How we helped Deutsche Telekom revolutionize fiber optic marketing

The starting point of the project:

‍A digital process was intended to ease the marketing and coordination of the fiber optic expansion providing blanket coverage in households and companies across Germany.

Deutsche Telekom had various requirements for this.

1. Determination of need/interest in potential expansion regions
2. Availability check for end customers
3. Data entry for end customers
4. Rate selection and agreement for end customers
5. Coordination of timelines and dates with end customers and third parties
6. Marketing and coordination both during and after the expansion (preliminary marketing, expansion, regular marketing)
7. Order transparency for end customers from planning to start-up of the connection

This was all to be implemented with a scalable solution that allows reliable, independent processing from home, significantly reducing customers’ efforts and the time required for rate quotation, saving time for customers and the company alike, and simplifying processes in the future.

These requirements posed technological and organizational challenges:

1. For example, integrating different data sources such as the CRM system with contract data and numerous third-party systems including rates and pricing and contact gateways (e-mail and SMS) presented technological hurdles.
2. Communication with numerous partners’ internal and developer teams was tremendously complex – not least because the teams were in various locations in several different countries.

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Together with the other implementation partners and the Deutsche Telekom team, AOE developed an intuitive customer portal that integrates all systems and data sources relevant to the marketing process, addresses the entire life cycle of fiber optic expansion in an expansion region on through to regular marketing, and is scalable at will to boot.

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Greater efficiency thanks to automation of manual processes

Many processes that were still done partially manually for historical reasons and were not linked via a central platform have now been automated in the new solution. This speeds up and simplifies data entry and processing, plus contract signing and rate quotation. Information about the expansion status, order status, and prices is available for end customers and Deutsche Telekom employees in real time at any time.

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The solution’s scalability ensures it is fit for the future

The new application is completely scalable, forming the basis for expanding the new preliminary marketing process to other regions. This significantly reduces the work needed in the future.

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Improved customer service and customer experience

The portal is designed to be user-centric. Whether data is entered or information is requested, the focus is on the customer experience: End customers can use the digital solution to handle all processes easily and independently as needed. This reduces the work the customer has to do and the required contact to customer service up to the quotation of the rate. At the same time, the online portal creates process transparency: Customers can view the status of fiber optic expansion or their own order in real time at any time – for a vastly improved customer experience. Customary methods such as the customer hotline, Deutsche Telekom stores, and external retailers are still available – access to customer data is of course limited to internal offices and is subject to the highest data security and privacy regulations.

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Innovative and future-oriented technologies and methods

Cloud-based systems, microservice architecture, container orchestration, release and deployment structures, test management, scrum and SAFe – state-of-the-art technologies and methods guarantee the high quality of implementation and results. While the project was ongoing, Deutsche Telekom and AOE were in constant contact, exchanging new ideas about innovative technologies and their applications.

Creating fiber optic networks everywhere – with its FTTH expansion Deutsche Telekom is contributing to digitalization in Germany.

And with regard to internal processes that are relevant in this context, Germany’s largest telecommunications company is setting a new course with the change from copper to fiber optic technology. Deutsche Telekom is optimizing its internal processes for fiber optic marketing as quickly as possible, while providing customers with an omnichannel journey: Customers can use self-service to easily access relevant information and services as needed, or they can still consult internal customer advisors or external retailers and stores – for greater efficiency, an improved customer experience, and greater implementation speed when it comes to providing rates to end customers. For the planning and implementation, Deutsche Telekom relied on agile development methods and efficient, trusting cooperation with all partners. With its technological and methodological expertise and process maturity, AOE was an optimal member of the team.

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The result:

The conversion to very efficient, simplified, automated preliminary marketing was a success. Thanks to digitalized internal processes, the new solution provides faster, easier fiber optic availability and reduces the work required of end customers, guaranteeing very satisfied end customers.