How To: increase the operator's ARPU. Part 1
Endless arguments about the feasibility of using cloud and virtual services to solve business problems, fortunately, are in the past. Now no one is trying to challenge the fact that cloud technologies are a universally recognized and established trend, the fact of which existence is not just to be considered by all players in the telecommunications business, this fact should be recognized as one of the main directions of development of the IT industry for the next decade and in the most careful way. follow the trends in cloud markets. Our company has been actively involved in the virtual services market for more than seven years and we have accumulated substantial expertise in the implementation and promotion of cloud-based phone solutions and cloud PBXs. With the placement of this hub, we would like to open a small series of publications in which we plan to share the experience of cooperation with telecom operators that have successfully launched the virtual PBX service with our help as one of the basic services in their product line.
Literally a few words about our business model: ITooLabs , a Russian software developer and proprietary telephone platform for telecom operators, was established in 2001. In 2009, we entered the market with the ITooLabs Communications Server PaaS platform, designed for the rapid implementation and launch of the service of a cloud-based PBX using revenue sharing without any initial investment. Our solution has dozens of installations (which we serve ourselves) around the world, but how else can we be different from other vendors and service providers? The solution is simple and already popular today - use the typed big data , because we can most thoroughly collect statistics, monitor and analyze the situation on the market of virtual PBX. This allows us to be the number 1 vendor in this market segment. And the result of this analysis was a clear and objective understanding of how a successful cloud operator business is built.
It is this understanding and accumulated expertise that we would like to start sharing.
')
A bit of motivating analytics. A few years ago, the virtual PBX services were perceived by the market as classic “Additional Service Types”, expanding the functionality of basic services. Now, the emphasis has shifted dramatically: there are many examples of successful telecom businesses, the main activity of which was to provide, just, cloud PBX services, and classical, basic, communication services are an integral, but not the main part of their business model. Large players are actively introducing virtual platforms and mastering quite good marketing budgets for their promotion. Thus, literally from all sides, there are signals that mean that “cloudy” times have come seriously and for a long time. According to analysts, with a properly built business model, the annual increase in revenue of the telephone operator, after the introduction of the cloud service, can be up to 200%, and virtual PBXs are among the top three fastest growing segments of the SaaS cloud business. We present a graph of the growth dynamics of the Russian SaaS solutions market in the SMB sector.
We hope that the motivating part has dispelled even the last doubts of those who had these doubts and can proceed to the practical part of our How To.
We will consider launching a virtual PBX service based on a PaaS platform as the most efficient and operational way to enter the cloud market. Let's start with an analysis of the expected commercial effect and consider the main points, while still “on the coast”.
The business tasks of any telecom operator are fairly traditional and it can be said with complete confidence that they are equally facing any service provider. What are the benefits of implementing a cloud PBX?
To start a cloud-based PBX service on the operator’s side, it is necessary to have at least three classic components that are already business constituents.
It is its own communication center and billing with the appropriate engineering and technical support, a formed sales department, ready to take on a new product and a loyal subscriber base, the presence of which, although not a necessary condition, significantly speeds up the first money.
In this hub, we discuss the basic commercial aspects of the launch, so we’ll dwell on forming sales channels for a new service in more detail. In this sense, reinvent the wheel is not required. All proven marketing techniques are applicable to virtual PBX sales technologies. Perhaps the only specificity will be the need to compensate for the asymmetry of the product with more detailed descriptions and user guides.
We made one conclusion from our practice: a very effective way to promote is to post publications about the benefits of cloud solutions on thematic “about IT” resources and in techno-blogs. The format of the article or blog allows the best way to convey to the potential client all the benefits of using a cloud PBX. This is especially effective if your solution has specialized functionality (integration with CRM or other integrated circuits, REST API, use of customized softphones or pre-configured subscriber devices). Periodic email-mailing with the announcement of promotions works perfectly, when existing customers are offered an additional discount on the connection of a virtual PBX. As for contextual advertising, this tool falls into the category of controversial in terms of cost of attraction. If you are just entering the market, you will inevitably encounter the fact that the cost of a click on the most high-frequency queries is high enough, which, nevertheless, does not interfere with finding your advertising niche and working in it. Warm calls to the existing customer base in combination with periodic mailings give a good conversion. Selling the services of a virtual PBX using cold calls is ineffective.
The most optimal way to attract "cloud" customers - attract through the project site. There are several opinions on how best to integrate the description of the new service into the already existing Internet resources of the company. We have many examples of when the operator supplemented the list of services on the corporate portal with a description of a new offer and this fact already created a stream of connections. It is clear that this method only works if the company’s website has good traffic. Oddly enough, there are not entirely successful examples of this approach.
Sometimes, due to the specifics of the business of the operating company, its website is not the main sales channel and performs an exclusively utilitarian function - access to a personal account, contact information, balance replenishment. In this case, it is more expedient to create a separate landing page for a new service, rather than trying to optimize the Internet representation for commercial tasks, since there is a risk of “getting bogged down” in a long-term and unceasing redesign.
So, we went over the main list of commercial points that need to be considered before launching a new virtual service. We hope that we were able to structure the basic things and we can proceed to a more detailed description of all the nuances and specifics. We will try to consistently present all the necessary steps and sequences in our How To.
Continuation does not take long.
Literally a few words about our business model: ITooLabs , a Russian software developer and proprietary telephone platform for telecom operators, was established in 2001. In 2009, we entered the market with the ITooLabs Communications Server PaaS platform, designed for the rapid implementation and launch of the service of a cloud-based PBX using revenue sharing without any initial investment. Our solution has dozens of installations (which we serve ourselves) around the world, but how else can we be different from other vendors and service providers? The solution is simple and already popular today - use the typed big data , because we can most thoroughly collect statistics, monitor and analyze the situation on the market of virtual PBX. This allows us to be the number 1 vendor in this market segment. And the result of this analysis was a clear and objective understanding of how a successful cloud operator business is built.
