Tecommunications: Need to support the mobile user? Support the mobile device.
By Rob Dalgety, Marketing Director, Mformation Technologies
Telecommunications Magazine, October 23, 2009...
New and smarter mobile devices are coming to market every day, offering a multitude of advanced capabilities, including complex and data-intensive applications such a as email, Internet browsing and picture/video messaging. These advances in mobile device capabilities and services are good news for everyone — not only are these capabilities opening up new business models for service providers, but they are expanding service offerings for consumers and enterprises. Even in these tough economic times, smart devices are one of the key growth areas in the handset marketplace; shipments of smart devices are experiencing very solid growth quarter-on-quarter.
Invariably, smart device users are high-value users — they spend proportionally more on mobile services, creating a virtual cycle of high-APRU users with increasingly capable devices, who can undertake more and more activities on those devices. However, these devices also create a number of support challenges, including longer query/call handling times and higher support costs. Yes, these more sophisticated smart devices can support significantly increased mobile activity. But, there are also more things that can go wrong with these devices.
In addition, the wireless environment is inherently complex. A multitude of different device makes/models, operating platforms and firmware, coupled with a vast array of features make supporting these devices increasingly complicated. Add to this the variety of connectivity options available (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, etc.) and it is easy to see why providing superior support for these devices and services is becoming both increasingly complex and increasingly critical.
Mobile users expect devices and services to “just work”
User aspirations always rise — the more users can do, the more they want to do. Increasingly, everyone using a mobile device expects improved levels of service from their carriers and service providers. They want fewer problems and, perhaps more critically, they want to spend less time dealing with problems if anything does go wrong.
First, they expect the devices they purchase to operate out of the box — that includes the applications and services provided on the devices. Second, they want new applications and services to be easy to install and to run smoothly. Finally, they want any problems, whether related to the device’s capabilities or the applications and services on that device, to be addressed quickly and accurately.
It is true that many end-user queries to the call center result from a simple lack of knowledge on the part of customers. In other instances, however, queries are more technical, ranging from configuring new hardware on the device to upgrading applications. In many calls, the first-level support agents at the call center simply do not have the necessary tools to deal with the queries. While they may have customer information at hand, they do not have the other missing parts of the puzzle — the device make/model, the firmware the device is running, the applications on the device or the current status of the device. The agent may have to go through a long-winded manual process with the user just to determine what the problem is. Worse, the user may need to follow some very complex manual instructions, such as keying in long alphanumeric strings, as part of the solution. And even worse than that, there may be no remote way to solve the problem, which means that either the problem goes unresolved (which leaves a very unsatisfied user) or it requires physical access to the device (which means the user must bring/send the device into a retail or service location).
Remote mobile device support provides an answer
Service providers are seeking out solutions that not only tackle the support cost problem but also ensure that the customer experience is not jeopardized as a result of poor support. They are looking for solutions that enable them to seize opportunities to resolve issues quickly or with very short handling times. Remote device support, particularly smart device support, is becoming a must-have capability for mobile service providers.
A key part of any device management solution for carriers and service provider customers is real-time diagnostics and repair for mobile devices. In many instances, the right device management solution can resolve device and service issues automatically without the user needing to contact the call center. The system can detect certain device problems, such as incorrect configuration settings, and can resolve them in the background, over the air. This proactive approach to resolving mobile user problems means that support staff time is not diverted for certain common, detectable problems. Over time, service providers are finding more and more use cases for this type of automated device support.
In other cases, when a call comes through, customer care agents are provided with on-demand visibility and access to current, detailed information about the end-user's device. This includes visibility into the services on the device and the device state. Access to this information enables customer care staff to find, diagnose, and fix customer problems over the air, quickly and accurately, in real time.
For example, if someone calls customer support because their Internet access is not working, the customer care agent can see at a glance that the configuration settings for that service are not correct, and can send the correct ones out over the air to the device, resolving the problem in seconds. Customer care staff can view current, real-time vital signs, and current and historical handset details and network indicators over the air — everything from the current battery level or memory available, to network and coverage information — providing the agent with a complete picture of the device and enabling rapid resolution of a wide array of problems. In addition, the agent can look at the firmware and software applications on the device and can update, install, uninstall and, in many cases, start, stop and otherwise control certain applications over the air, enabling customer care to resolve any number of firmware, software and service problems quickly.
Improved support, lower costs, happier users
The ability to remotely detect configuration settings on devices, push out firmware updates as needed, install and uninstall applications, and configure software and service settings on devices are powerful tools for carriers and service providers. These capabilities not only reduce call-handling times significantly, they also improve customer satisfaction in a very personalized way. The results of these activities are the substantial and immediate reductions in customers seeking support while at the same time reducing average handling time and improving first call resolution for those who do need to get in touch with their service providers.
Direct benefits of smart device care include end users adopting new and existing applications and services while becoming increasingly self sufficient and less reliant on call centers and walk-in visits to resolve issues. Ultimately, end users derive greater value from the services their providers offer, resulting in overall increased satisfaction and a better customer experience. Meanwhile, service providers see a direct margin improvement in their business based on growth in revenues associated with increased data-service usage coupled with lower operational and support costs.