Earlier this year Three Ireland announced that it was to invest €65 million in a digital transformation, which would see the integration of former O2 IT systems, the elimination of duplicate IT costs, and the delivery of a dramatically improved customer experience.
This investment was in addition to Three’s previously announced network investment of €300 million to bring the benefits of 4G communications to its two million customers.
The first phase of the digital transformation process is now complete and customers can look forward to seeing benefits from the middle of next year according to Three chief commercial officer Elaine Carey.
“The first phase has seen us put the technology foundations in place,” she says. “We had lots of legacy technologies here and the first step was to bring everything up to date and get everything aligned.
“We have now moved into the next phase and will have one system in place to serve all of our customers by mid-2017. This will pave the way for the third phase which will see the completion of the digital transformation by the beginning of 2018.”
The key to this third phase is omnichannel – the ability for customers to contact Three seamlessly over any channel or number of channels for the same transaction without having to repeat themselves or go through the same processes twice or more.
“Transformation is a word that is overused a little,” says Carey. “But I really believe it is appropriate in this instance. Omnichannel will offer so many benefits to customers in their interactions with Three.
“For example, if a customer wants to buy a new handset with ‘all you can eat data’ they can choose to call us, go online, or go into a store to do the transaction. If they go online they will be asked if they want us to ship the handset to them or to collect it in a store.
New experiences
“If they want to collect it they can choose a store and book an appointment. When they call into the store the sales staff will have all details of their transaction and be able to help them with any aspect including advising them if there is a better tariff for them. No more queuing in stores and you never have to have the same conversation twice – we are giving time back to our customers.”
The benefits don’t end there.
“If the customer arrives home with their handset and there is a question they forgot to ask they don’t have to go back to the store or explain their situation to an agent,” Carey adds.
“They can just go online and the agent they reach will have all of their details and be able to answer their particular question straight away.”
And this is just the beginning. According to Carey the investment being made by Three will enable a whole range of new experiences and functions.
“The internet of things is going to offer some very interesting experiences and this will be enabled by mobile communications,” she says.
“Our customers will be able to connect remotely to their home heating systems and alarms. They will even be able to switch on ovens and kettles when they are on the way home. You need a data package that allows you to do these things.”
Among the most exciting developments she sees on the horizon is the Amazon Echo device with its inbuilt "Alexa" virtual personal assistant. It's a smart assistant which is constantly listening, can answer your questions, interface with your email and connected devices, play music, switch on your lights and lots more besides.
“Devices like the Echo will open up amazing possibilities,” says Carey.
“For example, when you get your Three bill online you will be able to ask Alexa to call it up and explain different aspects of it for you. You can simply speak to the Echo, ask it questions and it will come back with answers. It sounds like something out of Star Trek but the technology exists already. It is not in Ireland yet but Amazon are shipping it to the UK now and Three will offer it as soon as it becomes available here.”
The thought of a machine which is listening to everything you say in your home might sound a bit scary to some people though.
“People are sometimes fearful of new technology and that is quite understandable,” says Carey. “That’s why it is so important that it is done in in the right way for customers. That’s what we are doing in our digital transformation. We are making sure that our customers have a better experience both in terms of their interactions with Three but also in relation to their use of these new technologies.”