5g is the revolutionary technology which can significantly change customer experience for the better across all industries. Implementing it however, requires some time and investment. The challenge for mobile network operators is to prepare for the incoming 5g technology while ensuring they are able to provide content, convenience, coverage, speed, and price packages in line with customer demands.
The next generation of mobile technology will be able to offer a much more reliable connection and faster speed which paves the way for autonomous vehicles, remote surgery, and development of Internet of Things.
Even though the development of 5g across the globe have been slow, there are promising signs that the technology will be ready in some parts of the world in late 2020 or early 2021. On the other hand, the customer demand for 5g has been slow. This put most of the telcos in a limbo, should they go all out in developing 5g or can they just satisfy their customer needs by ensuring an uninterrupted access to 4g?
The bigger question is however, if tomorrow’s customer experience is already in development phase, how much should telco invest in improving today’s customer experience?
The domino effect from the existence and availability of 5g is going to affect customer experience from several angles. For an example, new generation of smartphones will be required to run 5g technology which means new contracts and pricing strategies. New technology and apps will be developed leading to new customer expectations and demands. Adding to the fact that trillion of new ‘’users’’ (in the form of autonomous sensors and bots) will cause new demand patterns. Customer experience in future will be totally different than today’s customer experience.
Mobile telcos and operators have to focus on improving today’s customer experience while getting ready for future expectations.
For now though, mobile operators can practice 5 key strategies to be successful and competitive:
1. Improving Customer Relationships
Top telco and mobile operators should focus on resolving issues and improving customer service process. Attention should be paid to contract holders. Rather than focusing on retaining customers at the end of their contract period, mobile operators should concentrate on retaining customers throughout their customer life-cycle.
2. Getting Ready for a future with 5g
The fastest moving telcos especially in the United States and United Kingdom are already rolling out 5g services in some areas. Efforts are also in place to partner up with technology providers, software developers and startups to generate more revenue. The brands which are lagging behind should start preparing for the future and build early momentum towards their customers in generating initial interest.
3. Security investment
Security is a vital component of customer experience. Investment in protecting data privacy and network security can be costly for businesses. The top leading companies are looking into how new technologies such as block-chain can help them beef up their security.
4. Customer needs centric
Brands should prioritize in meeting customer needs. Business can partner up and work together with other businesses in order to fulfill customer needs. For example, there are many businesses which are partnering with airlines to offer customers priority boarding while there are other brands which are partnering up with retailers to give customer discounts or faster delivery.
5. Upgrading technology.
Even with the imminent arrival of 5g technology, investment in expanding and upgrading current networks and technology is still being continued by telcos and mobile operators. They recognize the potential for improvement in most markets which can drive growth and more revenue without spending massive capital
Over the next couple of years, businesses will be dealing with different set of customer expectations from the introduction and widespread use of 5g. In order to stay competitive in future, telco should not only focus on delivering 5g services, but it will also be important to keep customers on the 4g and 3g network happy.
