NCTA: Cable sharpens customization focus

SAN FRANCISCO--The primary theme of NCTA-The National Show was Customers in Control--the idea being that with the movement to Internet protocol and the increased ability to customize service, cable companies want to provide their customers with greater control over how, where and on what device they receive services.

On one end of the spectrum, early adopters want convergence of services and the ability to access voice, data and video on whatever platform is most convenient, whether it’s a cellphone, a PC or a television set. The convergence of the wireline and wireless realms has already begun with the introduction of dual-mode phones that enable customers to use a cellular network outside the home and a Wi-Fi network, connected to a broadband service, inside the home.

“There will be six million dual-mode handsets in 2005,” said Alan Stoddard, general manager of Converged Multimedia Solutions for Nortel Networks, at panel discussion on converged services. “Commercial products are available today. The importance of voice-over-IP is that you can do voice on any device over an IP network. The power of the technology is that you are not deploying individual service sets, you can integrate all these different media screens and applications.”

“Our customers have uploaded 400 million photos from their cell phones,” said Mike D. Smith, director of business development, Cable Solutions. “Now one of the things we can give them is the ability to initiate a slideshow and show it on their TV set.”

But customization isn’t just about adding bells and whistles, cautioned Mimi Thigpen, vice president of strategy at Cox Communications.

“The transition we are making to IP is allowing us to make service applications easier to deliver,” she said. Within a given household, individuals will use services differently, and need a different kind of customer support, Thigpen added.

“There is a separate customer segment emerging today among the youth--they aren’t the primary purchasing power today but they are a significant influence,” she said. “On the other hand, 70% of our customers just want to make a phone call. Do you build for that group or for the next generation? We have to strike a balance.”

That balance could include using touch screen technology, as opposed to more complex remote controls, to make it easier for older consumers to operate a converged service, such as delivery of caller ID over the television, commented John Chambers, Cisco Systems CEO. The cable industry learned from its adventures in interactive television that many consumers “want to be fed,” said Tom Buttermore, vice president of data and voice engineering & operations at Adelphia Communications.

“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you will do something,” he said. “People don’t want five options. They don’t want 18 different voice mail boxes with different outgoing messages, depending on who’s calling.”

A major challenge for cable will be to develop customer care systems that address the changing market. That means that customer service representatives will increasingly be expected to troubleshoot wireless home networking and PC problems, Buttermore said.

“We want to create a trusted provider relationship,” he said. “We create a universal service rep – a super rep. But we are competing with the local Home Depot branch on hourly wages, yet we need someone who can troubleshoot a DVR, a wireless router, a PC, and VoIP service.”

Added to that challenge will be the need to address individuals in the home differently, said Thigpen.

“Our back office systems have to mature so that we know which individual in the home is calling,” she said. “We also have to let them do much more self-service.”