Industry Thought Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world in an unprecedented manner; this has triggered a severe slowdown in economic activities across almost all industry verticals. We can expect the pandemic to slow down over the short term; we all know that its after effects are here to stay for much longer. With major shutdowns all over the globe, forcing everybody to stay indoors; the work, connect & study from home models have given a big boost to the telecom industry. This industry today is as important as other essential services like power, water etc.

Despite all the challenges faced due to COVID-19; the current situation has also created new opportunities for telecom operators to further penetrate critical entities like healthcare, education, utilities and many more. Furthermore, due to the innovative approach taken by operators and the ability of consumers to utilize and adapt, the usage of telecom services is changing the dynamics of the global telecom market including MENA.

The total telecom revenue in MENA is expected to grow at a CAGR of 0.4% between 2020 and 2025, despite the negative impact of the COVID-19. The operators’ investments in both the fixed (mainly fibre) and mobile (both 4G and 5G) markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will lead to significant growth.

Embracing the Change
In this growing but challenging business environment, customer service, network quality and cost of service will be the key drivers which operators will have to focus on, to reduce subscriber turnover and increase market share in an already highly-penetrated and competitive market.

We believe cost reduction, viz. outsourcing of business process services is not only helping operators meet their cost targets but is also enabling a major uplift in generating additional revenue (increase in ARPU) as well as helping telecoms to drive lower churn. Telecom operators should focus on end product and the core services which the consumers demand, while the supporting services – which are an enabler for the operators to successfully manage customer experience – can be left to a service partner who can bring strong capability and the become a part of the existing ecosystem to deliver superior services.

Customer experience (CX) is no longer a good to have. It has become a mainstay to arrest customer churn and address customer needs and turnaround. Omni channel customer service is already breaking through the traditional doors and is paramount for reaching out to the already connected user world.

This trend is seen in telecom sector in the Middle East in recent years, especially in the Gulf, a region characterised by some of the highest rates of penetration in mobile telephony in the world (10.58 million subscribers in the UAE alone ). Top 5 mainstream network services provider are maximising largely on their ability to deliver new, high-value customer services for both enterprises and retail consumers.

Hence, while heading into 2021, the telecommunications industry leaders should consider these key CX opportunities to boldly position themselves to thrive in the future. This is where Tech Mahindra BPS’s deep Telecom expertise come into play wherein we as Change Agent can help Telecom Providers by:

1. Renew the focus on customers’ needs by taking a more nuanced approach to customer engagement.
2. Convert and remix their entertainment experiences by designing new service offerings and by adopting new strategies that can enable business agility.
3. Enable fully connected customer solutions which are hyper-personalised to match the need of each & every user.

To summarise, there is now a major shift in the industry where a larger number of customers are preferring digital services like online ordering, mobile payments, robust collaboration tools, among others, and this will be the new normal for telecom operators post the crisis. In order to tap these future demands, telco’s should not only continue to invest in their network infrastructure; but also draw a big focus on improvising their customer services environment. There is a constant change in demands, product and service portfolios and facilitating customer needs with greater flexibility will be critical for the long term sustainability, and we are here to support all yours and your customers’ needs.