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Fueling Telecom’s Success with Private Wireless Networks (Trends, Opportunities, & Challenges in 2023)

Private networks continue to grow in adoption and popularity around the globe. In fact, the research firm Analysys Mason has predicted that the number of private wireless networks, including 5G and LTE, will grow to over 20,000 by 2026. They also expect that enterprises will spend around $5 billion on these networks.

While stressing the reasons for this growth, Ashutosh Agrawal, CMD at Globe Teleservices, explains that much of the “impetus seems to be coming from expectations of the imminent arrival of 5G.” He further adds that “there are also many application scenarios opening up across smart manufacturing, smart cities, automated supply chains, and so on.” Since private wireless networks can provide the requisite low latency, high speed, and high availability to accommodate such applications, they’re gaining utter prominence.

So, the question transpires – What opportunity do private wireless networks offer to telecom companies, and what challenges must they overcome? Let’s discuss.

Private Wireless Networks – Latest trends in 2023

In 2022, telecom operators added around 455 million 5G connections. Globally, wireless 5G connections grew by 76% in 2022 to reach 1.05 billion.

There’s no doubt that the spread of 5G technology has been the driving force for private wireless networks. Additionally, enterprises are now relying more on advanced data analytics, which requires a robust wireless network to handle the massive volumes of data.

Considering all these facets, here are some trends to look forward to:

The telecom industry isn’t a lot different when it comes to the need to deliver excellent CX. A study revealed that 70% of customers consider customer experience as a pivotal factor in choosing a telecoms provider. This emphasizes the telecom sector’s urgent need to prioritize investments in customer experience and put it at the center of the business strategy.

To embrace the future, telcos must undertake comprehensive transformations that place customers at the core of their operations.

The migration of private networks from 4G to 5G bandwidth
The adoption of full production deployment for both 4G/LTE and 5G applications and infrastructure
The growth of private networks for public venues, including hotels, airports, and stadiums
The integration or convergence of private 4G/5G networks with Wi-Fi-driven enterprises

Private Wireless Networks – How Telecom Operators Can Leverage the Opportunity

Ashutosh states that telecom companies have the “opportunity to monetize their infrastructure while building deeper engagements with super-user enterprises.” For instance, private wireless networks can bring the next-level connectivity for challenging industrial sites. Industrial firms can harness the power of technological interventions like digital twins, robotics, artificial intelligence, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

In particular, the fast-growing IIoT ecosystem on private wireless networks is creating new opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) and utility companies. For example, connected smart grids on 4G- and 5G-enabled networks can deliver consistent service to millions of customers.

That said, here are some of the possible use cases or opportunities for telecom companies:

Manufacturing: Private wireless networks can help create smart factories where real-time data insights can drive reliability and efficiency.
Education: These networks can enable students and teachers to interact remotely from a “virtual” classroom.
Supply Chain: 5G-based private wireless network, along with IoT technology, can automate the factory, warehouse, and transportation environment.
Smart City: A private wireless network in smart cities offers multiple benefits over public networks, including better security, flexibility, and infrastructure control.

A future-ready private wireless network requires enterprises to connect every device, sensor, and user. With complete data consolidation, private networks can augment the business value of data through analytics.

Challenges in Private Wireless Networks

Despite the benefits and opportunities, private wireless networks have their share of implementation challenges. Ashutosh outlines that telecom operators need to develop capabilities for “more flexible infrastructure and management.” Additionally, they need technical skills in:

Managing Agile deployments
Network integration
Delivering effective customer support
Managing and monitoring private networks

As wireless connectivity continues to grow, enterprise users expect it to be always up and running. The reality is much different. Wireless networks need to function optimally in facilities with high disturbance – for example, factories and mining sites. Unreliable connections can severely disrupt business operations, causing productivity-related issues.

Other challenges associated with a private wireless network include extreme weather conditions and bandwidth overload. Companies also face the challenge of providing fast and consistent network coverage over large areas, requiring a greater number of Wi-Fi access points.

High costs are also a significant challenge for enterprises implementing a private 5G network. These networks incur a substantial upfront cost for the infrastructure, maintenance, and operations. Enterprises need to invest in radio equipment, network accessories, and the backend infrastructure. Due to the high costs, private networks are out of the reach of smaller enterprises.

Another significant obstacle is to integrate the private network with the existing infrastructure and legacy systems. This means integrating the network with the existing applications, databases, and systems. Private 5G networks must also integrate with public networks, IoT devices, and Wi-Fi connections.

The Significant Role of Data Analytics in Private Wireless Networks

Data analytics is integral to the private wireless network space. This is understandable since telecom providers constantly need to improve their service delivery and infrastructure management capabilities.

Private wireless networks depend on data analytics to collect data from various network connections.

The analytics capabilities provide valuable insights into network operations and are useful across use cases, including the following:

Computing and predicting network load levels
Predicting the service experience for an application or user group
Predicting network load analytics for a specific network function
Measuring congestion information for a specific location

The data analytics function works in favor of telecom companies, as they leverage massive market opportunities associated with private wireless networks.

Cash in on these business opportunities with Globe Teleservices. We enable telecom service providers to manage their deployments and integrations. Want to know more? Get in touch with us today!

The Future of Customer Experience in the Telecom Industry

Customer experience has emerged as a defining factor in business success, shaped by the trailblazing efforts of digital giants like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Uber. These industry disruptors have set new standards with their seamless and personalized interactions, raising customer expectations to new heights.

A recent survey revealed that 72% of customers switch brands because of poor customer experience (CX). Likewise, a 2022 survey found that 86% of customers will turn to competitors against the brand they trust after just two instances of poor CX.

