A Subtle Benefit Is Still a Benefit

In the small waiting room at my doctor’s office yesterday, I sat staring into my Blackberry. A doughy, middle-aged man sat a few feet away chuckling at a skit by Ellen DeGeneres on the TV overhead, his generous folds responding to the joyful buoyancy of laughter.

“I heard she had a heart attack yesterday or got treated for chest pains," I said.

His merriment continued but changed in tone.

“That’s ‘cuz she do bad things," he said. “She lay where she ain’t supposed to lay. He (pointing a lazy finger skyward) says it ain’t natrul. What she think gonna happen? Hee hee."

When his body mass settled to a quiver and he wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes, I asked, “You here to see the cardiologist?"

“Uh huh."

“Me too," I said, and gave him a wink.

I wondered all day if such a subtle message could get through to a guy like that. After deciding the answer was no, I wondered what message I got out of our little exchange. My takeaway, as we like to say in the biz, was a question of subtlety. Does it ever work?

If there is one thing you can say about the world of BSS and OSS, it is that the benefits of the solutions in this space are often subtle: a slight uptick in the number of orders processed, a decrease in order fallout, improved churn rates, a bump in customer sat, maybe a twitch to the positive side of margins.

Since most of the industry deals in pretty large numbers, even subtle changes can be meaningful. However, in times of uncertainty – and these are pretty uncertain times – subtle improvements may not be enough for a service provider to pull the trigger on software investments and/or any other type of investment that upsets the status quo.

Certain solutions that affect the collection of revenue directly such as revenue assurance, fraud, dynamic routing and margin management can show quick enough and significant enough ROIs to get service providers to bite in small chunks today. But solutions that promise a better customer experience, that in the long run can more intelligently target a customer with offers or those that require a significant shift in corporate culture, have some pretty big barriers to break down right now, even though they would have bigger, better, longer-term benefits than the other solutions. These are the solutions of the future, but the future isn’t subtle; it is big and bold and scary and uncertain.

To be part of that future, at some point companies have to embrace the tides of change, let go of old ways of thinking and step into the light. My waiting-room companion will never make it to the future. He’ll never be enlightened. He’ll never let go. But as we work our way toward the end of whatever this malaise is that we’re in, we can all start thinking big and bold again. In the meantime, subtle improvement is better than no improvement.

E-mail me at tmcelligott@vpico.com or click on the comment button below.