Service innovation depends on innovation in operations

Service innovation for MVNOs has become a pressing concern, but creativity in the service domain needs to be supported by agility in operations and processes. The ability to operate efficiently is crucial, given increased competitive pressure and the need to constantly evolve and remain relevant. Doing more with the same resources has become key to ensuring future profitability. 

What do we mean by operations innovation?

We’ve written extensively about opportunities that can be afforded by service innovations, and why MVNOs need to think about how they can evolve offers, increase agility and boost customer engagement. We can characterise such initiatives as examples of “externally-facing” innovation. But, there’s a lot of potential for innovation behind the scenes, in the operations domain.

One example is the pressing need to operate more efficiently – to do more with less cost and less friction. Enhancing operations performance is crucial to the success of any MVNO. That’s because margins are generally tight, so MVNOs are not in a position to recruit large numbers of people to join the dots between multiple components in a complicated web of systems.

Systems need to be integrated, so they can share data and that workflows can be created that enable automation, reducing the need for human intervention – and ensuring that resources can be deployed where they matter: on growing the business. How can you secure greater efficiency?

What do we need to secure a more efficient operating environment?

Of course, there are several factors that contribute to an efficient operating environment. First, an integrated business support platform which eliminates the information and processing gaps between different elements.

When a new product offer is created and approved for release, you need to be able to make it available – immediately. At the same time, it must be completely integrated with charging and policy solutions, as well as with customer service and self-care applications.

Similarly, when changes to an offer are required, such as price or allowance adjustments, it should be easy to implement and rollout these updates. In other words, you need agility to launch and to change offers, quickly, easily and efficiently, so that all related systems and processes are also adjusted.

To unlock this level of agility, integration is essential. You need a platform that can consistently reference a common data model, so that all applications and processes are synchronised. Such integration eliminates the need to perform multiple, separate steps across different components when a simple – let alone more complex – change is executed.

Another key requirement is automation. As much as possible, the handling of customer purchases, service changes, number ports, product upgrades, service updates, and other customer service actions should be fully automated. A change in one should result in a corresponding action or change in another.

Explore innovation opportunities for MVNOs in our exclusive briefing series

A particular focus area for achieving greater operations efficiency is the way in which you provide effective customer service, which must be delivered with the high standards you need to retain customers and stand out in a competitive market. That can be tough – but automation and self-service platforms are the answer. What does this mean in practice?

All this, and more, is the subject of Part 4 of our ‘MVNO Innovation’ briefing series. In it, we discuss key requirements for operations innovation and examine what this means for the ‘digital first’ customer engagement model – and explore the technology required to support agile operations processes and enhanced efficiency.

Download our guides today and then talk with our team to see how you can enable new innovation for your mobile business.