from the front office all the way to the network, why end-to-end digitalization is essential for a great customer experience
By: Angela Logothetis, CTO, Amdocs Open Network
Search, click, buy, use – online stalwarts like Amazon, Uber and Netflix have shaped our expectations of a fast and joined-up digital customer experience.
But when the pandemic raised the bar and digital became virtually the only way to shop, work and access entertainment, not everyone could match this speedy delivery. Gaps in digitalization meant there was often a significant lag between clicking and receiving purchases, as digital user interfaces and back-office processes were not connected.
Communication service providers (CSPs) frequently face the same issue. While most have their digital transformation well underway, digitalization is typically introduced at the customer-facing front-end, for basic commerce and care processes. However, we frequently find that the ‘back office’ service and network operations areas lag or are not entirely on board.
This needs to change if CSPs want to win over and retain customers in what is an ever more competitive environment. At the same time, a new mindset will be needed if service providers are to achieve more efficient operations as their networks become increasingly complex.
Digitalizing operations end-to-end and driving true ‘digital-to-network’ automation is key to reaping the full benefit of investments being made in new network infrastructure.
Real digital transformation of network services is more than a good-looking customer interface
Camille Mendler, Omdia, Chief Analyst
Joining up the digital dots
It is one thing allowing new ‘enterprise consumers’ to upgrade their broadband service for higher speed and new security features with just a few clicks. But the digital illusion quickly breaks down when those customers then have to wait weeks for the service to be provisioned and for an engineer to come out to configure their home gateway.
The reason is that − despite an all-singing-all-dancing front-end − the CSP’s underlying business/operational support systems (B/OSS) are not fully digitalized and connected up with the network to orchestrate and activate the broadband upgrade remotely.
Not being able to follow through in real-time or near-real-time has significant implications for the customer experience, especially at a time of rapidly changing enduser requirements.
Hear from Angela Logothetis, Amdocs Open Network and Jim Hodges, Chief Analyst – Cloud & Security at Heavy Reading on why 5G and the cloud make it more critical than ever to automate the back office.
