacturers to accelerate the turnaround time from patient enrollment to drug disbursement. Using data analytics tools, these companies can track patients throughout their treatment and ensure continuous patient therapy.
A Framework for Improving Operational Efficiency in Investment BanksCognizant
We offer a framework for investment banks to structure their IT architecture to ensure greater operational efficiency while reducing the overall complexity of the architecture.
Connected Products for the Industrial WorldCognizant
By leveraging product-centric connected ecosystems, manufacturers can create new and more effective business models, advance operational excellence, and design and develop better products and services that align with customer needs and preferences.
Scaling Up Smart Meter Operations: Challenges and the Way Forward for UK Ener...Cognizant
With smart meters being implemented at a rapid pace, energy utilities need to be prepared to make the best use of this opportunity. Here's a guide to possible shortfalls in the journey, and to the technical, operational and organizational capabilities utilities need to thrive in the digital smart metering era.
Benchmarking Digital: A Digital Experience Index Is BornCognizant
To successfully navigate their digital transformation, companies need to continuously measure the spectrum of digital services they deliver, and assess the quality of the digital experience.
Source-to-Pay: Advancing from Pure Cost Optimization to Value GenerationCognizant
The majority of businesses treat their sourcing, procurement and payment (S2P) processes as non-core functions. As a result, S2P does not receive the strategic or capital focus it deserves. By employing Cognizant's S2P Transformation Framework, global businesses can transform their S2P function from a mere support activity to a strategic business enabler that helps eliminate bottom-line erosion, increase competitive strength, and maintain the loyalty of customers and suppliers alike.
Tailoring Omnichannel Fulfillment Strategies to Network Segments Cognizant
Omnichannel fulfillment strategies, when implemented with network
segmentation constructs, can help retailers optimize inventory at
every stage across echelons and meet growing service expectations —
all while reducing the total cost to serve.
Life Sciences: Leveraging Customer Data for Commercial SuccessCognizant
As the healthcare buying process becomes increasingly complex, master data management solutions focused on customer relationships are critical for life sciences companies to excel.
From Data to Insights: How IT Operations Data Can Boost QualityCognizant
By leveraging highly-analyzed operational data - the voice of customers, machines and tests - quality assurance (QA) and IT groups can derive major gains in quality of apps and in user experience.
Medication non-adherence is a growing concern, as it is increasingly associated with negative health outcomes and higher cost of care. Tackling the burden of non-adherence requires a collaborative, patient-centric approach that considers individual patient needs and results in intelligent interventions that combine high-tech with high-touch.
Back to Basics for Communications Service ProvidersCognizant
Our latest primary research reveals how CPSs can distill meaning from consumers' digital trails to better understand which product and service innovations will resonate and drive growth.
Subscribers Demand New Communication Methods from CSPsBrian Metzger
We are witnessing a dramatic shift in the balance of power between communications service providers (CSPs) and their subscribers. Today’s empowered subscribers expect self-directed, on-demand, two-way engagement anywhere and on any device. This research paper examines the changing attitudes of subscribers and the ways they prefer to communicate with their CSP.
Deloitte UK / Facebook : a people based telecom business - breathing new lif...yann le gigan
A people-based telecom business : Breathing new life into segmentation strategies
Deloitte UK / Facebook - March 2015
http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/deloitte-uk-a%20people-based-telecom-business%20-%20Breathing-new-life-into-segmentation-strategies.pdf
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) is a relatively new technology that provides Web browsers and applications with secure real-time communications capabilities.
It is being hailed as the single biggest disruptor to real-time communications since Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), the ability to make telephone calls over the Internet.
This white paper explores how WebRTC-based real-time communications on your Web properties can assist you improve your online customer service and thereby customer experience, customer loyalty and ultimately your bottom line.
It provides a non-technical overview of WebRTC and practical examples of how one can use WebRTC-based real-time communications across numerous industries to improve customer service.
