Peter Čapkovič
Globalisation is changing the way business is done and customers are served in every industry sector. Telecommunications services have been spearheading this development.
The delivery of global network infrastructures and sophisticated communication applications is a prerequisite for multinational companies operating worldwide through the exchange of data, the use of voice and videoconferencing tools, or accessing databases.
Put simply, globalisation requires a company to be everywhere on the globe at the same time, faster, better and more customer-focused than anyone else. For those who manage to bridge the gap between high-level global coordination and local requirements, the rewards are tremendous. The alternative is to remain a niche player or a local business with few prospects for expansion.
Six things that most interest all multi-nationals are: increasing profitability, globalisation, customer satisfaction, increasing flexibility, improving quality and saving time. Each of these buzzwords or phrases has its own parameters and assessment criteria depending on the key area of the company's business interest. Each of these words extends beyond technology. To understand a firm's capabilities, products and services and processes cannot do any harm. However, to understand them in relation to the customers' current and future needs is essential when developing a strong customer relationship.
What does this mean for a supplier of global data, voice and IP services? The answer is again simple: success requires total dedication to the needs of multinational customers, and to the needs of the customer's customers. For a supplier of global services, it means a shift from persuasive arguments about technology to arguments about business benefits and added value. It means a shift from presenting a company supplying certain services on a global scale to presenting a real partner helping to achieve those intended goals. It means a shift from one-way presentation to collaboration, where both the supplier and its customer can benefit in the long run by adopting and tailoring the latest technological development into a seamless solution best serving a fine business model. As a matter of fact, a fair relationship, however strange this expression may seem in today's competitive world, between a global telecommunication company and a multinational corporation can push both companies forward and help them gain advantage on their respective markets.
To make a real difference global suppliers have to learn to manage customer relationships in a way that makes them a partner with their customers, both in global coordination and local application of the services they offer. Customer care in global telecommunications means offering a single, simple interface while delivering sophisticated customer service. This interface is a key factor in a commitment to deliver exactly what multinational customers need: one source of global connectivity, one comprehensive portfolio of products, one point of accountability, one local application. It's personal service on a global scale.
A true multinational service provider approaches global customer care with a long-established and coordinated set of tools and programmes, which together form a pre- and post-sales process that embeds high technical service quality in an all-encompassing concept of global and local partnership.
Peter Čapkovič is Accounts Manager at Global One Communications s.r.o. Comments and questions can be sent to him at: peter.capkovic@globalone.net
Author: Peter Čapkovič
