Customer service is often the first point of contact that end customers choose when they need help with United Internet’s products and services. This makes easy accessibility and professional advice that can solve customers’ issues as soon as possible all the more important. The main focus in the Consumer Access and Consumer Applications segments is on products and services for the Retail Customers area.
An average of 36 online customer surveys a month are conducted in the Consumer Access Segment. More than 90,000 customers a month take the opportunity to provide feedback. The feedback provided in the survey, and especially the free text, is evaluated in detail and used to identify areas of potential optimization for products, processes, and the customer service organization alike. The online questionnaires are supplemented by other qualitative and quantitative market research instruments, data analysis, and research based on secondary sources so as to obtain a comprehensive customer picture. All in all, the monthly online surveys were supplemented by 18 additional surveys in fiscal year 2024.
Actions and projects aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction include the following:
In fiscal year 2024, United Internet stepped up its customer journey analyses so as to be able to cater to customer needs even better.
Cross-functional teams in the Consumer Access Segment visualized and discussed existing customer journeys and derived actions from these. These insights were shared with the members of the management board. The format is repeated at regular intervals. In addition to the existing surveys, customers were contacted about specific questions by telephone and in-depth interviews performed which helped with the concrete analysis of conspicuous errors.
The Consumer Applications Segment ensures customer service quality using precise working instructions and a comprehensive knowledge database. The customer service policy is based on a structured authentication process, ensuring that only eligible customers have access to information and support in relation to their e-mail mailbox. The process begins with an identity check in which customers must provide basic information such as their full name, registered e-mail address, and additional customer-specific data by phone. Only after this has been successfully authenticated is it possible to obtain either information about the e-mail mailbox or support with specific issues. Customer Service employees are trained to perform the authentication process in a friendly, efficient manner and to support customers where necessary. This approach not only guarantees data security but also reinforces trust in the service. The policy promotes secure, transparent communication between the e-mail provider and its customers, while simultaneously ensuring compliance with data privacy requirements.
The Consumer Applications Segment is currently working on introducing a quality feedback report containing standard KPIs such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer feedback so as to measure progress.
The products in the Consumer Access Segment and the business processes needed for them are based on a complex technical infrastructure and a large number of software systems (for cell towers, data centers, customer management databases, statistical systems, etc.). Constant adaptations to changing customer needs leads to the increasing complexity of this technical infrastructure, which regularly requires changing. This – and also major technical modifications (such as data migration) – can lead to disruptions or outages. Information on this is provided in the chapter on Entity-specific Governance Topics. Should, this affect systems used to provide services, for example, Consumer Access might not be able to provide customers with a warranted service temporarily.
United Internet combats these risks by making specific architectural modifications, using quality assurance measures, and through the georedundant (physically separate) design of core functionality. In addition, a variety of software- and hardware-based safeguards are used to protect the infrastructure and ensure availability. Tasks are distributed so that risky actions or transactions are not performed by a single employee acting alone but rather in keeping with the principle of dual control. Moreover, manual and technical access restrictions ensure that employees can only perform tasks in their own areas of responsibility. Data is regularly backed up and stored in georedundant data centers as an additional security measure against data loss.
The Consumer Access and Business Access segments are working together to build and run the fully virtualized 5G mobile network based on the new Open RAN technology. The results of this cooperation can be seen in the links to the 5G locations (comprising front-, mid-, and backhaul links), the operation of the backbone network, and the expansion of dedicated data centers for network operations. Since this telecommunications infrastructure has been identified as of material importance for United Internet, this topic is addressed in greater detail in the chapter on Entity-specific Governance Topics.
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