Accenture North American Digital Banking Consumer Survey 2014 accenture
According to the new Accenture 2014 North America Consumer Digital Banking Survey, digital banking trends are changing traditional relationships between consumers and banks. In fact, the research suggests the relationship is increasingly uncertain as consumers are intrigued by branchless digital banks, define their relationships as merely transactional and generally want more advice and proactive financial services from their Everyday Banks. Read the PDF to learn more about the results of the survey, and how banks can respond to these threats.
U.S. Retail Banking: Prescriptions for Channel Integration and BeyondCognizant
To achieve the dual goals of satisfying tech-savvy customers and boosting the bottom line, banks must first lay the foundation for integrated channels and fulfillment processes. Here is how they can embark on this two-laned path.
What does customer satisfaction in the digital age actually mean? At Sprint Reply, in close cooperation with our partner consultancy mobileVision, we have conducted an in-depth research on today’s customer satisfaction challenges and opportunities. The paper provides a number of interesting insights. Read it here.
Ericsson ConsumerLab: Connected lifestyles’ expectations identifiedEricsson
http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/consumerlab
This Ericsson ConsumerLab report identifies the key success criteria for the services of tomorrow to satisfy the needs of a connected society.
Trends Reshaping the Future of Customer Service Jules Smith
How is Customer Relations responding in 2016 to continued pressure on cost, expectation for higher quality, rising complexity, and decreasing cycle-time to respond to clients? This report addresses the drivers of trends we are observing – evolving channels and customer experience expectations – and will provide insight into methods for addressing the customer relationship evolution.
Las tendencias que están redefiniendo la experiencia del cliente y su fidelización - See more at: http://www.sitel.com/es/noticias/sitel-senala-las-tendencias-que-estan-redefiniendo-la-experiencia-del-cliente-y-su-fidelizacion/#sthash.tMdJEjiA.dpuf
Telecommunications is at the heart of the digital economy, driving and enabling the changing consumer behaviors and demands that have transformed how people consume products and services across many sectors. However, digitization is as much a struggle for Telcos as it is for traditional organizations in many industries.
Our latest survey of over 5700 mobile consumers in the US and Europe has found, for example, that consumers are discontented with their operators.
AGE OF EXPERIENCE, TRENDS RESHAPING THE FUTURE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE, by Gesner...Gesnerf
This report is the result of collaboration between Sitel’s employees and stakeholders from around the globe. Our company is now providing services through more than 61,000 employees in 21 countries on behalf of some of the best known brands in the world in the most diverse number of industries with global solutions that include customer acquisition, customer care, technical support and social media programs.
The question we try to address in this report is: how is the Customer Relations responding in 2015 to continued pressure on cost, expectation for higher quality, rising complexity, and decreasing cycle-time to respond to clients? This report will address the drivers of trends we are observing – evolving channels and customer experience expectations – and will provide insight into methods for addressing the customer relationship evolution.
The Customer Experience: The Holly Grail of Competitive AdvantageDan Polito
Providing a great customer experience has emerged as the holy grail of competitive advantage, as traditional sources such as price or product differentiation become less sustainable. In an age of accelerated information flows, traditional sources of differentiation such as price and product differentiation erode rapidly, leaving customer service as the last sustainable source of competitive advantage. This challenges customer-facing departments to step up their game.
The 2014 Accenture survey of nearly 4,000 retail banking customers in the US and Canada shows that the relationship at traditional banks is susceptible to disruption, even though 40% of US customers and 64% of Canadian customers have been with their current bank for the past decade or more
Similar to Dialing Up Digital: Retaining a New Generation of Customers (20)
Using Adaptive Scrum to Tame Process Reverse Engineering in Data Analytics Pr...Cognizant
Organizations rely on analytics to make intelligent decisions and improve business performance, which sometimes requires reproducing business processes from a legacy application to a digital-native state to reduce the functional, technical and operational debts. Adaptive Scrum can reduce the complexity of the reproduction process iteratively as well as provide transparency in data analytics porojects.
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional ExperiencesCognizant
Experience is evolving into a strategy that reaches across technology companies. We offer guidance on the rise of experience and its role in business modernization, with details on how orgnizations can build the ecosystem to support it.
