VanillaPlus CEM. Why CSPs awareness of quality sets them apart in a best-effort world.

CEM Why CSPs awareness of quality sets them apart in a best-effort world

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Introduction s competition for customers intensifies, it becomes increasingly important for communications service providers (CSPs) to retain the customers they have. Unfortunately CSPs are perceived as offering poor customer service, so they need to revisit their customer management strategies, improve service quality, monitor metrics and importantly map all performance improvements against the customer lifecycle to improve customers’ experience and consequently customer loyalty and satisfaction. CSPs now consider customer experience management (CEM) as central to their strategies to improve retention and loyalty and drive greater efficiency and new revenue streams.

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This report outlines key market drivers for CEM, defines CEM, and highlights the key IT investments that CSPs must make to maximise both the customers’ experience and the ongoing relationship.

Key messages •

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Customer experience is at the top of CSPs’ IT projects. Improving the customer experience across all areas of CSPs' operations is now firmly embedded at a strategic and tactical level within the enterprise, as they focus on the quality of their customers' overall experience, rather than the quality of service for separate applications.

CEM is a process, not a technology. It is a process that impacts the CSPs’ operating model and requires a spectrum of IT tools to ensure the goal of better experiences.

Consequently, CSPs need to create cohesive business processes to manage IT and networks, including OSS and BSS processes.

September 2014

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CEM initiatives should include management of service operations, customer analytics, sales, and marketing, all in an orchestrated manner.

The vendor market faces stiff competition as IT and network providers target the CEM market.

Vendors should ensure IT solutions analyse the customer experience in its totality, by integrating IT and network data.

Ovum view In spite of the industry buzz around customer experience, CSPs still have ground to cover to improve their customers’ overall experience. CSPs need to invest their CEM-related dollars more wisely: unfortunately CSPs do not approach CEM investments with a long-term goal in sight. Today, CSPs can approach CEM from distinct functional areas such as marketing, customer service, IT and networks; this disjointed approach defeats the purpose of having CEM strategic initiatives. Also, an industry-wide lack of clarity about the value of holistic CEM – and the haphazard labeling of

The author, Shagun Bali, is an analyst for CSP IT at Ovum

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technology with this term – has allowed CSPs to continue to view the customer’s experience and the relationship through a series of internal siloes, even while deploying systems that purport to unify the view.

Recommendations for CSPs To ensure success of their CEM initiates, CSPs must ensure full sponsorship from top management. CEM initiatives should be led by a C-level executive who ensures cross-departmental consensus and cooperation. The first step of CEM starts with overcoming departmental silos. CSPs must revolutionise the systems, departments, culture, and attitudes that contribute to their CEM projects.

CSPs’ CEM efforts have to reflect at each stage on the customer journey. CSPs need to map their CEM projects in line with customer journeys – from customer acquisition to ongoing services, loyalty and retention. CSPs need an end-to-end view of the customer experience at the IT and network side. This goal can only be achieved with the right mix of IT tools and business processes that facilitate the seamless integration of operational, network and customer data. A number of technologies such as network QoS tools, customer analytics mobile self-service apps and social media monitoring will help CSPs along the way, but investing in new technologies is not enough. We recommend a wholesale change in approach to customer management. Using the above-mentioned tools from the CEM arsenal can help CSPs differentiate their offerings with superior customer services.

Recommendations for IT vendors Ovum believes that simply transforming the marketing proposition around customer experience management is not enough for IT vendors to be successful in this market. Vendors must introduce customer experience management metrics to see tangible benefits from deployments. One of the most critical needs that CSPs face is tools that bridge the gap between IT and network data. Vendors need to focus on interoperability and integration of the various data sources required to bridge that gap.

Vendors must increasingly cultivate close partnerships with CSPs and collaborate on their end-to-end CEM roadmaps. As the CEM goals for most CSPs are still a work in progress project, they have far-reaching professional services and

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consulting needs around deploying new IT solutions around CEM and migrating data from various repositories into centralised data warehouses. Launching a new approach to delivering service and engaging with subscribers is a massive undertaking. If CSPs are to realise the full value of their investments in IT, they will require professional services that support strategic development and change management.

