A transformation to deliver a true omnichannel experience for customers Project partner
A transformation to deliver a true omnichannel experience for customers Sven Friedli, EVP, Head of Enterprise Architecture & Innovation at Swisscom, discuss how Swisscom is implementing agile architecture to provide a richer customer experience
WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY
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Dale Benton And y L l oy d
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A
s the leading provider of
to do their work and also enable their
telecom services and one
private lives wherever and however they
of the leading IT companies
want.”
in Switzerland, Swisscom has a duty to
The challenge then for Swisscom,
ensure that the way in which its custom-
is taking that further and pushing the
ers can access those same services
boundaries of what is possible. As the
and products is simple, pain-free and
company says itself, it looks to shape the
personal. This is a challenge for all major
future and inspire its customers with a
telcos today in that they must satisfy the
cutting-edge network, high-performance
modern day telco customer, who expects
offerings and excellent service and in
the same level of seamlessness and free-
order to continue its success on this front
dom in their shopping experience as they
it embarked on a significant transforma-
do in their own day-to-day lives.
tion journey of its internal architecture.
“The modern customer can use their services wherever they want. He or she can sit outside and do all of their daily work with a wireless device on a seamless online experience. If they want to buy a new service from Swisscom where they don’t wish to go to the shop, they can do it online or via the app,” explains Sven Friedli, EVP and Head of Enterprise Architecture & Innovation at Swisscom. “When they go to a real touchpoint like a shop or call customer care, we know their history, we know what they have been doing, and we can see if their service has an outage and then deliver the best support possible when they get in touch with us. For Swisscom customers, our services provide great freedom with all-inclusive flat-rate price plans 4
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Friedli, having built his career in software development, project & portfolio management and IT architecture, first joined Swisscom 12 years ago to oversee a customer relationship management (CRM) project for Swisscom’s Corporate Customers. Over the course of those 12 years, he has seen, first hand, significant change in the telco space - both from an external perspective and from the way in which technology plays a key role in enabling a company to better serve its customers. “Technology is an enabler,” he says. “When I worked in software development I found out quite fast that you 5
WITH A GLOBAL network of over 100 innovation
for the success of the journey, we maintained regu-
hubs around the world, delivering cross-industry
lar and close alignments, this was essential to steer
expertise, unmatched innovation and world-class
value generation from the start”
tech and talent, Accenture represents the truest
Accenture looked at decoupling, in order to ena-
embodiment of a partner that delivers real tangible
ble speed and agility without the need for changes
business outcomes in a world of rapidly evolving
in the full stack. A second key part of this journey fo-
leading edge technologies as part of major digital
cused on modularization and reusability. “We rebuilt
transformation journeys.
the framework so that Swisscom can be faster and
It is this commitment to delivering real value and
provide better user experiences,” he says. “You can
expertise that led Swisscom, Switzerland’s leading
do AB testing and you can enable more personalized
telecoms company and one of its leading IT compa-
user journeys to use data in the best way and guide
nies, to call upon Accenture’s support in defining and
the customers. When they switch channels, you know
implementing a major digital omnichannel transfor-
exactly where they have been and are able to delight
mation to ensure its services are leading edge.
the customer with better information.”
“Swisscom was looking for an Architecture that
The customer is what drives this transformation
provided a hyper-personalized seamless experience
and Accenture is all too aware of this and keeps the
across channels. As an early adopter our platform
customer focus at the heart of it all. “It is very impor-
enabled Swisscom to be ahead of the market and
tant to have a really specific KPI dashboard, where
achieve speed by fast scaling and adoption,” explains
you see what the impact will be and be able to make
Stephan Schneider, Managing Director, Accenture.
the changes accordingly. This was a real KPI driven
“We found out very fast that as a premium brand in
development, finding out what drives the client or
Switzerland, they would need a different and better
customer is key in providing the best customer expe-
experience, Taylor made to their needs, rather than
rience, and this was the final goal.
something you can buy from the shelf.” We took time to carefully understand the needs
A digital transformation of this scale is not without its challenges and so it’s important for partnerships
of Swisscom and showed them a couple of referenc-
to be open and collaborative to overcome these
es in US and Europe. Based on them we crafted an
challenges and find the best solutions to succeed, to-
approach that delivered value at speed with a future
gether. “The most important aspect was that Accen-
proven framework while mitigating the risks.
ture and Swisscom has a long-trusted relationship,
This perfect fit for Swisscom would enable the
backed by hard work as the basis of a successful
company to remain ahead of its competition. In order
outcome. It’s all about how issues are jointly fixed,
to achieve this, it needed to build this solution itself.
