Artificial Intelligence – Driving Growth in Telecom

The telecom industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the advent of cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is revolutionizing various aspects of telecommunications, from network optimization and customer service to fraud detection and predictive maintenance. By leveraging AI’s capabilities, telecom operators can enhance operational efficiency, deliver personalized customer experiences, and anticipate network issues before they escalate.

As per Juniper Research, the AI technology market is predicted to reach and go over 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030.

AI and its power to overcome challenges in the telecom industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a vital tool for addressing various challenges in the telecom industry. Here’s how AI can tackle some of the key challenges:

1. Fraud Detection

Challenge: Telecom operators face significant revenue loss due to fraudulent activities such as SIM card cloning and account takeovers.

How AI Can Help: AI systems detect unusual patterns and anomalies in network traffic, identifying potential fraudulent activities in real-time. By reporting suspicious behavior, AI helps prevent security breaches and lower financial losses.

2. Customer Churn

Challenge: High customer churn rates can affect revenue and growth, especially when customers leave due to service dissatisfaction or better offers from competitors.

How AI Can Help: AI models analyze customer behavior, usage patterns, and service issues to predict which customers are likely to churn. By identifying the risks, operators can implement strategies and personalized offers to retain customers.

3. Customer Service

Challenge: Providing timely and effective customer support can be challenging due to high volumes of inquiries and the complexity of issues.

How AI Can Help: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants handle routine customer inquiries, provide troubleshooting support, and escalate complex issues to human agents when necessary. This can improve the response times and reduce operational costs to enhance customer satisfaction.

4. Network Planning and Optimization

Challenge: Designing and planning network expansions involves examining various scenarios and predicting their impacts, which can be complex and time-consuming.

How AI Can Help: AI tools simulate different network configurations and analyze their potential impacts. This data-driven approach helps telecom operators make informed decisions about infrastructure investments, optimize network design, and plan expansions more effectively.

5. Data Management

Challenge: Managing large volumes of data generated by telecom operations can be overwhelming.

How AI Can Help: AI tools process and analyze massive datasets quickly and efficiently. This enables telecom operators to gain actionable insights, make data-driven decisions, and enhance overall operational efficiency.

6. Personalized Marketing

Challenge: Developing targeted marketing strategies and offers can be difficult without a clear understanding of customer preferences.

How AI Can Help: AI analyzes customer data to understand preferences and behavior, enabling telecom operators to deliver personalized marketing messages, offers, and recommendations. This approach increases engagement, improves conversion rates, and drives customer loyalty.

In conclusion, AI-enabled solutions have the potential to revolutionize the telecom industry by addressing complex challenges and driving substantial improvements across operations. By leveraging AI for network optimization, predictive maintenance, fraud detection, and customer service, operators and enterprises can significantly enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver superior customer experiences.

Globe Teleservices stands at the forefront of this technological transformation, offering a suite of advanced AI-driven solutions designed to address these industry needs. From predictive analytics and real-time network monitoring to intelligent fraud prevention and personalized customer interactions, Globe Teleservices empowers telecom operators to meet the demands of today’s digital landscape.

Contact us to know how our clients and partners are embracing our AI-enabled solutions to stay competitive.

Customer Communication Trends in the Evolving Telecom Industry

The telecom industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the need to place customers at the center of its strategies. With advancements in digital innovation, telecom companies are focusing on offering experiences with human-centric interactions. This evolution is reshaping the customer experience, providing new opportunities for businesses to enhance their services and grow.

The Importance of Customer Experience in Telecom

Customer experience is critical for all, be it enterprises or operators in the telecom industry, which faces high competition and customer volatility. Technological evolution means services quickly become obsolete, leading customers to switch brands frequently. Ensuring a superior customer experience is essential to retain customers and stay competitive.

Here are the latest customer communication trends and what they mean for your future communication strategies.