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...Cognizant
The T&L industry appears poised to accelerate its long-overdue modernization drive, as the pandemic spurs an increased need for agility and resilience, according to our study.
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital InitiativesCognizant
To be a modern digital business in the post-COVID era, organizations must be fanatical about the experiences they deliver to an increasingly savvy and expectant user community. Getting there requires a mastery of human-design thinking, compelling user interface and interaction design, and a focus on functional and nonfunctional capabilities that drive business differentiation and results.
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility MandateCognizant
According to our research, manufacturers are well ahead of other industries in their IoT deployments but need to marshal the investment required to meet today’s intensified demands for business resilience.
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...Cognizant
Higher-ed institutions expect pandemic-driven disruption to continue, especially as hyperconnectivity, analytics and AI drive personalized education models over the lifetime of the learner, according to our recent research.
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...Cognizant
In recent years, insurers have invested in technology platforms and process improvements to improve
claims outcomes. Leaders will build on this foundation across the claims landscape, spanning experience,
operations, customer service and the overall supply chain with market-differentiating capabilities to
achieve sustainable results.
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Cognizant
Amid constant change, industry leaders need an upgraded IT infrastructure capable of adapting to audience expectations while proactively anticipating ever-evolving business requirements.
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for SustainabilityCognizant
Green business is good business, according to our recent research, whether for companies monetizing tech tools used for sustainability or for those that see the impact of these initiatives on business goals.
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersCognizant
The pivot to digital is fraught with numerous obstacles but with proper planning and execution, legacy carriers can update their core systems and keep pace with the competition, while proactively addressing customer needs.
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with DigitalCognizant
Utilities are starting to adopt digital technologies to eliminate slow processes, elevate customer experience and boost sustainability, according to our recent study.
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to ValueCognizant
Up to now, the global media & entertainment industry (M&E) has been lagging most other sectors in its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). But our research shows that M&E companies are set to close the gap over the coming three years, as they ramp up their investments in AI and reap rising returns. The first steps? Getting a firm grip on data – the foundation of any successful AI strategy – and balancing technology spend with investments in AI skills.
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First ApproachCognizant
As #WorkFromAnywhere becomes the rule rather than the exception, organizations face an important question: How can they increase their digital quotient to engage and enable a remote operations workforce to work collaboratively to deliver onclient requirements and contractual commitments?
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
As banks move to cloud-based banking platforms for lower costs and greater agility, they must seamlessly integrate technologies and workflows while ensuring security, performance and an enhanced user experience. Here are five ways cloud-focused quality assurance helps banks maximize the benefits.
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedCognizant
Changing market dynamics are propelling Asia-Pacific businesses to take a highly disciplined and focused approach to ensuring that their AI initiatives rapidly scale and quickly generate heightened business impact.
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...Cognizant
Intelligent automation continues to be a top driver of the future of work, according to our recent study. To reap the full advantages, businesses need to move from isolated to widespread deployment.
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
Dialing Up Digital: Retaining a New Generation of Customers
1. Dialing Up Digital: Retaining
a New Generation of Customers
Our recent survey reveals that despite significant
investments by communications service providers,
Millennials’ satisfaction with pay TV, high-speed
Internet and mobile services has waned.
3. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 3
Executive Summary
Industry consolidation brought about by mergers, the rise of OTT (over-the-top)
content providers such as Netflix and Amazon, plus the influx of relatively new
service providers like Google represent fundamental changes that threaten the
viability of the communications industry’s current business model.
Increasingly, competitors are attempting to lure customers — especially
Millennials (younger, tech-savvy individuals who represent tomorrow’s market)
away from CSPs. To retain this segment, CSPs must act now to enhance their
current services, better understand younger customers’ needs and make their
digital support channels — mobile apps, mobile Web services and self-service
Web sites alike — easier to use. This is critical, given Millennials’ strong tendency
to change service providers.
