Like last year, we wanted to get the industry’s perspective on the challenges, opportunities, and digital-marketing priorities for the future. In collaboration with Ovum, we surveyed 250 marketers from telecom companies — fixed-service providers, mobile-service operators, mobile virtual-network operators, and integrated fixed- and mobile-service providers — across EMEA and the US. The survey was conducted during November of 2015. Here are our favorite themes and findings from the study.
Our new research on the telecom industry revealed some fascinating insights in this hyper-competitive and dynamic industry. Digital leaders in the telecom industry are focusing on and investing in improving customer experiences as a means to improve their bottom lines and differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market.
Competition Will Increase in the Hyper-Competitive Telecom Industry
Telecom companies were asked to rate the current and expected levels of competition, with 10 being the highest level and 1 the lowest. As the figure below shows, respondents reported that competition is currently within the mid to high levels, and 60 percent of respondents expect competition to rise to the highest range of 8 – 10 by 2016.
Revenue cannibalization from established and new OTT (over-the-top) players will continue to cause downward pressure on financial performance. This, in turn, fuels the need for telecom companies to constantly innovate with respect to their offerings and the operations that support the sale, delivery, and support of these services. However, given the current flat-to-declining performance of the overall telecom market, operational and cost efficiency have become core requirements of every transformation project. As a result, cost reduction is now an important component of internal business cases and a key motivation for investing in new technology.
Experience Is the New IP (Intellectual Property) | Differentiation Through Customer Experience
Though cost reduction is imperative, telecoms are willing to invest in improving customer experiences as a means to offset competitive threats, and ultimately, to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. When asked “What is the most important strategic response your company is taking to counter competitive threats and rising expectations?” the majority of respondents (25 percent) indicated that investments in improving customer experience was of utmost importance.
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