The telecom industry isn’t a lot different when it comes to the need to deliver excellent CX. A study revealed that 70% of customersconsider customer experience as a pivotal factor in choosing a telecoms provider. This emphasizes the telecom sector’s urgent need to prioritize investments in customer experience and put it at the center of the business strategy.

To embrace the future, telcos must undertake comprehensive transformations that place customers at the core of their operations.

Latest Trends in Customer Experience in the Telecom Sector

“Mobile networks will be up to 100 times faster and have 1,000 times the capacity than we experience today,” outlines PwC while emphasizing the prominence of the 5G networks. For sure, the growth in the telecom sector is being underpinned by rapid technological evolution. But what impact can these changes and trends have on the consumer experience that telecoms facilitate? Let’s discuss.

Increased Focus on End-to-End Customer Experience Improvement

For successful end-to-end customer experience transformation in telecom, evaluating both short-term and long-term benefits is vital. It’s also important to refine commercial models. When we talk about “commercial models,” we’re looking at the metrics that telcos usually use for defining the success of their initiatives. These might include metrics such as weighted average cost of capital (WACC).

However, the trend now is to focus more on the customer experience aspect of things. The telecom sector is poised to make advancements in predictive capabilities for ensuring proactive issue resolution, personalized customer interactions, and overall higher ROI.

But for this to happen, there needs to be a shift in how telcos view their success. If they quantify it against the traditional metrics, they might miss out on the long-term value that customer focused initiatives can accrue.

AI for Customer Service

Telecom companies are adopting AI-powered chatbots to automatically address customer queries and issues, freeing human agents for complex tasks. For instance, an AI-driven virtual assistant can handle billing, service plans, and technical support questions. No surprise that the global AI in telecommunications market is projected to reach $19.17 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 40.6% between 2023 and 2029.

Telcos must also pioneer the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and voice-based customer care solutions to nurture more contextual interactions. This is certainly possible today, especially with generative AI solutions coming to the fore. The AI mix can help telcos deliver unparalleled customer service — all while catering to regions in their local languages and accommodating a very high frequency of requests.

This also paves the way for opportunities to adhere to the omnichannel shift. Today, customers demand consistent service across channels. With the help of data analytics and AI, telcos can ensure smooth transitions between channels while maintaining customer context. The result? Better personalization, increased loyalty, improved CX.

AI for Network Optimization

According to Nokia, networks will become exceptionally complex with the advent of 5G, growing by a whopping 73% in the next five years.

Favorably, implementing AI-powered self-optimizing networks (SONs) enables automatic network quality optimization based on traffic data, region, and time zone. This optimization based on AI technology can refine network resources and reduce operational costs.

Utilizing AI/ML in IoT for improving network performance, maintaining service levels, and protecting data privacy is also gaining momentum. AI algorithms can also analyze vast network data to:

Provide real-time insights into performance and issue resolution
Enhance network reliability and customer satisfaction

The 5G-Led Experiences

By 2025, 5G networks are projected to serve one-third of the world’s population. 5G promises to deliver much faster speeds, lower latency, and increased bandwidth than previous generations of cellular networks. This paves the way for reliable connections and spells the advent of more connected and personalized experiences.

To succeed in the 5G era, telecom providers need to be cognizant of the value of the entire distribution channel, Business Support System (BSS) platforms, etc. Collaborating with startups, technology companies, Communications Service Providers (CSPs), etc., can help curate innovative 5G product offerings for better CX.

How Can Telecom Providers Prepare for This Future?

The telecom sector is undergoing a major transformation, and customer expectations are rising. To stay competitive, telecom providers need to prepare for this future by:

Powering Data Analytics Initiatives

Data analytics is essential for telecom providers to understand their consumer needs. By collecting and analyzing data, telecom providers can identify trends, patterns, and insights that can be used to improve the CX. For example, data analytics can be used to:

Identify customer pain points: By understanding customers’ challenges, telecom providers can develop solutions to improve their experience. For example, customers may have complaints about network coverage. The data analytics team can use historical call records to identify areas with poor network strength.
Optimize network performance: By analyzing data about network usage, telecoms can identify areas where the network can be optimized to improve performance.
Personalize the customer experience: McKinsey’s research outlines that organizations that excel at personalizing CX generate 40% higher revenue. However, the consulting giant also mentions how only 5% of telcos capably unlock the potential of data-driven personalization. It’s imperative that telecom providers monetize their data assets to ensure this percentage goes up. After all, their personalization initiatives can help retain customers, build loyalty, and improve CX.

Partnering with a Telecom Solutions Provider

The future of customer experience in the telecom industry is bright, but it requires telecom providers to embrace the latest trends and partner with a telecom solutions provider that can help them implement the requisite technologies.

For example, at GlobeTeleservices, we help telecom companies implement anti-fraud solutions and drive seamless connectivity with uninterrupted voice solutions. We further help telcos realize higher ROIs via the use of the cloud. The idea is to help telecom companies deliver a superior CX and alleviate challenges related to service disruptions. Contact us to learn more about how we can help.

The Must-Haves of an “Excellent” A2P SMS Solution

The soaring digital adoption is driving more companies to communicate with their customers through digital channels. It’s here that the focus on A2P messaging intensifies. Short for Application-to-Person SMS, A2P SMS is now used for a range of use cases including two-factor authentication, customer notifications, and marketing purposes. The solution’s prominence is significantly reflected in the 2023 Rocco Research report that highlights the business impact of effective A2P SMS solutions and provides a detailed analysis of the leading A2P SMS solutions in the market.

