Deciding Who You Are

Who decides what kind of company you’re going to be? A mobile operator must first choose between being the low-cost provider or the high-end provider, between servicing consumers or the enterprise, between operating a prepaid or post-pay model, between being an early adopter, a fast follower or an intentional laggard (that’s called being market-reactive in some circles.) Sometimes the decision is to be hip or to be hop, to be rad or phat, slick or conservative or between Apple and Android.

These decisions are made primarily in the business-plan stage and made by entrepreneurs with the guts (or delusions) to believe that new businesses can still be launched. But they don’t really answer the right questions; they only answer this: What kind of business are you going to be? And that’s different. We in the world of BSS and OSS don’t care about that. We (you) answer the more important question: What kind of company are you going to be?

Why is this question more important? Because it is ultimately determined by your customer base. The company you are is the company you are perceived to be by those customers. They decide what kind of company you’re going to be by forcing you to respond to their needs and preferences. All you can do is put yourself in the position of being the company they want you to be, that they expect you to be.

This is especially true of MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators). By targeting a specific market niche, MVNOs are saying to their customers and potential customers that “We get you." They are promising to deliver what that niche needs better than any generic and giant mobile provider.

Delivering on that promise is up to those on the front lines of delivering and supporting your service and those veeps and manager who create the processes for them to follow. And it is up to the BSS and OSS solutions providers to support the flow of those processes.

There is one customer base for which it is an absolute must that one delivers on their promise: seniors.

The word sends shivers down the spines of most customer service reps. Seniors just may be the most demanding, impatient and hard-to-please segment of consumers — anecdotally speaking, of course. If you can make them happy, you know what kind of company you are.

One such company took on that challenge, choosing to target its MVNO business at those over 55 years of age with a focus on health and safety applications. (The only thing more demanding than a senior is a senior with a health or safety issue.) That company is GreatCall, formerly known as Jitterbug.

Sue Weaver, vice president of customer service for GreatCall, said the company offers products that are easy to use and ensure that customers stay connected, safe and healthy. GreatCall does this by offering simpler technology and easy-to-use applications such as 5Star Urgent Response and Live Nurse — you get the picture.

But just because the phones have big numbers and the apps are easy to use, doesn’t mean the GreatCall service is simple to support, Weaver said. One of the interesting things in this scenario is that for its old(er) customers, GreatCall kicks it old school when it comes to service. They don’t use an IVR. Customers get a live agent within 20 seconds — at least 80 percent of the time.) They’re open 24 hours per day and they don’t rush callers off the phone by setting limits on call-handling time. And they train any trace of impatience right out of their reps.

E-mail me or click on the comment button below. And stay the hell off of my lawn, you young whipper-snapper.