Customer relationship management (CRM) is an important business process that is implemented by WISPs and is part of the administrative processes. The purpose of CRM is to provide the customer with information about the account and to give the customer easy access to customer support staff.
A satisfied customer will attract new customers. A process flow diagram of the #CRM subsystem is presented in the figure below. Refer to this diagram for the description of the CRM operation.
There are three reasons why CRM is important.
Give each customer a channel to speak with customer support and catch problems before they escalate.
Give the customer access to the account information, including historic data.
Give the customer an opportunity to pay bills.
Provide a marketing channel to customers for up selling, and can be used to build customer loyalty programs.
The customer who becomes a subscriber is given a unique username to access the CRM system and the customer then has to create a password. The CRM user interface (UI) can provide the customer with the following features.
Check the status of the account, data usage etc. Data usage is important if the account has a data cap.
Open paid invoices and download the invoices to print.
Open an unpaid invoice and make a payment.
Open a support ticket with the support staff to ask any question about the account or the services that the #WISP provides. The support staff member will respond to the question or else forward the question to a qualified member of staff to answer.
Request a change in the type of service contracted, change the rate-plan.
Change personal information such as phone number or email address.
In addition the WISP can add marketing features to the CRM portal.
Special offers to upgrade the account (up selling).
Special offers for referrals (customer loyalty).
The CRM portal is also a user interface for on-demand access purchases by mobile broadband customers.
Login page that is used to purchase an access code using a credit card. The purchase will state the duration of the access code and the maximum data speeds (the rate-plan).
Login page to connect to the Internet by entering an access code that was purchased on-line or via a voucher.
Location and information to purchase vouchers for cash payments.
Customer support has additional features which may be access via the CRM or via a phone call to customer support.
If the customer calls the customer support staff stating that the customer has no Internet access then the customer support can test the circuit through to the customers CPE. If the test result is positive then the problem lies in the customers #network. And the customer support staff can advise the customer how to proceed.
In the situation where the customer’s bill is past due then the automated billing system will communicate with the access control router API to deactivate the customer’s access to the Internet, or else the technician can do this manually. When this occurs the next attempt by the customer to access the Internet will cause the access control router to redirect the customer's browser page to the CRM captive portal page, which will display a message stating why Internet access is not available and providing the customer with the opportunity to pay the invoice on-line using a credit card.
Some integrated WISP management software systems include a CRM portal, which is configured and branded by the WISP to provide the features that the WISP wants to offer to customers and a marketing area to promote the WISP’s brand.
The CRM system provides reports for the WISP manager to monitor the performance of the customer support request resolution so that the effectiveness of the support system can be monitored.
An important aspect of building a good customer relationship requires answering customer questions quickly and efficiently. Happy customers tell their friends about the great service and their friends then become customers.
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