Hrvatski Telekom: Introducing new communication services for enterprise clients

Challenge

Hrvatski Telekom was looking for a way to upgrade its offer for key banking clients and introduce new services to further increase the value for its larger corporate clients. The company sought to avoid large capital expenditures associated with launching and marketing new products and was keen to implement a viable solution within a relatively short period of time. A2P SMS messaging seemed like a good way for portfolio expansion, but it required an extensive set of tools, programs, and infrastructure to develop a viable business model around the growing A2P SMS potential.

Solution

Infobip and Hrvatski Telekom engaged in a new business model at the time dubbed Enterprise Partnership, where Infobip provided a communications platform and tools that Hrvatski Telekom marketed under their own brand to major enterprises in Croatia. The flexible business model allowed Hrvatski Telekom to keep the contractual relationship with clients, with a joint sales effort between Infobip and Hrvatski Telekom. Support is handled by Hrvatski Telekom for first-level support and Infobip is in charge of more complex issues and escalations.

Initially centered around an automated programmable SMS messaging gateway and launched in 2012, the partnership grew as Infobip added new tools and channels to its customer communication solutions portfolio. Infobip has proven itself as an excellent partner for SMS customer engagement and has been widely adopted by Croatian banks.

However, as new engagement channels emerged, and as they began to be integrated into Infobip’s communications platform, the scope of the partnership with Hrvatski Telekom has also expanded. Engagement solutions via Viber and email have been the first new channels to be added and deployed with enterprise clients in 2018.

Key industry verticals and the main clients of the partnership are companies in the finance and banking, logistics and transport, retail, and tourism sectors, reflecting their need for direct and engaging communication with consumers.

Starting with A2P SMS and progressing to more elaborate communications channels was a logical path for Hrvatski Telekom, whose initial goal was to introduce SMS customer communication to large organizations such as banks or retailers. CPaaS solutions with their user-friendly features and rich media capabilities are the go-to method for massive and targeted mobile engagement with customers and are also flexible enough to be easily used by SMEs in addition to large enterprises.

Result

The partnership between Infobip and Hrvatski Telekom has been a roaring success. The unique business model and market-leading messaging solution allowed the partners to become a trusted provider for the country’s largest enterprises, and in a way anticipated the current digital transformation trend.

Over the years, the partnership has seen a steady increase in revenue of an average 20% year-on-year, with an average increase in number of customer interactions of 10% year-on-year in the same period, illustrating the reach and the adoption of this type of customer communications. In addition, the majority of Croatian banks are clients, including all the largest ones.

The partnership allowed Hrvatski Telekom to expand and enrich its enterprise portfolio and open new product development streams in the company’s business strategies. What was once a partnership based on A2P SMS has since evolved into a full-fledged CPaaS business solutions partnership, with multiple channels and technologies for a rounded conversational commerce and customer engagement solution.

WhatsApp, Viber, chatbots, email, as well as the trusted and reliable SMS are all part of this partnership that helps enterprises maintain business continuity – one of the key themes of 2020. In addition to these, Hrvatski Telekom and Infobip are also collaborating on a range of enterprise-oriented and user-friendly services and technologies, such as Mobile Identity and RCS, as well as SaaS-based solutions.