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Editorial: Other Highlights At the Show
There also seemed to be a lot of buzz around a company called SNAPin Software. It offers mobile interaction management products, which are a series of self-care applications embedded directly into a subscriber’s cell phone. In February the company announced its first trial customer, Orange UK. At the CTIA show the company said it had signed its first U.S. customer, a tier 1 mobile operator known for its dedication to customer care.
What’s so special about its products? Well, for one, they make sense. By embedding self-care functionality such as customer care, billing and troubleshooting directly into the phone, its creates a win-win situation. Customers can choose to use these functions if they wish, and if they do, the operator is saving money in call center expenses.
The SNAPin software links directly into a service provider’s back office. So if someone pays a bill, the change in the account happens in real time.
Even more impressive was the company’s troubleshooting software. Say someone is having trouble with a phone and calls the call center: it can become a lengthy process to solve the problem, at best. The CSR might not know anything about the phone, the customer might have to call from a landline, because that is the only way to get the phone make and model number off the back of the battery. Also, the subscriber might not be able to use the phone while diagnostics are underway. With this software, all of the troubleshooting is completed automatically, and a patch can automatically be uploaded to the phone.
As phones become more complicated, with more features, this will prove to be a cost saver for the provider. If the problem can’t be solved automatically, the software creates a file of the information it has gleaned from the diagnostics and forwards a message when the customer calls support. At this point, the call can be routed to the appropriate CSR, along with all of the diagnostic information. Cost savings are also achieved here, because the caller isn’t bounced from one CSR to another.
One other highlight about the software is that it can anticipate a subscriber’s need to call the provider and can eliminate the need for that call. For example, if a subscriber gets a phone and after a few days has not set up voice mail, it could be because the subscriber has lost their temporary passcode. Service providers constantly field this type of call. So instead, in this situation, the software pushes out a prompt, asking the subscriber if they need a voice mail passcode.
Marketing departments also really like this software because it can drive the usage of new services. It can teach subscribers how to use all of the services on their phone using highly intuitive prompts. For some subscribers, if it appears a new service is going to be too complicated to learn, they won’t bother—or they’ll call a CSR for help.
At the 2006 Forum Nokia awards in December, Nokia named SNAPin the Innovator of the Year and also honored it with the Best Productivity Application award for its self-care product. The company was selected for these awards from more than 100 entries by a panel of independent judges.
Comments and feedback welcome, please email Jill Morgan at jmorgan@billingworld.com.
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