• New and state-of-the-art CRM systems
  • Integration with social media platforms
  • Faster and simpler processes
  • 360-degree customer view
  • Fast time-to-market for new promotions

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the basis of each successful operating company. CRM helps them respond to customer enquiries in a fast and competent manner. All in-house knowledge about customer relationships is managed by these state-of-the-art CRM systems, with a view to maximizing positive company-customer relationships for the advantage of both parties. The CRM systems manage customer inquiries from all communication channels including calls to a call center, email communication and fax and online requests. They manage all processes that run in the background to guarantee fast and accurate responses to customer inquiries.

The Telekom Austria Group, as innovation leader in the CEE area, plays a pioneering role also in this area and today announced the successful implementation of IT-transformation projects and the launch of new CRM systems in its subsidiaries, Vipnet (Croatia), Vip mobile (Republic of Serbia) and Vip operator (Republic of Macedonia).

"Our main focus in implementing these new systems was on quality optimization with a view to enabling faster responses to customer enquiries, achieving a better understanding of customer needs and ultimately, generating added value for our customers," said Günther Ottendorfer, CTO Telekom Austria Group, about the successful transformation. "The implementation of these new CRM systems will also contribute to better customer management going forward," continued Mr. Ottendorfer.

State-of-the-Art Systems: Optimization of the Revenue/Expense Ratio

Since the entry of Telekom Austria Group in its eight operating markets, different CRM systems have been implemented and put into operation in line with customers' requirements. The new systems provide customer service agents with full transparency and a deeper, integrated customer view. Thanks to the migration to modern CRM systems, local IT departments are now in a position to react faster to the market environment and to implement new products and product features in a simpler manner.

The Group's three subsidiaries are now equipped with state-of-the-art CRM systems characterized by a new look and feel, new features and a better and clearer interface. In addition, these CRM systems perform an important support function, when managing customers' orders and change requests. As a result, call center agents have a full overview of customer interaction processes and can react better to customer requests. Using these new systems, all customer-related information and data has been systematically consolidated and can now be accessed via an integrated information system. This results in faster and more effective customer-care processes and an optimized revenue/expense ratio.

Integration of CRM with Social Media to Build Up Stronger Customer Relationships

CRM has been integrated into social media platforms to further strengthen customer relationships. Social media platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook help to seamlessly track customer behavior patterns and engage in better communication. They also help to aligning customer opinions and experiences with the products and services offered. The results of internal surveys can be combined with the trends identified through social media to allow for better and faster decision-making relating to customer needs, product launches and market trends.

Reduced System Complexity Through Faster and Simpler Processes

Compared to previous systems, postpaid activation now takes between just two and four minutes and opening different data channels takes less than one second. A single front-end application allows simultaneous access to all necessary subscribers' data instead of the former sequential retrieval of data. Simple yet powerful workflow-tools offer users the possibility to create and enforce business rules. The handling of customer requests is also more efficient: the average handling time (AHT) per request/per customer has decreased notably. Due to the availability of multiple connections and applications via this new generation of CRM systems, customer service agents can now perform actions that were previously only available as second-level actions. Moreover, service resources can be distributed in such a way that they prioritize the most profitable accounts.

360-Degree Customer View

A 360-degree customer view does not only allow for a unified database of all activities, but it also provides the opportunity to pull together all customer-relevant information on a single platform.

With the new CRM systems, the entire history of a customer, including subscriber contract details, products and services used, payment history, notifications and value-added services are made available to customer support agents via a single front-end interface. The same applies to trouble tickets and complaint records. The use of the same application for all contact interfaces guarantees a high level of consistency. A 360-degree customer view also provides the possibility to deliver highly personalized support and tailor-made services. As a result, frontline employees can anticipate, address and deliver consistent, efficient customer care, while contributing to improving long-term business profitability. Last, but not least, this maximizes online customer engagement through personalization and recommendations.

Enabling Fast Time-to-Market for New Promotions

The introduction of new products or promotions, as well as new business rules, takes place using a configurable rules engine. As a result, new processes can be developed quicker and more easily: up to three to five times faster than legacy CRM systems. The number of promotions that can be delivered in one month is now five times higher, while the average costs per change request has decreased more than 12-fold. Commercial campaigns, for instance, can now be reused many times using a special campaign logic, which in turn enhances cost efficiency. In addition, campaign response information guarantees that customer reactions are taken into consideration and used for follow-up activities. As a result, cross and up-selling promotions are much more effective.

More detailed information about the Group's subsidiaries Vipnet, Vip operator and Vip mobile can be found at markets.

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