Ofcom has reported billing is one of the biggest complaints customers make about telco operators. The communications regulator’s latest telecoms and pay TV complaints report shows billing was the biggest complaint about pay TV operators, also driving around one in five complaints about companies offering pay-monthly mobile, landlines and broadband.
To curb these complaints, telco operators need to make better use of data, according to Harry Dougall, CFO at Sagacity. He says the complexity of the telco market is making things increasingly difficult, but by cleansing data and applying analytics and value management tools, they can drive up billing accuracy and start driving competitive advantage.
He said: “With so many different channels, bundles and tariffs to keep track of, legacy data siloes and seemingly constant M&A disruption, it’s harder than ever for operators to get a single view of the customer. Unfortunately, this means errors are more frequent than they should be as operators are often unable to link accounts, meaning things fall through the cracks. Yet complexity is no excuse. Billing is foundational. If an operator isn’t getting their bills right, how much can they trust any of their data? So, first, operators need to cleanse their customer database and make it as accurate as possible, so they can identify any linked accounts and offers and bundles that may impact a customer’s bill, or to show if a customer has been mistakenly put on the wrong tariff. By then applying an analytics layer and a value management tool, operators can really get into the strategic level questions – who are my most valuable customers? What is my best performing channel? And so on. By doing so, they can turn billing from a driver for customer complaints, and Ofcom fines, into something that delivers significant strategic advantage.”