and solutions are found”
And so, they did. Together. “Accenture became the prime partner of the transformation. We shared the risk and objectives with Swisscom and went through the whole journey together” commented Schneider With a solution in mind, the two companies began this digital omnichannel journey. When undertaking a project like this, it is important for partners to understand and recognize the challenges and the pain points in order to achieve desired results together. “I listened a lot and was really connecting the dots. This meant bringing the best of Accenture and aligning that with what Swisscom needed. Sven (Friedl - Head of Enterprise Architecture & Innovation, Swisscom) was the brain behind the transformation, was pivotal
Stephan Schneider Managing Director Accenture
have to have someone who translates the technology for the business units and the people. The biggest change is that a lot of services were built individually with individual software. The future will be more focused on cloud-based standardised software, which makes it easier and faster to drive a digital transformation.” Despite this evolution, Friedli still firmly believes that technology should always be an enabler for the company and that with this transformation journey at Swisscom, technology is being used to enable greater customer service solutions. “It should always support your daily life,” he says. “The technology should always help people do their business, use their services and communicate with each other, and so we set out to implement an architecture that allows us to provide a service and an experience that does exactly that.” The digital transformation of Swisscom can be divided into three clear parts,
a significant online shift and self-service increase. The second component is focused on
each catering to the ‘new needs of
how Swisscom could achieve this. “To
the business’. First, Swisscom needs
deliver a good service to your custom-
to ensure that its online channel, used
ers, you have to put the service user in
by wireless devices, has to be the best
the center,” says Friedli. “Traditionally, the
supported channel so that if a customer
telco companies have had a contract-on-
is accessing it via a mobile or a computer
ly-focused view of the customer, so the
device it is the best possible experience
one which owned the contract of differ-
for them. Through this, you can achieve
ent services is the one you know. But
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“ The technology should always help people do their business, use their services and communicate with each other, and so we set out to implement an architecture that allows us to provide a service and an experience that does exactly that” — SVEN FRIEDLI, EVP, HEAD OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE & INNOVATION AT SWISSCOM
if my daughter is watching TV, or I am
microservice base and decoupled archi-
watching TV, we both have different
tecture that would be lightweight for
needs. Swisscom needs to know me or
agile development and reduce complex-
my daughter as specific service users
ity in the business processes and
and put our needs in the middle. Only
it-landscape.
then can you deliver a customised and good experience.”
Through this, and with the support of Accenture, Swisscom looked to build
The third element of this transforma-
an entirely new omni channel platform.
tion looked at the technology architec-
Through a framework called the digital
ture that could power this approach,
omni-channel platform (DOCP), Swisscom
with Swisscom looking to adopt a
was able to look at plugging some of its 9
existing capabilities in order to decou-
in class products for other capabilities
ple its core BSS platform and build up
like CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) and
an omnichannel experience on top of it.
still deliver a very integral experience
“It wasn’t a product, it was a framework
towards our channels.”
that provides the flexibility to reuse some
By focusing on wireless services for
already existing assets,” explains Friedli.
the online channel first, Swisscom could
“As an example, for identity and access
implement and enable a level of agil-
management, we could plug in what we
ity that would allow it to continue roll-
already had as an enabler, and we still
ing out the new omni channel experi-
have the flexibility to integrate the best
ence step by step across its stores and
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customer care services while being able
product managers and product owners.
to respond and react to a constantly
This means they can steer directly the
changing business needs. “I strongly
backlog of development teams and focus
believe that you can only succeed by
on the evolving needs of the business.”
using the agile setups we have imple-
Often the biggest challenge for a tech-
mented in Swisscom,” he says. “We
nology transformation like this is identi-
have BizDevOps value streams based
fying and outlining a clear roadmap that
on SAFe (scaled agile framework)where
truly addresses those shifting business
the business responsible employees
needs. As Friedli notes, the telco market
were integrated in these agile teams as
always changes radically and the days
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gone in which transformation projects
Swisscom succeeds. “We’re not a hierar-
were singular and costly projects that
chical company at all. We have really flat
delivered one new technology or
organisations,” he says. “Our employees
outcome at time. In his own words; “You
are able to drive the decisions and drive
cannot invest in a three-figure million
the transformation, within boundaries of
project over three years that delivers the
course. It’s step by step and day by day.
benefit only at the end of it’s journey. For
You have to give clear boundaries and
sure also the customer needs will change
a clear vision, and let them find the way
over such a time period.”
where to go.”