The report rates the various solution providers across over 30 KPIs. Over the past decade, Rocco has adopted a market research approach based on:

Vendor benchmarking – where MNOs rate their solution vendors for services like A2P SMS
Market intelligence – where the Rocco team discusses product offerings with each vendor along with their views on a specific service

Global Teleservices has secured a Tier 1 rating for two KPIs: “Value for Money” and “Transparency.” As part of the portfolio of international messaging services, Globe Teleservices has been offering high-quality A2P SMS services to a global clientele and ensuring unmatched reliability.

But why is an A2P SMS solution important in today’s business environment, and what are its “must-have” functionalities? Let’s answer these questions in this blog.

Importance of A2P SMS Solutions

A2P messaging accounted for 70% of global messages in 2020. In fact, the number of yearly A2P messages is projected to cross 1.9 trillion by 2025.

According to Gartner, the open and response rates for A2P SMS are high at 98% and 45%, respectively. Contrarily, emails witness quite low open and response rates at 20% and 6%. This means customers are more responsive to A2P SMS than to business emails.

Besides, with A2P SMS, enterprises have a more cost-efficient mode of directly marketing their products to their customer base. A2P SMS solutions also enable enterprises to reach a wider audience, thus further reducing operational costs.

Additionally, an A2P SMS solution has a variety of use cases, including:

Sending One-Time passwords (OTPs) securely for authenticating any online transaction.
Sending timely updates for confirmation about hotel booking, airline tickets, or the status of shipped products.
Gathering the customer’s feedback after a delivered service in the form of easy scores.
Notifying the customer about emergencies in the form of canceled flights, unplanned service downtime, or a canceled order.
Delivering a personalized or special offer to selected customers.

Thanks to the emergence of A2P SMS, businesses can reach their customers directly and instantly. Furthermore, they can receive immediate responses from their customers. However, not all A2P SMS solutions have the same functionalities. Here are some features that deliver business value to customers.

Key Features to Look for in an A2P SMS Solution

The global A2P SMS market is projected to reach $78.2 billion by 2028. With a host of providers to choose from, companies often struggle to pick the right solution provider that can satisfy their business requirements.

Here are four must-have features to look for in A2P SMS solutions:

1. Two-Way Messaging

A majority of A2P messaging solutions allow one-way SMS sent by the enterprise to the mobile user. In this mode, the recipient is not allowed, nor expected, to respond to the received message. With the emergence of rich communication services (RCS), A2P solutions can now feature two-way communication. RCS enables recipients to respond to their messages with a single touch.

Two-way messaging also benefits a host of advertisers and marketers with a personalized and interactive mode of communication. With two-way messaging, companies can instantly measure customer satisfaction.

2. Real-Time Analytics

Data-driven real-time analytics is now essential for organizations to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and related activities. Using analytics and reporting, A2P solutions can provide user engagement data with respect to metrics including:

Message open rates
Delivery statistics
Click-through rates

With these data insights, enterprises can personalize their A2P messages and optimize their messaging strategy for the best results.

3. Regulatory Compliance

Consumer fatigue is a real challenge to A2P SMS providers. This can occur from a large volume of spam messages or even “phishing” messages sent from unknown entities. While evaluating A2P SMS solutions, ensure that they comply with data security and privacy regulations. Additionally, check if the solution provider has taken measures to protect sensitive data and message content.

By adhering to industry regulations, enterprises can reduce customer fatigue and avoid compliance-related violations resulting in financial losses.

4. Global Coverage

Enterprises with an international clientele need an A2P SMS solution that features global coverage and intelligent routing capabilities. With such extensive coverage, organizations have a direct connection with telecom operators across the world – thus ensuring an optimized delivery mode of messaging across countries. Similarly, intelligent routing enables the most efficient and dependable route or channel for transmitting messages.

Apart from these essential features, an excellent A2P SMS solution possesses capabilities like:

Failovers to ensure high delivery rates for transmitted messages
Scalability features that can adapt to rising volumes of messages over time
Customized messages to tailor each message to the user’s preferences, thus improving engagement
Support for multiple types of A2P SMS, including transactional messages, marketing campaigns, and interactive messages

Find all these and more in Globe Teleservices’ reliable and cost-effective A2P SMS solution. Using low-latency direct routes, we ensure faster delivery of messages and customer responses. Our A2P SMS solution enables enterprises to grow their subscriber base and build brand loyalty. Get in touch with us today to learn more!

The Menace of Flash Calls (and How to Stop Them)

Authenticating users to ensure genuineness is a top priority for modern businesses, especially app-based B2C brands. The better they can cater to actual customers, the greater will be their ROI for marketing and service quality initiatives. Traditionally, such businesses relied on SMS-based OTP services to enable this authentication. Today, however, there is a new entrant in the market that is quickly becoming a darling of app-based businesses but a real threat to the revenue streams of telecom companies.

We are talking about flash calls – the missed call-based user authentication service that leverages an MNO’s network to place a call to the device where the business app is installed. Upon receipt of the call, the app terminates the call without answering while authenticating the user in the background. It is estimated that businesses worldwide will be making over 128 billion flash calls yearly by 2026.

When SMSs were used for multi-factor authentication of apps, users had to open the message and enter the OTP, or the app would auto-fetch the OTP from the device. Either way, it resulted in a billable use of the telecom’s network. With flash calls, however, there is not even a need to answer the call, resulting in zero billable transactions on the telecom network.

This has been a huge boon to businesses, especially growing B2C brands that have to constantly authenticate users for safety and other credible reasons. But telcos haven’t been happy about flash calls.

Why Are Flash Calls a Menace for Network Operators?

