How can artificial intelligence improve the customer experience in the Telco sector? The answer can only start from the data. Each user, when browsing the web or using a mobile application, leaves a trail behind them. Data about what they have been looking at, how long they have been surfing the web or how fast they have downloaded a file. The Telco Customer Experience is one of the fields that more than any other can take advantage of Artificial Intelligence. For a very simple reason: there is a huge amount of data at stake; giving shape and meaning to the information makes business more efficient, facilitating the offer to end customers and allowing us to anticipate their needs. Whereas years ago data had to be managed a posteriori, today Artificial Intelligence improves the Customer Experience, allowing us to anticipate needs and to avoid inefficiencies.
Artificial Intelligence improves efficiency
The data that Microsoft disclosed during the Innovation Summit 2019 that was held in Milan speak for themselves: over the next 15 years, adopting Artificial Intelligence will improve business productivity by 12%. Artificial Intelligence makes companies more efficient and therefore in a position to produce more and better, without increasing the amount of instruments already used. In any case, productivity is not the only added value that AI can bring to an agile and advanced business. Following Quality of Service (the evaluation of network performance parameters in the case of Telcos), today it is necessary to talk in terms of Quality of Experience, that is to say the perception that the customer has of the service. The quality of the network alone is no longer enough to value a service. To remain competitive, a Telco today must be able to take on the challenge of the all-round Customer Experience: before, during and after the sale to the end user. Customers must be satisfied in every aspect of use, and customers who feel well taken care of remain loyal. To that end, Artificial Intelligence is indispensable because it is capable of continuously learning from the large amount of data generated in the current digital world, offering a flexibility of execution that, today more than ever, is essential.
With Artificial Intelligence the network is always ready
Data traffic analysis is cross-sectional and touches on every aspect of a company. For a Telco, offering a quality network is essential. Never before has it been more important to be able to react promptly to an issue, which is fundamental to keep the Customer Experience at a high level and, by doing so, to build customer loyalty. AI allows us to anticipate when a peak of data will occur, avoiding any inconveniences to the customers. By analyzing how users access the network, what content they download and at what hours of the day they do it, Telcos can properly configure the network and content delivery networks (CDN). Anticipating, preventing and organizing rather than reacting during moments of intense traffic.
Artificial intelligence and customer experience: a perfect combination
The marketing department can, through data and machine learning, understand how to better position an offer both on the website page and also to configure its contents and prices. However, Artificial Intelligence applications are more pervasive. When users report a breakdown on the line or a concern about an offer, a chatbot (a virtual assistant that uses data to constantly learn how to assist customers) can respond faster than a human agent. With the additional incentive that it improves every day: the more data are accumulated, the more it learns, the more efficient and useful it will become. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, users had their answers quickly, the company has saved time and the customer experience has risen to a new level. Vodafone is an example: Tobi is the name of its virtual assistant who, via website, smartphone App or WhatsApp, answers users’ questions about special offers, technical issues or, again, how much credit is left on the phone SIM. When it doesn’t know the answer, it forwards the query to the most suitable operator so as to meet the request of the customer in need.
Artificial intelligence, Customer experience and IoT: data are everywhere
The Internet of Things (IoT) represents an important segment for Telcos and one of the fastest growing ones in the coming years. According to the latest Global IoT Executive Survey of Business Insider Intelligence, by 2025 there will be 64 billion devices connected to the Internet. Managing such a vast set of data becomes crucial and only Artificial Intelligence can guarantee the possibility of providing an evolved Customer Experience thanks to a fluid, flexible and scalable service. The advent of 5G will make this situation even more chaotic: there will be a lot of data to be considered, coming from diverse sources. Managing this context with the sole contribution of human resources, whose role (especially data analysts) remains fundamental, is no longer possible. The evolution of the Customer Experience moves from here: giving meaning to the vast amount of data that people produce every day. Even today, data is no longer generated only by web traffic, but also by smart TVs, wearable devices and vehicles. In the near future, almost every object used in everyday life by individuals and companies alike will be connected to the Internet, with a constant exchange of data. For this reason, Artificial Intelligence is a tool that Telcos can no longer do without.
