LIVE FROM CEM IN TELECOMS GLOBAL SUMMIT, LONDON: Client partner at Facebook Sacha Nikita Kraft (pictured) predicted a prosperous future for the telecom industry if it manages to seize opportunities by reading customers’ expectations to deliver fast and personal communication.

Kraft highlighted the importance of messaging options for customers to connect with businesses, including in the telecom field, by citing results from various studies. For example, he said 64 per cent of people surveyed globally across generations would prefer messaging instead of email or a call, and half of respondents wished they could communicate with businesses more through messaging.

“As more options become available to people, expectations of businesses have continued to increase. Only two out of ten people surveyed globally said they are happy with the customer service they are getting. That translates into a cost of friction accumulating to $75 billion” per year across industries, Kraft said, referring to research by cloud service company NewVoiceMedia, which calculated the cost of bad customer care for US businesses.

“There are chances in the saturated churn, plate, industry like telco. If you seize the opportunities as you read the customers and their expectations in the right way, you can cut a piece of that $75 billion. The future for telcos is prosperous if you do the right things”.

Privacy
He outlined speed, privacy and interoperability as key elements in messaging services.

Kraft highlighted the Cambridge Analytica scandal from 2018, claiming things at Facebook “have changed dramatically” since.

“We are moving towards a privacy-first social network”, he explained, adding more than 10,000 people in Facebook are working on integrity and privacy.

“The company is changing and it also has an impact on messaging. Facebook is leading the way with three of the biggest messaging services”, he stated.

Jorg Knoop, technology digital incubator at Vodafone Germany, added the operator introduced customer service over WhatsApp in the country in 2018 and planned to make the app “the centrepiece of each and every communication with the customer” until the end of March.

He explained the move was accordance with the company’s vision to provide services in one channel.