Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

August 04, 2009

Increased Customer Churn Dents Profits in the Communications Industry

By Raju Shanbhag


The global communication industry is registering impressive growth in terms of sales but the marketers aren’t necessarily reaping the benefits, claims a new study from the CMO Council and the Customer Experience Board. The report suggests that factors such as tough competition and undercut pricing factor in for established companies in enhancing their markets.
 
Although the communication industry have products that hit the market regularly, companies often have to deal with shifting customer loyalties that reduce profits and increase the costs of acquiring new customers. Many surveys and reports have showed that while the customers waste no time in trying out new products, they will also be looking for reduced prices and improved customer service.
 
Entitled "Service Invention to Increase Retention," the 80-page CEB report finds that incumbent providers believe they must improve processes and systems for customer retention and monetization. The report covers 140 industry marketers in the telco, wireless, cable, satellite, broadcast and Internet service provider sectors and highlights where and how technology convergence and customer empowerment are changing the monopolistic landscape.
 
“Marketers are being challenged to create brand preference and differentiation in a growing and already crowded market," said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. "These incumbent communications providers are struggling to adapt to increased innovation, growing price pressures, and heightened competition from new and adjacent market entrants.”
 
According to the report, over 50 percent of marketers feel their organization is not culturally or organizationally aligned around the customer. Also, 35 percent of marketers see deficiencies in IT, back office, or operational systems that subvert marketing claims and fail to meet customer demands and expectations.
 
Recently, the company released a study named "Business Gain from How You Retain," where it stated that only 50 percent of global marketers report having a strategy for further penetrating or monetizing key account relationships. The study also rates the effectiveness of customer relationship management systems as "deficient" or "needing more work," with only 15 percent of companies rating themselves "extremely good" or "effective" at integrating disparate customer data sources and repositories.
 
 

Follow ITEXPO (News - Alert) on Twitter: twitter.com/itexpo

Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jessica Kostek


Related Contact Center Solutions Articles

    Blending: The Key to Broadening Call Center Quality without Additional Resources

    While many a corporate call center has found, in recent years, the need to tighten its belt, other call centers with shallower pockets, such as those that support non-profit groups or government agencies and civil services, have found the budget crunch to be even more dire. [ Read More ]
    02/14/2012

    Is Improperly Used CRM Dragging Your Customer Support Down?

    While companies have been adopting ever more technology to try and support their customers to the best of their abilities - the sales figures for customer support solutions and applications bear witness to this - customers have never been more dissatisfied. Weird? A bit. And it might just be a function of improperly chosen, implemented and used customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. [ Read More ]
    02/14/2012

    VXi Launches UC ProSet for Contact Center Users

    The UC ProSet wired headset designed especially for unified communication users in contact centers and offices has been launched by VXi Corporation. VXi Corporation has improved its unified communication B2B line with this new headphone, the UC ProSet, which incorporates several features for ease and fashion of contact center users. [ Read More ]
    02/14/2012

    TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

    It is almost difficult to know where to begin, given all of the interesting contact center activities around the world. However, a great place to begin is with the Editors Choice feature by TMCnet contributor Tracey E. Schelmetic about a terrific webinar sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, "2012: Key Contact Center Trends and Priorities for the Upcoming Year - How you can be read.," The webinar featured Forrester Research principal analyst, Art Schoeller, Interactive Intelligence senior vice … [ Read More ]
    02/11/2012

[ View all Contact Center Solutions Articles ]

Socialize with us

FREE Contact Center Solutions eNewsletter

Click here to receive your targeted Contact Center Solutions Community eNewsletter.[Subscribe Now]

Industry News

Featured Resources

Contact Center Solutions Glossary of Terms

Press Releases

About the Contact Center Solutions Community

    Welcome to the Contact Center Solutions Community The Contact Center Solutions Global Online Community, Sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, is designed to serve as the industry's premier resource for information and research on Contact Center Solutions technology and deployment strategies.