Consequently, Ovum advises vendors to develop more complete professional services offerings. Some of the top vendors have already made significant progress towards creating these services, which will position them well for expansion once the market begins to grow.

Market dynamics have forced CSPs to put the focus back on customers Increased competition to retain customers CSPs' operating models are under more pressure than ever before. The market has become increasingly saturated and competitive, where their services are regarded as commodities and their margins are thin. In order to survive, CSPs need to reduce churn and increase ARPU by finding cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

In the past, CSPs could afford to differentiate themselves based on network quality, attractive pricing or new devices. But today, globally CSPs understand that these aspects, while important, do not guarantee customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, number portability and has made switching a CSP service provider very easy for customers. As a result, CSPs are under constant pressure from customers that see CSPs lacking in terms of quality of service. The only way to stay ahead of traditional competitors, as well as the new breed of competitors – such as OTT application developers such as Viber and Skype; device manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung – is by delivering a consistent and relevant customer experience each time.

To be successful in the long run, CSPs need to have a highly critical exterior vision. They should be in a position to sense and respond rapidly to changes in customer demand and adapt to remain persistently relevant to their customers. Continuous, timely, and relevant innovation around customer experience will be the key strategies to retain customers.

September 2014

CEM is at the top of CSPs’ agendas For the third year running, improving customer experience is the top driver of CSPs' investment in IT systems and platforms for the next 12–18 months. Improving the customer experience across all areas of CSPs' operations is now firmly embedded at a strategic and tactical level within the enterprise. Ovum's ICT Enterprise Insights: Global Telecoms survey revealed that improving customer experience is the top IT driver for investments in the telecoms industry in the coming 12 months (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Telecoms industry drivers for IT investment

Defining CEM for CSPs Delivering coherent experience at each touch point CEM does not describe a point-to-point relationship between a CSP and its customers, nor is it a relationship that exists purely to resolve problems. For many CSPs, customer experience is synonymous with customer service and call centres, but this is too narrow a view. CEM is not the same as ‘customer service’ – it is not just about how CSPs respond to customers. The relationship between a CSP and its customers extends all the way from pre-sales research to in-life device and service usage, as customers look to purchase new services, upgrade existing ones, and add new features throughout their lifecycle. CEM is about shaping demand, monetising opportunities, understanding how to segment customers by value, and thereby creating a whole system for engaging with the customer base on a more intense and valuable level.

Ovum believes that CEM should be defined as the process of: • • • • •

Source: Ovum ICT Enterprise Insights

In recent years, the telecom industry has by and large recognised the importance of CEM and is prioritising investment in the area. The maturity of CSP CEM systems varies greatly: CRM and billing systems have been around for decades; web self-service is maturing relatively quickly; the mobile self-service applications are starting to gain traction, while social media strategies are relatively immature.

September 2014

tracking the customer’s path through the experience lifecycle integrating data from network and all interaction channels encountered across that lifecycle integrating the view of that data across departments internally using that holistic view to improve the revenue derived from customers measuring the results of business processes that attempt to monetise that customer experience.

CEM combines technical components and skill sets from multiple CSP departments. Owners of CEM functions used to reside in different departments or business units. Networking was in charge of network QoS, IT owned billing, customer care owned CRM, self-service and campaign management. These divisions still exist, but CEM strategy envisions uniting information and insights from each of these departments to take reactive and even proactive actions to manage customer experience at each touch point.

For the industry as a whole, the emphasis on CEM has moved steadily from being in the conceptual stage to a more actionable plan. Today, CSPs often approach CEM from different angles – marketing, IT, and customer service – that are

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disjointed and defeat the purpose of having strategic CEM initiatives. CSPs need to create cohesive business processes to manage IT and networks, including OSS and BSS processes.

