Best Practices: Reducing Broadband
Subscriber Support Costs
Matt Looney
Director of Business Development, SecurityCoverage
September 30, 2013
Outline
1. Malware: source of significant HSI support costs
2. Outsourcing: cost/benefit, efficiencies gained
Malware: Key Challenges
• Viruses, trojans, spyware, and adware all cause
significant slowdown
• Severe viruses can damage hard disks, causing
data loss and in some cases identity theft
Customer’s Point of View
What Happens When…
Industry Trends
7
Value-added PC security/ antivirus offerings
Why?
Value proposition
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10%
Current Helpdesk Account – Example A
Madison -‐ No SecureIT Madison -‐ SecureIT Onboard
Case Study “Example A”
Case Study “Example B” 0% 3% 5% 8% 10% 13% 15%
Current Helpdesk Account – Example B
Conclusion
Don’t get stuck paying extra for malicious attacks on your subscribers. Mitigate some support
costs before they happen by standardizing security software to your subscribers!
Outline
1. Malware: source of significant HSI support costs
2. Outsourcing: cost/benefit, efficiencies gained
Outsourcing – What Do We Mean?
Reshoring Trends
• Real wages in Asia: +7.1% to +7.8% each year
from 2000 to 2008 1
• Senior managers pay in emerging markets now
matches or exceeds pay in US and Europe 2
• Offshoring benefits have begun to dry up
Reshoring: Services & Manufacturing
Should You Outsource Tech Support?
1. Are most of your technical support calls basic “level 1” troubleshooting – unplug jacks, e-mail settings, gateway/DNS settings, etc.?
2. Can a trusted vendor access your billing database
and modem provisioning systems remotely? (via web login or RDP, for example)
3. Are you spending more than $2.00/sub on
technical support? (excluding truck rolls)
How Does Outsourcing Benefit Me?
Economies of Scale
Economies of Scale
1. Outage support
2. After hours / Off peak
3. Human capital
Supporting During Outages
• Death, taxes, and outages
• Impossible to staff for, predict, or notify
• Resulting call spikes cause lengthy hold times,
CSAT liability, poor Service Level
• Vendors offer supplemental or “on-demand”
coverage without fixed costs
Supporting During Outages
After Hours / Off-Peak Times
• Technical support no longer a “9 to 5” function
• Staffing in-house requires absorbing fixed costs
• PT techs can be costly to hire, train, retain
Human Capital
• Tech skills may be
hard to hire in your labor market
• Right combination of
tech and “soft skills” hard to find
Human Capital
• Vendors often located
in helpdesk-rich labor markets
• Recruiting, training,
and retention
programs can take years to master
Re-Allocating Resources
• Re-allocate talent to revenue generating
activities (e.g. B2B sales)
• Get highest ROI on each team member
• Opportunity cost of technical support
• Hard FTE cost of technical support
Benchmarks
Call Center Benchmarks
Call In Rate 13% to 15%
Average Handle Time (minutes) 11 to 14
Cost Efficiencies
Ratio
Fixed costs : Profit 1 : 1
Hard Cost Comparison Scenario
Technical Support Ticketing & remote access software Telephony Labor & admin.Scenario: 10,000 Subscribers
29 Monthly calls (13% call-in rate) Average Handle Time (AHT) FTEs required (2.75 calls/hour)Avg. cost per FTE (BLS: West) 1,300 14:00 3.5 $ 4,886 In House Labor 17,101 Telephony 750 Software 2,250 Total cost $ 19,351 Outsourced $0.85 per min. 15,470 Savings/mo. $3,881 $1.75 per sub. 17,500 Savings/mo. $1,851
Benchmarks
Call Center Benchmarks
Call In Rate 13% to 15%
Average Handle Time (minutes) 11 to 14
What Are The Drawbacks?
Risk / Reward
Potential Drawbacks
1. Give up customer touch points
2. Regional dialect / accents
How to Evaluate a Vendor
• Always do a site visit
• Listen to calls, both
recorded and live
• Require remote
access capabilities
How to Evaluate a Vendor
• Ask for documented
“Scope of Support”
• Do they subcontract
or “farm out” calls?
• Review their hiring
practices, training programs/process
Outline
1. Malware: source of significant HSI support costs
2. Outsourcing: cost/benefit, efficiencies gained
3. Out-of-scope support – cost vs. opportunity
Answer
• On average, there are
5.7 devices
per broadband connected home
• That’s more devices
than people…
37
“I Support Everything…”
39
The guy I talked to last time fixed my wireless printer for me. Why can’t you fix my tablet?!
Premium Tech Support Services
• Premium tech support
services: rapidly growing business
• Turn additional costs
into revenue opportunities
• Give your customer
the support they need
Premium Tech Support:
$6.2B business (U.S.) by 2014
Growth Sector: $11.8B by 2015
Pricing Models
Per incident • Sell at point of pain/trouble • High initial revenue • No recurring revenue • Charge between $49 - $149 per task Prepaid annual subscription • Higher price point will decrease close rates • No monthly churn • High annual churn • Charge $170-$300 annually Monthly subscription • Higher close rates • Takes longer to build significant revenue • Monthly churn a factor • Some will “game system” • Charge between $15-$30/mo. Both monthly and per-incident • Optimized close rates • Offer both depending on customer preference• For best results
charge an ETF • Usually best
Keys to Success
• Remote access capabilities deliver higher
service level, improved CSAT
• Support the environment, not the device
• Offer ongoing communications, including training
and tips
• Bundle with other Value-Added Services
Key Takeaways
1. It makes good business sense to offer virus and
malware protection to your subscribers
2. Outsourcing your support can save you money
and even improve the customer experience, as long as you carefully select your vendor
3. Premium technical support packages can
deliver new revenue, consistent experiences, and set clear support demarcations