The above highlight some of the key insights from our second annual
Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey, conducted in late
2014 among 925 U.S. CSP customers. In addition, the survey revealed some
compelling facts regarding how customers feel about the services CSPs provide:
• Younger customers (under 49 years old) are less satisfied with their current
CSP services — especially so with high-speed Internet (HSI) and mobile —
than older consumers (50 and up).
• Millennials, like their older counterparts, still prefer the phone over lower-
cost digital channels to contact their CSP. When they try the latter, they
often find them inadequate or hard to use.
• All customer age groups reported having privacy concerns with customized
products or services resulting from online searches. These misgivings
lessened somewhat for younger customers, with three out of ten of those
49 and under stating that it is worthwhile to share personal information in
order to receive customized offers. Only 7% of those 65 and older agreed.
• Younger customers (particularly those from 18 to 34 years of age) are far
more apt to “cut the cord” with pay TV services than older customers. We
found that among those who did cancel these services, only 7% plan to
return to pay TV. However, the fact that these younger consumers gave
more reasons for keeping their pay TV services points the way to strategies
for retaining them.
• Younger customers are more likely than older ones to trust providers
to get the technology right for future services, such as connected home,
and to find those services valuable.
4. 4 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
How CSPs Must Respond
Our survey results tell us that CSPs should analyze the differences between
younger and older customers, and use that information to retain them and build
their confidence. One method is to capture their personal “Code Halos” — the digital
data that surrounds people, organizations and devices. For example, an individual’s
Code Halo™ can reveal the channels they prefer, the support sites they visit — even
their comments on social media.1
Analyzing these “digital bread crumbs” can help pinpoint a customer’s product pref-
erences and viewing habits, as well as what went right — and wrong — in their inter-
actions with their service provider. CSPs can then use that knowledge to improve
their products and services and make it easier to keep — and even recapture —
younger customers.
Finally, CSPs must ensure that their efforts to personalize solutions and services
not only deliver the expected value, but also provide the levels of security and
privacy these customers demand.
In the following pages, we will detail the findings from our 2014 survey and suggest
actions CSPs can take, based on participants’ responses (see Appendix, page 13, for
more details). This content builds upon the results of our initial survey, conducted in
late 2013, which ranked customers’ satisfaction with CSPs and explained how these
companies can improve efforts to attract and retain them.
Younger Customers are Less Satisfied with CSPs
Our survey found that younger customers “churn” from provider to provider more
often than older consumers, with 46% in the youngest category switching carriers
over the previous two years, compared with 14% in the oldest category. This is a
compelling indicator that younger customers are less brand-loyal than older ones.
The survey also highlighted the need for CSPs to act quickly and aggressively
to leverage customer insights, and use that information to develop a customer-
engagement model that focuses on personalizing and simplifying processes, and
retaining a new generation of customers.
Compared with the results from last year’s survey, Millennials are less happy with
their provider’s high-speed Internet and mobile services; factors that drive satis-
faction across pay TV, HSI and mobile services continue to be timely installation
and repairs, knowledgeable customer support representatives, short wait times on
calls, easy billing, and recharge and account-management options (see Figure 1,
next page).
Young customers also communicate with their CSP more frequently than older
customers, with 32% contacting their CSP once a week or once a month, compared
with 8% in the oldest age group. These younger consumers are also far more
likely to “cut the cord” with their pay TV service, and highly unlikely to return once
they do.
FINDING
#1
An individual’s Code Halo can reveal the channels
they prefer, the support sites they visit — even their
comments on social media.
5. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 5
47%
56%
51%
MOBILE
HIGH-SPEED
INTERNET PAY TV
53%
63%
60%
50%
68%
65%
50%
57%
55%Ages
18-34
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
Percent of customers who
are satisfied with service:
EXIT
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
13%
22%
65%
7%
4%
12%
10%
87%
81%
Percent of customers who
leave service providers:
In less than
6 months
After 2 years
or never
Between 6 months
and 2 years
24%
22%
54%
Ages
18-34
Younger Customers are Less Satisfied with CSPs …
… Which Drives More Churn
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Annual Communications Industry
Customer Experience Survey
Figure 1
6. 6 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
I just want to talk to a person
I’ve used the phone and it worked well
Online process is too complicated
I can’t find what I’m looking for
Mobile app process is too complicated
The online price was different than
what I was quoted
I was directed to call by the online process
I tried an online/mobile process but
got an error message
Ages 18-34Ages 65+
0 20 40 60 80
CSPs’ Digital Channels Fall Short —
Even for Younger Customers
Digital channels such as mobile apps or self-service Web sites can improve customer
satisfaction while greatly reducing CSP support costs. However, our survey indicates
that CSPs have yet to deliver the ease of use and robust digital services required to
lure even younger customers away from higher-cost phone support.
The survey also tells us that while younger
customers are more open to using digital support
channels they, just like older consumers, use the
phone most often when they need help. A deeper
dive into the survey data provides useful insights
into the reasons behind their preferences, as well
as potential steps providers can take to move
them to digital support services.
For example, among the top reasons survey
respondents gave for using the phone were “I
just want to talk to a person,” and “phone customer support has historically worked
well.” (See Figure above.) Cited less often were concerns that online channels are
too complex, that the support needed won’t be available, or that advice provided by
the digital channel was to call the CSP.
Why Phone Support Works
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry
Customer Experience Survey
Figure 2
FINDING
#2
While younger customers are
more open to using digital
support channels, they, like older
consumers, use the phone most
often when they need help.
7. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 7
These findings indicate that in order to shift younger customers to digital channels,
CSPs must make sure that these channels are easier to use; that they provide the
services customers use most frequently, and that customer and support informa-
tion from back-end systems is integrated in the customer-facing channel. This helps
ensure that customers who want to use a digital channel are not forced back to
the phone.
On the more positive side, the survey shows that the use
of digital sales and support channels increased somewhat
year over year, with the biggest upturns seen in billing/
recharge and order/upgrade services. The survey also
confirmed that browsing for products and services is
the only activity that is preferred over the phone. Older
customers also reported a significant drop-off in digital
use when they switch from browsing to ordering.
The transition from browsing to ordering represents a key
inflection point in the customer journey, and a significant
opportunity for CSPs to boost customer satisfaction rates
and revenues. CSPs can begin by tracking at which points
in the digital sequence customers abandon the ordering
process and call an agent. Using advanced technologies
to monitor and analyze customer transactions in real time,
CSPs can diagnose customer challenges quickly and take
appropriate measures to improve digital conversion rates.
Our survey also revealed that Millennials contact CSPs
much more frequently than older generations — most
often to resolve billing or recharge issues, or to review
their service usage or status (see Figure 3). Their
frequent contact, combined with their strong preference
for non-digital service channels, translates into higher
operating costs for CSPs. By utilizing targeted digital
tools that make it easier to perform routine tasks online,
and educating customers about digital support options,
CSPs can increase adoption rates and significantly reduce
ongoing operating expenditures.
CSPs can use each customer encounter as an opportunity
to deliver excellent service and test customers’ openness
to new services, such as connected home. The fact that
younger customers contact CSPs so often for billing and recharge issues also opens
the door for and cross- or up-selling new or additional services. Again, analytics
can be used to examine and correlate customers’ service-usage patterns, contact
preferences and previous contacts. For example, a customer who uses a lot of data
and cloud-based DVR would likely be more open to a service like connected home.
The figure represents the average contact rate of respondents.
Respondents were asked to detail how often they call their service
providers for reasons such as billing/recharge, technical support
or service disruption, to browse product/service offerings, and to
review their service usage.
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry
Customer Experience Survey
Figure 3
Ages
35-49 Ages 50+
Ages
18-34
Once a week
or once a month
Every 2 to 6
months
Once a year
or less
51%
17%
32%
65%
17%
18%
74%
17%
9%
Contact frequency:
Younger Customers Contact CSPs
Far More Often
Our survey shows that the use of digital sales and support
channels increased somewhat year over year, with the
biggest upturns seen in billing/recharge and order/upgrade
services.
