Virgin Mobile UAE - Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC - Innovative Use of Technology in Customer Service

Company: Virgin Mobile UAE - Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, Dubai, UAE
Entry Submitted By: Greyling
Company Description: Virgin Mobile UAE is a business unit that was ‘born digital’, providing a truly unique, innovative and fully digital mobile proposition – something that has never seen before in the region. It pioneered app-based acquisition, verification and delivery proposition, marking a paradigm shift in the mobile industry that truly disrupts the digital landscape and the telecoms industry in the region.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for the Innovative Use of Technology in Customer Service - Telecommunications Industries

Nomination Title: VMUAE - Award for the Innovative Use of Technology in Customer Service - Telecommunications Industries

Provide an essay of up to 625 words describing the nominee's innovative achievements since July 1 2018:

Virgin Mobile in the UAE is the world’s first fully digital mobile business model,focused on “righting the mobile wrongs” in the market.

We make the best use of digitalisation in order to make the value proposition and customer experience simpler, fairer and better for the consumer in the UAE.The launch of this digital strategy symbolises a paradigm shift in the mobile industry and disrupts the digital landscape in the region.

Our goal is to make mobile better by offering Virgin Mobile customers total flexibility and convenience, putting control of their mobile service back into the customer’s hands. To provide outstanding customer experience, we wanted to compete not just against other telcos but against true digital disruptors such as Netflix, Uber and Airbnb.

Virgin Mobile’s new telecom business model delivers the seamless customer experience expected of the brands we interact with. Through digitising the mobile experience, we aim to make mobile better by ‘righting the mobile wrongs’ that most consumers have to handle daily with their current mobile operator:

-Overall low levels of customer satisfaction with other operators
-Need for more innovative products and services
-Need to improve overall customer service and experience
-Simple and easy to understand tariffs / value for money

Offering a completely app-based proposition, the customer journey is simple; they hand-pick their own mobile number or bring their own, customize their mobile plan, scan their ID, and have their SIM delivered and activated within an hour. With the introduction of the Virgin Mobile app, consumers were provided with the power to manage their own mobile service.Through the implementation of this fully digital proposition, our customer benefits include:

-No need to go to a store – download the app and get your sim card delivered to your door within an hour
-Have your ID verified and service activated on the spot
-Manage, update, pause or cancel your plan within the app
-Customers can reduce or increase their data, international or national voice anytime on monthly plans
-Provides real-time usage information so customers can amend their plans according to their actual usage
-No contracts - works on a monthly subscription basis
-Contact customer care seamlessly via the app, online or via social – no horrible IVR to navigate

This innovative customer initiative gives Virgin Mobile customers total flexibility and convenience, putting control of their mobile service back into their hands through a simple, digital sign-up and activation process, a simple proposition, easy system architecture, minimum business rules and no eligibility criteria.

For example, if a user loses their SIM card, we have a SIM replacement process where the user can log on to the app via any device and get their new SIM delivered to their home and activated on the spot. In contrast, traditional telcos have separated the Intelligent Network (IN) billing system, customer care system and post-paid systems which results in siloed and disconnected customer journey.

In addition, Virgin Mobile maintains a collaborative approach with their customers, actively listening to their feedback and suggestions for improvements.They have implemented a seamless cross-channel experience however the customer prefers to communicate with them – be it text, in-app chat, email, social media or in-store.

Digital innovation is at the core of this new service, and Virgin Mobile aims to disrupt the landscape and do for the telco sector what Uber did for public transport and Netflix did for entertainment, forcing companies to re-evaluate the customer experience for the digital, always-on age.