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Realizing the Service Convergence Boom

Realizing the Service Convergence Boom. Opportunities & Challenges. What We’ll Talk About Today. Where is the market headed? Customer needs and expectations What are you – an application developer, platform developer, or service provider? Challenges faced by service providers

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Realizing the Service Convergence Boom

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  1. Realizing the Service Convergence Boom Opportunities & Challenges

  2. What We’ll Talk About Today • Where is the market headed? • Customer needs and expectations • What are you – an application developer, platform developer, or service provider? • Challenges faced by service providers • Convergence and technologies • Realizing the opportunity • Getting started – service provider needs • Conclusion

  3. Convergence and Communications • The Economist (10/14/06) says convergence is the telecoms industry’s new mantra, citing several billion dollar mergers and acquisitions. • It also says that regardless of consumer demand, there is a fresh sense of opportunity and a renewed frenzy of deal making. • This has resulted in the coming together of fixed and mobile telephony, broadband internet access, and television.

  4. Convergence and Communications In the Economist, the following quotes were attributed to industry executives and analysts: • “Convergence means freedom for consumers to use any service under any circumstances” • “It is about convenience, enriching people’s lives by providing communications, information, and entertainment any way they want it” • “IP in a converged world enables one network, many services, any access. By 2010 it will be difficult to find a fixed/mobile operator that’s not running its traffic over an IP core” • “IP technology has matured to the point where it can carry other services( phone, data, television) reliably and efficiently” • “Convergence is solving complexities for service providers, but it is not solving much for consumers”

  5. Where is the Market Headed? The Dynamics • Increased commoditization of traditional telecom services • Decreasing ARPU and eroding margins require deployment of new high-value services The Opportunity • Leaders will be the ones that deliver the right product at the right time • To be a “one stop shop” for enterprise and residential services • An on-going cash cow business for the winners

  6. Where is the Market Headed? What Industry Experts Are Saying: • “For all the advanced technology deployed by hosters, much of it is held together by a patch work of home brewed band-aid solutions” • “ The market requirement to offer new and integrated offerings will leave many service providers behind” • “Smart hosting executives should create new offerings to capture customers dissatisfied with their current providers” • “In the telecom world, services are seen to be the future driver of revenues rather than voice minutes.”

  7. Customer needs and expectations • Enhance web presence and corporate marketing • Increase company productivity with better collaboration and interaction with employees, customers, partners, and devices • Simplified usage of the service, control and management via common administrative interface for all hosted services • Ability to trial and purchase service bundles

  8. Customer needs and expectations Converged communications allow customers to: • Enable higher productivity and improved possibilities for interaction between and within organizations • Deliver greatly improved customer care and service, using different devices – wired/unwired. • Gain amazing flexibility to switch, increase, or relocate functions as staff requirements change • Replace old/obsolete equipment with hi-tech options. • Centrally manage their network, and cut support or maintenance costs

  9. What Are You Here? • Application developer: • Builds compelling web-based applications to solve specific customer requirements: site design, statistics, CRM, trouble ticketing, accounting, etc. • Platform technology developer: • Builds a complete extensible platform to address back end requirements to provision and manage customers and services • Service provider: • Owns the customer relationship, orchestrates service bundles to engage vertical and horizontal markets, develops and deploys unique go to market strategies. • Operates applications and platforms specific to a subscription based model and meet uptime requirements • All of the above?

  10. Simplify deployment, delivery and management of services through product based solution • Pre-integrated hosted services • Separate applications from infrastructure to speed roll-out of new services • Deliver single platform with centralized administrative interfaces • Automation of provisioning and service enablement • Enable resellers to lower your costs of sales • Deliver role-based delegated administration Challenges Faced by Service Providers Service Provider Challenge Solutions Deliver service bundles Deliver convergent services Keep up with new service demand Need to integrate & differentiate offering Time to market Lengthy integration time Long training cycles Cost Efficiency High cost of delivering next generation hosted services Maintaining legacy equipment High cost of sales & support

  11. Challenges Faced by Service Providers • Flexibility. Everyone does not want an entire bundle of services, so providers must allow customers to pick and choose. Research shows most users prefer single or double play. • Simplicity.The converged services must be simple for the customer. Even as this has been shown to be high priority, products have proven complex to use. • A Strong Brand Name. One that’s based on good customer service. Else, customers will not come onboard even with attractive incentives.

