The Middle East is witnessing an accelerated shift to smartphones, buoyed by the UAE’s 78 per cent smartphone penetration ranking the highest in the world, said an industry expert.

With millions of subscribers, dozens of products and plans, and a significant growth in the number of apps and services, the Middle East’s telecom providers require more out of their customer experience management platforms than companies in most other sectors, added Stephen Duignan, vice president of Global Marketing at LogMeIn, creator of the world's most widely used remote connectivity and support services.

The region’s telecom providers can use this increased proliferation to meet evolving customer expectations, he said.

“By the time you receive a request for support, your customer has already begun watching the clock. In today’s digitally powered ecosystem, agile support is critical to customer satisfaction,” said Dugan.

“In the case of smartphones, latest support tools can allow technicians to remotely access, connect to and troubleshoot devices, all without pre-installed software on the user’s end. This can help resolve issues on first contact, scale up customer satisfaction and lower overall support costs, giving providers a competitive edge.”

Customer experience management dominates the strategic agenda of telecom providers around the world – a recent study  showed it ranked the top strategic priority of several high-profile operators in the telecoms industry when planning ahead for the year 2020.

“Today’s customers live in a hyper-connected environment, and their expectations from their providers, especially their telecom service providers, are in line with this. Greater agility is crucial to customer satisfaction, and providers that can align their services and their support capabilities with changing customer needs stand to gain the most,” added Duignan.

In line with this, LogMeIn will outline how telecom providers can tackle the changing demands of its users and boost service standards through latest technology at the ongoing edition of the Customer Experience Management in Telecoms Middle East event.

The event runs from April 10 to April 13 at The Address Dubai Mall, Dubai, UAE. – TradeArabia News Service