Oracle Research Reveals Challenges Communications Service Providers Face in Serving and Retaining Customers

Today Oracle released research that demonstrates that a lack of integration between departments and business systems is challenging the ability of communications companies to serve and retain customers effectively. A detailed press fact sheet is available [ here ].
The study, entitled "Fostering Customer Intimacy for Communications Service Providers in Europe and the Middle East" and conducted by Vanson Bourne, involved a survey of 46 senior customer management executives for various communications service providers (CSPs) and 3,750 consumers across Europe and the Middle East (EMEA).

Key Findings
The study found:

A surprising lack of integration between customer-facing teams and their business systems:

Two-thirds of CSPs (65 percent) admitted that customers are unable to resolve queries by calling just one number.

The vast majority of CSPs' systems leave them unable to effectively retain customers:

More than three-quarters of CSPs (80 percent) currently do not have the systems and processes in place to identify and retain customers reaching the end of their contracts.
More than half (53 percent) of consumers stated that their mobile providers had never contacted them at the end of their contract to entice them into a new one.

The public indicated a clear preference for Web-based customer service, but CSPs are falling short in this area:

83 percent of consumers chose the Internet as their first or second choice for communicating with their providers.
Less than half of CSPs (46 percent) offer the ability to view account trends and money-saving tips online, while a mere 13 percent provide online support agents via instant messaging -- two of consumers' most desired features in an online channel.

View the full findings [ here ].

Supporting Quotes

"With technology and communications at the heart of their businesses, communications service providers want to be adept at capitalizing on new modes of delivering personalized service. The research shows, however, that the industry faces a number of challenges in delivering a seamless and consistent experience across its customer service channels," said Bhaskar Gorti, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications.
"CSPs spend millions of dollars on marketing in a bid to attract new customers, but this does not matter if their existing ones continue to leave. There are various options available to help CSPs reduce customer churn. One is the ability to empower customers through social CRM tools; another is through technology that flags customers reaching the end of their contracts. These options give CSPs the opportunity to contact customers with new offers," said Tim Vaughan, business development lead for self-service applications, Oracle EMEA.

Supporting Resources

Notes to Editors
The business and consumer surveys were executed in September 2009.

For the business research, Vanson Bourne surveyed 46 senior customer management executives at telecommunications firms in Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The research questioned four executives in the United Kingdom and three in each of the following fourteen countries or regions: Benelux, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Middle East, Nordics, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

For the consumer research, Vanson Bourne surveyed 3,750 members of the public in total with 250 people questioned in each of the above fifteen countries or regions.

About Oracle Communications
Oracle is #1 in Communications globally with 20 of the world's top 20 communications companies running Oracle applications. Oracle Communications integrates industry-specific BSS and OSS solutions with a standards-based service delivery portfolio, as well as the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, and carrier-grade middleware and database technologies. Oracle Communications enables service providers to deliver next generation convergent services rapidly, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reduce costs in the business and the network. For more information, visit [ http://www.oracle.com/industries/communications ].

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: [ ORCL ]) is the world's largest business software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at [ http://www.oracle.com/ ].

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Oracle Research Reveals Challenges Communications Service Providers Face in Serving and Retaining Customers