CEM initiatives should include management of service operations, customer analytics, CRM, customer segmentation and valuation metrics, analytics, and marketing, all in an orchestrated manner. CSPs that continue to ignore the pressing need for a 360-degree CEM framework might eventually find themselves lagging behind competitors.

Journey mapping should be integral part of CEM strategies for CSPs Since CEM starts right from customer onboarding through managing loyalty and retention, it is important that CSPs start their CEM initiatives with in the formal process of journey mapping to understand how customers make interaction decisions. CSPs need to conduct extensive journey mapping to understand the different touch points their customers use.

Journey mapping provides evidence that links specific processes with outcomes. It can show, for example, that customers are choosing one contact channel over another because of a lack of results, perhaps through the failure of one particular technology. It can also show the connection between positive outcomes, such as increased revenue, and specific behaviors. With so many possible entry points for customers, and so many internal stakeholders interested in the outcome of the customer experience, it is necessary for any business to explore patterns in the data for clues to customer behaviour.

or support channel. The absence of a unified or integrated view means that CSPs are delivering frustrating experiences and missing key opportunities to influence consumer behavior and capture revenue.

Figure 2, highlights the CEM evolution for CSPs: their journey from being reactive and departmental to being proactive and customer-centric. The first step starts with integrating backoffice functions, which will overcome various silos in the operational systems and processes. This is a large and timeconsuming project – for larger CSPs, operational support systems (OSS)/business support systems (BSS) transformations/integrations can take more than five years to complete. Once a 360-degree view of the customer has been achieved, a CSP must apply realtime analytics to customer data personalised next best actions. To create a customer-centric organisation, CSPs must continuously innovate at service levels to provide for contextual services that enhance the customer experience.

Figure 2: Ovum's customer-centric maturity model

Departmentalised silos are the biggest roadblock For years, CSPs have managed their businesses in a departmentalised fashion. Various business functions such as marketing, CRM, billing and provisioning work as silos. Their IT systems are also developed in silos restricting the seamless exchange of customer data among business processes. CSPs continue to engage with customers through a functional rather than personal approach. Organisational silos make end-to-end processes difficult and result in poor performance and inefficiencies. These barriers have made it impossible for CSPs to get a 360-degree view of customer interactions and experiences.

CSP customers, however, don’t think about their interaction with CSPs in terms of channels; they expect a coherent and consistent experience and approach regardless of the service

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Source: Ovum

CSPs need a coordinated approach to their investments in the right IT tools CSP’s CEM investments must extend beyond the traditional stack Previously CSPs focused on customer facing technologies such as CRM, IVR, billing, but now CEM extends beyond the traditional stack to include self-service, web chat, social media,

September 2014

analytics for customer (data) management and mobile apps. A CEM strategy requires a portfolio of applications that work seamlessly together to enable any department (network or IT) in contact with the customer to deliver context-aware, relevant information. Increasingly we see CSPs trying to connect a portfolio of technologies that will enable them to interact with the customer on the customer's terms, including via social networks, and mobile devices. Figure 3, highlights the various IT components of CEM strategy for CSPs.

give them insights into larger swathes of the lifecycle, en-route to a more holistic approach.

Figure 3: The technology components of CEM

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Keeping in mind the evolving mobile and social trends that are substantially altering the way customers interact with their service providers, CSPs need to invest in IT tools that can optimally manage changing customer behavior. For sustained CEM improvements in the coming years, CSPs’ investment priorities should include, but not be limited to: network intelligence customer analytics mobile self-service apps and social media monitoring tools.

Network QoS management is a key service differentiator for CSPs As demand for data services increases exponentially, preventing network congestion is of extreme importance to network operators. The unprecedented increase in mobile data traffic requires CSPs to deploy solutions that facilitate CSPs to cope with rising volumes of mobile data and video – and to help them stay profitable. Intelligently manage network congestion to optimise capacity and network resources, to boost users' quality of experience is a key area of investment for CSPs.

