The Smart OSS/BSS Choice for India By Sanjay Sharma, Regional VP and Head, South West Asia Region, Amdocs

The Smart OSSBSS Choice for India

Sanjay Sharma, Regional VP and Head, South West Asia Region, Amdocs | Thursday, 28 May 2015, 07:27 IST

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Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX) is a provider of customer experience systems and services. Established in 1982, the company has a current market capitalization of Rs.45,492.30 crores.

The rapid upsurge in connectivity and data usage is forcing service providers to find alternatives to linear storing and processing of data. The current way of doing business is raising hardware costs and taxing service providers' processing capabilities. Big data and virtualized BSS and OSS technologies are gaining in popularity. They keep hardware costs down and make processing, extracting and monetizing data faster, more intuitive and more effective.

Getting Smarter-About Changing Technologies and Markets

Our phones are getting smarter and that trend is global, with smartphones now outselling feature phones in both mature and developing markets.

As the developing markets get "smart", new operating systems catering to lower priced smartphones and ecosystems are emerging. And as our phones get smarter, so do the other devices in our lives: our health monitoring devices , our cars, our appliances and our homes, as well as our factories and fleets - creating a web of interconnected machines functioning to improve our lives.

Service providers need to embrace the challenge of supporting the wide variety of smart devices, while seizing the opportunity presented by this explosion in connected devices to increase revenues from new connections and connectivity. This will require advanced network management and optimization technologies, as well as business management systems to help operators better monetize their relationships with customers and their network capabilities.

Of course, these aren't the only changes we are witnessing. Multi-play services have evolved significantly over the last decade, becoming much more sophisticated and expanding to triple-play, quad-play and beyond. The key question is how can service providers in India and globally differentiate with multi-play?

Staying ahead requires innovative bundles to help counteract falling margins in traditional service offerings: this includes the ability to rapidly introduce new lines of business - such as cloud-based services, Wi-Fi, or OTT/Netflix packages - into your offering, as well as non-telecom services, such as insurance or financial offerings.

The combination of new devices, such as smartphones, tablets and smart-TVs; advanced, super-fast communications networks; and technologies such as multi-screen, offer subscribers endless opportunities to consume any service, on any device, anywhere, at any time.

Thinking Strategically About India

Although the market is rapidly changing around the world, certain trends are more prominent in India. One example is the imminent mergers and acquisitions among Indian service providers, which will drive them to look for solutions to help integrate and optimize existing systems and network assets. This integration will be necessary to drive operational cost-efficiencies. And the increasing adoption of managed services, to support BSS and OSS operations will free up Indian service providers to concentrate on core business activities, while reducing expenditures. Other important trends include:

>> Differentiation based on customer experience

There are nearly 900 million mobile phone subscribers in India and this number is continuing to grow with the rollout of next generation networks. To remain successful and competitive, service providers must differentiate based on the experience they offer to their customers.

>> Data and network connectivity to remote locations

Although the Indian government is investing in rolling out a national broadband network, there are still many challenges in terms of actual rollout costs and return on investment.

>> Launching new services at an accelerated pace

Service providers must quickly and cost-effectively meet residential and business customers' requirements. They need to establish capabilities that allow them to rapidly offer multiple service possibilities across multiple screens.

 

>> Addressing data privacy concerns

Privacy concerns must be alleviated so subscribers will feel safe using mobile devices for financial and geo-location services. This means improved security and end user education about the value they can receive in exchange for personal information.

>> Strictly Business

The ability to support the small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) segment will become a bigger necessity around the world, but especially in India, which houses one of the world's largest SMB segments. SMBs require large amounts of IT support and automation, which will further fuel demand for cloud-based delivery of IT services.

To develop profitable, long-term relationships with enterprise customers, service providers must differentiate on customer experience and provide a service that is tailored to business needs. Service providers need to recognize the unique needs of business customers, and develop OSS, BSS and CRM strategies that support complex business customer hierarchies and vertical industry offerings.

>> Choosing OSS/BSS Solutions: Things to Consider

There is a growing need to deploy solutions that will help service providers optimize their network capabilities and monetize their huge network investments. Because of the explosive growth in connectivity and data usage, networks have to get smarter, not just faster and larger. OSS and BSS solutions will be the key in achieving these aims.

Successful monetization of new 3G or 4G networks will require a combination of efficient network deployment and optimization capabilities, including network analytics tools, systems that can enable innovative pricing strategies and a rich portfolio of digital services and apps.

Amdocs continues to make significant investments to enhance its vast product and services portfolio across BSS, OSS and network control and optimization domains. In January 2014, Amdocs unveiled its newest product suite, CES 9.1, which enables service providers to increase customer satisfaction and personalize experiences, based on real-time insight. Service providers are also well-positioned to capitalize on new opportunities, such as the SMB market and multi-play.

Following its recent acquisitions of Actix, the leading mobile network optimization solutions provider, and Celcite, the leading provider of network management and self-optimizing network (SON) solutions, Amdocs continues to expand its portfolio further into the network software domain to introduce solutions that can manage customer experiences across both networks and IT, and can automate network optimization.

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