  1. Digital Channels: The Backbone of B2B Communication

Customers increasingly prefer digital channels for communication, seeking quick and accurate responses without waiting on hold. Businesses using digital channels, such as voice, SMS, and chat apps, are ahead in providing efficient customer service. Rich Communications Services (RCS) is enhancing business-to-consumer (B2C) communication strategies, leading to more engaging and conversational experiences. As per Juniper’s findings, the active RCS user base is anticipated to hit 1.1 billion by 2024.

  1. Personalization: The Key to Customer Loyalty

Personalizing customer experiences is a powerful strategy for building loyalty. Telecom companies are developing customized service offerings, utilizing customer data analytics for targeted communication and mapping customer journeys to identify personalization opportunities. Tailored offers, relevant updates, and personalized marketing messages demonstrate an understanding of unique customer needs, fostering loyalty.

  1. Next-Gen Technology: Enhancing Interactions

Incorporating advanced technologies can significantly improve customer interactions and satisfaction:

  • Advanced CRM Systems:

Manage customer data and interactions effectively.

Ensure a seamless experience across various digital channels, including websites, mobile apps, and social media.

  • Data Analytics:

Understand customer behaviors and preferences to tailor communications.

  1. A2P SMS: A Pillar for Effective Communication

Despite the rise of rich media channels, SMS remains crucial in communication strategies. The worldwide A2P SMS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9%, reaching USD 96.9 billion by 2032. Rich media messaging (MMS and RCS) allows businesses to send more engaging messages, while omnichannel messaging strategies and AI enhance the effectiveness of A2P messaging campaigns by personalizing messages, segmenting audiences, and anticipating customer behavior.

  1. Conversational Channels – The Key to Engaging Interactions

Adding the right digital channels to your communication mix is essential for delivering conversational customer experiences. Voice, SMS, and chat apps are top channels for B2C communication. RCS is paving the way for future strategies, meeting the rising demand for conversational experiences. This has become crucial for enterprises planning to develop their omnichannel strategies, creating hybrid digital-physical experiences.

Conclusion

To perfect your communication strategy, assess current strategies to identify gaps and fill them effectively. Automating AI chatbots and adding flexible channels, like WhatsApp, can improve customer engagement. A cloud contact center can manage conversations across various channels, ensuring access to conversation history and efficient responses.

Customer communication in the telecom industry is evolving rapidly, driven by digital innovation and the need for human-centric interactions. By focusing on digital channels, personalization, next-gen technology, A2P SMS, and conversational channels, telecom companies can enhance customer engagement and stay competitive.

Enable innovations with Globe Teleservices to ensure your customer engagement goes from good to great. Perfect your omnichannel communication strategy today with our next-gen telecom solutions.

The Growing Necessity of SMS Firewall Solutions in Business Communication

In today’s digital landscape, A2P SMS is a rapidly expanding sector, with countless companies leveraging it to enhance customer communication, marketing and authentication process. Amidst this growth, SMS firewall solutions have become essential components of business strategies, driven by the increasing number of market players, subscriber complaints and regulatory pressures. A managed SMS firewall offers a comprehensive approach to control SMS traffic cost-effectively, through fraud prevention to protect subscribers from threats.

The Critical Role of SMS Firewalls

The global SMS firewall market is projected to reach USD 3.0 billion by 2025, spurred by security concerns and the significant revenue share of international SMS traffic. With growing enterprise demand for fraud detection, the necessity of SMS firewalls has never been more apparent.

Enterprises aim to expand and retain their customer base, build trust, and foster loyalty. However, threats like SMS spoofing, spam, and smishing undermine trust, potentially causing brands to lose customers permanently.

According to Statista, approximately 36% of global users have experienced SMS scams. The importance of an SMS firewall solution is underscored by the proliferation of grey routes and the escalating threat of fraudsters exploiting SMS networks. Grey routes, which lack commercial agreements between senders and mobile operators, lead to revenue leakage and damage brand reputation.

Combating Security Challenges with SMS Firewalls

Managed SMS firewalls employ high-performance scanning techniques to combat threats, scrutinizing every message, originator, source, and route. Through rule-based filtering and clear traffic segregation, SMS firewalls help with fraud prevention, enabling long-term capital gains.

