This is how I began my story at Telefónica: a young pre-university student who, in his free time, was looking for a job to combine his university studies with an interesting and motivating technological job.
When I was just 19 years old, I joined Moviline’s customer relations centre as a telephone operator. As soon as I started working I was given a folder with all the operations, I was trained in telephone service techniques and the main lines of analogue mobile telephony were explained to me together with a headset, a microphone and a computer. So I was ready to say good morning to our customers: “Welcome to Moviline, Alberto, extension 688, how can I help you?”, each call, a story, an opportunity, a contact to build loyalty and help our customers in their incipient adventure with mobile telephony.
From advice on the operation of your new mobile device, to the activation of voicemail, other services such as call forwarding, call forwarding to three, information on billing, collections, other line management, promotions, etc. We were a specialised direct customer service and online resolution service. A great team, young and very committed people, with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, people who were quick learners in a business that was growing at the blink of an eye and with a long way to go in the future.
The advent of digital mobile telephony
A few months later, digital mobile telephony was knocking on the door of Movistar, both in contract and prepaid mode with Movistar Activa.
The great growth of mobile telephony, the migration from analogue to digital technology, the emergence of competition, first with Airtel and then others, and the search for excellence in customer service, marked my first years of work at Telefónica Móviles España.
We were growing customers by the millions, so we needed external help and prepared to outsource lower-value services to third parties, but while maintaining the quality of customer service, we deployed care providers and care controls and coordination and support mechanisms in the customer service centres to ensure effective and quality care.
In just a few years, mobile telephony spread to such an extent that there are now more mobile phones than people in our country and hardly anyone can live away from their mobile phone. The development and growth of the function led me to become part of the CRM Technology department, specialising in controlling the attention of our suppliers and in business intelligence tools to know what was happening to the customer at all times.
It was a very nice stage full of companionship and a lot of action. I travelled all over Spain explaining the benefits of our tools to control our level of attention. And the results were very good: we used our intelligence to help us to guarantee excellent customer service. And it’s funny, 28 years later I’m back working in Customer Experience, the twists and turns of life.
The stage of integration of fixed and mobile equipment
From CRM Technology, I moved on to the territorial structure and the integration of the fixed and mobile teams, to form part of Customer Experience in the Mediterranean territorial management and from there to set up the Mobile World Centre, Movistar’s flagship in Barcelona together with the GSMA and the Mobile World Capital Foundation, with the Mobile World Congress as a backdrop, together with a wonderful group of colleagues.
The experience at the Center was impressive, we dedicated many hours to making the space a meeting place where mobility, technology and innovation were our calling cards.
Once the project was consolidated, I applied in Madrid for an internal call to work at Telefónica’s corporate headquarters as manager of Responsible Business in the Sustainability and Corporate Ethics department with Telefónica’s then 17 countries of operation, from Spain, Germany and the UK, and from Mexico to Argentina. I was selected and in a few days I packed all my things and moved from my beloved Barcelona to the capital. The experience was unforgettable, in many ways, it helped me to become a better professional and a better person, all experiences count and everything leaves a mark, gives vision and makes you bigger.
“Compliance is all of us”
From Responsible Business I moved on to Compliance at Telefónica España, where everything was still to be done, we were starting a new function with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, I was going back to the starting point of everything, just like when we started in the call centre, and we started to row and work as we had always done and the function was consolidated and with it the culture of compliance in the company. We made “Compliance is everyone” popular and after six years and many smiles and a few tears, my path put me back on the customer’s side and I landed in Customer Experience, in “Decision Support”.
Customer Experience
Together with Pedro Serrahima, Fernando Soto, Álvaro Ferreira and Laura Arango, we work to design a happy path for our clients in their day-to-day work with us and to improve their experience.
And my journey, undoubtedly a journey alongside the customer and our stakeholders, circular and exciting, which highlights Telefónica’s commitment to one of its main business assets, its customers.
Congratulations, Telefónica on 100 years, happy anniversary and here’s to a hundred more, thank you for allowing me to be part of this adventure over the last 28 years as a “telefónico”.