It is this understanding and accumulated expertise that we would like to start sharing.
')
Introductory:
A bit of motivating analytics. A few years ago, the virtual PBX services were perceived by the market as classic “Additional Service Types”, expanding the functionality of basic services. Now, the emphasis has shifted dramatically: there are many examples of successful telecom businesses, the main activity of which was to provide, just, cloud PBX services, and classical, basic, communication services are an integral, but not the main part of their business model. Large players are actively introducing virtual platforms and mastering quite good marketing budgets for their promotion. Thus, literally from all sides, there are signals that mean that “cloudy” times have come seriously and for a long time. According to analysts, with a properly built business model, the annual increase in revenue of the telephone operator, after the introduction of the cloud service, can be up to 200%, and virtual PBXs are among the top three fastest growing segments of the SaaS cloud business. We present a graph of the growth dynamics of the Russian SaaS solutions market in the SMB sector.
We hope that the motivating part has dispelled even the last doubts of those who had these doubts and can proceed to the practical part of our How To.
Commerce. Where to begin:
We will consider launching a virtual PBX service based on a PaaS platform as the most efficient and operational way to enter the cloud market. Let's start with an analysis of the expected commercial effect and consider the main points, while still “on the coast”.
The business tasks of any telecom operator are fairly traditional and it can be said with complete confidence that they are equally facing any service provider. What are the benefits of implementing a cloud PBX?
- Increased ARPU. The appearance of any new service in the list of offers of the operator, provided that this service is in demand by the market, inevitably leads to an increase in ARPU. In addition to the classic communication services, customers also purchase a cloud subscription, thereby increasing the average bill. The market of cloudy PBXs, in general, has already been formed and it can be said with a certain degree of confidence that the monthly check of a customer who bought a subscription increases by more than 2,000 rubles.
- Pre-sales. An operator with an existing subscriber base in a short time comes to the first money, simply by organizing newsletters and notifications that a new service has appeared in the list of offers. The cost of such sales is very low, since the promotion takes place on the existing, loyal, customer base without significant marketing costs.
- Hold. With a high degree of probability, a client who has begun to use a virtual PBX uses additional advertising numbers in its business model or integrates telephony with one of its IP (for example, CRM). This kind of implementation will work to keep the client, since it is much more difficult to refuse a service configured and configured for an individual service request.
- Attraction. There are many examples where customers of one operator switched to another only on the grounds that the new operator offered a virtual PBX service. In addition, a virtual PBX can be a good “locomotive” product, to which it is advisable to apply new marketing techniques, reviving existing offers.
- Competitive advantage. Despite the fact that the cloud PBX market has been formed and there are many offers, far from all of these offers correspond to the market needs. Cloud IP-PBX is an asymmetric product (a potential client, as a rule, does not have the necessary understanding of the product) and therefore there is a significant category of users who have made an emotional purchase and are not satisfied with the acquired solutions. The appearance of a stable and functional service in the list of offers of the operator will create an additional competitive advantage and attract, already “heated” by less professional colleagues, Central Asia.
To start a cloud-based PBX service on the operator’s side, it is necessary to have at least three classic components that are already business constituents.
It is its own communication center and billing with the appropriate engineering and technical support, a formed sales department, ready to take on a new product and a loyal subscriber base, the presence of which, although not a necessary condition, significantly speeds up the first money.
In this hub, we discuss the basic commercial aspects of the launch, so we’ll dwell on forming sales channels for a new service in more detail. In this sense, reinvent the wheel is not required. All proven marketing techniques are applicable to virtual PBX sales technologies. Perhaps the only specificity will be the need to compensate for the asymmetry of the product with more detailed descriptions and user guides.
We made one conclusion from our practice: a very effective way to promote is to post publications about the benefits of cloud solutions on thematic “about IT” resources and in techno-blogs. The format of the article or blog allows the best way to convey to the potential client all the benefits of using a cloud PBX. This is especially effective if your solution has specialized functionality (integration with CRM or other integrated circuits, REST API, use of customized softphones or pre-configured subscriber devices). Periodic email-mailing with the announcement of promotions works perfectly, when existing customers are offered an additional discount on the connection of a virtual PBX. As for contextual advertising, this tool falls into the category of controversial in terms of cost of attraction. If you are just entering the market, you will inevitably encounter the fact that the cost of a click on the most high-frequency queries is high enough, which, nevertheless, does not interfere with finding your advertising niche and working in it. Warm calls to the existing customer base in combination with periodic mailings give a good conversion. Selling the services of a virtual PBX using cold calls is ineffective.
The most optimal way to attract "cloud" customers - attract through the project site. There are several opinions on how best to integrate the description of the new service into the already existing Internet resources of the company. We have many examples of when the operator supplemented the list of services on the corporate portal with a description of a new offer and this fact already created a stream of connections. It is clear that this method only works if the company’s website has good traffic. Oddly enough, there are not entirely successful examples of this approach.
Sometimes, due to the specifics of the business of the operating company, its website is not the main sales channel and performs an exclusively utilitarian function - access to a personal account, contact information, balance replenishment. In this case, it is more expedient to create a separate landing page for a new service, rather than trying to optimize the Internet representation for commercial tasks, since there is a risk of “getting bogged down” in a long-term and unceasing redesign.
So, we went over the main list of commercial points that need to be considered before launching a new virtual service. We hope that we were able to structure the basic things and we can proceed to a more detailed description of all the nuances and specifics. We will try to consistently present all the necessary steps and sequences in our How To.
Continuation does not take long.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/296220/
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