In a business environment with calls to these services falling by 20% annually, and with mobile internet penetration rates growing by double digits per year, do telephone support services have a future with such rigid regulation? Personally, I don't think so... unless they reinvent themselves. Or to be more exact, they are allowed to reinvent themselves.
It is clear to almost all the affected actors that the regulation bulk sms south africa of these services must be changed so that they have the possibility of generating new sources of income and surviving , because otherwise they will disappear or will be merely symbolic at an outrageous price per call. And I say almost all because the regulator does not seem to be willing to do so.
If we were to base ourselves on the hypothesis of a relaxation of the regulations, would there be a market to generate new income? Why call a 118ab instead of searching on the Internet? What value can a service of this type offer me to compensate me for spending 1.5 or 2€ per call? My answer is that I think so. Certainly limited in an office environment, but clearly viable in a mobile environment. There should be potential advantages such as time saving, convenience, added value, other services that make my life easier such as advice or intermediation...
What is the problem with not being given a restaurant's specialty, or the reviews that people give to said restaurant, or being given the choice between several restaurants within a given geographic area?
It is really useful when leaving an emergency room, a restaurant or a shopping centre to know which is the nearest pharmacy on call or which petrol station is open at 2am. Just like alternative routes in real time in a traffic jam. In the car, you can't use the internet, but you can use a hands-free kit.
A current advantage is personalized treatment: Agents can interact with users and refine their information needs. But the 'big' advantage would be to become 'premium' assistance on content such as schedules, reservations, bureaucratic procedures... Not only to inform, but to redirect, expand and enrich.
The reality is that in 2010, 118ab services in Spain handled 40 million calls overall and in an annual period (20% less than in 2009) and earned €75 million (12% less than in 2009) and employ approximately 2,000 employees. A large company size that should be taken into account, especially in an environment like the current one.
Directory database providers like Schober would be delighted to offer all this additional content. It would be a way to revitalize and enrich the database business, but it would also be a way to bring the content that is currently on the Internet to another channel. We are in the age of content, why limit it to the Internet?
