Telecommunication & utilities: connecting your customers online
Telecommunication and utility companies deal with millions of customers in different markets, and offer many different products and services. The range of target audiences and offerings requires easy-to-use and robust Web Content Management to ensure strong online support and information.
Product or service
The telecommunication & utilities industry is finely balanced as to whether it is a products or a services industry. It is fair to say that both descriptions fit equally well. It is also an industry with high interests in both the B2B and the B2C environments. This setting draws a picture of a global industry, delivering products and services to a variety of audiences in a highly competitive space. The importance of the online channel is evident and still increasing. It also implies an increasing need to centralise and control marketing and communication yet leave sufficient flexibility for local operations. Due to local rules and regulations, telecommunication & utilities companies need to run their global operations very locally. Using the Web for that purpose, both from a sales and service perspective, creates serious challenges for marketing, communications and IT managers.
International brands & local operations
Given the huge investments in technology, infrastructure and R&D, the telecommunication & utilities industry is forced to look for economies of scale. Huge telecommunications and utility conglomerates have been created of the last decade as a result of mergers and acquisitions. Economies of scale are well understood from an operations perspective but the markets where they serve are still very local in culture and in rules and regulations. This situation is asking for communication and self-service driven content management solutions enabled to support all local online requirements.
Self service on the rise
The telecommunication & utilities sector is characterised by an increasing level of services offered online. Assuming power distribution and telecommunications infrastructures are reliable and working, the competitive advantages need to be found in communication, marketing, sales and service. Customers are offered a wide variety of online services and applications from their suppliers. A solid combination between content management and online applications is thus crucial. The business model will not work if one of them fails. Building a platform where both content management and online applications work seamlessly together cause great challenges for both the business side as well as the IT managers.
Personalisation
Telecommunication & utilities companies sit on a treasure called customer behaviour. Knowing exactly what the telephone usage and behaviour of customers is, gives a huge potential for products and services development. However, data protection laws mean using the knowledge in a real personal way is not always possible or allowed. Yet personalisation is a magic word that enterprises want to use and explore more and more. Of course, every customer believes he or she is unique but in reality we know that from a sales and marketing perspective there is nothing wrong in grouping of customers and markets in entities with similar product needs and communication requirements. In a service environment this is a different story. Here the customer and his situation are unique and your ability to meet his individual needs determine your success. Especially where you strive for customers to service themselves (self service) the need to make sure all data is 100 percent accurate is crucial for success. Mapping individual customer needs to a global business model, however, is a true challenge. Multiple sites, languages, offerings etc., often cause sleepless nights for service and IT managers.
Benefits
Customer loyalty
SDL Tridion R5 allows you to maximise your customer loyalty efforts. SDL Tridion's personalisation & profiling features give you the opportunity to offer the right content to your customers fitting both push and pull marketing strategies. Our proven features can really support your online strategies, make your customers more loyal and increase the revenues from your existing client base substantially.
Customer in control
Cost effective yet personalised customer interaction is the dream of every Service & Support manager. SDL Tridion WCM is a cornerstone in making that dream come true. Publishing consistent content about your products and services to all your customers worldwide on a solid and cost-effective platform supports customer support initiatives and self-service strategies.
Access to the back-office
Another business need is to integrate your company’s online presence (Internet and intranet) with back-end solutions. With Self Service it has become a prerequisite by default. Online applications and functionality create a demand for using data stored in back-end systems like ERP or CRM. As an enterprise WCM solution SDL Tridion is well suited for the job. All our clients run successful Web sites completely integrated with all relevant back office systems. Our product, our professional service capabilities and our strong global partner network make this work.
Brand consistency
Many of our customers need to manage multiple brands in a global environment. Only Tridion can really make this happen in a cost-effective, reliable and rapid manner. Our BluePrinting™ technology is key in making this work for you.