Despite becoming a darling of businesses, telcos are having a hard time adjusting to the growth of flash calls. Let us explore 3 reasons why telcos consider flash calls a menace:

Loss of Revenue

The ultimate buzz-kill for flash calls is that they do not bring in any revenue for a traditional telecom operator. End users do not answer the authentication calls, and in most cases, they rarely feel the incoming call as the app handles the call quickly in the background. Without actual call connections being realised, there is no way for telecom operators to monetise such calls. While the earlier practice of text message-based OTP systems allowed them to charge businesses for each SMS. This shift to flash calls leads to a significant loss of revenue.

Scams and Spams

As with any new initiative, there are imposters who hop onto the flash call bandwagon to try and dupe people into scams and illegitimate business transactions, thereby making them suffer monetary losses. In most cases, telecom operators have no control over these calls, and there are several flash call service providers who offer cheap and inexpensive facilities that can be used for committing fraud on end-users.
Due to the practice of call-based authentications happening across all popular consumer apps, users will be less suspicious about handling incoming calls from unknown numbers in anticipation of an authentication process. This becomes a key vulnerability for fraudsters to exploit in different ways.

Congestion on Networks

Unlike an SMS-based authentication system, flash calls result in the usage of a significant bandwidth of the carrier’s network spectrum depending on the volume of calls placed. While one or two app businesses using them may not be a big deal, imagine the situation in the future, as explained above, when billions of calls happen over traditional phone networks.

This will result in severe network bandwidth congestion, forcing end-users to experience delayed services, poor network quality, and other significant network hurdles. This can lead to really unpleasant customer experiences. It can further hurt the business prospects of telecom providers if they aren’t able to scale their infrastructure to accommodate the extra space needed for large volumes of flash calls. And they must do all this without even an opportunity to monetise these calls.

How Can Telecom Operators Transform Flash Calls from a Menace into an Opportunity?

Yes, you heard it right! Despite its popularity for being a dampener on revenue, flash calls can become a potential new revenue stream for telecom operators if they can implement the right technology to manage them.

Today, there are AI-enabled flash call management systems that enable telecom providers to seamlessly identify flash call traffic within their network and put controls in place. The AI and machine learning capabilities of such solutions can help in understanding the patterns of potential flash calls and intercept them in the network before they manage to land on an end-user device.

By gating flash calls, telecom operators can demand a fee from businesses to enable the further transfer of the flash call to an end-user device for authentication. This allows them to build a completely new revenue stream that was previously thought to be impossible. Besides, such solutions can also help block spammy and suspicious flash calls and protect users against newer and emerging threats.

As you can see, leveraging the right technology can help transform flash calls from an enemy into a telecom operator’s best friend. But it requires the use of the right solutions from trusted vendors. This is where Globe Tele Services comes into the picture.

Get in touch with us to know more about how our AI-powered flash call management platform is the ideal solution for your telecom business to embrace flash calls without risk.

Why A2P SMS Is Back in the News

As more companies switch to digital strategies, it’s expected that they will communicate more with their customers through digital channels. With the increase in mobile subscribers, there is a growing demand for text-based messages (or SMS). As compared to business emails, text messages have a higher open rate of 98%. What’s even better is that 9 out of 10 mobile users open and read their text messages.

These are some of the factors driving the adoption of Application-to-person (A2P) SMS in 2023. According to Juniper Research, A2P business messages are expected to reach 3.5 trillion in 2023. Grand View Research values the global market for A2P messaging at $66.84 billion in 2022. This is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% till 2030.

Latest Trends in A2P SMS Marketing in 2023

In simple language, A2P SMS is any form of text message sent by an application to a subscribed mobile user. Users can opt to subscribe to text messages from business applications.

What makes A2P marketing useful for business enterprises? Besides being cost-effective, A2P messaging is useful for sending different types of messages, including:

Marketing messages or campaigns
Appointment or subscription renewal reminders
Alerts or notifications
Surveys and voting
One-time passwords (OTPs) as part of two-factor authentication

Thanks to technology trends like the emergence of shortcodes, enterprises can now send out a larger volume of A2P messages to their subscriber base. For telecom operators, A2P SMS is beneficial as they know immediately if the message has been delivered or not. This helps them maintain and refresh their database of active mobile numbers.

How can A2P SMS services benefit businesses in 2023? Let’s discuss that next.

Benefits of A2P SMS in 2023

In 2023, enterprises across industry verticals like healthcare, travel, and eCommerce will send A2P SMS messages to build customer relationships. To this end, here is why A2P messaging is beneficial:

1. Cost-Effectiveness

SMS-based messaging is among the most cost-effective modes of communicating with customers. Besides, enterprises can now send the same promotional offers or campaign-based messages to thousands of customers simultaneously.

2. Immediate Delivery

With A2P SMS, digital marketers can now send important messages immediately to their consumer base. On average, 90% of mobile users read their messages within 3 minutes of receiving them. On the other hand, email users can take hours or days to read & respond to their email messages.

Besides, customers are 4.5% more likely to respond or act upon brand SMSes than emails. On average, it takes them 90 seconds to respond to an SMS and 90 minutes to respond to an email.

3. Secure Access

In recent years, issues like data breaches have prompted the development of better security standards for enterprises. As online transactions increase, businesses realise the importance of one-time passwords or transaction alerts for their customers. Due to time sensitivity, OTPs or password resets delivered through A2P SMS mode are most effective.

Besides, methods like two-factor authentication and OTP encourage more mobile users to switch to digital transactions – thus generating more business revenue.

4. On-time Alerts and Notifications

Healthcare and insurance companies are also using the A2P SMS system to automatically send out reminders for medical appointments and payment of insurance premiums.

Likewise, with the growth of OTT platforms, subscribers no longer must check out their subscription renewal date. SMS notifications provide them with ample time to complete the renewal if they wish to.

