This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine.
Wireless carriers spend millions on contact center calls related to device questions from their subscribers, and to lean more Amdocs (News - Alert) recently commissioned a survey that shows that while 83 percent of the 2,900 consumers surveyed are aware of self-service options, only 37 percent of consumers use them.
Why? You may think it’s because they don't have access to a PC, or perhaps they have an Apple iDevice and are afraid the answer will be in Adobe (News - Alert) Flash and all they will see is a series of question marks. Well, if this is what you thought, you'd be wrong on both counts. The reality is that they expect the answers to be wrong or inaccurate.So perhaps, you are thinking, social media is the solution. Nope, 75 percent of users did not find a satisfactory answer there.91 percent of respondents requested a single repository of information that would keep them from having to rely on Google (News - Alert), Bing and/or another search provider.Peter Bernstein has a piece on TMCnet that goes into considerable depth, analyzing the study and making important recommendations about how to reduce call center call volume and the associated cost. Wireless service providers should really read the piece.
On a separate but somewhat related front, Aito Technologies is working to help carriers leverage sentiment analysis.
As you probably know, in the U.S., some of the most challenging times for carrier sentiment had to be when comedians and shows like SNL poked fun at the iPhone for not working properly on the AT&T (News - Alert) network. And in such situations where the carrier’s network was slammed with traffic and the company was not able to come up with a solution quickly, there probably wasn’t much the company could do to change public sentiment... Read More