Mapping Technology: The Common Thread

Minutes of use are increasing. The average monthly bill is decreasing. Costs are rising. Resources are waning. Sound familiar? This seems to be the norm for nearly every wireless carrier today: Trying to do more with less to remain competitive and profitable.

Many service providers are taking action by using the latest technologies to help improve information management, increase communications and develop effective customer-relationship-management (CRM) systems. One such technology is mapping or spatial technology.

For example, network outages affect certain areas, which are geographically bound. Service can be provided only in the coverage area. Partner and roaming agreements function only within certain geographic areas. And each network element has a specific location as well as delivering service to areas based on customer demographics and usage. Mapping technology helps organizations pull together and make sense of this information so everyone can work toward providing the highest level of service.

HOLISTIC CUSTOMER CARE Customer care today is more of a mantra for the entire organization than the purview of a single department in the organization. Research shows that customers are more likely to stay with a company (and even pay more for services) that has high-quality customer care. This means that customer care can be either an asset or a liability. To ensure yours is an asset, there are new ways to approach old problems.

Advances in software, hardware and the Internet make it possible to bridge the gaps between departments to closely align customer service, engineering, network operations, marketing and sales toward one single goal: satisfaction. This alignment also enables a more pro-active approach to customer interactions and relationship management. It brings all departments together to play a part in ensuring each customer interaction is positive by arming them with the information they need. One major component of this new model for many carriers is location-based analysis because of the geographic or location-specific nature of so much critical information that affects the customer.

With this technology, CSRs can pinpoint call problems and immediately verify which cell a customer was in when a problem occurred. The CSR then can determine quickly the nearest service center to the customer's home or office in the event of equipment failure. If the problem stems from the network, the CSR can ascertain that immediately and inform the customer of the temporary problem and likely resolution time. In other words, the CSR can be pro-active in dealing with customers.

Just as customer care benefits, so too can engineering. As troubles are discovered, specific trouble-location information can be sent in real time to engineers for a further analysis. In a sense, engineering can use customer-complaint data to enhance its drive testing -- turning a potential negative into a positive. Also, engineers can see where clusters of troubles are occurring, rather than single incidents, to help prioritize where and when to act.

Performance engineers can compare geographic trouble reports against switch-performance data in order to help guide new capital expenditures based on how the network is performing in relation to customers. Using detailed geographic information, a performance engineer can pinpoint where trouble occurred. Reports then can be generated to reveal both patterns in the data and closing statistics on each type of problem. This can be done on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Operations managers can use mapping technology to spot patterns and trends in customer complaints, network performance and reaction time. This information then can be used for maintenance, repairs, upgrades and planning. The information also can be used for daily scheduling and logistics to make sure problems are addressed in the proper order and with the greatest efficiency. Ultimately, mapping technology can help operations provide the high-quality service that customers demand by providing the ability to deal with complaints, adequately answer questions and overcome problems more quickly and with greater knowledge of the situation.

Salespeople also can be keyed into the information that pertains to their specific territory. This way, when issues arise, they can deal with their customers pro-actively and ensure proper communications and even damage control. They can use location-specific information to help target the best potential accounts and understand where accounts may be in jeopardy.

The marketing organization can pull together inbound call information, existing coverage and marketing-campaign information to see just where marketing is effective and where more effort needs to be concentrated. Once again, using mapping technology and specific location information, a marketing analyst can see where people are looking for service, but no service is provided. He or she also can see where new subscribers are coming from and where subscribers are canceling and analyze those areas based on demographic characteristics to help better profile customers and target marketing and customer-retention campaigns.

Finally, capital planning can be done using a market-driven approach by using all of the information collected throughout the organization. Equipment performance, customer complaints, marketing success rates and market demand can and should play into the decisions to expend more capital. By taking all of this into account, your organization can ensure that any investment will be recouped in an acceptable amount of time.

