Executive Summary
Cox communication, is deciding to introduce a novel touch to their telephony services. The company is focusing to increase its level of quality where they feel that the cost incurred should be reasonable. The company is having many competitors in the field. The six years of experience in the service field have enabled the firm to sustain itself in the competitive market. In order to overcome these issues it is recommended for the organization to understand the competitors’ strategy efficiently and effectively whereby they can obtain a clear understanding of the market. The human resources, specifically the customer support staff, should be trained well to overcome the issues that are arising on the customer side.
Cox’s position as per the case, competitors and the threats faced by the company and the method implemented for sustaining its competitive advantage
The case study is on Cox Communications Inc, introducing a novel touch to their telephony services. Cox Communications, Inc is “the third-largest U.S. cable television system operator” (Eisenmann & Gibbons, 2005, p.1). The company is providing POTS services with circuit-switched networks along with cable services in US. The status of the company is competing with novel hopes and plans in future. The main competitors for Cox in this field are Comcast, Time Warner and Charter who pose a real opposition to the upgrade of Cox’s position. The telephone services offered by these companies have hit success with Comcast’s higher number of home usage, Cox the second and Charter third while Time Warner has no such service. But the number of subscribers is having real challenge with Comcast and Cox leading others far behind. Cox wishes to advance much in communication sector with the launch of VoIP in their services, to replace existing telephone services. The current circuit switching networks will be eliminated to give place for packet-switched networks which are cheaper and efficient than the former.
The utilization of PSTN or public internet is considered critical in the case of VoIP services. Cox had started the telephony services by taking up the lines of PacTel who failed to renew newer soon giving way for better opportunities for Cox. Cox planning to overwrite the existing methods with VoIP observe certain redundancies that cannot be kept aside. Vonage, a competitor in VoIP service for Cox, uses public internet but at breaks use PSTN which helps to have connections with all PSTN services. But the break areas to PSTN create increased cost of the service and even produce least access to priority of packets. The technique adopted by Cox for the matter is by achieving “a private “managed” network that carried IP traffic along protected paths” (Eisenmann & Gibbons, 2005, p.4). The entire path is managed with proper tagging given to prioritizing the packets transmitted. Another competitor, AT&T, succeeded only in achieving service provider DSL of another company which can create more expense and delays.
Business strategy implemented in the firm to be changed or not
In order to meet the increasing challenge and competition in the market the company has introduced a unique business strategy in all its areas. In the area of marketing, the company emphasized the quality of the services offered by them. The company concentrated on three main components. They are simplicity, service and savings. In the operational area, six-year experience in the telephonic service enabled the company to train and motivate its employees in an effective and efficient way.
The strategy adopted by Cox can possibly hit the expected success because of the advantages of existing telephony service experience and acquired VoIP advantages. The cost-effectiveness and elimination of possible redundancies of delays and extra expense. The disadvantages of existing circuit-switched networks and other companies successful than or equal to Cox can be overcome with VoIP launch in Cox telephony. The congestion and singular link for particular connections in circuit switching are eliminated but multiple path services of packet switching with better possibilities for long distant calls. Unlike other VoIP services, “Cox VoIP service is going to feel just like circuit-switched telephony…..just going to know that they are getting Cox digital telephone service” (Eisenmann & Gibbons, 2005, p.5). The only variation will be in the connecting and setting up of calls about which the customers have nothing to do with, retaining entire advantages of circuit switching over existing VoIP services. Congestion is avoided because intermingling of packets is possible due to differences in internet protocols of various packets. A supplementary advantage abundance of telephony familiarity will help out in appreciative strategic approach to guiding and inspiring client service representatives and technical personnel along with the satisfied customers. When considering the expense and profit the fact should be kept in mind that initial cost is singular which gets dived between total customers, implying that as increase in customers occurs the initial cost gradually gets negligible, i.e. economies of scale is possible. The only thing to achieve is to introduce VoIP to existing lines of telephony service provided by Cox and bring about shift in telecommunication as well as increase satisfied customers; thus to meet the goal.
Action options for COX at the end of the case
In the discussion conducted between the team management in the company has decided to offer two new services such as voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephony and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). The phone services are new to the firm and it is having a long-term experience in the video business. The unique strategy of the company has enabled to meet the future challenges and competition. In all the areas the company was having a set of options to retain its position in the market. In the marketing process the emphasis is given to three important components which consist of simplicity, service and savings. The action options available for the company on the marketing side are as follows:
- Receiving a single bill for receiving both local and long–distance services and support staff for voice, video and data services.
- COX used charged batteries to back up the powering of the household VoIP but this was found to be useless as the customers prefer the cell phones when the landline service is out of order.
- The company has the obligation to serve all the customers in different locality.
- If the company faces any issue, it can appeal to state regulators for arbitration.
- The incremental investments in the new services have reduced the churn rate and this will lead to an increase in the returns.
Recommendations
Based on the various problems recognized in the case there is certain recommendation for the company to improve its overall performance for achieving the organizational goals.
- More concentration has to be given on the reliability in the service sector.
- The customer support officer should be trained enough to clarify the doubts of the customers regarding the various offers and services delivered by the company.
- Network congestion must be reduced.
- The missing typical packets that are passed to the public via internet must be resent.
- Implementation of a managed IP network will enable the company to increase its quality in the services delivered.
- A proper and well-established competitor analysis has to be carried out for understanding the strategies used by the competitors.
Reference
Eisenmann, T.R., & Gibbons, J. (2005). Cox communication, inc. Harward Business School. pp.1-29. (Provided by the customer).