Sample AT&T Wireless support forums pages

Typical question and answer:    http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board/message?board.id=international&thread.id=9347

List of forums:  http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/

Typical forum:  http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board?board.id=international

Description

AT&T, the largest mobile phone provider in the US (over 71.4m subscribers as of Q1 2008, revenue of $42.7 billion), offers forums where customers can ask and answer questions related to AT&T.

• Explanation of how company has used user contribution to redefine business function: (largely copied from Ebay, since the forums and the redefinition of the business function are similar): In addition to offering other support (phone, email—verify), AT&T offers forums where can explain and resolve issues themselves, often more quickly and easily than if they had emailed Ebay.
• Traditionally, companies have offered technical support directly, through mediums such as telephone or in-person agents and more recently, email or Internet-based chat.
  • These solutions are costly for the companies that provide them, both in wages for the support staff and the infrastructure required.
  • Customers struggle with long hold times and unresolved issues.
• Forums were not widely adopted by large, established corporations because they were thought of as “not something we do”
  • Difficult / impossible to control content (moderation can be overwhelmed)
  • Potentially putting lots of unhappy customers in a “room” together
  • Content may be inaccurate, potentially malicious (e.g. brick your phone)
  • For these reasons, forums, while existant (e.g. Howard forums for cell-phone enthusiast), were rarely offered by the company itself
• AT&T offers forums where customers can ask questions (supplements email support option).
• Type of user input: Information, opinions, work.

Benefits to customer

• Reduced time and cost—users can get fast responses…no one likes to wait on hold or wait for an email.
• Solutions that meet my needs—Forums offer a different advantages and disadvantages relative to email support

Benefits to company

• Reduced time and cost—by absorbing report inquiries that would otherwise be directed to phone support, the forums save money on agent wages.
  • Forums also save money on infrastructure, since the cost of scaling forums (e.g. adding hosting capacity) is cheaper than additional work space, computers, and software licenses for email agents
• Happier customers—customers that prefer forum support for its speed and depth/breadth of information are happier than they would be if they only offered email support
• (some) Control over content—through moderation, AT&T can squelch the most unflattering or inflammatory talk (Apple does this on their forums)

Departure:

·         Traditionally, for companies whose customers require support, phone assistance has been the go-to medium.

·         AT&T also offers a forum where AT&T customers can ask and answer questions related to phones, service, and “customer care” issues (e.g. billing, online account access)

More resources

• See other examples of user contribution systems harnessing expertise