Challenges Facing A2P SMS in 2023

Despite increasing competition from other marketing approaches, SMS is still the preferred tool for most enterprises. However, the A2P messaging service also has its share of challenges, which make it difficult to realise its complete potential in today’s competitive environment.

Here are some of the challenges that enterprises face with A2P SMS service:

1. SMS-related Frauds and Malpractices

As is the case of any digital medium, A2P SMS messaging also has its share of “bad” actors and fraudulent intermediaries. For instance, intermediary companies do find a way to send fraudulent messages to genuine customers. Besides, bad actors indulge in SMS-related malpractices like grey routing, masking, and SIM farming.

2. Extreme Variations in Price

Global enterprises have to deal with challenges like country-specific regulations and price variations. Depending on the country, local partners can charge different rates, thus making it unsustainable to maintain SMS services.

3. Poor Customer Experience (CX)

Illegitimate SMS traffic can lead to poor CX, which is another challenge in A2P SMS services. Also, a legitimate A2P SMS from an unknown sender can create customer fatigue. Often, mobile users have to deal with issues like poor-quality text and below-par messaging.

The Globe Teleservices Advantage

Despite advanced digital marketing tools, enterprises continue to rely on the SMS medium as a fast, cost-effective, and reliable form of marketing. As outlined in this article, in 2023, A2P SMS offers a host of benefits as compared to business email marketing.

Globe Teleservices provides its customers with effective A2P SMS solutions with features like:

Global or international coverage
Compliance with local or regional industry regulations
Enhanced CX by eliminating any grey routes
Faster and reliable message deliveries

Want to know how to leverage A2P SMS for your business success? Get in touch with us.

Balancing Cost and QoS in International Calls

The advent of high-speed 5G internet presents both challenges and opportunities for global telecom players. In an increasingly competitive market, telecom players are emphasising customer retention more than acquiring new customers. This has put the focus on the importance of Quality of Service (QoS) in international voice communication for enterprises.

High-speed communication in the form of voice, video, and multimedia requires telecom providers to guarantee a consistent level of QoS for their customers. After all, call quality has a direct impact on customer experience (CX). Majority of the consumers view CX as a major factor when selecting their telecom service provider. They are even willing to spend more for an exceptional CX. On the flip side, however, they can be proactive in switching brands after a poor experience.

That brings us to the question – what are the current challenges facing telecom providers in improving their QoS?

Let’s discuss them in the following section.

5 QoS Challenges in International Communication

Despite the advancement in business communication, voice-based communication is still relevant for customer-centric enterprises.

Here are 5 QoS-related challenges associated with international communication:

1. Real-Time Call Monitoring

As a business practice, real-time call monitoring enables organizations to improve call quality as well as measure the efficiency of customer response. For instance, call monitoring in customer support teams is used to ensure quality assurance and train new customer support executives.

Additionally, with real-time call monitoring, organisations can leverage speech analytics to improve the customer experience. However, the challenge lies in implementing a cost-efficient call monitoring solution for overall business success.

2. Fraud Detection

Fraud calls or phone spam is another major challenge in the voice communication domain. In 2022, scam victims in Singapore were duped of S$660.7 million (up from S$632 million in 2021).

In recent years, voice-based phishing (or vishing) has been deployed by cybercriminals to extract sensitive information from the victims. According to a report, in March 2022, organizations experienced the highest number of vishing attacks ever recorded, surpassing the previous record set in September 2021. Vishing is also directed at enterprises and their employees to obtain vital account-related information.

3. Integrating Multiple Communication Channels

For effective customer retention, organizations need to maintain consistency across different communication channels and touchpoints. Besides voice communication, today’s customers have access to other communication channels, including email, chat, social media, and more.

To that end, organizations need to efficiently integrate and coordinate their customer communication channels. Through proper integration, they can ensure consistent CX and avoid any duplication. By leveraging data-driven insights from these channels, enterprises can also improve their communication strategy and personalize customer interactions.

4. High Latency

A January 2021 survey found that business leaders prioritise call latency over speed. 9 out of every 10 business executives believe that business success depends more on low latency.

High call latency can easily impact call quality, thus frustrating both consumers and business executives. More profoundly, it can cause delays in voice communication and adversely impact customer experience.

To improve latency-related challenges, organizations must consider the following measures:

Upgrading their existing call infrastructure and communication devices
Improving their call routing system
Choosing the right telecom service provider

5. Cost Management

The latest telecom statistics stress that 77% of consumers believe a phone call is the best way to get answers to their queries. Also, 65% of consumers prefer to contact a business by phone.

With the increasing adoption of voice communication tools, companies are incurring more costs with their legacy communication equipment and tools.

Here are some of the cost-related challenges that enterprises face:

Upgrading and replacing their communication equipment and hardware devices
Increased time and money spent by enterprises in addressing customer concerns and queries
A shortage of skilled communication specialists adds to an organization’s hiring and training costs

How Can We Help in Balancing Cost and QoS in International Calls

Even with the proliferation of other digital communication channels, voice communication tools remain relevant for customer-facing enterprises. The challenge for enterprises is to balance their QoS with the cost factor.

Globe Teleservices has designed and implemented international voice communications for businesses across the globe. Our voice-based solutions have enabled our customers to centralize their customer communication, integrate with multiple channels, and optimize voice calls anywhere in the world.

Our integrated voice platform offers multiple business benefits, including:

Cost-effectiveness – with affordable international calls at optimum call quality
Quality assurance – driven by global partnerships and dynamic call routing capabilities
Anti-fraud management – achieved by the use of business intelligence (BI) for monitoring network traffic
Dynamic routing and analytics – with low-cost best quality routing (LCBQR) services for both telecom retailers and operators

Are you looking for a cost-effective mode to improve the quality of service in international calls? Let us help you. Get in touch with us today!