Source: Ovum

However, CEM strategy is not restricted to just these areas of investments. Any technology that potentially affects the customer experience – either positively or negatively – could be considered a CEM technology. To understand the role of CEM process in shaping better experiences for their customers, it is necessary that CSPs map the degree to which existing processes and tools are already part of CEM and then decide to invest in new technologies. At present there are no single tools on the market that provide the entire spectrum. IT vendors have begun to put together compatible portfolio of IT tools that

September 2014

CSPs realise that network additions and capacity modifications are lengthy, costly and complex processes. However, with the addition of intelligence software to their networks, CSPs address current shortcomings with automated solutions. CSPs aim to make mobile voice, data, and video services even more reliable – fewer dropped calls, consistent QoS, and higher callcompletion rates. Vodafone Ireland has deployed Tellabs Insight Analytics(SM) Services to analyse the network data contained in its multi-vendor 3G mobile network. Vodafone Ireland uses the information to optimise network performance and provide a higher QoS. It also enables Vodafone Ireland to perform capacity management and root-cause analysis quicker and more cost-effectively.

Intelligent traffic management is vital in ensuring efficient operations in existing networks and in planning for nextgeneration network investments. Intelligent networks provide avenues for CSPs to reduce both operating and capital expenditures as well as optimize network performance.

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CEM needs to be proactive with advanced customer analytics As the amount of accessible customer information increases, so does the need to use intelligent tools to obtain actionable insights and improve overall CEM. CSPs need to invest in the deployment of advanced analytics such as predictive analytics and big data analytics at the network, service, and application levels in order to elevate simple connectivity to an enhanced connected experience with predictable, consistent, and relevant services at each point of interaction in the customer lifecycle.

The telecoms industry is fertile ground for analytics; CSPs are data-intensive businesses and collect large amounts of data from their networks and subscribers, arguably more so than any other sector. Analytics is key to using this data for business success. However, our research shows that CSPs are in various stages of analytics maturity. Most early implementations tend to focus narrowly on network design, planning, efficiency and performance, primarily to ensure service quality and reliability, but there are more potential benefits. Many CSPs want to correlate network and subscriber data and other business data for monetisation. This occurs in three different ways: • • •

to drive better customer experience and avoid customer churn to utilise network assets more efficiently, and to drive new information-brokered revenue models with partners through open analytic web services APIs (application programming interface).

Globally CSPs are aggressively investing in analytics tools. For example, Etisalat Nigeria has deployed Oracle Communications Data Model (OCDM) to analyse data from more than 25 sources across multiple business areas, including customer, revenue, and network management systems—enabling management to react quickly to technology, regulatory, and business challenges in the prepaid and postpaid communications services markets.

On the other hand, predictive analytics can move CSPs' CEM initiatives from analysing the past to predicting and influencing the future. Proactive care monitors all relevant data sources to understand the complete customer lifecycle and process dynamic customer context in real-time. This enables CSPs to identify the potential issues and execute context-specific, personalised actions through their preferred channel.

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Forward-looking CSPs treat subscriber data as an asset – the oil that will fuel their future growth. CEM initiatives must start by gathering data from each and every interaction a customer has with the CSP, then analyse that data throughout the entire customer lifecycle. The goal of actionable insights should be to identify and predict unfavorable outcomes and rectify them with proactive care.

Mobile self-service apps empower customers and reduce call center costs Mobility has transformed the expectations customers have from service providers. Consumers want answers and services as fast as possible; they want to avoid the challenges associated with traditional customer service such as long waiting times, irritating IVR, and multiple or incorrect phone numbers. Their first reaction to such challenges is to look for answers or solutions themselves rather than reach out to the CSP. CSPs consider that the ability to access accounts on mobile devices is key to enabling continual customer self-service. Mobile realtime self-service (RTSS) impacts the overall experience of the customer, providing customers with control of their own services and support.

Mobile RTSS can drastically reduce calls made to the call centre, which would have a direct positive impact on profit, and it goes a long way to helping CSPs achieve the goal of becoming more efficient by providing personalised experience.

