Swisscom

Their Challenge 

Swisscom has been from the very beginning the country’s largest telecommunications entity, but it nevertheless got bogged down by outdated systems in the mid-2010s. The company was using a monolithic commerce platform that could no longer keep up with the rising expectations of its customers or its shareholders. It struggled to get its new offerings to market quickly, and customer experiences were unsatisfying and fragmented.

Swisscom used a full-stack commerce platform, and the heavy back-end systems slowed down customer-facing front-end innovation. Since the front-end changes much more rapidly as customer experiences evolve and new channels and touchpoints are added, the company needed a flexible commerce architecture to decouple the front-end customer experience from back-end commerce services, allowing marketers and experience managers to innovate while keeping systems of record stable and reliable.

One of the best benefits of Elastic Path Commerce is that it’s future-proof. Going forward, we’ll be able to create magical new experiences that no one has even thought of yet.Sven Friedli, Former Head of Architecture Management & Technology Transformation

All Together Now 

The company chose Elastic Path Commerce for its new commerce platform and customer experience architecture. Swisscom put together a single team to shepherd the company from the old world to the new, taking a step-by-step approach to dismantling its monolithic legacy system.

Because Elastic Path is “headless” and works equally
well with any front-end system, Swisscom can now do all the customer experience innovation it wants. Elastic Path mediates between the customer experience layer and systems of record like ERP, CRM, inventory or supply chain systems. Now, Swisscom marketers and merchandisers can use their content management system to create fresh digital experiences for their customers without being bogged down by the heavier systems below, which change much more slowly when they change at all.

New offerings and projects used to be so complicated and large that they were hard to get off the ground. Today, Swisscom is able to roll out new digital experiences, features, and offerings at a breakneck pace, starting with inOne, a mobile, TV, and land-line bundle. Swisscom’s inOne customers now have unified shopping and support experiences whether they’re calling a sales rep on the phone, shopping online, or walking into a physical store, no matter which individual product they’re upgrading or inquiring about. Before, customers often called a store and received different offers than they saw online. Contact centers often didn’t know if or when a customer purchased a new device or changed the terms of their service. These experiences are unified now, for the company and for its customers.

Swisscom now delivers a consistent omnichannel experience for their customers and employees.

Key Benefits 

The new commerce platform and customer experience architecture, built on Elastic Path Commerce went live late in 2018, with the following immediate benefits:

• Modular GUIs in the digital experience layer are available to all channels and touchpoints

• Business functionality was implemented just once in the omnichannel customer engine and can now be

  used across every channel and touchpoint

• Systems of innovation and engagement have been decoupled from the deeper systems of record and insight, leading to increased flexibility, agility, and stability

Even better are the benefits for Swisscom’s customers who now enjoy the following services:

• MY SERVICE. Rapid, tailored support on the phone, in-store, and at home

• SELF SERVICE. Answers to frequently asked questions are available online at any time from any location

• MY SWISSCOM. A mobile app and web frontend provide an overview of costs, subscriptions, and products at all times and makes them easy to manage and buy

• SWISSCOM FRIENDS. On-site customer support for technical users is provided by 2,000 volunteers