Batelic: User Experience Has a Far-reaching Impact, and GDPR Has Big Part In It

The costumer is the king, everybody knows this sales phrase, but today with all the social networks costumer comes in the focus, and the companies including telecommunication operators are becoming aware of that.

Costumer experience, churn management with big data analytics are todays tools for the big companies to reach their business goals. We spoke with Boris Batelic, HT's Member of the Management Board and Chief Customer Experience Officer (CCO), who explains HT’s holistic approach to users is needed.

“HT additionally works on full and timely compliance with the obligations and with GDPR, so we will, for example, further work on the transparency of informing users about the processing and protection of their personal information that they entrusted us with and will enable our users to manage their personal information even more easily“, says Batelic.

Digital transformation is about people inside and outside of the company. How do you see future of customer experience in digital transformation era?

Digital transformation requires big change in the entire organization. It is a new way of doing business and much more than launching a new application or new digital product. Digital changes impact both business side and customers. Customers are gaining new opportunities to interact, new communication opportunities and new tools to fulfill their needs. This empowers them to do much more than they were previously able to do. Future of customer experience will depend on understanding the relationships and how these relationships are integrated in your products.

Do you think how big will be the influence of GPDR for managing the customer experience?

HT already applies high personal data protection standards in providing its services. These standards are essentially described in the Binding Corporate Privacy Policy of the DT Group, which has been approved by the relevant authorities in the EU. Thus, for example, HT conducts "privacy by design" and "privacy by default" approach in creating its services, has a special organizational unit responsible for the protection of personal data, a personal data protection officer, which is being introduced as an obligation only with the application of GDPR. HT additionally works on full and timely compliance with the obligations and with GDPR, so we will, for example, further work on the transparency of informing users about the processing and protection of their personal information that they entrusted us with and will enable our users to manage their personal information even more easily.

Telco sector is changing rapidly for the last decade. From core telco company to telco data and now more service company in private and business sector. What is changing in customer experience in last few years?

What is changing is the relationship between a customer and a telco company. What is happening is that intensity of relationship is changing. Before, relationship revolved around getting and installing the service and assisting customer throughout the usage time. But, as telco sector is moving into the ICT and new digital services, the interaction density and nature of these interactions changes. We become more related and intimate with our customers where focus is to provide a relevant value add. The product as a solution is no longer sufficient - it is how it can improve your life or job, that is a relevant part. We expect that this trend will continue as digital services will push further to integrate with our personal and professional lives.

Churn management is today one of the key enablers to have loyal customers. How can BI, data science and AI can help in churn management?

Data has always been a fundamental part of our business. The evolution of data tools and applications gives us new opportunities to manage and improve our services.

Key benefit is the insights. Having a complex system of a telecom, and that includes our network and technology as well as our employees and customer interactions, you need technology to get the holistic picture and understand how you are impacting your customers.

How much impact is in the development of user experience today with the digital transformation that everyone is talking about?

Digital transformation is always more than changing our technology infrastructure - it is changing of how you do business.

HT is going through major Business IT transformation right now. Our primary goal is to improve customer experience we are providing and to give us new business opportunities. Legacy systems slow you down in development of new services and adapting to customer needs. But this is also a business transformation - we are changing how we are doing business, which is needed to make the whole transformation a success.

Also, telecoms all over Europe are going through big business and technological transformations. Digitization puts many challenges before us as it brings great changes that affect our industry. The three key changes the digitization brings which have a major impact on our industry. Changes in customers’ behavior - thanks to companies such as Facebook, Uber and others, an increasing number of consumers seek digital interaction with their service providers. This is happening slowly to telecommunications companies as well - "I'll check my account through the app". That's why a large area of transformation is building an interface through which users will choose how to interact with our service.

Data bases - a large amount of available data is available in the digital world. Within telecommunications companies, the amount of data we have is huge and we need to start using them so that we can make better decisions and be more effective. For example, the idea of where precisely users use the internet should make a huge difference related to the location of our sites, should greatly improve performance regarding planning of high costs of setting up our network.

Machine to Machine (M2) communication - The machines are the third challenge, probably the most intriguing segment of digital transformation, and a big part of it because most machines sooner or later will have embedded SIM cards. Telco operators know how many houses are equipped with their router and it should be possible to predict the moment they will break down. Through M2M communication it will be possible to perform preventive maintenance rather than maintenance after the breakdown.

All three key changes pose technological challenges to telecoms, but certainly the greatest is the change in the mindsets of the employees themselves who will no longer do business the learned telco way.

Also, digital transformation is about people inside and outside of the company. What is the impact on customer experience?

Customer experience highly depends on the customer relations, no matter of the relationship is established through digital channels or direct interpersonal contact. Digital gives new opportunities for making those relationships stronger.