Telstra has cut the ribbon on a multi-million dollar showcase of its products in the Sydney CBD built expressly for the purpose of winning customers.
The 3600 square-metre Customer Insight Centre, located on the second level of Telstra’s 400 George Street office, includes a 300-person auditorium with a 4K screen and surround-sound system, a telecom-themed restaurant, a 4K-capable broadcast studio, hands-on tech demonstrations of wearable devices and 3D printers, and even a robot called Ged that can guess a person’s age.
The new customer centre represents a major upgrade and expansion of Telstra’s previous customer centre, which Telstra officials said had been due for a refresh.
Telstra would not disclose an exact figure for how much the new facility costs, but a spokesperson characterised the investment as “multi-million”. In addition, Telstra general manager of technology experience centres, David Woodbridge, said the telco doubled its existing customer centre staff to fill the larger centre.
Telstra expects to welcome a large number of business customers to the centre, from small businesses to large enterprises, said Telstra director of segment marketing, Andy Bateman. Telstra held 9700 customer meetings last year and expects to increase that number this year at the new centre.
Telstra also plans to use the facility’s auditorium for Telstra Thanks customer events and rent out the 4K broadcasting studio to bring revenue into the centre.
Bateman said Telstra’s sales effort begins well before the customer comes in for a tour of the centre. Telstra staff perform a two-week “discovery” ahead of the meeting about the prospective customer’s needs and then personalise the tour with information relevant to the customer.
Telstra has launched a raft of initiatives and changes across the organisation to become more customer focused.
With the new centre, Telstra hopes to respond to customers seeking greater understanding on how to enhance their businesses, said Bateman.
“What they told us they needed is not just a show and tell … but an understanding of insights in their industry, insights from outside of their industry, insights about their customers, and insights about what their business challenges and opportunities might be through the lens of telecommunications and technology.”
Check out our full slideshow of the Telstra Customer Insight Centre.
Adam Bender covers digital marketing and emerging technology for CMO and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...
Tareq
Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business
Enterprisetalk
Mark
CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June
Great e-commerce article!
Vadim Frost
CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes
Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...
jackson13
The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration
Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.
Ella Hall
The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration