There are only so many warnings you can give about the inevitable, aren’t there? Sooner or later, reality will bite. Choking non-IP customers’ broadband speeds in the PSTN test areas of Salisbury and Mildenhall and referring their complaints directly to their CPs’ helpdesks certainly feels like tough love.
In fairness to Openreach, it’s also a sign of the frustration and near desperation that arises when you keep telling folks something they just don’t want to listen to. After all, dear reader, without clear benefits why would customers be bothered?
It isn’t just Salisbury and Mildenhall residents and businesspeople who don’t want to think about the impact of the PSTN switch-off. Our surveys show the inertia is widespread. The Fit To Switch campaign has just completed its first piece of nationwide field research, alerting manufacturing businesses to the risks of failing to migrate alarm systems and remote monitoring to an all-IP infrastructure.
It gave us some useful insights into how managers think, and some good pointers on how best to approach them in future. But there were no real revelations, beyond confirming what most of us in the channel already knew.
The PSTN switch-off isn’t on the radar for most managers, even the ones who are most at risk. This remains the case even if you phone them up and ask them. Still, if there wasn’t a problem, we wouldn’t need a campaign.
Raising awareness
Our campaign is now fast gathering pace as the deadline looms. We now have Giacom, Gamma, Daisy Communications and Daisy Partner Business committed to and contributing to the Fit To Switch campaign as National Champions.
This first finger in the industry-sampling air was conducted in June with Manufacturing Management, which goes to managers at over 32,000 factory sites right across the UK. We ran a two-page ice-breaker feature in the magazine, placed Fit To Switch resources on the website and followed-up with a high-level questionnaire and telemarketing campaign.
This was a first shot at cold-call consciousness raising, so we weren’t expecting thousands of initial responses. We will also follow up later in the year to assess how far this opening salvo has helped raise unprompted awareness.
The folks who did respond have given us useful initial insights. The sample covered a huge range of manufacturing sectors, from pharmaceuticals and construction to optical manufacturing and electrical engineering. The surveyed businesses also ranged from small manufacturing businesses to multi-site operations employing thousands.
An encouraging start
Firstly, we know the targeting is right: 62 per cent of respondents had either complete or shared responsibility for the telecoms estate at their place of work. Only half of them said they were previously aware of the impending PSTN switch-off.
Now they are aware of the switch-off and understand some of the risks, 83 per cent plan to have a good look into the implications for their business. However, only half of respondents even know which of their current services rely upon the copper network.
This is a hugely encouraging start. It takes us beyond general high-level statements and starts to help focus the Fit To Switch message more precisely at business managers’ pain-points.
It also demonstrates the power of trade press to speak directly, as a trusted source of industry-specific management information, to individuals who would otherwise be sceptical or indifferent to messages from telecoms specialists.
Indeed, to go back to Openreach’s three-year awareness-raising efforts, one of the key obstacles the Openreach team has encountered has been people putting their guard up, simply because they are scared somebody’s just trying to sell them something.
That’s why we are working with the wider Mark Allen Group, which has over 100 respected trade vertical publications. This is a goldmine of end users to talk to, listen to and share access to.
Fundamental changes
It’s perhaps unsurprising how few business managers have engaged proactively so far with their own suppliers. Half of our sample said they rely entirely on their CPs to handle telecoms for them. But only 46 per cent said their current provider had raised the switch-off with them in any meaningful way.
The problem is that businesses are simply used to their telecoms estate just continuing to run without interruption in the background, like it has been doing for years. Many businesspeople just let a bloke in once a year to undertake routine maintenance, and then sign off the contract renewal invoice. The prospect of having to initiate fundamental changes is well out of the comfort zone, and it takes a lot of getting your head around.
Consumers are reacting negatively and businesses sense that this is a top-down change forced upon them for someone else’s benefit. The good news is that, with a clear set of customer benefits, resellers can leverage our Fit To Switch messages and brand to the benefit of their customer benefit.