8. 8 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
FINDING
#3
Younger Customers Are More Interested
in Connected Home
Very interested
Somewhat interested
Not at all interested
19%
38%
43%
65%
9%
26%
39%
49%
12%
31%
42%
27%
Ages
18–34
Ages
35–49
Ages
50–64
Ages
65+
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey
Figure 4
Despite the best efforts of CSPs, some customers will continue to favor the phone
over digital channels. Rather than attempt to force them from the contact point
they prefer, CSPs can employ analytics to improve customers’ phone experiences
and build their confidence in future offerings. For example, analytics can help CSPs
determine how a customer ranks their service experience, whether in a survey, a
direct complaint, or from analyzing cancellation patterns following various support
interactions. For instance, analytics can be used to steer a customer to a service rep
who is a native English speaker, or who matches the customer’s level of technical
expertise — assuming these preferences have been identified.
CSPs should also equip contact-center agents with the tools and knowledge they
need to serve customers quickly and efficiently. For example, providing agents with
a customer’s subscription history and current diagnostics, as well as recommended
steps for resolving an issue efficiently can not only improve customers’ satisfaction,
but also reduce the cost of serving them.
Younger Customers Are More Open to Connected Home
Services, and Trust CSPs More to Deliver Them
Despite their dissatisfaction with some CSP services and support options, Millennials
are more interested in exploring the potential of services such as connected
home — automated or remote-control management of entertainment, security, and
heating and cooling systems. Also, they are more inclined than older customers to
trust CSPs to deliver these services effectively (see Figure 4, left, and Figure 5,
next page).
Connected home is thus an opportunity,
as long as CSPs can continue to excel in
providing existing services, and build on
that success to convince customers to
try new offerings. Our survey highlights
a potential road forward by showing
the highest interests among younger
customers, who want the ability to:
• Play audio files on any music player in
the home.
• Stream video from smartphones to
other devices.
• Monitor health metrics and send key
performance indicators to doctors/
hospitals.
• Use smartphones as remotes for TV and
other home-entertainment/connected
home devices.
CSPs should consider performing more
in-depth market research on the specific
features customers value most in such
services. They should also investigate com-
plementary, segment-specific partnerships
with other entities — companies that offer
wearable technology, home entertainment
companies, wireless streaming vendors,
or local hospitals or fitness centers, for
9. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 9
example — to bundle specialized software and hardware with wireless services. For
instance, such offerings might help diabetics monitor their food intake, or fitness
enthusiasts keep track of their exercise progress.
Deep Concerns About Personalization
Our survey suggests that personalization — making meaning from customer
interactions and transactions to create service offerings that are customized to
individual wants and needs — is a double-edged sword for younger customers CSPs
seek to retain.
On one hand, these younger customers are more likely to share personal informa-
tion in order to receive customized offers and rewards. However, our survey found
that among all age groups, personalization is more valued if it is used to tailor
services, rather than support unsolicited product offers (see Figure 6, next page).
This tells us that to mollify concerns about personalization, any customization based
on private information must be viewed as providing real value to the customer, not
the other way around. For customers whose bandwidth consumption shows high
levels of OTT (over-the-top) video usage, the CSP can take a proactive approach
and suggest they downgrade to a lower tier of pay TV service, but upgrade to a
faster data package that improves video streaming. While this may cost the CSP
revenue in the short run, it could keep the customer from moving to another data
provider altogether. It could also strengthen the customer’s trust in the CSP enough
for them to consider the company for future wireless or connected home services,
which appeal to younger customers more than traditional pay TV offerings.
FINDING
#4
Carrier will
provide high
level of service.
Ages 18–34
Ages 35-49
Ages 50-64
Ages 65+
Carrier will get
technology right.
Service would
improve their
satisfaction.
If service was
offered, they would
likely subscribe.