This was the major hurdle at the start
When Friedli recalls the first steps
of this journey, identifying how Swisscom
taken on this journey, he jokes; “What
should proceed. It needed to address
did we do wrong on day one?”. Friedli is
the shifting needs of the business while
first to admit that this new omni-channel
also continuing to provide great value to
experience was an ambitious goal and
customers of today, but also the customers of ‘two-three years from now’. Friedli stresses that it has to be a step-bystep journey for all. “You have to look at your own track and which direction you go, but you shouldn’t look too far ahead because when it comes to digital services, change happens fast and you can easily be down the wrong road,” he says. “You have to have a clear and understandable vision which you can explain to all stakeholders, but you need to be open and honest enough to say ‘I cannot achieve exactly this result in three years’ because on the way, our goals will change.”. Fast results are the key here, but a patient and collaborative mindset is too. This is where, for Friedli, 12
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not all stakeholders clearly aligned on
complete freedom and everybody can do
how to achieve them. “What is an easy
what they want, but in reality it is being
and simple customer journey?”, “How
able to adjust your plan really fast, but
do we achieve our online shift exactly?”,
in very strict boundaries,” he says. “We
“How do you overcome the balancing
found over time that we had to define
act between best products and simple
very clear boundaries of where to go,
processes?”. These kinds of questions
how to build our microservices, how to
you have to answer in your vision before
test the experience with the customer
you start anchoring it in the teams.”
so you could learn fast and be able to
Swisscom wanted to build up this
change things if they go in the wrong
omnichannel experience within an agile working environment, but how on earth
direction.,” “Agility and flexibility can make things
would it actually go about delivering that?
happen so fast that you can go off track
“Lots of people think agility just means
very easily. We had to adjust our plans
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“ Swisscom needs to know me or my daughter as specific service users and put us in the middle. Only then can it begin to deliver a customised experience” — SVEN FRIEDLI, EVP, HEAD OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE & INNOVATION AT SWISSCOM
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and really home in on what our vision should look like and also adjust our roadmap”. Friedli points to a key learning here, one that has continued to help steer him in the right direction throughout this journey. “To achieve simplicity for your customers and touchpoint is for sure not simple. You really have to focus on the relevant needs of them. Don’t make too many compromises to rebuild everything you had in the past and really optimise the experience and performance. Also you should start with small teams to do the first steps to learn and adapt before you scale out.” The role that Accenture has played in this journey should not be understated. They delivered the DOCP framework, contributed to the target vision and roadmap and helped the teams to improve in the agile way of working. Following a market wide assessment, Accenture and Swisscom established a key framework that would support Swisscom’s needs and help the company build up this new omni-channel experience. “We were really one common team,” says Friedli. “We had Accenture Scrum masters working together with both Accenture and Swisscom DevOps employees and there were common responsibilities on backlog content and priorities. We had unified goals and often people from outside couldn’t tell who was a Swisscom and who was an Accenture employee. This builds up a good partnership and relationship. There’s real collaboration between us and when things go wrong, we sit down and we work together to solve the challenges that face us.” Over time, following the support of Accenture, Swisscom was able to run this program independently. 16
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“ ...you have to build things that are relevant to your customer.” — SVEN FRIEDLI, EVP, HEAD OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE & INNOVATION AT SWISSCOM
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Now, two years into this journey, Friedli can reflect on key success factors: 1. A clear business vision is key for success as this was a business case and not purely an IT project. 2. Learn fast and adapt even faster. Customer and employee feedback were instrumental in steering our roadmap and priorities 3. A multi-speed architecture is required to support your journey to omni-channel transformation “Our theoretical ideas in the beginning weren’t always right. Success in online-usage and conversion rate will give you the needed feedback. Bring new services fast and in small steps to production, so that you can learn from the feedback and adjust your roadmap.”, he says. With solid foundations in place and successes to back up this B2C transformation, Swisscom is also embarking on
different dimensions,” he says. “You have
a B2B transformation. This journey, once
partners who are selling your services,
more, is focused on supporting the new
who you have to support and then you
business needs. Following a merging
have sales organisations which go to
of small and medium enterprise busi-
the customer, but they want to reuse the
nesses (SMEs), Swisscom has set out
services you build up wherever possible.”
to deliver the same product and same
This B2B transformation, however
experience by harmonising its services
complex, is only in its infancy and Friedli
and processes.
is keen to stress the importance of
“What is different to B2C is that the whole sales experience has much 18
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maintaining the same online mobilefirst mindset in order for the business
to focus on the easy and simple expe-
built up service. Don’t have a fixed plan
rience. The road ahead is still a long
and think that you can roll it out in the
one, with the B2B and B2C journeys
next 30 months and then you’ll achieve
continuously evolving and for Friedli the
your goals. Be able to listen, learn, and
future successes of Swisscom relies on
then adjust towards the increasingly new
not only on this agile framework, but an
needs of your customers.”
agile mindset. “Be willing to learn, like we were,” he says. “Listen to employees if things are going wrong, listen to the partner if he gives you feedback, listen to your customer if he is not using the new 19
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