How lead-to-order automation saves communications service providers time and money

Order management sits at the center of everything, and an efficient lead-to-order process is at the heart of every successful telco. When sales representatives’ responses to requests for a quote are delayed, prospects look elsewhere. When representatives submit flawed contracts and orders, service deliveries are delayed, customers are frustrated, and costly re-work and truck rolls are often required. Without automation, 69% of sales teams’ time is spent on manual back-office tasks. By automating manual back- and front-office tasks, you can increase sales team productivity and cost savings.

Delivering the perfect order transforms customer relationships by letting the provider use digital channels more efficiently, operate better assisted channels, and expose partner portals. People expect seamless omni-channel experiences and 360-degree self-service capabilities. Prospective customers want to be able to place an order online, and existing customers want 24/7 access to a portal where they can look up account information and/or track the status of their order without having to call in. Delivering on these expectations turns prospects into customers and reduces churn.

Automating the quoting, contracting, and ordering process for complex enterprise orders onto a single platform opens up a world of possibilities by:

• Reducing complexity
• Providing transparency
• Offering AI capabilities and unique insights

Today, 71% of systems are not integrated. Order management systems are often siloed and coupled with aging billing systems, and they can’t provide the transparency or flexibility needed to power meaningful customer experiences. Automating the order management process on a single platform solves these issues. It streamlines processes, creates efficiencies, and reduces costs.

An investment in modern horizontal solutions both supports the omni-channel digital journeys of today and future proofs for tomorrow. Unifying systems so everyone across your organization has access to all the information they need creates a single source of truth. It simplifies operations and reduces the complexity of having multiple systems, processes, and siloed data systems.

Manual tasks take up too much of your sales team’s time, and relying on representatives to manually fill, track, and service orders results in costly errors. Automating and simplifying the quote-to-activation process (including intelligent field service) is key to reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

It’s no surprise that only 37% of low-performing companies have automated the generation of quotes and proposals, as compared with 65% of high performing companies. In fact, organizations that automate these processes see increased productivity almost immediately. Furthermore, automation reduces errors, resulting in 60% improvement in operational efficiency, according to Salesforce research. Bringing back- and front-office tasks into automated processes lets sales teams focus more on sales and client relationships, and less on manual “busy work.” Because of this, fewer people are needed to work each order, making it easier to expand and scale operations.

Simplifying the buying and fulfillment process lets sales representatives head off problems at the beginning. Many of the downstream issues that often break orders can be addressed up front, resulting in less leakage. And, because all pertinent information is captured at step one, representatives are aware of problem areas and prepared with alternate solutions. For example, a representative won’t be able to place an unserviceable order for customer locations outside the network footprint. The system will flag this (and not accept the order) before a quote is generated. This creates less back and forth or disappointment on the client end, and a better overall experience.

A catalog driven solution architecture, or a system with a central product, service, and resource catalog that masters all the data, assures that information across an organization is uniform. It means that data entered in one system immediately updates in all the other systems. This allows communications service providers to rapidly configure and introduce new products and promotions. Any changes to the central product catalog automatically cascade to CPQ (configure, price, quote), order management, and contract lifecycle management applications. This approach is well aligned to TM Forum and MEF industry standards and can be implemented quickly via product configuration, accelerating launch cycles and reducing risk.

Tracking data points and reporting on ongoing operations results in data driven decision making, operational efficiencies, and reduced revenue leakage. It also creates transparency, giving the customer the information they want via self-service and assisted service platforms.

We know that B2B customers want 24/7 access to seamless, omnichannel experiences. Automating processes helps telcos give these customers the experiences they crave. Orders can now be visualized as they move through various stages. Customers can track progress and set up alerts on a customer portal, service agents have access to that same information so that assisted channels are up-to-date and consistent, and sales representatives can easily check up on orders and quickly spot any that may be in jeopardy.

One of the biggest benefits of automation is the opportunity it gives you to gain valuable insights into every order. Adding artificial intelligence and analytics on top of your data visualization platform lets providers and sales teams make more informed decisions. Service providers can track KPIs to gain insight into sales productivity and identify areas for improvement, and sales teams can unearth unforeseen opportunities and refine go-to-market strategies. Ultimately, this layer of intelligence helps telcos turn insight into action, driving productivity, revenue, and employee engagement.

With AI integration, you can fully harness the data captured across your organization. You can couple what you know about your customers with what you’ve learned through past order journeys to recommend next best actions, predict which orders might fail and why, and figure out what you can do to minimize risk. You can predict what might go wrong before it actually happens and prevent it, and your sales teams can proactively manage client relationships.