The Modern Technologies Coming Together to Elevate Customer Experience in The Telecom Sector

Delivering products and services to the customers of today in a way that best suits them has become a top priority of today’s telecom C-suite. But as customer journeys become increasingly complex and expectations surge, enhancing customer experiences is no longer straightforward.

Read on to know why customer experience has become so crucial and the role technologies play in driving better engagement.

Customer experience has become a competitive differentiator for the telecom sector

In this customer-centric era, enterprises are increasingly recognizing that their businesses must prioritize customer needs.

Customer loyalty is no longer dependent on brand value, product capabilities, or low prices as much as it is on quality of service. As the telecom industry evolves with new trends, norms, and standards, customer experience has become a crucial factor for telecom success.

With users increasingly working from home, they demand high uptime, reliability, and availability of networks. They are quick to change operators if they are not satisfied with the quality or level of service offered. Catering to customer needs offers telecom providers opportunities to meet expectations, deliver services promptly, and preempt challenges affecting customer satisfaction.

Building cutting-edge telecom products, optimizing services, and providing positive customer experiences enable telcos to enhance customer loyalty. A good customer experience also ensures significant economic and strategic advantages for telecom providers. They open doors to better cross-sell and upsell opportunities while introducing new streams of revenue for the business. In the long run, a good customer experience translates into happier customers, better margins, and a stronger market position.

But there are many challenges telecom providers encounter along the way

A high-quality customer experience guarantees better customer loyalty and retention. But for telecom providers, continuously acclimatizing to new and higher expectations from users streaming their favorite TV series on online streaming platforms isn’t easy. With any time, anywhere access and connectivity becoming a requisite, there are many challenges telecom providers encounter along the way:

Addressing security challenges: With telecom customers extremely susceptible to modern-day frauds and attacks, the many shortcomings in enterprise data security initiatives put customer experience at risk. As social engineering threats become increasingly prevalent, the absence of robust fraud detection solutions makes addressing security concerns a huge challenge.
Driving omnichannel consistency: Another challenge telecom providers face in enhancing customer experience is enabling and sustaining omnichannel consistency. With telecom customers using an array of channels for collaboration, work, and entertainment purposes, it becomes difficult to achieve faster, safer, and smarter communication.
Meeting regulatory requirements: The inability of telecom providers to meet evolving regulatory and compliance requirements also impacts the customer experience in the long run. Lack of authentication or tracking makes it difficult to prevent regulatory oversights during communications. At the same time, telcos face a tough time identifying unethical practices by telemarketers and/or recording their activities.

How modern technologies come together to make the customer experience better

New technologies facilitate seamless and consistent telecom customer journeys, allowing for personalized experiences and interactions across multiple channels.

Let’s look at 5 such technologies that can enable telcos to increase agility and provide the intuitive experiences that their customers have become accustomed to:

Automation: Automation offers several ways to boost omnichannel engagement and customer experience. Automating error-prone, mundane, and repetitive tasks can enable telecom providers to focus on strategic initiatives that improve customer acquisition and loyalty rates. From streamlining and tracking conversions to automating customer responses – technology works wonders to remove friction points and nurture relationships. In a February 2022 survey of global marketers, 43% cited improved customer experience as the top advantage of marketing automation.
Data analytics: Data analytics can play a huge role in personalizing customer experiences. According to a report, 90% of executives worldwide leverage data analytics to enhance their customer experience. In-depth customer analytics across social media interactions, past behavior, and current sentiments can enable telecom providers to identify the latest trends and expectations. By knowing what customers love, analytics can empower telcos to build the right products, offer the right services, and craft the right experiences. In the long run, this can help enhance customer lifecycle journeys for the best upselling and cross-selling experiences.
Digital document processing: The use of digital technologies for document processing can streamline the customer onboarding process. Instead of manually entering customer details into digital systems, telecom providers can make use of processing systems to feed and process customer information. This can enable quicker and more accurate information retrieval from customer forms. Intelligent character and pattern recognition using machine learning can further make the customer onboarding process smart, effective, and error-free.
Security: Embracing security solutions that are powerful without being intrusive will also go a long way in enhancing customer satisfaction. With the right security controls in place, providers can address evolving security challenges while keeping their voice channel and messaging environments secure. For instance, state-of-the-art fraud detection and analytics systems allow telecom providers to validate numbers, route calls, and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data. This can also help them protect their network subscribers, proactively track frauds, and eliminate threats in time.
Blockchain: Blockchain technology is a great way for telcos to authenticate and track events to prevent regulatory oversights during communications. The technology can be used to identify telemarketers and record their activity across channels. Blockchain can also make audits simple and allow for real-time consent management – thus scrubbing unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) across messaging networks.

For telecom providers, engaging and seamless customer experiences provide the greatest potential to increase profits. If you want to shape the modern telecom landscape, you must integrate technology into your business operations and build the right foundation of quality, efficiency, and security.

This is Who We Are – A Glimpse of the Culture That Drives GTS!

132 months

573 weeks

4015 days

96360 hours

That’s 11 years of working together and achieving excellence. The Globe Teleservices (GTS) team achieved this milestone in February 2023. This has largely been possible due to the continued efforts and faith of our employees, customers, and business partners.

As a solution provider for the telecom industry, we have served our customers with the best telecom and voice communication products over the years. Besides our technical expertise, our organizational culture is what drives innovation and keeps us together.

Here’s a glimpse into the working culture that is driving the business success of GTS.

4 Qualities That Make GTS Successful

At Globe Teleservices, we believe in the mantra that “communication is the key driver of an enterprise’s growth.” Over the last 11 years, we have also followed this mantra for our organizational success.

