Digitising the customer acquisition journey

on Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 12:04:19 am

Algerian cellular telecommunications service provider Ooredoo transformed its customer acquisition using RPA solutions for completely digital, highly automated contract processing. Now, it can get customers up-and-running with a new mobile phone subscription in just minutes. Ooredo can do this while reduce operating costs and ensuring full compliance with strict information-sharing laws.

Ooredoo processes approximately 5 million new mobile contracts every year in Algeria alone but found that its manual, paper-driven methods to capture customers’ data and activate their contracts was slow which risked incurring customer dissatisfaction.

When applying for new contracts, customers had to fill out paper forms at its points-of-sale and provide supporting proof of identity, such as their driver’s license. Sales teams manually keyed the information into a separate application to program the new SIM card, then activated it.

Automation and compliance

Separately, in order to import the customer contract information into its back-end Oracle Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Ooredoo had to schedule weekly document collections from its points-of-sale, where drivers collected the paper applications and took them to a central service bureau to be scanned and indexed; administrative teams then manually entered the data into Siebel CRM. It could take up to three weeks for customer information to be entered into back-end systems, and reliance on manual data entry increased the risk of error.

Moreover, one regulation requires that customer contract information be is entered into its systems within a certain number of days after a sale has been made.

The manual approach was expensive and time consuming with risk of documents getting lost and Ooredoo risked being penalised for non-compliance with Algeria’s strict government regulations around information sharing, especially following the Algerian Civil War during the 1990s, when the government put in place a number of strict security and counter-terrorism measures.

Moreover, one regulation requires that customer contract information be is entered into its systems within a certain number of days after a sale has been made. However, it could sometimes take weeks between contract activation and entry of customer information into Ooredoo’s back-end systems. This put Ooredoo at risk of of being penalised with hefty fines or withdrawal of its operating license for non-compliance should the authorities conduct an audit.

Digitising the customer acquisition process

So, it was keen to mitigate that risk and embarked on a project to automate and digitise the entire customer acquisition process, and it partnered with CaptureDoc to deploy a new document capture and management platform, built on RPA solutions, across its network of stores and merchandising partner locations.

Today, when a customer comes into a store, sales teams help them complete an electronic application form on a desktop computer at Ooredoo stores and on a tablet device at partner shops. The new digital customer acquisition process is enabled by document signing technology, which allows Ooredoo to capture customers’ electronic signatures on signing pads and tablet screens.

Once a customer has signed their contract, sales teams capture an electronic copy of supporting identification documents—with scanners or directly from tablet devices. Both the application form and digitised ID documents are then uploaded to a back-end database and Siebel CRM, using a Mobile Capture Platform. Simultaneously, the customer’s personal details are automatically transmitted to a separate application used for SIM card programming, and the SIM is activated over GSM network.

If there is no internet connection, the contract will remain encrypted and stored locally on the desktop or tablet at the point-of-sale until connectivity is restored.

Working around spotty Internet

With the document signing technology, Ooredoo can complete the application process even when there is no internet connection which is a key benefit in a country like Algeria, where internet connectivity can often be unreliable.

Once the customer’s e-signature has been captured, the contract document is sealed electronically. If there is no internet connection, the contract will remain encrypted and stored locally on the desktop or tablet at the point-of-sale until connectivity is restored. Once a connection is available, the document is automatically uploaded to back-end systems.

Behind the scenes, Ooredoo uses Analytics for Capture to track and measure key metrics related to the customer acquisition process. This enables the company to keep a close watch on the status of every contract application, and spot opportunities to boost process efficiency and accuracy.

Setting up alerts

Ooredoo has also established a series of alerts that flag up any issues with the capture process and measure sales performance in stores. For example, when a store reaches a specific threshold of new products sold, the system creates an alert that will trigger administrative teams to send congratulations and a thank-you note to the sales team. Acknowledging sales achievements in this way helps Ooredoo to keep sellers motivated and encourages them to hit their targets, driving sales and revenues.

This all-digital approach has transformed the customer experience at Ooredoo. With significantly faster contract processing and service activation customers can get up-and running with their new mobile service in just minutes. It makes Ooredoo more efficient, helps improve the customer experience, reduces the cost and time of processing contracts, and enabling the company to deliver consistent service whatever the channel.

This all-digital approach has transformed the customer experience at Ooredoo.

Moreover, Ooredoo gains much richer insight into its customers, helping the company deliver more personalised service. With real-time customer information, the company can understand better its customers and their needs from the very first day of their lifecycle. It also lets them personalise their outreach in the call centre, at sales points and through marketing campaigns to provide a very good customer experience which strengthens its standing in the market.

With real-time customer information, the company can understand better its customers and their needs from the very first day of their lifecycle.

Also, besides strengthening Ooredoo’s position when in comes to responding to regulators’ audit requests, the new all-digital process has almost entirely eliminated the risk of incorrect or inconsistent data being entered into business systems, so the company can rest assured that it has accurate, complete customer data to hand during audits and minimised risk and cost of non-compliance.

Embracing digitisation appears to have paid off for Ooredoo, when its group revenue was up by two per cent in the first quarter of 2017 and net profit was up three per cent during the same period. Equally impressively was its customer base in Algeria which grew by five per cent to reach more than 14 million customers, and its customers were very impressed by the innovations the company had introduced.