Why network probes are insufficient in managing customer experiences...

It is a fact that most wireless service operators today have deployed network probes to monitor network performance and gather insight on customer experiences. Although network probes or interface probes or deep packet inspection what ever they are called gather a lot of information they are still insufficient in fully understanding customer experiences. Why is that?

Let's start with a few issues in deploying network probes

• Very expensive, a deployment to a medium-size operator can cost millions

• Gathers a lot of data operators can not actually process or use

• Invasion of privacy and no subscriber opt-in and opt-out. By default subscribers are monitored without their knowledge

• Focused only on network, not on actual device

• Limited to on-network usage as a touch point

Most probe solutions, although it can potentially cover all subscribers is actually against privacy laws. Probes gather subscriber data and usage including websites they visit, calls they make, messages sent and received, data usage and a host of other things. Just imagine the customer outcry if they realize what kind of information the operator is collecting. Will this force subscriber to churn or will they put together a very expensive class action lawsuit to every operator that monitors them without their knowledge and acceptance?

Having said that of all customer touch points, probe is very limited to network usage, its in fact the most limited form of CEM solution. While most customers will most likely play games on their devices, ruse OTT applications, probes are limited to use of the network and does not really capture what negative experiences customers have. Now add instances where customers complain even though their usage is outside the network… On the extreme it is questionable whether probes are really effective. Take this scenario into consideration, a customer made a phone call, according to the probe record the call was cleared normally after 2 minutes. However in the device the subscriber call kept on going for another 8 minutes then dropped. Here you get a very unhappy subscriber (due to dropped call), lost revenue to the operator (can not bill the 8 minutes that the probe did not see) and a customer complain for bad experience.

Take into account customer experience in a data network, let's say that a customer is browsing the internet and he/she feels that browsing is very slow, even though he/she can see HSPA+on the phone's notification display. On this instance the probe sees that full HSPA+ speed is available to the subscriber but it fails to see the other applications in the background that are using bandwidth. Here you get a complaining customer and a confused engineering team wondering why they can not replicate the problem with any of their specialized test devices

Deployment of network probes are very expensive and considering that when a mobile operator moves to LTE they most likely can not use the same network probe and will need to make another big investment to be able to manage customer experiences. Further more of all the data network probes gather, how much are really fully processed and useful to the operator?

Having said that probes are of course useful in one way or another such as determining network performance. However it is insufficient in managing customer experiences, the investment for an operator is better spent somewhere else if they are looking for customer experience management solutions….

Word of Mouth is revolutionizing the digital world….

We live in a digital world, well at least for 2 Billion people who use the internet as part of their daily lives where information exchange is so fast that it is redefining how we consume information. Let's look back to 20 years ago, we have a web of information on the internet where we use the net find information. 10 years ago the advent of the social network age has changed the way we communicate with each other, social media now travels much faster than mass media. This social network revolution has started the social web, changing the way we use information call if web 2.5 if you like paving the way for a full semantic web or web 3.0. By 2020 technology will be available to link intelligence, actually we are now in the infancy of this technology with machine to machine communication. The experiences we have in consuming information, exchanging information and generating information are changing however there is one constant that seems to be inert to being human.

In 1944, the phrase Word of Mouth was coined/introduced and with that it has proven that we as human are more influenced by out peers than a bombardment of mass media advertising. Going through the evolution of the digital age this concept, Word of Mouth, has remain true to its roots and continuously growing. Powered by mobile, the internet and social networks everything we think, an event,  a product, a service or just about anything is  just a touch or a whisper away from propagating to the 2 Billion people who are connected to the internet daily. This is altering the way we experience things putting the 10 year old concept of Customer Relationship Management obsolete.

Knowing what we as consumers talk about regarding a wide range of topics has become a trend in assessing customer experiences, away from the traditional surveys that most CRM system favors… in fact the entire customer care concept is disappearing and being replaced by self care. Having said that the question is how should companies use this changing environment to improve their bottom line, after all we are in the middle of a financial crisis that who  ever gets it right will be the ones to thrive and prosper.

Do you want good customer service?

All of us at some point in time were customers, and at some point in time we encountered a customer service representative, either through phone, email or in person. What we all have in common is the desire to get an excellent service when we need it, where we want it and anytime we desire to. Having said that this is not always the reality. Is there an instance when you would have wished for better customer care, better customer support services?

To me that's in a lot of instances where I wish I get better customer care. One customer care structure I like is Telia in Sweden, especially their e-services for fixed and broadband service, not necessarily the waiting time in their shops which is dreadful. However in  their e-services they provide a lot of ways to contact customer care online from online chat to self diagnosis. I also like their premium support services, although I think it should be free for high value customers. The only thing I think Telia is missing today is to be able to have the same ease of getting customer care for mobile subscriber. And while we are at it, would it not be better if we as customers don't need to contact customer care for our service providers to notice and fix issues we are experiencing?

Who would not want an excellent customer care services and why should we not demand it from our service providers? At the end of the day we as customers bring revenue to them and in some case we bring high value due to our usage of communications services. The question is,  "what are our service providers doing today to improve the delivery of customer support services?"