Some of the frauds faced by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and enterprises include:

  • Artificially Inflated Traffic: Bots generate one-time PIN requests to create undue costs and benefit fraudsters.
  • Flubot: Similar to a flu outbreak, Flubot spreads through fraudulent links leading users to malicious sites, infecting phones with malware.
  • Smishing: SMS phishing deceives consumers into revealing sensitive data.
  • Grey Routes: These routes bypass MNOs’ charging systems, resulting in revenue loss and leaving users vulnerable to privacy risks.
  • SMS Trashing: Unlike the other frauds, this type targets businesses and organizations, charging them for undelivered messages.
  • SIM Farms & SIM Boxes: This type of fraud utilizes a large number of SIM cards to send illegal messages.
Securing the Future of Enterprise Messaging

In the highly regulated A2P SMS sector, security has become a crucial differentiator for carriers aiming to protect their business communication, safeguard subscribers, and boost A2P revenues. Implementing a robust SMS firewall solution provides bulletproof defense against a wide range of attacks. Proactive measures, including machine learning, cloud-based deployment, fraud response frameworks, and comprehensive reporting mechanisms, are vital to combating fraud. This helps prevent revenue leakages, ultimately securing trust and enhancing experiences.

To safeguard your network and ensure innovative, secure customer communications, get in touch with us to deploy our next-gen AI-capable SMS firewall, Armour. Enable innovation #ei and keep your customers safe with our robust network security solutions.

For more information on our A2P firewall solution, read to know how we have helped Tigo Tanzania, part of the AXIAN telecom group, to tackle frauds in their network, leading to revenue losses.

 

The Future of Business Communication Why CPaaS is a Game Changer

As customer expectations continue to rise amidst increasing business costs, the quest for efficiency, and privacy challenges, companies face a crucial question: what do customers want right now? How can brands personalize, reach, and deliver communication that is interactive and engaging? Customers today demand fast, consistent, and personalized interactions every time they engage with a company. They seek exceptional products and services and show loyalty to brands that deliver. This makes it pivotal for enterprises to use Communication Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) to ensure seamless experiences.

What is CPaaS?

CPaaS, or Communications Platform as a Service, refers to cloud-based platforms that allow businesses to easily integrate real-time communication capabilities into their existing applications. This means you can add voice, A2P SMS, video, chatbots, email, and other functionalities into your business’s communication stack.

These platforms typically offer communication APIs, including:
Messaging APIs: For transactional and marketing messages, reminders, alerts, and two-way conversations.

  • Voice APIs: For seamless global voice calls.
  • Email APIs: To effortlessly send, receive, and track sent emails.
  • Verification APIs: For a more secure customer journey.
  • Video APIs: For top-notch in-app video experiences.

Additionally, CPaaS offers advanced features such as bots, live agent interactions, campaign management, and analytics.

The Digital Transformation with CPaaS

The future of customer engagement is digital. For many, this means turning to CPaaS to improve operational efficiencies and customer support. From conversational AI to various messaging platforms and social applications, CPaaS helps brands reach their customers through their preferred channels. This is crucial as contemporary consumers prefer real-time interactions tailored to their preferences and accessible through their chosen communication channels.

As per experts the CPaaS industry will surpass $34 billion in sales by 2026.Gartner also predicts that by 2025, 95% of global enterprises will use API-enabled CPaaS solutions to boost customer engagement.

How CPaaS is Transforming Businesses
  • Real-time Engagement: Engage with customers at the moment they need you, transforming interactions into opportunities.
  • Customized Communication: Leverage customer data to create relevant and personalized communications.
  • Efficiency and Precision: Conserve time and resources with streamlined processes.
  • Informed Decisions: Use collected customer data to make informed decisions.
Impact of CPaaS on Modern Business Communication

CPaaS is a versatile solution that embeds real-time communication channels directly into business applications using APIs, SDKs, and documentation. These capabilities include:

  • Messaging: SMS/MMS, toll-free, OTT channels (like WhatsApp and Messenger), and multi-party, multichannel conversations.
  • Voice Calling: VoIP, PSTN, and SIP trunking.
  • Video Calling: P2P, group rooms, and interactive livestreaming.
  • Email: Transactional and marketing emails.
  • Verification/Identity: One-time passcodes, strong customer authentication, and line-type lookup.

