I liked Verizon’s list of technology trends here
In 2006, I said the future is so bright for telcos as they sit bang in the middle of 5 “mega-trends”
- Globalization
- SaaS
- Mobility
- Collaboration
- Telemetry (GPS, RFID etc)
Verizon’s list of promising trends builds on this. That’s where they should be focused.
Instead Verizon keeps wanting to dip back and nickel and dime its customers. We recently had an erroneous call to Ireland (we usually use Skype or a calling card) . Verizon charged us $ 4 a minute after taxes. The lady of the call center insisted this is what it costs Verizon. When did they last update their agents scripts?
They have issues with early termination fees (back in the news again recently), shortfall fees, late fees even when their billing system is at fault, they have tried to substitute a lapsed tax with a “supplier surcharge”. Over and over again they annoy their customers by sneaking charges in and then making their agents defend their policies. If you have ever been to their retail stores, they are so sparse and lethargic, you wonder why Apple with its own vibrant stores would ever entertain doing business with them.
The 2009 survey of consumers in 32 countries by the Reputation Institute put telecoms as 4th lowest of the 25 industries surveyed – just slightly above tobacco, which was understandably the lowest.
What is it in Verizon and other traditional telcos that keeps them from really, truly breaking out and leveraging the wonderful opportunities they are squarely in the middle of?
