Buddy can you spare a coupla Euros?
Telefónica Móviles Launches Text-Based Phone Credit Loans
Spanish mobile network operator Telefónica Móviles, under the brand Movistar, is using a revolutionary text messaging system to offer pre-pay customers an instant automated loan if they are temporarily unable to buy phone credits.
Customers text Movistar's Lend me 2 Euro service to receive the automated credits - and re-pay the loan when they next buy a top-up. The service is just one of a number of compelling innovations being enabled by an extension of Movistar's SMS Wizard automated customer care system supplied by Telsis.
Telsis SMS Wizard responds instantly by text to natural language questions or requests submitted by text message. In the 12 months since installation, Movistar's system has already handled over six million customer care queries, giving its customers instant answers to frequently asked questions while freeing call centre agents to deal with more complex queries. Now Movistar is doubling capacity in readiness for further demand, and to enable the hosting of new text-based services for its 20 million pre-pay and contract customers.
SMS Wizard processes Lend me 2 Euro requests, updates pre-pay accounts and sends customers text messages confirming their additional credits. Other new automated text services include loyalty points queries, mailbox setup, last invoice request and registration of customer care calls in any one of eight European and Arabic languages, which allows customers to text their language choice, so that in subsequent calls to customer services they are greeted by an agent speaking the requested language.
Telefónica Móviles CRM technology director, Mario Soro, says that the Telsis system was originally deployed to complement Web and IVR self-service queries in a strategy to reduce the load on call centres. But it has proved so successful that Movistar is moving quickly to expand capacity and broaden the range of questions and requests that the system handles.
"We were the first mobile network operator to deploy SMS Wizard and it's clear that our customers welcome the opportunity to deal with us by text - two and a half million of them have done so in the last year. Now it's time to push the boundaries further. This range of value-added services is just the start."
Share this article with others
Post to del.icio.us
Printed from http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news_wire/111779/Buddy_can_you_spare_a_coupla_Euros%3F.html
Comment on this article
Skip to comments
We encourage users to analyse, comment on and even challenge Mobile Europe's articles, including the one above - 'Buddy can you spare a coupla Euros?'
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site.
Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site.