In 2022, Communications Services Providers (CSPs) are feeling the pressure. The traditional bundle is dead. Competition is fierce. Connectivity speed alone is no longer a stand-out selling point. And to top it off, customer expectations are higher than ever.
COVID accelerated the evolution of customer expectations
With competition fierce and customer expectations higher than ever, it’s time for Communications Services Providers to pivot their go-to-market strategies
With these factors in play, CSPs can no longer rely on the inflexible, hardware-based solutions of yesterday. They must pivot their go-to-market (GTM) strategy if they want to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
Based on Plume’s experience working with more than 275 CSPs, we’ve outlined a guide for a GTM strategy that suits the modern market. Here's an overview of the main takeaways.
As with many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the disruption of the communications sector. With more people than ever working from home and demand for Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices skyrocketing, the pandemic created a perfect storm for CSPs stuck in old revenue models and mindsets.
The past couple of years also saw a dramatic shift in demand—consumers are now more likely to seek single-play services versus double- and triple-play packages. Connectivity is also no longer an impressive selling point; it’s an expectation. Today, some leading CSPs receive as much as half their revenue from services unrelated to connectivity, and many are exploring offerings like smart home services or cloud security as a service.
We also uncovered four main components to a successful GTM strategy:
Service positioning
This refers to the marketing angle of the CX service—brand identity and communicating value to customers.
Customer-base coverage
Pricing strategy
Customer premises device (CPE) strategy
Learn more about Plume’s customer experience solutions for CSPs
Plume’s long-term goal is to help CSPs respond to industry shifts and transition from selling speed-based packages to offering lifestyle-based ones. We encourage CSPs to move away from a hardware-based mentality and toward a cloud-based, AI-driven service offering—which has ancillary benefits, too, such as fewer disruptions caused by hardware supply-chain snafus (something we’ve become all too familiar with over the past two years).
Download the whitepaper
Read the full whitepaper and learn about the core components of a GTM strategy and Plume’s insights for implementing a successful one.
Three mindsets among CSPs
There's no “one-size-fits-all” way to deliver new services in a quickly shifting market. We’ve found that CSPs seeking to implement new GTM strategies tend to fall into one of three categories—”visionaries” who strive for innovation, “pragmatists” who prioritize customer experience and network performance, and “conservatives” who focus on operation expenditures. Each of these three cohorts has its own set of considerations for creating a GTM plan—so the first step is to understand the mindset that’s driving decisions.
Visionaries
Pragmatists
Conservatives
Four components of a successful GTM strategy for CSPs
Three mindsets among CSPs
Devices per household
IoT gadgets and gizmos
11
4.2
12.5
25
Service positioning
This encompasses whether or not a new service is rolled out to CSPs’ entire customer base or just a segment. At Plume, we often see this broken down into add-on services, an all-in approach, or a hybrid of the two.
Customer-base
coverage
Typically, this comes down to offering customers either a service fee or a hardware-lease fee.
Pricing strategy
This determines if a new offering will allow customers to use existing gateway devices or if they’ll need to add another device to the gateway node.
Customer premises device (CPE) strategy
strive for innovation
prioritize customer experience and network performance
focus on operation expenditures
Download the whitepaper
Download the whitepaper
Download the whitepaper