Throughout the incredible journey of the telecom OSS/BSS sector over
the last 10 years, VanillaPlus has remained a reliable source of both key
news but also informative, objective and thought-provoking assessments of
the key trends which have shaped our industry. I am looking forward to
VanillaPlus and their more recent Stream journal continuing to play a key
role in providing valuable insights as we enter one of the most exciting
phases of the telecoms OSS/BSS market evolutions.
Kieran Moynihan
Vice President & CTO Telecoms
IBM Tivoli Division
Outsourcing & Managed Services
AOL Broadband selects MDS to enhance customer management
AOL Broadband, one of the largest Internet Service Providers in the UK,
has selected Martin Dawes Systems' diseMP system to provide “end-to-end” customer care to its subscribers. This implementation represents a significant
part of AOL Broadband’s large-scale transition programme, separating
its entire IT infrastructure and associated managed services away from Time
Warner/AOL LLC UK
– in order to become a stand-alone trading entity following its acquisition by
The Carphone Warehouse group in late 2006.
As a result of the major contractual agreement, AOL Broadband will adopt
Martin Dawes Systems’ convergent billing and customer management system, diseMP, and subscribe to the
company’s award-winning managed service for what is said to be "a significant proportion" of its day-to-day operations.
“AOL Broadband is committed to ensuring our
customers continue to experience the highest quality of service throughout this
transition,” said Mark Hollister, CEO of AOL Broadband. “We
carefully evaluated a number of leading solution providers against rigorous
criteria before making our selection. We
chose Martin Dawes Systems because of its international track record of
providing both a reliable, robust solution and an excellent managed
service. Together, both elements will
significantly contribute to our goals of providing industry-leading levels of
customer care. We look forward to
exploiting the flexibility of both the diseMP product and the managed service
offered by Martin Dawes Systems as we continue to build our business.”
diseMP will be implemented in all AOL Broadband call-centres, servicing
both broadband and fixed-line subscribers.
Designed to enable an enhanced customer experience, diseMP will enable AOL Broadband to manage clients’ converged billing requirements and enquiries
at its call centres.
AOL Broadband will also be implementing the latest version of Martin
Dawes Systems’ Self-Care,
extending to its customers an innovative e-billing solution. Customers will benefit from bill management
features including usage information, payment facilities and online help
delivered through AOL Broadband’s website.
Gary Steen, Martin Dawes Systems’ technology director, commented; “We are
extremely pleased to be working with AOL Broadband, one of the largest
broadband providers in the UK. The company is exploiting our established
convergent capabilities in new and exciting ways. By employing a managed service, AOL Broadband
is also secure in the knowledge that its customers will receive a quality
service based on the highest industry standards, enabling it to concentrate on
business development.”
US-based Evolve IP selects Highdeal for pricing, rating and billing
New York, NY, USA. August 12, 2008. Highdeal, a leading provider of pricing and rating systems, announced today that Evolve IP, a Managed Technology
Provider based in Philadelphia, USA, has selected Highdeal
Transactive® for its business infrastructure. Combined with
leading solutions from SAP, IBM and Broadsoft, Transactive is said to provide Evolve IP
with robust service pricing, rating and billing
capabilities.
Evolve IP built its business
infrastructure in a 100% green field environment enabling a selection of
best-in-class solutions integrated in an SOA-based environment. A web
services framework manages the flow of data between Transactive and the other
business and service delivery applications.
Transactive delivers
comprehensive pricing and packaging capabilities for Evolve IP’s managed
technology solutions ranging from managed telephony and network services to
hosted applications and security. Working with CRM and other applications in
the Evolve IP portfolio, Transactive manages complex subscriptions and a growing
list of service offerings.
“We selected Highdeal after a
comprehensive search of the leading rating and billing solutions in the
marketplace,” commented Mark Soma, SVP Information Technology, Evolve IP. “Now,
having implemented the solution, Transactive has actually exceeded our
expectations. The ease and speed with which we were able to integrate it with
our service platforms and other back office solutions was
extraordinary.”
