This article originally appeared on Forbes
As the pandemic proved, reliable broadband is a must-have in the home. Yet ISP service standards are much below consumer expectations. This parity is fueling a global trend to regulate ISP compensation and ensure quality broadband services for all. In the U.S., President Biden’s massive investment in infrastructure spurred the FCC Rural Broadband Accountability Plan. Before that, we saw progress made with the Broadband Transparency and Accountability Act and the renewal of ISP broadband consumer labels.
In the U.K., the Ofcom regulator’s intervention scheme kicked off a new era of ISP subscriber compensation. Similar regulations are being promoted in Australia, Nigeria, India, Germany, Italy, Ireland and more around the world.
Compensation for poor service is fast becoming a global requirement. Together with the rising international cry for broadband consumer rights, regulators are focusing on ISP accountability as the world comes out of pandemic mode. It’s thus crucial to ensure your ISP is ready for the inevitable change. Let’s explore how ISPs can tackle the global trends with preemptive AI-based services for new proactive support and a wealth of new home-specific data for a great CX.
Overcoming New Challenges To Raise Your ISP Standard Of Service
The new global accountability trends put automatic compensation on the critical path for all ISPs. Regulators are demanding payment for loss of service, slow repairs, delayed installations and missed technician appointments to enforce paying broadband customers when things go wrong. Over 90% of U.K. telco customers are ensured automatic compensation as major telcos have joined the U.K. scheme, such as BT, Virgin Media, Sky, Hyperoptic, TalkTalk, EE, Vodafone (Openreach customers only), Utility Warehouse and Zen Internet.
For automatic compensation to be viable, ISPs need to put subscriber service first by focusing on quality of experience (QoE). They need to eliminate false-positive faults that can waste days in calls and tech visits for high compensation fees. Not only must ISPs raise service standards, but they must also continue to reduce costs in the broadband commodity market.
Boosting Your QoE With New Data To Enable ISP Broadband Accountability
To deal with the complexity, telcos need new information on what’s happening in the home. There’s a need for a new approach for real-time home visibility and know-how. With new context-aware data, ISPs qualify faults and minimize compensation payment. Customer care personnel quickly understand the real ISP issues like line dropping, latency or RTT to eliminate any fault within the home. By automatically identifying and fixing problems based on home-specific data on network configuration, apps, devices and services, telcos become proactive for a new level of service while continuing to reduce operational cost.
Cutting OPEX With Proactive Customer Care
With AI and ML models for new home-specific data, subscribers get more personalized, faster service. Customer care personnel provide a precise diagnosis for effective support calls to minimize technician visits and compensation payments. Here are three ways AI helps ISPs to do this:
1. Solve Problems Faster With New Home-Specific Data For High QoE
It’s a challenge today to pinpoint issues and understand the impact on network performance, especially with competing Wi-Fi resources that coexist in the home. To improve broadband service and reduce compensation, telcos need to make home-specific data accessible to agents and customers to quickly assess problems and make the right decisions during a customer call.
Only with a context-aware Wi-Fi router and AI data analytics can customer care get the data, flexibility and response time needed to increase the number of quality customer conversations for higher levels of service at lower cost. With usage data on applications, devices and services for the specific network configuration, customer care personnel support customer issues in real time. They know the difference between servicing gaming, streaming, surfing or a mix to optimize QoE.
2. Automate End-To-End Problem Resolution For A New Level Of Service
Repairs can be costly for telcos, especially for technician visits. In the era of subscriber compensation, ISPs must also pay for missed appointments or problems that can’t be fixed in a timely fashion and more.
With autonomous resolution, telcos save technician visits, reduce compensation payments and proactively improve QoE. ISPs minimize malfunctions by learning and adjusting to specific home devices, apps and services. Issues are automatically fixed by resetting the home connection, switching or band-steering without impacting subscribers. Customer care personnel get alerts on what’s happening to ensure the highest QoE for happy subscribers.
3. Personalize Troubleshooting To Transform Support For Self-Care
Telcos identify root causes by process of elimination today. Customer care personnel are using reactive, out-of-date technical surveys that rarely detect malfunctions. They’re in the dark about root causes, wasting valuable time and money with long support calls for frustrated subscribers.
With a self-care app based on AI, subscribers save time by solving problems themselves without a support call. Instead of sending a technician, ISP support personnel have a wealth of new home-specific data. By analyzing issues online with up-to-date, real-time data, customer care resolves problems efficiently without technician visits. They get recommendations for fixing with automated malfunctions detection to delight customers and staff. For example, if subscribers experience slow video streaming, customer care personnel know it and can suggest switching servers or locations for quick resolution.
Tackling Compensation With AI Data Analytics For NG Telco Success
With personalized troubleshooting, self-service and automated resolution producing a high QoE, telcos no longer need to fear the consequences of automated compensation. Not only do ISPs minimize the risks of paying penalties, but they lower customer care costs. ISPs deliver the best possible CX for high broadband trust and success. With real-time QoE metrics, ISPs can viably support automated compensation to be accountable for high service standards. They get new insights for customer billing, marketing and sales in the connected home to reduce churn and boost ARPU for proactive care, high retention and new revenue streams.