Here are 4 qualities that have set us apart – and ahead – of other telecom solution providers:

1. Strong Leadership Skills

At GTS, we are blessed with a forward-thinking leadership team that brings a mix of creativity, passion, and technical prowess to building our future. Our leadership team loves to work with employees and create the next generation of business leaders.

With nearly 9 years of service, Pallavi Kudtarkar has been the face of women empowerment at GTS. As the executive director, Pallavi believes that “Success is a journey and not a destination.”

Our Chief Business Officer (CBO), Sudip Chatterjee, recently posted that “a product does not make a solution, a solution makes a product.”

These are some of the leadership beliefs and mantras making a difference to all our stakeholders be it our employees, investors, customers, or online communities.

2. Diversity, Equality & Inclusion

At GTS, we pride ourselves in celebrating different cultures and a different employee mindset, which delivers creativity to our work. Our business leaders work closely with the human resource team in nurturing diverse skills and creating an all-inclusive work environment – where everyone is empowered to express their thoughts.

Be it Diwali, Thanksgiving, or any cultural festival, we celebrate every occasion with the entire workforce. Through our collective engagement, we ensure there is no “boring” day in the GTS workplace.

As the executive director, Pallavi has personally “committed to being equitable and just in all her actions.” She believes that “women are the catalyst of change in society, and it’s important to create a future where everyone can succeed and thrive.”

3. Creative Workspace

We believe that organizations must have a creative and energetic workspace to provide the best products and services to their clients. Besides celebrating different cultures, we engage our employees in team-building activities that promote mutual trust and collaboration. Be it at any location, we have designed our workspaces for:

Creative ideas
Effective brainstorming sessions
Problem-solving meetings

At GTS, we also believe that healthy employees can contribute to a creative workspace. Every year, we conduct pre-health check-ups to ensure that our employees are in the best shape. Through our annual sports event, we encourage our employees to get physically active and strong by participation.

4. Awards & Recognition

As part of our healthy working culture, we believe in recognizing the efforts of our top performers and innovators. Every month, we identify and reward the “Employee of the Month” for their hard work and creativity. We also hand out a special “Star Performer of the Year” to a special employee.

As Pallavi puts it explicitly, “something can always be better, and nothing is ever complete.” We use awards and recognition to encourage our employees to improve and promote healthy competition – without any work stress.

Besides employee awards, GTS also participates in various telecom events and webinars that highlight the latest industry and technology trends. Through these events, our executives interact with leading industry professionals from across the globe.

Conclusion

Through this blog, we have provided a small “glimpse” into the organizational culture at Globe Teleservices that has been integral to our continued success for the last 11 years. We have looked at some of the organizational qualities that have kept us at the forefront of telecom solutions.

Partnering with us means that you’re working with the pioneers of smart communications. Our technical team can closely work with you on realising success with your next-gen telecom solution. Interested in learning more? Get in touch with our experts today!

A New Innovation for Improving Security

The mobile phone or smartphone is at the heart of the digital economy, and understandably so. In the age of digital transformation, mobile devices are elevating the convenience associated with real-time communication, online shopping, and digital banking.

As mobile-based services continue to rise, so does the need for identity-based security. According to a Javelin Strategy report, identity-related frauds cost companies $52 billion and impacted over 42 million citizens in 2022 in the US alone. Experian’s Global Identity & Fraud Report shows how the APAC markets are also troubled with identity fraud, with one in four consumers falling prey to the same.

Telecom operators do not simply approach mobile identity as the means to sign in and perform authentic transactions. Mobile identity is also the key to preventing identity fraud and validating user actions. Hence, in recent years, mobile identity solutions have been gaining more adoption in the telecom sector.

Overall, the global market for digital identity solutions is projected to grow to $70.8 billion by the year 2030. According to >Juniper Research, mobile identity solutions will be the source of identification for over 3 billion mobile users by 2024.

But what are mobile identity solutions, and how can they improve security? Let’s discuss.

What are Mobile Identity Solutions?

Mobile identity solutions are online verification tools that enable real-time user identification and verification. With their secure authentication layer, these solutions can secure all types of digital transactions happening on user-owned mobile phones. Additionally, mobile identity solutions can easily integrate with other mobile apps through APIs.

How do mobile identity solutions work? Through access to user data collected by the telecom operators.

This includes customer data such as:

Mobile number
First and last name
Registered address
Device location and type

Depending on the provider, mobile identity solutions provide a host of features, including:

Federated identity or a single sign-on service that uses the same digital identity across multiple systems and devices.
Multi-factor authentication or additional security layers for users’ access to confidential data and services on mobile phones.
Digital signatures for using the same identity across a range of services.
Service portals through which brands can send SMS to mobile users highlighting their products or service.

Next, let’s discuss the benefits of mobile identity solutions.

Benefits of Mobile Identity Solutions

With the increase in online fraud, telecom companies realise the importance of mobile identity solutions in user authentication. Here are some of the security-related benefits of using a mobile identity solution:

1. Authentic Transactions

In today’s digital economy, the mobile phone is driving both economic and social transformation. As more consumers switch to online transactions, companies need to provide them with a safe and authentic way to perform these transactions. Mobile identity solutions provide this level of security – along with the convenience of easy user validation and authentication.

2. Prevention of Digital Fraud

As more mobile data gets transmitted on the web, there are higher chances of data leakage or “bad” actors intercepting the data. In most online frauds, hackers are interested in stealing users’ information, like their credit card numbers, social security numbers, or even their medical information. Identity solutions provide users with guidelines on digital privacy.

