Escaping the Spiral With MDM-Led Customer Care.

David Ginsburg of InnoPath Software writes: "At $1.30 or more per minute for frontline CSR time (an admittedly conservative number), the typical troubleshooting call may last 20 minutes or more. This directly cuts into the operator’s bottom line, and is an interaction played out millions of times annually at a typical Tier 1 provider. The problem is compounded if the problem is not solved, requiring a follow-up call, a store visit, or — most damaging — a request to the customer to just send the phone in for a replacement.

Existing frontline support systems are not equipped to address this combination of smartphones and unsophisticated customers. Operators must re-invent frontline care. This is where mobile device management, creating for the first time a live, over-the-air link between the phone and the frontline agent, enters the picture...

A 20 minute call, consisting of both a device pulse and a check and correct, is reduced to six minutes or less, saving upwards of $18. This may not seem like much, but within a typical Tier 1 operator of 20 million subscribers, more than 212 million calls annually will be addressable via MDM, resulting in a savings of almost $93 million. Payback on a typical MDM investment is under a year, highly critical when every CAPEX dollar is scrutinized."