UPC’s B2B segment enjoys double-digit growth

UPCʼs VP of Business Services Ildikó Bodon.

Many perceive UPC as a retail provider, but you also have a strong corporate portfolio. Can you tell us about it? 

True enough, our retail cable television services come to mind first for many people. Our B2B packages are gaining ground though at a neck-brake pace, which is the achievement of systematic building over five or six years. Now we can ensure the technical conditions that meet the demands of potential business customers. Our primary target group is SOHO-SMEs, though not because our services could not satisfy the needs of larger corporations. It rather has to do with the fact that we don’t cover the whole country yet, and bigger entities prefer to work together with providers that have a national service scope, but we’re ready to serve them on our footprint.

What is the product range that your SOHO-SME clients are attracted by?

They have a lot of great services to choose from. Apart from classic telco services, UPC Business prides itself on running special features such hotel TV, security surveillance systems or Wi-Fi. It helps that about a year ago UPC Business got upgraded to ‘quadruple player’ status meaning that, on top of broadband, TV and telephone, mobile services are also covered by us now. This boosts our reputation, which has translated into double-digit growth figures in the past few years.

How do you forge alliances with business partners to step up the customer experience in the corporate segment?

Our strategy is to seek such partnerships if it’s not about so-called connectivity services, but rather more complex issues. Wi-Fi, security surveillance or hosting tasks all require additional expertise. These partnerships are adding value to our superior network which is our main strength – not only in B2B, but in our consumer services too.

Would you say there is a difference between the treatment of retail customers and enterprises?

The bottom line is to serve all of our clients at the highest level, of course. It is customer needs that differ. Private individuals use the web for entertainment mainly, so if there’s a system crash, it may be unpleasant, but nothing more. Should the internet not be available for businesses for a while, they face immediate losses. Enterprises are therefore offered options that protect them in such emergencies and that make their daily operation smoother. Higher guaranteed internet speed, shorter repair periods, and different domain services all address that purpose.

Are business customers’ considerations reflected in your customer service protocol? 

Business clients enjoy priority anytime when they contact us, our qualified colleagues trained specifically for the task await their calls in our call centers in order to get things done in a possibly quickest fashion.

There is a lot going on in the area of innovation. Does UPC Business help make better use of the latest ICT inventions? 

Larger companies that tend to have their own IT department specifically ask for the hottest solutions, no doubt. At the same time, keeping costs low remains a factor. Smaller firms, in turn, can use some guidance. If, say, a restaurant wants to upgrade its digital portfolio, we are happy to give them tips as to how they can get the most out of our products by signing up for premium sports channels or powerful Wi-Fi. The emphasis is on education here. This approach was promoted last year under our pilot ‘UPC Business Challenge’ program, where companies registered in Hungary were shown how telecommunications could be harnessed for better business achievements.

Such efforts and the experience of the recent past should surely make you hopeful about the future.

We are absolutely confident that we need to continue to focus on surveying and fulfilling customers’ needs, and this is bound to lead to further dynamic growth in our business segment.