Over the last decade, telecom businesses have encountered fundamental changes to their operations. In order to provide for subscribers who are increasingly dependent on mobile data connection and high, reliable bandwidth that allows them to interact on multiple platforms, telecom companies are responsible for leveraging new technologies with ready solutions to keep up with the demands of customers.
These changes have opened up opportunities for software services to optimize and simplify multiple challenges related to major business model adjustments and the need for better communication between platforms.
In this blog post, we’ll touch on common pain points telecom businesses face and the solutions the right telecom software can provide.
Telecom Business Pain Points
The global demand for fast, reliable internet has caused the telecom industry to reprioritize and—in some cases—completely rethink its business model. In fact, the demand for higher-speed networks in 2021 has forced telecom companies to augment network capacity with additional fiber and wireless deployments to meet demand or fall to the wayside.
So, what’s behind these updates? What are the common pain points that need addressing?
1. Data segmentation and redundancy
The amount of data created daily is astounding. According to Statista, the volume of data created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide is forecasted to grow to more than 180 zettabytes in 2025.
With such enormous amounts of data being created and leading to a higher number of workflow processes, telecom companies need:
- A strong data strategy that allows them to seamlessly integrate new products and functionalities
- A system that allows for effective data segmentation that avoids data redundancy
By properly storing and managing data, companies can quickly and effectively identify and seize market opportunities.
2. Low customer satisfaction
Telecom sales departments need a better way to provide the right connectivity solutions that are appropriate for the client in terms of serviceability and cost.
Among the reasons for low customer satisfaction is the use of legacy platforms that are outdated and ineffective. These platforms lack:
- Automation (and still require manual research on the part of sellers)
- Omnichannel experiences
- Personalized customer paths
- The ability to perform complex customer profiling
Ultimately, the right solution should pick up where the customer relationship management (CRM) software capabilities end to decrease customer churn through robust analytics.
3. Lack of agile system integration
Most telecom companies have too many resources, too much time, and too many tools that create a hindrance when implementing the newest solutions-based software.
Instead of laborious, manual coding, telecom teams need to start using solutions that utilize custom integrations to sync API endpoints, message queues, produce files, and more to a single source.
4. Poor efficiency rate
The telecom industry is at a great point of change, and those who don’t look to the future to make short-term gains are ultimately going to be left behind.
Too many sales teams are spending too much time on manual research and figuring out which aspects of business operations to automate. Instead of focusing on expansion and innovation, telecom companies are stuck figuring out how to eliminate repetitive tasks and transactions that lengthen the time to market, increase costs and errors, and ultimately sacrifice the quality of services.
5. Low technological expertise
Professionals in every industry have a moment of anxiety when a company introduces a new piece of technology, and the telecom industry is no different.
While staff members need to be proactive in order to successfully use the new technology, the onus is on the software company to create user-friendly, easy-to-learn telecom software. Time is money, and intuitive programs are increasingly becoming leaders in the market.
6. Inability to access data from all distribution channels from a common portal
For product, marketing, and finance teams, a major pain point arises from the inability to view data analytics from the direct, indirect, and wholesale distribution channels together. To provide tailored solutions to the customer, sales teams need to view results in an omnichannel setting.
How Telecom Software Addresses Pain Points
As you have read, many of the pain points experienced by telecom companies are due not to a lack of technology but to a lack of the right technology. At a high level, the right telecom software features:
1. A fully automated approach to research
As mentioned above, sales teams need to dedicate far more time to high-level selling, not to menial tasks that contribute to wasted time.
The right technology provides sales departments with immediate, automated information concerning connectivity solutions, increasing efficiency, and reallocating processes from manual to automated.
2. Seamless integration between systems
Just like people speak to each other, your systems need a way to communicate as well. Without seamless integration between systems, your teams don’t experience a holistic view of data.
This means that your CRM and configure, price, quote (CPQ) software need to allow for easy integrations that don’t require a significant amount of manual effort.
3. A user-friendly interface
As we addressed in the previous section, your team doesn’t have all the time in the world to learn new systems. And those who do learn the system need to be able to navigate the interface without significant effort.
The right platform should provide a common distribution portal with a user-friendly interface that doesn’t require data analysts to interpret data and make decisions.
Choose the Right Telecom Software with MasterStream ERP
Address your business’s main pain points by exploring MasterStream ERP’s suite of products that provide solutions tailored to automate, simplify, and accelerate your business. Our intelligent software and process solutions are made to streamline business functions within the telecom sales process.
Want to learn more about how to optimize your sales channels? Download the checklist, “How to Achieve Telecom Sales Automation with Accuracy and Speed.”
