Corsair Communications Inc. released a follow-on product to its PhonePrint fraud product designed to target subscriber handset problems that could lead to churn.
Called PhoneCheck, the product pulls data from the network, including information on dropped calls and phones broadcasting incorrectly, and compiles it into a database. When customers complain of problems with their handset, the carrier can pull the data specific to that handset and analyze the problem, said the company.
The system also can be used to generate a list of high-value customers with potential handset problems, for example, and the carrier then can contact those customers and suggest trading in the phone for an upgraded model.
Corsair estimates that as much as one-third of all churn is due to poor call quality and half of that churn is due to poor subscriber equipment.
The system piggybacks on the PhonePrint product by taking the information gathered by the fraud system and compiling it differently. PhoneCheck monitors radio-frequency quality measurements of subscriber equipment and focuses on technical performance, type of customer and equipment manufacturer, said the company.
William Taliaferro, director of product marketing for Corsair, said now that PhonePrint has been adopted in many of the primary fraud locations, the company is trying to penetrate markets where fraud is more of a marginal problem.
“It’s not a slam dunk business case any more,” he said. “Adding PhoneCheck to the business side may tip carriers” toward purchasing the fraud product.
During trials with an undisclosed carrier, Corsair said the system is experiencing a hit rate of 70 percent, meaning seven out of 10 times the carrier contacted customers with potential handset problems, the customer agreed that they had been experiencing handset problems.
The system, said Taliaferro, provides hard data on problems rather than the predictive modeling approach several other churn products take. The idea for the system accidentally came out of Corsair’s fraud product when carriers would ask the company for information on specific phones, he said.
David Thompson, vice president of marketing, said carriers have expressed an interest in other applications of the system besides churn prevention, including ridding the network of bad phones, higher usage, more efficient customer service, an opportunity for positive interaction with customers and better network performance.
The company has been conducting trials of the system since this summer and expects to begin signing agreements during the first quarter.