“We are delighted to be selected
by Evolve IP,” commented Camilla Dahlen, president, Highdeal Inc. “As the
industry’s first true ‘Managed Technology Provider’, Evolve IP is defining an
exciting new market that enables organisations to increase their productivity
through the cost-effective use of communications technology. We are committed
to helping them succeed in their vision and reach their
goals.”
Openet continues expansion with new office in Malaysia
Dublin, Ireland – Openet, a provider of transactional intelligence systems for service
providers, has opened a new Malaysia office in Kuala
Lumpur. With demand growing across the Asia Pacific region, this expansion enhances Openet’s global presence and its ability to deliver
innovative products and services to telecommunications and cable providers
worldwide. This announcement comes on the heels of Openet’s announcement of a
new office in Brazil.
Kuala
Lumpur was chosen because it delivered the largest pool
of qualified talent. Since recruitment began for the facility in February,
Openet has hired 15 experienced professional services engineers to support the company’s expanding operations. With an anticipated 10 - 15 new hires in
product development and 20 to 30 additional professional services staff, the
Malaysia office is now a significant
development and support centre for the company.
“With worldwide
recognition for our transactional intelligence solutions, growing our support
staff has become vital to providing our customers with the products and services
the market demands,” said Cyril Dolan, VP of professional services,
EMEA/APAC, Openet. “Asia is a hot
spot for telecommunications innovation. The new Malaysia office is poised to support
the growth already happening in the region and worldwide, and will fuel the
development of new innovative technologies.”
With support personnel in North
America, Ireland and now
Malaysia, Openet can provide
around-the-clock service and support to its worldwide customer base. As the
market for network-edge solutions in Asia expands exponentially and continues to
show immense growth potential.
Smart move for i-conX in Ireland
After a successful
audit of Smart Telecom’s current billing structure, i-conX Solutions has been
appointed by the Irish telecoms operator to provide ongoing outsourced interconnect
billing services.
In a two-year
deal, i-conX will use its own proprietary hardware and software to manage the
costs of Smart’s incoming and outgoing voice and data traffic. The contract was
awarded upon completion of a back-billing and cost control exercise in which
i-conX demonstrated how new measures implemented across the company’s
corporate, residential and payphone services could assist Smart in assuring
that billing relationships with other carriers are both accurate and auditable .
Over recent months
Smart Telecom has undergone a management restructure and has driven operational
and cost efficiencies throughout the organisation. “With robust financial
management one of the key priorities for the new management team, the deal with
i-conX is an important investment and links in with other controls and
automation that we now have in place,” says Pio Murtagh, chief operations
officer for Smart Telecom.
“The back billing
exercise and new interconnect billing functionality introduced by i-conX provides
Smart with valuable commercial visibility and a platform from which to
carefully assess our financial position at any one time. Alongside recent
significant investments in system automation and process control, the new deal will allow us to continue with our plans
for further growth over the next few years.”
i-conX Solutions' annual turnover now stands at
€2.2million. Alongside extensive reach in Europe and the Middle East, the
business continues to win contracts in emerging markets, and is currently
working on site in Sudan and
Palestine
implementing both its outsourced and licensed services.
Of the company’s
new deal with Smart Telecom, CEO at i-conX, Martin Browne commented: “Our new
deal with Smart has proven to be mutually beneficial; its new management team
has introduced fantastic new technology, so not only is it great for us to have
the opportunity to link in our proprietary hardware and software, but we have
also moved our own operations over to Smart’s network to take advantage of its
cutting-edge network.”
Comfone and Infobrain establish independent, Swiss-based clearing unit
Bern,
Switzerland. 30 October, 2008 –
Comfone, the Swiss-based roaming specialist and a provider of roaming services to
more than 300 mobile operators around the world, and Infobrain, a global market
leader in providing systems for GSM/3G roaming and TAP3 data management, today
announced the establishment of an independent clearing unit. The new unit
provides data and financial clearing services for mobile operators and is based
on state-of-the-art data and financial clearing systems, NRTRDE, RAEX and fraud prevention systems.
