CRM - January 2008 - (Page 46)

Putting Asia in Your Pocket Red Pocket Mobile snags a particular prepaid phone market, with help from VoIP Logic hone cards and pay-as-you-go Chinese menus and texting capabilities. The company faced a double challenge phones are just about everywhere; convenience stores and when introducing functionality that let electronics dealers have walls customers use their airtime balance as and racks full of them. This overabun- an international calling card whether or dance of availability means the pressure not they were using their Red Pocket is high for a mobile virtual network Mobile handset. After integrating wireoperator (MVNO) to gain any significant less, calling-card, and internationalmarket share. Red Pocket Mobile is one calling functionality in an easy-to-use manner, the firm also needed of the successful ones, thanks to a particular niche: With the Red Pocket Mobile to automate the back office for help of VoIP Logic’s Cortex Sys- users can now call distributors, agents, and end users to present a unified tem Management Web Portal, package for separate billing Red Pocket has captured the China, Singapore, and service-delivery platforms. hearts and minds of the Asian- Canada, Taiwan, to proAmerican community. and Hong Kong for “AT&T takes great careits billtect the security of “Our question was how to provide a compelling value the same cost as a ing platforms—they don’t give MVNOs access to direct debit,” proposition to set us apart,”says domestic call. Gordon says. “We had to work Joshua Gordon, COO at Red Pocket Mobile. “We found the answer in with them to find an alternative system.” Fortunately, Gordon knew Micah low-cost international calling through Chinese-character handsets, with no long- Singer, founder and CEO of VoIP Logic, distance charge. Customers can also use a provider of hosted and outsourced the long-distance account as a ‘calling VoIP infrastructure components. “I’ve card’ from a public phone.” Red Pocket known Josh since 1998, in various iteraMobile works through a large network of tions throughout the industry,” Singer agents, dealers, and distributors to serve says. “Two years ago, he started a project Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and other that grew into Red Pocket. To make it distinct ethnic groups throughout the work, he needed to balance integration United States, and is the only U.S. mobile and feature management.” Gordon had clear ideas of where he operator to offer mobile handsets with 46 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | JANUARY 2008 P wanted Red Pocket to go, and that included a strong ease-of-use factor. “Josh had a lot of success getting individual distribution points—this is where integration helped, in terms of resellers,” Singer says. “With other MVNOs, a vendor would be getting 27 commission checks for $10 apiece; why would they want to carry yet another brand? Plus, when recharging the account, the serviceperson had to ask how the customer wanted to allocate the money—a clumsy process.” VoIP Logic deployed its Talking SIP system to provide call authentication and prepaid balance management, with Cortex as the distributor management portal. With those features embedded in the mobile handsets and the authentication features of the combined management solution, Red Pocket Mobile users can call China, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong, and Taiwan for the same cost as a domestic call. The software also expanded Red Pocket usage via the calling-card capabilities built into the Cortex/Talking SIP platform. Cortex integration and Web portals, coupled with Talking SIP’s authentication software, and Red Pocket Mobile’s clear vision of a multiservices play, allow the MVNO to succeed in the converged telephone-services market. “The key reason for an MVNO’s being is to differentiate itself from major carriers,” Gordon says, and Red Pocket Mobile is pushing forward with its business plan. “We’re planning to roll out service to other populations, and we’re also planning some new Vonage-style Class 5 VoIP services.” Red Pocket Mobile will address point-of-sale functionality that allows for recharging and instant invoicing at all retail distribution points, and plans to extend its use of Cortex to give end users a rich, customized, selfcare interface. —Marshall Lager By implementing VoIP Logic’s Cortex and Talking SIP products, Red Pocket Mobile: achieved average revenue per user 15 percent to 40 percent greater than that of its competitors; exceeds the industry average refill rate and amount by 20 percent; and pushed into a crowded, highly targeted market and has maintained a 10 percent compound monthly growth rate. www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - January 2008

CRM - January 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Facebook's About-Face On the Scene: Oracle OpenWorld 2007 CRM Market Set to Double Customers, Meet your Makers Required Reading Oh, Behave! Fine-Tuning the Channel Listen Up! The Master Piece Flying High on Customer Service Let's Get Digital The Big Rigs Get Revved Up Putting Asia in Your Pocket Secret of My Success Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - January 2008

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