ALU reorganizes tools to enhance customer experience
Integrates products acquired with Motive, with its own network monitoring capabilities, to help cellcos differentiate themselves
Published: 7 February, 2012
READ MORE: Alcatel-Lucent | Device Management | Infrastructure | User Experience
Alcatel-Lucent has been steadily expanding its product portfolio beyond network hardware, to create software platforms and services which can increase its value to the operators, and support cellcos' need to differentiate their services from those of web rivals. The latest move is to focus on 'customer experience', with the Motive CXS series of products. This aims to help operators improve their customer service, reduce their device support costs, and deliver a superior and universal experience across wireless and wired networks.
Motive CXS comprises four sets of software and services. Motive CX Management aims to get new devices, applications and services up and running quickly; Analytics offers monitoring tools to track the performance of those gadgets, apps and services; Optimization helps operators maximize their user of available network capacity; and then there is a consulting element, focused on identifying opportunities for improving customer experience.
The launch brings together many existing ALU offerings, centering them on the brand and platform acquired with US vendor Motive back in 2008. Greg Owens, director of solutions marketing for the unit, said in an interview: "What we're announcing today is a lot of work that we've done to organize our company around the area of customer experience and some new software and technology that we have to support that effort."
He told IPTV News: "We have started seeing the term 'customer experience' pop up more and more often, and realized that this is exactly what Motive is doing, but also that we have other assets in the company which are doing the same thing." Many of these have been taken from the IP and wireline business, as ALU increasingly looks to tap into both sides of its activities and support carriers' moves into converged and multiscreen services.
In particular, ALU has seen the opportunity of combining its own monitoring and optimization tools, some of which harness algorithms developed at the famous Bell Labs, with Motive's expertise in device management and customer service. Some tools will also be offered directly to end users to monitor their own experience, as seen in an app for AT&T's IPTV offering, which allows subscribers to see the performance of their set-top box on their iPhone, and configure their bandwidth and settings.
ALU commented: "Communications service providers are working to make it easier to buy, own and use their products. Research shows that this is needed, as 15% of smartphones are returned because consumers encounter problems getting them to work. In two-thirds of these cases, there is no issue found. Making devices and services simpler to use and configure not only improves the customer experience, but it can also minimize the customer support burden."
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