Lessons in retail

To the generation of Americans who now see Barney the dinosaur as the closest thing to God on earth, wireless communications will probably one day seem like the invention of electronics superstores.

Stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Montgomery Ward's Electric Avenue have become the equivalent of wireless hawker stands over the last two years, as cellular and, more recently, personal communication services providers have begun to invest more in retail distribution partnerships.

The payoff has been big so far. Customers have been buying into claims of quicker and easier service activation, service package variation and flexible payment processes. In turn, the greater retail exposure of wireless service has helped carriers better develop their own retail outlets.

The success cannot come as much of a surprise to the carriers reaping the benefits; they simply saw the opportunity to strengthen their reach to customers and did so.

With the advent of competition throughout the telecommunications industry, it would appear that many carriers in different segments of the industry have a similar opportunity. They can strengthen their relationships with customers and potential customers by making themselves into efficient and accessible retail-style operations.

Although the retail partnership model may not apply to selling things like frame relay circuits, the state of mind and the technological integration behind this model absolutely apply.

One way wireless companies are accomplishing their retail flourish is by better integrating point-of-sale systems with their embedded operations support systems. This makes it easier for retailers to quickly register customers, assemble service packages and actually activate service.

Other types of carriers can do the same thing within the realm of their customer service operations. They can better prepare customer service representatives to answer service requests and process service orders by better integrating the systems involved in the service ordering, provisioning and maintenance process. They also can establish methods of tracking the work flow involved in this process to make sure every piece is working efficiently.

If you asked industry experts a year ago about back office challenges incumbent carriers faced with competition on the way, it is safe to say very few would have described the carrier back office as a den of inspired efficiency.

However, with competition now scratching at the door, the back office environment suddenly is looking to be in much worse shape than some of us once thought.

In recent weeks, I have heard the incumbent carrier back office situation described alternatively as a thoroughly saturated minefield and as a ruined city waiting to be taken over by squatters. Although these analogies are somewhat soaked in hyperbole, it is obvious that carriers not only need to subscribe to a new philosophy for dealing with customers, but also need to commit themselves to technological back office renovations that can give their service ordering and activation processes a new feel.

Electric Lightwave Inc. is not a household name in the carrier industry, but it may be one day soon. ELI, a competitive carrier based in Vancouver, Wash., recently signed on a partnership of three companies—MetaSolv Software, Kenan Systems and Objective Systems Integrators—to construct a completely integrated order processing, provisioning and maintenance architecture for the carrier. MetaSolv will contribute an order tracking and circuit provisioning piece integrated with Kenan's billing and rating piece, and with OSI's management piece.

Like the competitive wireless companies, ELI has recognized that having the right attitude about being a retail service provider and investing in the technological seamlessness necessary to deliver on that attitude will give it the best chance possible to market its business.

A trend seems to become apparent: The most competitive carriers, wireless and CLECs, seem to have developed an edge in building customer relationships. Perhaps the rest of the industry can learn something from them.