CALLING CARD

‘New Telstra’ is more than a telco, it’s a technology company, and its Customer Insight Centre might just be the world’s best technology calling card.

Story: Christopher Holder

Telstra is transforming itself. The pronouncements of CEO Andrew Penn make the position clear: Telstra doesn’t see itself as a telco any more; it’s a technology company.

But thanks to its telco roots, Telstra has strong existing relationships with tens of thousands of Australian businesses — big and small. It’s a potent ‘foot in the door’, but Telstra has a perception problem. It’s hard to shake the ‘just a telco’ tag.

Telstra is a big company with considerable resources, so it’s been building ‘experience’ and ‘inspiration’ centres. These centres are designed to change people’s minds and give consultants the right environment to talk to clients about the new Telstra.

The Customer Insight Centre (CIC), in downtown Sydney, is an astonishing showpiece of Telstra ‘the technology company’. But more than that, it has weaved within it all that Telstra has learnt in the past years regarding how best to influence its clients and alter perceptions.

And here’s where DigitalSignage pricks up its ears: using technology — digital signage in particular — to change the conversation; to set the agenda with customers.

BETTER THAN GOOGLE

In a world where toddlers are iPad-proficient before they can talk, it’s a tall order to use technology to win undivided attention. Clients were telling Telstra — “don’t waste my time”. In other words, if I’m going to spend an hour, a morning or three days with you at the CIC, please make it worth my while. It’s this sentiment that drives CIC General Manager, David Woodbridge: “You can log onto Google and find a wealth of information about Telstra products for yourself. The CIC needs to offer something more; something personalised and relevant to the client — their business, industry and their customer base.

“Every single element in this centre, including the AV installations, are used to deliver that information to the customer, providing value for time.

“It’s critical as you walk by a screen for it to show something relevant. If it doesn’t, then we’ve missed an amazing opportunity and that display becomes nothing more than an expensive wall hanging.”

FILLING SPACE OR A NEED?

Too often a screen fills a space rather than a need. We see a blank wall and think “that’s a good place for a display” rather than determining what needs to be said and then specifying the best technology and location to fulfil the role.

The Telstra CIC provides a masterclass in how technology needs to be subservient to a philosophy rather than the signage ‘tail’ wagging the enterprise ‘dog’.

The CIC philosophy is customer-centric — knowing who the visiting client is and developing content pertinent to them and their industry. Within the centre the Telstra solutions consultant can take the client on a journey with key stops on the way, each with displays that best suit the purpose of the zone — Welcome screens, the Insight Ring, Vision Gallery screens, Expo Zone screens, the Theatre, the Partnership Hub, and meeting rooms.

The consultant will guide the client through Telstra’s technology ecosphere, with content being triggered from the CIC’s bespoke CMS, pulling relevant assets from the client’s playbook. As discussions are underway the consultant can seamlessly trigger relevant and supporting content on any of the displays via a tablet — at every step it’s the screens that are supporting the narrative rather than inflexibly and artificially setting the agenda.

We all know that ‘content is king’ but the CIC provides an object lesson in just how crucial it is to have the right content in the right format at the right time.

KINGS OF CONTENT

Telstra CIC has a content creation department. At times they will work with other creative agencies to develop material but they will always have the last word regarding what plays.

DigitalSignage spoke to Telstra’s Rob Gerber and Ricky Chivers to learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

“The biggest thing is understanding who’s coming through the door,” noted Rob Gerber. “We do the homework to understand who our customers are, what interests them and what types of content they’ll engage with.

“To generalise, we’ve discovered that simplicity is the key. Sure, what we produce should be engaging and attractive but it needs to be anchored by a simple theme that clients can observe and understand quickly.”

It turns out that infographics (or ‘dashboards’) remain extremely popular. This is, after all, an ‘insight’ centre, and David Woodbridge rather neatly describes an ‘insight’ as “something the client didn’t know before”.

“If we display a client’s share price that’s pretty irrelevant,” observed David Woodbridge. “But show them, say, the trends in digital media distribution that are shaping the way they could be planning product design and reaching customers? Well, they’re the eye-opening moments; that’s what is really resonating with customers.”

TECH TALKS

Technology doesn’t speak for itself. Digital signage champions knows this better than just about anyone. Buying a gee-whiz screen, installing a network… it’s simply empty real estate; a blank canvas. Conversely, if you have your overarching philosophy and message down, and you have producers developing stunning content, then this is when the technology can really shine; where people are blown away.

And so it is at the Telstra CIC. The ‘best of breed’ technology looks outstanding. The NanoLumens screens of the Insight Ring and within the Theatre are awe inspiring. The Sony 84-inch TV in the green room; the Planar LED Welcome displays… and on and on it goes.

CHANGING THE CONVERSATION

How do you pivot the emphasis of sales meetings from ‘convincing clients of the merits’ to ‘collaboratively exploring the possibilities’? What would you give to be able to flick that switch? Telstra asked this question of itself and the answer was ‘many millions of dollars’. It’s been worth every cent.

The ‘wow’ factor provided by the targeted and sophisticated content, presented on state-of-the-art display technology, and leveraged by knowledgeable consultants, all conspire to shift the conversation. Even hard-nosed CFOs of blue-chip companies are letting their guards down, allowing their imaginations to roam, and discussions to be collaborative. Priceless.