The announcement
is part of Comfone’s strategic initiative to become the telecoms
industry’s leading, independent hub provider of integrated solutions for mobile
operators. With over 10 years of experience in roaming services provision,
Comfone offers a wide range of in-house services, including signalling,
financial clearing, hubbing, WLAN roaming, convergence and data services. Until
today, Comfone relied on existing data clearing platforms to support the
provision of its data clearing service (also see Roaming article in VanillaPlus December 2008 issue, out Dec 8). Now, with the setting up of the new
Data and Financial Clearing Unit, Comfone completes its portfolio of in-house
services and secures its position as a fully independent roaming, inter-carrier
and hub services provider.
The new Clearing
Unit, provided in partnership by Comfone and Zürich-based company, Infobrain,
is said to ensure premium quality functionality, "Swiss precision" in data handling and
exceptional customer care. By combining Infobrain’s and Comfone’s expertise in
the data and financial clearing business, the aim is that customers will profit from a concentration
of clearing proficiency in Switzerland.
The new Clearing Unit will be fully operational by the end of 2008 and is to
provide data clearing, financial clearing, NRTRDE, fraud prevention and RAEX services. All industry standards will be supported.
Mathias Prüssing,
CEO Comfone, said: “I am convinced that the launch of our independent Clearing
Unit offers mobile operators a concrete alternative in a consolidated market.
Together with Infobrain, we are committed to providing dedicated services
supporting the data exchange between mobile operators with the Swiss quality
our customers demand.”
FireSky to improve relationships with gamers
Cincinnati and Phoenix, USA. 6 November, 2008
-- FireSky, a new video game publisher
dedicated to improving how gamers play together online, has signed a
contract for Convergys’ relationship management solutions.
Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) will
provide online gaming consumers of the soon-to-be-released Stargate Worlds
massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with state-of-the-art
inbound customer support services. Convergys’ dedicated contact centre
agents will initially provide customer support to English, French, and
German-speaking customers for general game playing questions as well as
technical, account management, or subscription-related questions.
Stargate Worlds is based on
a popular Stargate television series from MGM. Players who step through the
gate will:
* Feel the Heat – Master the battlefield using
modern tactics and firepower
* Travel Instantly – Dial up the
Stargate to explore dozens of worlds from ancient civilisations to high-tech
planets
* Team Up – Battle devious and powerful enemies
with your friends
* Find the New You – Pick from seven
archetypes with unique skills and styles
* Don’t Fight
It – Simulate translation, repair, and sabotage with minigames as your buddies
battle it out
* Advance With the Story – New
missions, weapons, and loot delivered regularly
“In the online game space, customer service is vital," said
Wendy Dickerman, director of Customer Care, FireSky. "As a new company, FireSky
has found that it makes sense to partner with experienced, proven firms to
provide solutions for distribution and other key business aspects. We intend to
raise the bar in the MMORPG space with a higher calibre of customer service.
Convergys is going to help us get there."
“The online gaming industry continues to grow at a rapid
pace, and a key goal for the industry is to provide consumers with a superior
online gaming experience. Convergys solutions will help FireSky drive more
value from their online customer interactions, giving FireSky a clear,
competitive differentiation in this growing marketplace,” said Jim Boyce,
Convergys president, North America. “Convergys understood FireSky’s business
model and performance challenges and partnered with them to develop a win-win
technology support program for the Stargate Worlds community.”
Convergys provides
comprehensive, outsourced, business and consumer support functions, as well as
services for in-house contact centre operations. Everyday, we handle millions
of customer service interactions such as account service, billing inquiries,
technical support, and service dispatch, enhancing the customer’s experience and
driving more value from the relationship our clients have with their customers.
Convergys’ global delivery model enables us to provide support - on-shore,
offshore, or near-shore, whether in a contact centre or through our home agent
model. We provide our clients with state-of-the-art infrastructure and
self-care automation technology to not only increase customer satisfaction but
also reduce costs.