As service providers look to enhance their relationship with existing customers and attract new ones, a study by Ovum says that they are increasing their investment in customer experience management (CEM) tools including network and service policy management.
Ovum has forecast that telcos will spend $60.7 billion on their IT infrastructure by 2017 with the majority of the investments focused on network infrastructure and online channels that allow customers to interact and control their service experience.
The majority of the service providers that responded to their survey said that multi-channel integration and service personalization were the two key areas of focus in the next 18 months. Out of this group, 67 and 61 percent plan to increase spending in these two areas.
Service providers will allocate capital to business intelligence and advanced analytics (predictive or Big Data analytics). Over 80 percent of survey respondents plan to deploy these elements at the network level in what Ovum says is "an attempt to offer an enhanced connected experience with predictable, consistent, and relevant services at each point of interaction in the customer lifecycle."
Policy management and improving operational support services, in particular, will also become more important during this period. An estimated 45 percent of service providers said they see it as a top-three priority for the next 12-18 months as a way to help subscribers customize their user experience.
Shagun Bali, analyst at Ovum, said the successful use of policy management will take coordination between their IT, network operations, and marketing departments.
"All three departments have high stakes in this, and all three need to be in sync with each other for it to work," he said.
For more:
- see the release
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