How mobile apps can bring the mojo back to the telecom sector

Telecommunications is a tough business in India. It is one of the pillars of the infrastructure sector and is pivotal for economic growth. The once thriving industry is increasingly in tatters. Low average revenue per user (ARPU), regulatory issues, lack of infrastructure, and competition from OTT etc., are making industry bleed cash and go increasingly into the red. A long story of missed opportunities and ceding ground to competition, telcos can still come back in the game. And main driver for that will likely be what it is in every other industry. Own the consumer through solid service quality and right engagement.

Telcos are always in the know of how their customers are experiencing their services - how many calls are getting dropped, how many message delivery failures, how many calls experiencing 'no network' etc. What they do not typically do is look at broader aspects of holistic customer experience across touch-points.

Challenges of getting right customer feedback at right time is significant - who wants to talk to IVR machine for sharing feedback? Who wants to spend lot of money getting feedback in low ARPU market? Who will track all touch points at all times, and who wants to hear bad things about own business?

One potential solution could be an app-based approach. As an example, socially enabled local search mobile apps have implemented a globally unique end-call rating and review mechanism for people to rate businesses and service providers they use. This approach has few distinct advantages for telcos:

1. It takes only few seconds for a user to rate the business and she is not disturbed as this interaction is more an extension of conversation on the call.

2. The feedback received in this way is real-time as well and accurately reflects consumer's perspective.

3. This approach is omni-channel. If all the relevant contact numbers from telco are added into the system, telcos can track feedback on every channel.

4. Users can give feedback about any channel any time to their convenience by just giving a missed call and reviewing on end-call screen.

Telcos have a tough fight ahead on multiple fronts, especially from nimble and digital OTT players that engage much better with consumers. Smart action now will definitely not just stop ceding ground but also create opportunities to gain more ground.

(Rohit Raghav is co-founder, Phone Warrior the company behind Toost, a local search mobile app)