The disruptive impact of social conversation channels from giants such as Facebook and Google are not only offering alternative communication options, but also giving consumers a way to seize control of telecom companies' reputations and even some business decisions.
So said says Craig Holmes, vice president for communications industries at IBM, commenting on the company's recent Institute for Business Value survey of 22 000 consumers in 35 countries, which looked at telecommunication consumer behaviour.
According to the survey, 56%of consumers use social media as a source of information to evaluate communication service providers (CSPs) and their products.
"The survey findings tell us that social media is literally soaring," says Holmes. "It's now the primary communication vehicle for an increasing number of digitally-aware consumers, giving consumers unprecedented power to build or demolish brand strength as they blog, text and comment via social media."
He also notes that the influence of peers has a radical impact on telecoms providers - consumers increasingly trust consumers like themselves and even strangers more than providers.
The survey reveals that 55% of South African respondents will always or often share negative experiences with others.
Moreover, 44% will discourage others to use the provider, while one out of three respondents will post a negative comment online or will complain on social media.
This peer influence is damaging as 39% said a key reason not to buy from or subscribe to a telecom provider is discouragement from others.
"Telecom providers have transformed the way the world communicates, but they are essentially lagging in how they communicate with their own customers," says Holmes.
"Consumers in South Africa tell us they buy on trust and relationships - they want one-on-one social-style communications and will be more loyal on the back of good experiences, yet telecoms providers locally continue to experience declining revenues."
Based on the survey, communications service providers should use the influence of social networks to their advantage to help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
According to the survey, the popularity of over the top (OTT) communications apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Facetime and Skype, are siphoning conventional messaging and voice calls away from CSPs.
An OTT provider delivers content over the Internet to end-users, but does not own the network that carries the IP packets to their destination.
Globally, almost 31% have or will cut traditional voice calling in favour of social media communication channels and 34% have reduced or will reduce SMS usage.
Therefore, CSPs need to evaluate a range of responses, ranging from partnering with OTT providers to developing their own OTT-type of communication services.
Also, they should develop plans to contain average revenue per user erosion by bundling basic communication services with value-added services and leveraging customer insights for cross- and up sells.
One clear message from this survey is that, despite investments in customer experience and customer relationship management initiatives, the telecom industry is not exploiting the influence of social networks and use it to their advantage to help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, concludes Holmes.
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