Here at Opensignal, we have reported a few times on how mobile networks have faced up to the challenges of the global pandemic, and how the network experience users receive has been impacted, with living and working patterns changing so dramatically.
As a result of these changes we wanted to understand how operators have adapted the way they relate to their consumers and how they promote their services and win new customers. To help us find out more we commissioned a study that interviewed 17 operators from around the world, all of which had operated under some form of lockdown at one point or another. The study, Evolution or Revolution? uncovered some fascinating insights.
Firstly, even though telecommunications has become more important than ever, the study echoed other industry sources which suggest overall revenues have dropped by £31bn. The interviewees had witnessed a fall in revenues whilst having to deal with increases in data traffic, in one case by 30%.
Secondly, the financial impact is a challenging enough problem in itself, but at the same time we saw a huge acceleration of the ongoing shift to digital channels, as stores were forced to close. Those operators who already had mature omnichannel strategies and systems in place were at a distinct advantage here. For those with disparate systems a full scale migration to digital meant a huge learning curve for staff, and customers.
We wondered if this acceleration away from traditional stores and face to face customer service might be a final terminal blow to operators’ retail operations, but this is not the way our interviewees saw it at all.
To learn more about our study, and how Opensignal is helping operators understand, improve and change perceptions about network experience get in touch with us at https://www.opensignal.com/contact
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