  12. Convergence and Technologies: SDP SDPs: Service Delivery Platforms • SDPs enable rapid development and deployment of new converged multimedia services, from basic phone services to complex audio/video conferencing. • For telecom service providers, they are the current answer to enabling rapid deployment of services to customers in a controlled manner.

  13. Convergence and Technologies: IMS IMS- Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem • A cost effective platform for top operators, that enables economies of scale by allowing many vendors add market value to their particular focus areas. • IMS-based networks will increase average revenue per user, by bundling sets of services. • IMS can enable building an universal service architecture for both wireless and wireline networks. It allows streamlining of infrastructure, lower costs and converged networks. “A full-blown IMS world is at least five years away”

  14. Convergence and Technologies: IMS • “IMS is the hottest industry topic of the past 10 years. One of the biggest buzzwords in the history of telecommunications.” • “With IMS, telcos compete with the enhanced services emerging from online companies such as eBay, Google, MSN et al” • "The IMS network will understand its users' needs and capabilities. This momentum will finally stimulate the always-on, fixed/mobile convergence that the industry has always talked about. And all this will be stimulated by the end-users' endless drive for lifestyle and productivity enhancements.”

  15. Convergence and Technologies: IMS HP and IMS • HP’s OpenCall Media Platform “can support the real-time, simultaneous blending of voice, data and multimedia services on IMS networks.” • Wireless users can create an audio/video conference, share photos and messages and provide location-specific information - all in one session • HP’s IMS suite helps open new revenue channels across broadband - cable, DSL, and WiFi—as well as traditional networks .

  16. Convergence and Technologies: OSS OSS: Operations Support System • The OSS provisions and manages services. OSSs used to manage network infrastructure; now they manage subscribers, services, and their relationship to the network infrastructure. • To gain prominence in the new IP services value chain, service providers should reinvent their OSSs and business support systems (BSSs), and cost-effectively deploy SDP and IMS technologies to compete effectively.

  17. Convergence and Technologies: OSS • IMS and SDP complement OSS/BSS systems like ERP and CRM that comprise enterprise logistics and customer care. • SDP/IMS implementation and OSS validation have to occur simultaneously, to get the correct architecture in place to support businesses in the future. • OSS companies are entering the world of IMS. VON cites the example of Atreus Systems who have an IMS solution for carriers to deliver converged offerings to any customer, using any device, on any fixed or mobile network.

  18. Convergence: Realizing The Opportunity • There are great advantages to putting voice, video and data on one IP network. For companies with an HQ and 7-10 branch offices, picking convergence over a traditional network typically saves 20 % on IT costs annually. • An integrated single communications platform is also easier and cost efficient to sustain. Security and redundancy are simplified, support and maintenance are efficient, and IT administration costs are reduced. • It allows the creation of new CRM and applications that can integrate unified messaging, streaming media and intelligent call routing across sales and customer care. Next-generation converged applications such as these are crucial for realizing the full value of converged IP networks.

  19. Getting Started - Service Provider Needs • New Services • Accelerate time to market; first mover advantage, higher margins (ARPU), extend value chain, create stickiness with multi-service offering, increase ARPC, better ROI on CAC • Automation • Operational efficiency as base services commoditize, end-user and reseller control increase satisfaction and decrease churn, lowers op-ex • Channel • Lower cost of sales and support, increase reach, access to customer relationship owner, adds additional non hosted services to value proposition

  20. Getting Started – Technology Requirements • A Platform With: • Latest technologies, web-services, web-parts, extensibility, IP and App hosting Features such as: • Service Creation tools • Add new services quickly • Resource Management • Physical and logical resources • Common authentication and authorization • Single sign-on across multiple services, link to existing SP and SMB directories • Provisioning across multiple services • One platform and transaction for multiple-services • Delegated Admin • End-user and reseller control • Channel Enablement • Virtual Service Provider like functionality

  21. Conclusion • There is a great opportunity for converged services, and we’ve only started to explore. • Service providers must be strategically positioned to capitalize on this opportunity with new technologies. • To succeed, it’s not just about getting onboard the fastest. Providers need to be flexible in their offerings, and provide easy to use products. • Effectively offering the “value chain” requires the creation and delivery of new services rapidly and efficiently. Convergence makes it possible.

  22. Ensim Overview • Ensim is the leading supplier of service enablement and automation software for hosted IP and Application based services. In business since 1998. • Over 250 Major Service Providers worldwide depend on proven and award winning products: Ensim Pro and Ensim Unify • Solutions include Web Hosting, VoIP, Email/Messaging, Collaboration, Mobile Devices among others.

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