One of the more amusing questions asked of AT&T’s Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches this week at the Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media & Telecom Conference related to the company’s brand.
AT&T’s brand — the round ball with the white and blue stripes — has been around for decades and is widely recognizable.
But Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery asked if AT&T was “revisiting the brand.”
Flannery didn’t mention the recent Reuters story that revealed AT&T is a big financial backer of the right-wing media outlet One America News (OAN), whose content includes election conspiracy theories and Covid disinformation.
Flannery also didn’t mention the reports that found AT&T was one of the biggest financial supporters of conservative lawmakers in Texas who voted for the state’s new anti-abortion law, which encourages private citizens to act as vigilantes, spying on and suing women whom they suspect might get an abortion.
In response to the question about AT&T’s brand, Desroches said, “When you hear AT&T, what is -- what do consumers think? And we think we need to sharpen that focus. We need to make ourselves be loved like many other brands are in the eyes of consumers. Right now, we have a very recognizable brand. But in terms of the distinction that you'd want and what you want to be known for, I think we can sharpen that focus.”
Is it possible to completely refresh a muddied reputation with a new brand? Who knows? But it can be very costly to replace all those logos plastered on everything from buildings to vehicles to digital devices.
Cost cutting
And speaking of costs, Desroches also spoke on that topic.
Flannery asked him if AT&T was pursuing cost-savings in customer service where customers would interact with agents via text or other digital tools.
Desroches said, “Yes, indeed, Simon. That is music to my ears. We've already started doing a lot of that. I think the pandemic, while it's with challenges, it showed us the possibilities associated with customer self-service, digital -- triaging customer issues using digital tools, using AI and machine learning to respond to customer queries.”
He said AT&T was already seeing “significant cost savings” using digital tools for customer service.
Ian Greenblatt, managing director of Technology, Media and Telecom with JD Power, acknowledged that some of these tools are in the nascent stage and not necessarily a favorite with consumers.
Greenlatt said, “Consumers, when they know they’re talking to a bot, there’s a level of knowing that this thing is not going to understand what I want. You know you’re helping yourself. When you call a human, you’re looking for that specific assistance.”
However, Greenblatt added that the sophistication of chatbots and other artificial intelligence tools in customer service will definitely improve. “The more we use them the better they will get,” he said.