Ericsson Launches Telecom CRM, Aimed at Improving Customer Service, Reducing Interaction Time

Communications giant Ericsson has launched Telecom CRM, an integrated billing and customer relationship management product for the telecom industry based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. The product is designed to help operators deliver superior customer service as well as help telecoms operate more efficiently and cut costs.

The solution is pre-integrated with Ericsson's BSCS iX 4.0 convergent billing solution using a standard, business orientated SID based API. BSCS iX is a convergent, end-to-end billing and customer care system for any type of communications service provider: mobile, fixed-line, broadband, TV etc. It's highly suited to service providers with a strong postpaid subscriber base.

This new CRM product is one of the ways that Ericsson and Microsoft are achieving their goal of integrating customer relationship management and business support systems, an objective they announced in February 2011.

Ericsson Telecom CRM will help operators increase customer satisfaction, particularly in sales and customer care, by reducing the number and length of customer interactions, according to the company. The product gives operators billing and subscriber data and functionality in an intuitive user environment so they can provide customer service.

"Integrating billing and CRM systems is a common IT objective for many operators. But it is also clear that chief information officers are under pressure to reduce systems integration costs," said Ralf Guckert, Head of Solution Area BSS at Ericsson, in a statement. "I am really excited about the launch of Telecom CRM because it meets the need that so many operators have for a highly intuitive, telecoms-specific CRM system that is integrated with billing.'

Ericsson is not the first telecom business to adopt Dynamics CRM for improving customer service, but it is certainly the largest  - it is ...