Mapping technology can be used throughout a wireless organization to help improve operational efficiencies and deliver actionable information to those who need it. Mapping tools help communicate information that can ease customer concerns, provide up-to-date network information to ensure pro-active customer dealings, enable rapid response to trouble and even aid in the prevention of future problems by making the right investments.

SAME PAGE, SAME GOAL To be the best, your organization needs to work as one, with one goal in mind -- serve the customer better than anyone else can. Although each department may have its own vision of what it takes to succeed, organizations collectively need to be on the same page in order to execute an effective CRM vision.

When it comes to customer retention and attraction, all departments are interdependent. Customer service cannot function properly without information from engineering. Engineering can't build a network without information from market planning. Operations cannot keep the network running without customer service as its ears and engineers as its hands. When these groups function as separate entities, the organization cannot achieve its true customer potential.

When each group can actually "see" what the others are doing, it provides a whole new perspective of the business. When marketing instantly can share information with engineering, the company can get a jump on opportunities. When customer service quickly can share information with operations, problems can be solved more quickly. When sales knows where to sell and where not to sell, time can be better spent. When all of these pieces come together, the company exceeds expectations.

As a platform for bringing multiple departments and multiple types of information together, mapping technology acts as the thread that sews the organization together. The result is time better spent, resources more efficiently deployed, networks built and managed better, and customers served better.

The bottom line with mapping technology is that it helps to enhance overall customer care and satisfaction while providing greater capabilities and efficiencies to the organization. Hundreds of wireless service providers around the world rely on mapping technology to help plan, design and maintain their networks, but it's only just recently that they've begun to discover the benefits that can be gained by helping them to focus better on the customer. Mapping technology only is getting better, and for some providers it's not an option, it's an integral part of their business.

There are three components to a mapping solution: databases, mapping software and user interfaces. Each element has equal importance.

Today, many databases are spatially enabled. (IBM, Informix and Oracle all have spatial capabilities.) Many service providers have re-vamped their database infrastructures in order to take advantage of the plethora of geographic and location information they deal with. By using their core relational databases to manage this information, service providers gain the benefits of centralized maintenance, updating and security of the data.

With location data, there are both the daily transactional components as well as the more stagnant, unchanging components. For example, a trouble ticket that occurred at a specific location on Thursday is a transaction, whereas a tower location will not change. Additional data such as demographics, street information, regulatory boundaries and even the location of competitors also can be added to further enhance analytical capabilities. This all can be easily managed within the database.

The next component is the mapping software. In essence, this software pulls together the different types of geographic information and delivers it to the user. Map delivery can be pre-programmed, or it can be ad hoc. The delivery method is determined by the user's needs.

Mapping software can reside wholly on a workstation, wholly on a server or partially on both, again depending on the needs of the user. Applications can be as simple or as powerful as needed regardless of where the application resides. Where the software resides usually depends on how many people will be using it, which ranges from a handful to tens of thousands. Some service providers have nearly every employee using mapping technology as part of their daily activities.

The final element is the user interface. Analysts and engineers typically need the processing power and greater sophistication of workstation-based software that they have much control over. CSRs, salespeople and management typically want to see certain things as needed and prefer a simple interface or even just a Web browser. In between each of these is the ability to use technology such as Microsoft's ActiveX or Sun's Java to create hybrid applications or even embed mapping technology into existing applications without ever having to leave a familiar interface.

Most service providers will use a combination of local and server-based databases and mapping software, and many are using an intranet or the Internet as the delivery mechanism to simple interface or even a Web browser. As more capabilities arise from Web-based technology, more sophisticated capabilities will arise. For example, many providers are using mapping technology on their Web sites to allow customers and prospects to compare their addresses to the provider's coverage area. This helps the service provider alleviate unnecessary calls and streamline the sales process while also affording it with great insight into where people are looking for service.

Beyond this, many providers are looking into how they can deliver map and location information to portable devices via the Web. An example of this already being tested is using longitude/latitude coordinates from a GPS-enabled handset to query a database for all restaurants within one mile of that location.