CPaaS bridges the gap between businesses and customers, facilitating interactions where and when they bring the most value to the customer experience. This omnichannel automation is beneficial serving industries such as healthcare, nonprofits, retail, real estate, travel and hospitality, education, insurance, and banking.

Agile, Meaningful Customer Communications

CPaaS has revolutionized the communications landscape, enabling brands to provide flawless, always-on customer interactions on their favorite channels. With best-of-breed solutions for messaging, voice, email, video, verification, and more, Globe Teleservices is poised to help businesses create a robust, scalable ecosystem for meaningful conversations.

Ready to learn more about how we enable innovation #ei through our CPaaS+ solution? Discover why Financial Times and Statista recognized us among the High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2024. Dive into our platform and see how we can help manage and improve your customer engagement.

(link to the press release: https://globeteleservices.com/globe-teleservices-recognized-among-the-high-growth-companies.php)

 

Harnessing the Power of A2P Messaging to Revolutionize Business Communication

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses must constantly adapt to stay ahead. One of the most transformative tools in recent years has been A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging. This has revolutionized how businesses communicate with customers, driving engagement and streamlining operations. A2P has become crucial for all enterprises and MNOs. This has driven market growth, with projections reaching a CAGR of 3.9%, reaching an estimated value of USD 96.9 billion by 2032.

What is A2P Messaging?

A2P SMS allows companies to send messages from an application or software directly to a mobile user. With a high open rate of 98% in comparison to emails which is 20%, making it a critical tool for businesses of all sizes. It enables seamless communication between businesses and their target audiences through automated, application-driven messages. Rich Communication Services (RCS) and its multimedia capabilities have further led to personalization, further enhancing engagement.

Check out what experts have to say about the use of RCS for business communications.

(Youtube video link: RCS and Conversational Commerce | MEF India 2024 )

Common Applications for A2P Messaging

It is a versatile platform, supporting various interactions such as appointment reminders, transaction notifications, verification from e-commerce platforms, etc. These include customer service bots, providing customized and relevant content automatically, enhancing customer experience and loyalty.

How Does A2P Messaging Work?

It operates by sending messages optimized for mobile display through specialized gateways that work with mobile carriers. These gateways ensure secure delivery to the recipient’s devices, presenting the text messages in familiar formats. Optional automated responses can further improve engagement. Real-time reporting allows the sender to track progress as needed.

9 Ways to Leverage A2P Messaging for Business Growth
  • Two-factor Authentication (2FA): Send one-time passwords to strengthen account security and prevent unauthorized access.
  • Appointment Reminders: Reduce no-shows with allow easy rescheduling to improve service efficiency.
  • Billing Updates: Notify customers of upcoming dues or changes, creating a smoother billing experience.
  • Purchase Notifications: Provide instant confirmations of online purchases, including event details for tickets complete with links.
  • Reservation reminder: Ensure timely arrival or cancellation for reservations at hotels or restaurants.
  • Shipping Notifications: Keep customers informed about package delivery statuses.
  • Unusual Activity Alerts: Automatically alert customers to potential security threats or best practices, fostering trust and safety.
  • Marketing Notifications: Keep your customers informed about ongoing promotions, sales and special offers, boosting sales.
  • Customer Feedback & Complaints: Collect real-time customer feedback through automated surveys and response prompts to enhance service quality.

A2P messaging is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers, regardless of the services you offer. By leveraging Globe Teleservices’ A2P messaging platform, you can launch secure and impactful marketing campaigns, ensuring enhanced reach and minimal disruptions. Embrace to improve customer service, increase efficiency, and achieve greater ROI in your business operations.

