Telco Industry Embraces MarTech Transformation to Win Over Consumers

Since the late 1970s, a new generational wireless network has evolved and revolutionized communications approximately every ten years. The launch of 1G in Japan in 1979 enabled the first commercially available cellphones from Motorola; 3G came with the ability to surf the internet; and 5G, launched initially in South Korea in 2019—although not yet available on a global scale—is poised to transform our lives completely with the metaverse, seamless connectivity, wearable devices, and more.  

With 6.64 billion smartphone users as of 2022, making up 83 percent of the world’s population, it’s the fastest-growing technology we have ever seen. However, as mobile technology has grown increasingly sophisticated, the telecommunications industry has lagged and is one of the least well-reviewed sectors from a customer experience perspective. From onboarding and technical support to resolving billing issues and not rewarding loyalty, the industry is plagued with complexity that can significantly impact customer acquisition and retention. 

As 5G rolls out, it will bring improved data rates and low latency while placing higher expectations on the services companies provide. Telco industry leaders know they need to accelerate their MarTech transformation to catch up to customer expectations, but they’re facing a range of challenges, including:

• An inability to coordinate campaign messages, delivery channels, and timing with current tools
• Difficulty identifying and targeting high-value prospect audiences
• Legacy and home-grown solutions that lead to fragmented stack and significant-tech debt

With the average consumer requiring approximately four days and two attempts to resolve an issue by a telco company, customers are frustrated by the experience and quick to switch allegiance. It’s estimated that customer churn costs up to $65 million every month across the industry.

By focusing on delivering exceptional customer experience, companies can build loyalty, drive higher ROIs, and transform operations to outpace competitors. To do so, they must work with a MarTech transformation vendor that can dial in a new era where emerging tech is perfectly aligned with frictionless experiences. By prioritizing personalization, backed by an end-to-end customer journey and a single source of truth, telco teams are empowered to transform for optimal business outcomes. Let’s look at the role each one plays. 

Maximizing the Potential of Personalization

According to McKinsey, only 5 percent of telco companies are unlocking the complete capabilities of personalization to gain a competitive edge and maximize revenue potential. With a strategy focused on delivering hyper-personalized experiences, sales, product, and marketing teams can collaborate to effectively curate offers, messages, and notifications that target a specific customer. By connecting actions to outcomes, it’s estimated that operators can increase revenues by 10 percent and customer satisfaction and engagement by between 20-30 percent.

Developing a Complete End-to-end Journey

A recent study found that 51 percent of marketing leaders believe that investments in MarTech could increase revenues by 10 percent to 40 percent over the next five years. Along with enabling an entire customer journey from beginning to end, digital transformation empowers telcos to utilize data and analytics to deliver a seamless customer experience across various channels—from apps and call centers to retail locations and more.

Basing Business Outcomes on a Single Source of Truth

Many telco companies are grappling with data-related issues with legacy infrastructure and complexity. As information is spread across the organization, there is a lack of collaboration across teams, and data accessibility and reporting are inconsistent.

Relying on a single source of truth empowers faster, more accurate decisions and drives efficiency and productivity to support business processes. As 85 percent of business leaders shift towards improving data management, a single source of truth is instrumental in driving change and improving organizational performance to help future-proof operations. 

With an extensive partner ecosystem, a deep bench of MarTech engineers and experts, and a wealth of media industry experience, Virtusa has everything you need to make your marketing transformation a reality. Get started today.

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