3. Improves Brand Trust

With in-built call portals, mobile identity solutions enable companies to build brand trust among customers. Every call is now identifiable with the brand name, social media handle, and company logo. Besides improving brand recall, mobile identity helps customers identify unknown numbers or those without any digital identity.

4. Data Protection with Digital Identity Wallets

Digital identity wallets provide a safe and convenient tool for mobile users. They can use wallets to verify their identity, perform authorised transactions, and electronically sign documents. Mobile identity wallets also protect confidential information using secure protocols like two-factor authentication and one-time passwords.

5. Instant User Validation

Mobile identity solutions can quickly validate users on their registered mobile phones. They can streamline sign-up processes and user logins without any interruption. By authenticating online transactions, they can shorten the purchase cycle, thus improving brand trust and loyalty. Additionally, they can reduce customer churn by seamlessly integrating with third-party customer solutions.

Summing Up

In summary, mobile identity solutions provide a safe and convenient solution to authenticate and validate mobile phone users. In the telecom sector, mobile-based identity is quickly replacing traditional forms of paper-based identification methods. Identity solutions can counter the challenges of online fraud, identity theft, and data breaches.

With its innovative solutions and technology expertise, Globe Teleservices has served as a reliable partner for global telecom companies. Our tech-driven business solutions can meet their current and future business requirements. We offer a host of technology-related services in mobility solutions, cloud computing, international messaging, and managed services.

Looking for a reliable technology partner for your telecom solutions? Get in touch with us today.

A Modern Vision of an Enterprise Communication System on the Cloud

Over the years, enterprise communication tools have constantly evolved in both form and technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations quickly embraced the cloud platform for their communication and collaboration needs. In fact, in the year 2020, 61% of businesses migrated to the cloud and have since not looked back.

As it stands, the global market for cloud communication tools will grow to $22.4 billion by 2028, up from $4.63 billion in 2021.

But what’s driving the growing adoption of cloud communication today?

Notably, after reaching 1 billion subscriptions in 2022, 5G technology is expected to boost cloud communication. Also, Gartner predicts that AI-powered chatbots will emerge as the primary channel for customer service by 2027.

At the same time, it’s noteworthy that organizations face various challenges with their existing communication infrastructure. Let’s discuss them and outline the benefits of an enterprise communication system on the cloud.

Current Challenges in Enterprise Communication

Effective enterprise communication can either make or break the business. It can improve work-related productivity among employees, increasing efficiency and profitability.

Here are some existing challenges that are currently hindering enterprise communication:

1. Non-Standardised Communication Strategy

Companies without a standardized communication strategy are unable to address questions such as:

How should communication flow between employees at the same level?
How should company updates be delivered to employees – internal calls or official emails?

Large enterprises require a strategic approach to communication between the leadership team and employees.

2. Outdated Technology

Businesses often adapt slowly to the latest technologies in their communication strategy. This, again, poses numerous challenges, such as low employee engagement and inefficient sharing of real-time business information.

As enterprises switch to the remote working model, they cannot sustain their business using outdated communication tools and technologies. For instance, companies use email tools as the primary mode of enterprise communication. While they work great for external customer communication, they’re not so effective for internal communication.

3. Overload of Information

Information overload is among the leading challenges facing enterprise communication. To improve employee engagement, organisations must regularly inform their workforce about important business decisions and policies. However, this can also lead to unnecessary information overload in the form of unread emails and information that is not relevant to their work.

Additionally, constant team meetings or emails can impact the workforce’s time and productivity.

4. Organisational Silos

Organisational silos (or poor cross-functional collaboration) are another communication-related challenge for most enterprises. Effectively, this means organisations have multiple functions that fail to share information with other departments. Lack of cross-functional communication can ultimately lead to customer complaints and loss of revenue.

How does cloud communication address these challenges? Let’s discuss.

Benefits of Cloud Communication Systems

A cloud-based communication system is the best solution for enterprises looking for business agility and cost-effective communication with customers and employees.

Here are some of the cloud communication capabilities that can benefit enterprises of all sizes:

1. Designed for Remote Working

The future of the workplace is no longer restrained to any location. For organizations adopting the “work-from-home” model, work doesn’t take place within any office or cubicle. With cloud communication tools like internet phones, instant chats, and video conferencing, the geographical location of users does not matter anymore. For example, a cloud-powered VoIP system can facilitate communication with its plugin functionality.

2. Centralised Communication System

Organizations waste both time and productivity working with disparate communication tools that are not easy to learn. On cloud platforms, organizations can build a single centralized system that can reduce wasted time and efficiency. Safe to say, employees have a streamlined experience with a single communication platform, which can also boost their engagement and productivity.

3. Unified Communication Across Platforms

Enterprise-level companies need to communicate using more than voice. For example, communication platforms can include video-calling, voice connectivity, and text messaging. Cloud communication enables unified communication by integrating all these capabilities as a single service.

4. Streamlined Communication Between Departments

Using cloud-based tools, organizations can now streamline collaboration between departments or business functions. This effectively eliminates silos and encourages information sharing. For example, the cloud-powered UCaaS application serves all communication needs by tracking conversations and collaboration among bigger teams.

The Way Forward with Cloud Connect

Effective communication is the cornerstone of realising business success in any industry domain. To this effect, outdated communication tools are among the leading challenges facing business enterprises.

As a telecom solution provider, Globe Teleservices (or GTS) has developed Cloud Connect — a smart communication tool for enterprise customers. With this solution, organizations can set up a “virtual” office space in any remote location across the globe. Some of our cloud-powered products include local number service, mobile-based local number service, and unified communication.

Looking to implement the next-generation enterprise communication system on the cloud? Get in touch with our experts today!