Business Support Systems Are the Key to an AI Driven Sales Future

Telecommunications companies are under intense pressure. The past decade witnessed the erosion of traditional revenue sources, with significant new growth opportunities having yet to emerge. Now, carriers are pivoting to a new growth strategy to increase sales profitability through productivity, efficiency, and personalization at scale. Many are hoping Artificial Intelligence (AI) integrated into a business support system (BSS) can help them achieve these goals. 

Leaders across the industry recognize the promise of AI. Even further, harnessing the power of AI has the potential to enable a whole new level of hyper-personalization, deliver deeper customer insights, and accelerate content generation, all of which can help sales teams accelerate and shorten sales cycles. 

AI-powered telecom sales start with data

To truly benefit from the capabilities of AI, particularly generative AI which is expected to deliver $140 billion to $180 billion in productivity gains (above what could be unlocked by traditional AI), communications service providers need to have an infrastructure in place that can support it. 

AI is only as good as the data it has to draw from. This makes getting data in order alongside a robust data strategy paramount to a  sales team’s ability to successfully use AI. Telecommunications companies already have a trove of data. However, more often than not it’s housed in multiple systems across the organization. This siloed approach makes it difficult for sales teams to get a 360-degree view of a customer, properly prioritize leads, or make data-driven decisions.

What’s a business support system and why is it important for telecom sales?

Much of a telecommunication company’s data is housed across a variety of business support systems. These business support systems comprise a set of software applications and tools used by telecommunications companies to manage all customer-facing activities and aspects of their business operations.

These systems include things like CRM, product catalog, pricing and quoting, order management, billing, channel and partner management, and customer service. They help communications service providers: 

• Manage relationships with customers and partners
• Build and sell product offerings for customers
• Automate processes
• Provide the logic that partners need to configure, price, and quote services reduce errors
• Improve efficiency
• Make real-time decisions 

Your business support systems hold valuable data, however that data needs to be accessible before it can be made actionable. This requires integration. 

How integrating business support systems accelerates sales

As mentioned, each of a telecommunications company’s business support systems holds valuable data, however without integration, that data is siloed and not shareable or fully activated. Integrating business support systems across the organization creates one cohesive ecosystem. It enables employees to easily share data across teams and departments, and both push and pull information from the same 360-degree customer profile – in real time. 

Accessing and acting on data are keys to an efficient sales operation. Once data has been integrated, it can be brought together on one platform, supercharged with built-in AI capabilities, and then used to drive more personalized engagement, intelligent outreach, and shorter sales cycles. This streamlining of processes into a single-user experience enables sales reps to prioritize and work more efficiently.

An integrated, AI-powered BSS ecosystem enables communications sales teams to access real-time insights and intelligent recommendations that make it possible to proactively address issues, seize opportunities, and create tailored products and service offerings. 

AI-powered tools and resources also enhance sales teams’ productivity and confidence. It allows them to work more efficiently and make informed decisions quickly and effectively — even in the face of an uncertain situation. And, because AI is built directly into an integrated platform, intelligent insights can be received directly in the flow of work. Actions can be taken from the platform at the click of a button. This enables telecoms to do things like:

Boost sales efficiency with built-in intelligence 

AI-driven insights and tailored recommendations increase productivity and provide a deeper understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and needs. This allows them to target specific segments, personalize offers, and deliver tailored products and solutions.

Sales teams can use AI to effectively manage their pipeline, identify which leads are most valuable, optimize sales strategy, and uncover up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. AI can also analyze pricing strategies, competitor pricing, demand patterns, and customer segmentation so teams can dynamically price products and plans, optimize revenue generation, and personalize pitches, ensuring that no revenue is left on the table.

When sales reps truly know their customers, they can couple personalized outreach with technological tools and capabilities to increase revenue and scale. A sales rep can receive built-in AI recommendations based on a customer’s usage patterns, preferences, or documented service issues. 

These recommendations might also include details like the best time to contact the customer, what their preferred channel of communication is, and what messaging might resonate most with that customer’s particular market segmentation or demographic. This allows the sales rep to easily reach out in an incredibly personalized manner, quickly, and at scale.  

Automate, simplify, and guide

An AI-powered platform uses pre-built, easily customizable, intelligent, automated workflows to create smoother processes and shorter sales cycles. Configurable workflows and standards-based integration allow the system to take over manual tasks so sales reps can focus on selling. These automated workflows reduce mistakes and enable teams to scale, making for a more accurate, more adaptable sales operation. 

Intelligent, automated workflows are especially beneficial when it comes to more complex sales work. AI and automation speed up research and information gathering, provide accurate analysis, and ensure that all pertinent details are taken into account. This reduces error and increases the ability to personalize outreach, quotes, and service offerings. It also enables teams to more easily manage complicated sales processes like multisite quotes or complex pricing models.

The totality of the capabilities made possible by an AI-powered platform come together to drive revenue, growth, and loyalty. 

The telecom future is integrated, intelligent, and evolving

Telecommunications sales can be complex. They involve multiple stakeholders, regulatory requirements, and intense competition in a market where differentiation can be hard. Integrating business support systems can help build a foundation for industry-specific solutions that help address these challenges. 

To access the full value of intelligent, AI-powered solutions, telecommunication companies need to ensure data is fully accessible. Business support system integration does just that. It powers the hyper-personalization, intelligent automated processes, and AI capabilities that help sales teams sell smarter, prioritize better, and ensure all regulatory and compliance.