|
Mobile & Wireless
Hesse: Embarq Maintains Focus On Innovation
Cites Growth In Enhanced Wireless And Business Services
by Sean Buckley
Although traditional access lines are down, Embarq’s Chairman and CEO
Dan Hesse said during a recent presentation to the Citigroup 17th Annual
Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas
is confident that by focusing on three elements: improving customer
satisfaction, employee satisfaction and by innovating on new services,
they can stem the tide of those losses.
With the threat from cable MSO voice being real, there’s no escaping the
fact that all traditional wireline carriers will continue to loose their
traditional access lines.
Embarq, one of the last lone large independent telephone operators, is
no different.
Still, these losses were less than were originally expected.
During Q4 06, Embarq lost 85,000 access lines as a result of competition
and wireless substitution in comparison to Q4 05 when it lost 89,000
access lines.
“We lost fewer access lines in Q4 06 than we did in Q4 05, and that’s in
spite of the fact that we had 50 percent more cable competition in
terms of a percentage of our customers that had access to cable
telephony,” said Hesse. “In addition, there were a number of wireless
launches really focused on cord cutting. I think that’s the first evidence,
and I certainly don’t want to declare victory yet because loosing any
access lines that’s not a good thing, but the strategy we embarked on is
paying off.”
Brand Awareness
Despite any losses Embarq may have had over the past year in the traditional voice access line domain, the one thing that Embarq is intent on enhancing in 07 is its existing brand equity to attract new customers and up sell existing customers with new services.
After spinning itself out from Sprint Nextel, Embarq realized that if it was
to be successful in winning over new and existing customers, it had to
have a branding campaign that focused on innovation and improving
customer satisfaction.
Out of that new brand awareness strategy, Embarq found that customer
satisfaction increased by three standard deviations during the six month
since it launched.
And when Embarq asked their customers why their satisfaction was so
high, the answer was: innovative services and responsive employees.
This was a result of higher employee satisfaction.
Hand in hand with a new focus on enhancing the customer experience,
Embarq developed new marketing channels in the consumer and, in
particular, the SMB domain. To realign its focus on the SMB, Embarq was
able to re-deploy existing sales resources left over from the spin-off from
Sprint Nextel to SMBs. In addition, Embarq signed up new VARs,
established CPE equipment bundling packages and reinvigorated
relationships with Cisco and Nortel.
“Small businesses are looking for one stop shopping and don’t have a
telco to partner with,” said Hesse.
But channels and business relationships are only one part of the
equation. As the outward face to the business and consumer, Embarq
has made various improvements to the look and feel of its web site.
The drive of this enhanced web site, Hesse says is not only to make it
easier for its consumer and business customers to sign up and provision
services, but also a way to attract new customers that come into an
Embarq market.
Part of the drive includes a partnership with Allconnect, a free web-
based service that can help people that are relocating get connected
with necessary utilities such as power, cable and telecom.
“It’s not only important on the business side and for consumers, but
movers are a huge piece of the equation, so we want a cool web site
that’s responsive, quick and easy,” said Hesse.
Wireless: A Bundled Mentality
For all of its dedication to innovation in the consumer and business
domains, Hesse is quick to point out that Embarq’s drive is focused
on ‘interoperability, not just innovating for the sake of innovating.’
One area that Embarq is extending the notion of interoperability to is its
wireless service package for consumers and businesses.
Through its MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) relationship with
Sprint Nextel offers packages tailored for both consumers and
businesses.
On the consumer side, Embarq offers a single voice mailbox for both a
wireless and fixed wireline phone.
On the business side, Embarq has been one of the early advocates of
rolling out FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) services with the advent of
its Smart Connect and Smart Connect Plus service sets.
Initially launched in its Las Vegas and Virginia markets, Smart Connect,
which can work with any wireless phone or provider, allows a business
user to seamlessly move calls between their wireless and wireline
networks without any interruption to a call. Taking it up a level, Smart
Connect plus can move calls between the WiFi and cellular network.
Overall, when it comes to wireless, Embarq’s approach is not like the
traditional wireless operators.
“If you’re going to be a wireless-only customer, or a big power user, we’ll
say ‘then go see Sprint or Cingular,’ but where it makes sense for us is if
you’re going to buy [wireless service] as a package or an interoperable
bundle,” said Hesse.
|