Regarding home services,more millennials
are “very confident”that:
40%
37%
33%
24%
38%
33%
27%
16%
38%
31%
15%
7%
6%
36%
30%
16%
Millennials Trust Their Service Providers to Deliver Connected Home Services
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey
Figure 5
10. 10 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
Determining the personalized services and offerings that best suit a customer’s
needs requires an all-inclusive view of their activities and preferences, compiled
from data that previously resided in siloed systems — from customer support, to
billing, to operations.
Strategies for Keeping Younger Pay-TV Customers
For all age ranges, the biggest decline in satisfaction year over year was in pay
TV. It’s no surprise that our survey found that younger customers were turning off
these services more often than older consumers, with 52% of the youngest age
group moving to lower-priced options such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. It is
worth noting that only 7% plan to repurchase pay TV once they cut their ties with
these services.
At the same time, survey results point to possible strategies for retaining or even
regaining younger customers. When asked what might keep them from dropping
pay TV services, these individuals gave more reasons than older survey respon-
dents. This opens an opportunity for CSPs to develop new strategies for keeping
Millennials as pay TV customers.
We found that among all age groups,
personalization is more valued if it
is used to tailor services, rather than
support unsolicited product offers.
Sharing personal information
is worth it to get customized
product offers.
Sharing personal information
is worth it to get tailored
customer service.
I expect providers to tailor
their offerings based on my
current service usage.
30%
26%
15%
7%
30%
27%
16%
7%
39%
31%
27%
28%
Ages
18-34
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
30% and higher agree 16%-29% agree 15% and lower agree
Millennials Are More Open to Personalized Services
FINDING
#5
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey
Figure 6
11. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 11
While older age groups cited missing programming as the only reason for keeping
pay TV, younger customers had other concerns, including:
• Missing shows.
• Cutting the cord will be too expensive.
• Unsure what equipment and services to use for streaming TV.
• They contacted the provider to cancel but got a better offer that induced them
to stay.
By analyzing individual customer interactions, such as those related to billing and
services, CSPs can understand the priority each customer gives to these concerns
and craft offers designed to recapture and retain them. For example, examining the
viewing habits of younger customers that are prone to cord-cutting can help CSPs
develop specialized content offerings, perhaps around sporting events or other
premium content that appeal to this demographic. CSPs can also analyze streaming
TV offers and social-media commentary about those services to identify vulner-
abilities, such as cost or complexity, and tailor either low-priced or “simple-to-use”
offers to keep younger consumers who might otherwise turn away.
CSPs can also perform Code Halo data analyses to understand customer needs, and
improve business practices around their current pay TV service. In this way, they
can identify the issues each customer cares about most. As our survey shows, these
concerns can include timely installation/repairs, knowledgeable customer support
reps, and short wait times.
Service providers can use information from employees’ Code Halos, such as their
location, work schedules and when they install equipment (by remotely monitoring
equipment on the customer’s premises) to better assess work progress and more
precisely inform customers when a technician will arrive and/or when the problem
will be resolved.
Looking Ahead
As our study reveals, the disconnects among CSP business practices and customer
needs, especially those of Milennials, should serve as an urgent call to action.
When CSPs cannot satisfy young consumers with Internet and mobile phone
services, much less pay TV, they are endangering what should be a natural source
of long-term revenue. When a CSP’s mobile apps and self-service Web sites are
too complex for even today’s younger, tech-savvy consumers, it’s a sign that the
company is not meeting, much less anticipating, the needs of the very customers
they plan to keep for decades.
At the same time, our survey highlights strategies CSPs can use to retain younger
customers, and also potentially cross-sell or up-sell future services like connected
home, to them. The fact that younger consumers have expressed more interest in
these types of services and trust their CSPs to provide them gives CSPs an oppor-
tunity to engage these young people by upgrading current services and correctly
targeting future services for this demographic. By performing more transactions
online, improving the quality of digital transactions like billing inquiries and service
changes, and using analytics for a more informed, more complete view of customers,
CSPs can enrich their relationships with current customers and attract new ones to
accelerate future growth.
