The telecom industry today is hyper-competitive; increasingly products and services in the market place are beginning to ‘look like each other’. They do the same things, they are priced the same – and it is becoming increasingly difficult to own a market segment on the basis of product superiority / differentiation alone. Given that, consumers form opinions about a brand on the basis of the experience they have when they interact with the vendor organization for some reason. That interaction has indeed become the moment of truth; defines customer experience and determines whether or not, the consumer stays with the organization. Hence, the primary challenge facing telecom companies is retention of customers. In addition to this, telecom providers have morphed from being the provider of a simple, single service to the customer to a provider of multiple services – fixed line, mobile, GPRS, broad band, messaging and so on. From a customer interaction perspective, the telecom industry has always been at the forefront of customer interaction technology adoption. Some of the challenges facing the industry are:

Differentiated customer service - To optimize each customer relationship through differential treatment. For an organization today the major challenge is to cut through the clutter of the existing product and service offers. The next logical step for the organization is to train and enable its agents to be able to use the information in the most appropriate manner. For instance, the organization can have real-time suggestions appearing on its agents' screen, prompting them to interact with the customer in a specific way.

Customer retention and acquisition - The Telecom providers have moved from being a simple, single service provider to a provider of multiple services – fixed line, mobile, GPRS, broadband messaging and so on. Technology has progressed to a point where the ease of switching vendors is very high and the cost of doing it, very low. With increasing competition the race to hold on to the vacillating yet loyal customer base is thus a challenge.

Abandoned calls, service levels, and diverse IVR pieces - To decrease abandoned calls; reduce call answering time; increase service levels; and integrate diverse IVR pieces to a new host forms the crux of the challenge.

Customer expectations vs. organizational perception - The area of customer service is a sticky scenario with a major disparity in the way an organization feels it delivers customer service to what the customers actually get.

Automate recharge process - To automate the recharge process and purchase additional time on pre-paid cards using mobile phones.

Brand value - To retain brand value in case of an outsourced Call Center.

Changing technology - The ever changing technology to meet the customer demands and take the customer experience to the next level is now what sets the competitors apart and in this regard the implementation and the scalability of technology plays a vital role.

Operational costs - To reduce operational costs and empower the customers in the calling process.

Integration of business, technology, and customer care - The other foremost issue with an organization is to bring about an integration of these three vital pillars and develop a customer-facing solution to enhance the organization's customer interaction processes.

Revenue generation - Organizations are aware that every time a customer interacts with them, they have an opportunity to cross sell / up sell their products and services. With the customer information they have, how can they provide online "prompting" to agents, enabling them to get the most out of their interactions?