The Rising African Digital Economy And The Role Of Telecom Players

For long, the African continent has not been included in the so-called growth engines that have been credited with driving progress. However, the tide has turned. Over the last few years, the region has finally found a true enabler of growth – digitalization. Africa is witnessing a rapid adoption of digital services in all areas. From banking to education, eCommerce, and entertainment, the number of digital-savvy users is growing.

Help, guidance, and resources have poured into African nations courtesy of several global organizations as well as developed economies in the slipstream of this digital awakening. The investments have gone mostly into enabling resources such as high-speed internet. Today nearly 36% of the African population has access to broadband internet. A decade ago, this was in single digits.

Let’s look at this movement more closely.

From laggards to leaders

While Africa was significantly late in appearing on the digital economy radar, that did not stop it from beating all odds to emerge as a leader today. This is especially true in some areas. Take, for example, digital payments. McKinsey estimates that the African e-payment market will grow by 150% between 2020 and 2025.

Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and others are witnessing their digital transaction volumes doubling almost every year. Citizens are becoming more aware of the benefits of using digital payment mechanisms. A vast population that was outside the traditional banking systems is coming aboard now to enjoy extraordinary benefits.

This is an inspiring journey and can set precedents for other regions to follow. Most African nations are now focused on creating a welcoming environment for fintech innovations in their markets. These innovations are those that can break barriers to the adoption of new-age financial instruments by the masses.

The journey is not without challenges

While sectors like banking are showing promise, the African continent does have some very basic challenges. It is estimated that nearly 900 million people in Africa are still not connected to the internet. For those who have managed to hop onto the internet bandwagon, businesses are facing challenges in improving service experiences. From physical limitations created by irregular power supply to security threats in cyberspace, there’s quite a journey to endure before success.

The role of telecom in Africa’s digital maturity

We have already seen the number one problem that stands in the way of making Africa a competent force in the digital space is poor connectivity. More Africans need to become connected to the internet at affordable rates. Moreover, it is equally important for newer digital business services to penetrate deep into such untapped markets seamlessly and securely. In this context, telecom players can play a central role in bridging the gaps on the road to digital maturity in the African market.

They can bring the much-needed connectivity that will boost the online population figures. Additionally, telecom companies can transition into trusted enablers of digital services by providing a foundation for other businesses to build on top of. In other words, telecom operators have the opportunity of a lifetime to radically transform a region that is poised to be the next big international growth market.

How can telecom companies be the flag bearer of digital innovation in Africa?

Let us explore the top 3 ways in which telecom businesses can empower major changes and be a part of Africa’s most anticipated growth journey:

Create a new internet population faster

Telecom companies play a key role in helping more people get online on the continent. While faster internet services and phone networks are important areas, telecom operators must build a seamless customer acquisition strategy as well. A major hurdle in this strategy is getting people on board faster without complications. This is where telecom companies can leverage solutions like eKYC to minimize friction and get things done within the quickest timeframe possible.

Eliminate fraud

Telecom companies can ensure that they prevent fraudulent engagements in their networks. It can use platforms such as Armour to ensure that spam, fraudulent SMS created with SIM farming, IP-BX frauds, etc. are prevented from making any presence in the business.

Support digital business growth

Businesses must offer seamless digital services at scale to impress users and attract new customers. However, with the rise in digital consumption, there will be a major uptick in the number of cyber threats as well. We have seen rising instances of fraud and identity theft resulting in people losing money considerably. Telecom companies can truly help create a difference in this scenario.

By deploying tools like Authentrica, enterprises can use telecom networks as a major source of verifying the authenticity of users. From multi-channel authentication to Flash Calls, it becomes easier to identify and remove threats before they unleash damage. 2 major benefits could accrue here. They help in avoiding transactional vulnerabilities in the network. At the same time, they allow businesses to quickly on-board new customers with genuine credentials through real-time authentication.

The bottom line

Africa will be a land of opportunities for the digital community and a growth engine of the world in the coming years. Telecom players can be key catalysts of that revolution. They can help businesses of all kinds tap into this emerging market. In this journey, telecom players, need access to the right tech that can help in building an enabling ecosystem that can also be monetized. This is where our suite of offerings can help. Get in touch with us to know more about our Africa story.

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