12. 12 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
Among our recommendations:
• Employ, make meaning from Code Halos. These “digital bread crumbs” left by
individual customers as they navigate products and services can form a clearer
picture of their needs, and allow CSPs to customize offers around them. Use this
data to make every interaction easier, on the customer’s terms. This is particularly
important for younger customers, who will form your future customer base. Code
Halos created by employees or organizational processes can improve customer
communications. For example, one CSP with whom we work is evaluating a
smartphone application that lets customers track the location of a technician en
route to address their issue, and sends them a picture of the tech when they are
about to arrive.
• Overcome customer concerns about personalization. This issue can be
addressed by developing customized services that present a compelling value
proposition. These offerings could include a new service plan for customers
nearing their limits for voice, text or data on their current plan, or lower-priced
plans for those who are not using all the voice and data on their present plan.
These initiatives would impose costs on the CSP in the short run, but increase
long-term loyalty and pave the way for future up-sell or cross-sell opportunities.
• Enhance current phone support offerings, as well as digital channels to
improve customer satisfaction and, where possible, reduce support costs. Again,
tap into customers’, employees’ and systems’ Code Halos to design personalized
services, speed problem resolution and provide more accurate updates.
• Empower call-center agents with the tools and knowledge they need to quickly
assist the customer, since the phone is not going away anytime soon. Agents
should, at the very least, have a “single view of the customer” that allows them
to see all the steps a customer has taken so they don’t have to re-explain their
situation to the agent. These agents should also have the same view of customer
data that can be seen online so they can give customers prompt, accurate and
consistent answers.
• Understand customers’ needs and priorities, using both conventional market
research and analysis of their digital behavior to develop specialized offers that
can help retain and regain pay TV customers.
• Strive for excellence in current services to build customers’ trust, steer them
to new services and cement their overall satisfaction and loyalty.
By performing more transactions online, improving the
quality of digital transactions like billing inquiries and
service changes, and using analytics for a more informed,
more complete view of customers, CSPs can improve their
relationships with current customers, attract new ones,
and accelerate future growth.
13. DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 13
Appendix: Survey Methodology and Objectives
For our second annual Communications Service Provider Customer Experience
Study, we conducted a 20-minute online quantitative survey of 925 respondents
in November, 2014. To qualify, respondents had to be 18 years or older, and be a
current subscriber to pay TV/video services, high-speed Internet and/or mobile
services.
Our objectives:
• To understand how satisfied customers (particularly younger customers) are
with CSPs’ products and services.
• To confirm the support channels that various types of customers prefer, and the
reasons behind those preferences.
• To determine the likelihood of customers of various age groups “cutting the
cord” and cancelling their pay TV service, as well as their reasons for doing so.
• To understand the interest levels among customers of various age groups for
newer services, such as “connected home” offerings.
• To verify customers’ attitudes regarding the use of their personal information to
customize products and services for them.
Footnote
1
For more on Code Halos and innovation, read “Code Rules: A Playbook for
Managing at the Crossroads.” Cognizant Technology Solutions, June 2013.
http://www.cognizant.com/Futureofwork/Documents/code-rules.pdf, and the
book, Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are
Changing the Rules of Business, by Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig and Ben Pring.
Published by John Wiley & Sons. April 2014. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
WileyTitle/productCd-1118862074.html.
Note: Code Halo is a trademark of Cognizant Technology Solutions.
14. 14 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
About the Authors
Bryan Powell is a Director within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Communication
and Technology Practice. He has over 12 years of experience partnering with and
delivering consulting support for key customer-experience initiatives, including
digital strategy and enablement, channel effectiveness, contact-center management,
customer satisfaction improvements and cross-channel functionality design. Bryan
holds a bachelor’s degree in business computing systems from Bradley University.
He can be reached at Bryan.Powell@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.
com/in/bryanpowell1.
Sara Mihan is a Senior Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s
Communication and Technology Practice. Sara has over 15 years of experience as a
management consultant in the communications industry. She works with clients to
plan, manage and deliver IT software projects, including customer self-service appli-
cations. Sara has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University
of Denver. She can be reached at Sara.Mihan@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://
www.linkedin.com/in/saramihan.