in October 2021, we hosted a webinar alongside ARIADNEXT and Mobilise, discussing the three major mistakes Telcos make when digitalizing customer experiences. These issues mainly revolved around UX for telcos, the importance of eKYC and some pitfalls of eSIM in the user lifecycle.
A lot of recurring questions surrounding the world of eSIM, digital enablement and customer onboarding were raised during the conference. So our experts took it upon themselves to answer your thoughtful questions.
Part 1: FAQ about eSIM and digital enablement
How do you protect the customer's private data in regards to the KYC due to privacy act in some countries?
Pascal Decaux, Telco Business Developer, ARIADNEXT: "All data is processed in Europe for ARIADNEXT, in France for automatic processing (location of our servers) and in Romania for manual processing. The data is stored on our servers for the duration of the processing before transmission of the reports to the customers and then deleted. It may be kept longer only if a storage option is requested by the customer."
What's your opinion on IoT-SAFE Applet in eSIM?
Jonathan Kendall, CCO, Oasis Smart SIM: "IoT SAFE, an innovative solution to secure communications of connected devices thanks to the eSIM. IoT SAFE (SIM Applet For Secure End-2-End Communication) is a new standard specified by the GSMA and TCA (Trusted Connectivity Alliance) in December 2019. IoT SAFE is an innovative solution that uses the eSIM as a key store to hold cryptographic keys and services. It is designed to resist physical attacks. What’s more, it can be remotely controlled by the operator to provision, renew or revoke identification credentials. But there’s still work to do. The challenge is to instill trust in a holistic approach for the entire ecosystem and support the burdens of many-to-many integrations across management and operations of end-to-end security around their data exchange. Oasis is working with the GSMA to help build on the GSMA IoT SAFE standard and take it a step forward."
Where else do you see the potential/implementation of eSIM solution besides mobile & companion devices (tablets, watches, etc.)?
Jonathan Kendall, CCO, Oasis Smart SIM: "In simple terms IoT. What makes an eSIM better for the IoT? Devices can be smaller as they no longer have to cater for a removable card. It also eliminates the cost and vulnerability of an external port, as well as the environmental impact of plastic SIM cards. An eSIM can hold multiple local network operator credentials, in contrast to a conventional SIM card that can only hold one. An eSIM can also be reprogrammed over the air. This eliminates challenges that come from constant roaming and allow the connected device to take advantage of local data rates that are typically cheaper, higher quality and avoid any data throttling. It will be easy for IoT service providers and end users to choose the network that is right for them at any time, and switch to the best network without having to switch SIM cards or waste time comparing rates. It will be a simple, instant, effective process. As we enter a new generation in terms of the speed and quality of 5G, we can look forward to even more effective use cases for IoT supported by the flexibility of eSIM. Imagination will be our only limiting factor."
Part 2: FAQ about onboarding and RSP
In an automatized process, the crucial point for the UX is to ensure a straightforward & efficient costumer service in case of system bug. What's your view on this?
Hamish White, CEO, Mobilise: "100% agree that good and efficient digital tools to provide customer service is key when implementing a digital first proposition. Certain customer types will want to interact via certain tools ie in-app chat and others via other tools such as ticketing or email, it is important to implement the most appropriate tool for your customer demographic. However, we have found that providing multiple options to the customer is a key driver of successful CX. For example, providing in-app chat, ticketing, email, social and traditional voice gives users the choice to use the tool they feel most comfortable with."
How do you see the activation and onboarding process varying for secondary consumer devices, e.g. wearables, cameras, drones, which may not support the smartphone process shown?
Hamish White, CEO, Mobilise: "This is an interesting UX question. Opinions seem quite varied on this and in our experience companies have different ideas on the best experience which is usually based on their specific product use case. For us, we believe that a management portal/app is the best UX for these use cases. This management capability can also trigger and manage the OTA provisioning of the eSIM profile."
Do you think telecom operators are heading towards developing their own RSP solution ?
Jonathan Kendall, CCO, Oasis Smart SIM: "Yes, we expect large, tier 1 multi-OpCo MNO’s will seek to build and certify their own RSP sites rather than buying a PaaS from a vendor as they can control the infra, manage data sovereignty, deal with local regulations, drive down the costs per eSIM profile, host in telco clouds and many other benefits – once the eSIM capacity reaches a certain point (probably around 20% of their base) its likely the business case will turn positive."
If you wish to know more about the topics of Telcos's Digital tranformation with eSIM, watch our 1-hour webinar hosted together with ARIADNEXT and Mobilise, respectively experts in the field of digital identity and Digital Orchestration. Watch the webinar here.
