Inclusively | Thinking inclusively in telecoms

A more inclusive approach from all parts of the communications industry will bring benefits to everyone. It will open access to digital services to those formerly excluded. It will create new services. It will generate new revenue opportunities. And it will underpin the customer experience every customer expects.

Chris Lewis, Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini, Senza Fili, discuss how inclusive design can benefit all parties involved in the ecosystem. And, in case you think this doesn’t impact your business, we want to convince you that it does: focusing on the customers often left on the sidelines will result in a better experience for all. Not only does this allow you to offer new services, but it also changes the way your workforce operates, your internal processes and your interaction with your customers. Being inclusive is not just the right thing to do: it is a way to get new revenues from neglected customers for services they need.

Many customer groups are excluded from the benefits of being connected for various reasons. People with disabilities, the elderly, and digitally impoverished users are groups with specific challenges that are ignored or addressed only by proprietary and expensive technologies or specialist providers. The result is a fragmented market that is ineffective at meeting their needs and unnecessarily separates them from mainstream users.

This is an initial conversation. We look for your input on how we should expand our work on this front. We plan to open our discussion in further conversations with service providers, vendors, regulators and researchers with the hope that inclusion and diversity will flip telecoms on its head and make the future of your organization and our industry more sustainable.