Moreover, it is what an increasing numbers of consumers want and would consider a positive differentiator. Movistar Argentina deployed a mobile self-care application from MobileAware, and it has also announced plans to deploy NICE Mobile Reach to improve mobile customer service. This solution will serve as a bridge between Movistar's self-service mobile app and the contact centre, and will engage customers based on their intent, profile, and the context of the interaction. When a customer selects this option, all information about the customer's activities in the mobile application will be automatically transferred to the contact centre and immediately displayed on the agent desktop.

The investments in mobile self-service apps will only increase as CSPs achieve the right balance of cost optimisation, customer satisfaction and retention, and revenue increase through crossselling and upselling.

September 2014

Social media monitoring is integral to CEM strategies Social media has transformed the concept of customer service across industries. Never before did consumers have the power to question, criticise, or praise their service providers on such a large stage. Customers use social media to voice their opinions throughout the presales and onboarding stages and during the lifetime of their product or service. It is important for CSPs to listen and respond instantly to their customers on social media by investments in social media monitoring and engagement tools to enhance customer experience or customer service.

Social media monitoring and engagement offerings focus on various aspects of customer interactions, with better identification and authentication tools, analytics tools to help extract relevant and actionable messages from among personal tweets and noise, and cross-channel capabilities to move interactions from the social sphere to more individual and costeffective channels. Belgacom has deployed SDL Social Media Monitoring to engage with its customers across several social media channels, ensuring that every customer is heard and responded to in an efficient manner. Even in emerging markets, CSPs are aggressively deploying tools to provide better services through social media platforms. In the Philippines, Globe Telecom has deployed Lithium Technologies to reduce customer service costs and increase customer loyalty through social media. Globe is using Lithium Social Web to respond quickly to enquiries and posts about Globe across social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. In addition, Globe is capturing and storing trusted content generated throughout the community that serves as a source of reliable answers for Globe's service agents as they respond to large volumes of customer conversations on public social networks.

Ovum believes that the need to offer customers a service channel via social media will persist, and CSPs need to develop more sophisticated and strategic mechanisms to cope with the high volume of interactions and ensure their quality. CSPs must ensure that their social CEM technologies and processes do not operate in a silo, and that social data and insights are integrated back into the customer account to gain a more balanced and holistic picture.

September 2014

CEM strategies facilitate operational and business benefits Multi-channel integration is prerequisite for seamless service Today’s customers expect services to be flexible and enable them to switch between channels of communication. With the right CEM business processes and technologies in place, CSPs can seamless exchange data across each channel and touch point with multichannel integration. Multichannel integration centralises data from all service channels and helps CSPs deliver consistent and personalised data along with contextual information at each interaction to the customer. For example, when a social media team forwards a customer request to a live agent, the agent doesn’t require the customer to repeat their request again. The data from the consolidated customer database will provide the agent historical data from previous interactions to give a holistic picture of customer experience.

As CSP customers have become more sophisticated and demanding – they want to be able to call, chat, email, selfservice because they want 24x7 support. CSPs need to make sure they can service the entire portfolio across touchpoints with most contact channels being deployed for both sales and service interactions. With the right investments in IT, CSPs' CEM strategies eventually can evolve to offer multiple channels to their customers, adjusting their channel mix to the customer's communication preferences and striking a smart balance between automation and human interaction. This approach holds great promise for improving loyalty, reducing churn, raising ARPU and margins, and raising CSPs' overall customer satisfaction. In addition, with effective CEM strategies, CSPs can improve their agility and flexibility while reducing the time required rolling out new services. CSPs can also reduce operating and capital expenses by combining multiple customer information into a single, logical resource.

IT providers’ strategy CEM is the new battleground for vendors CEM vendors come from different starting points in the network and IT domains. Most CEM vendors offer comprehensive solution suites and some have been branching out into CRM,

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analytics, reporting, operations support systems (OSSs) and related functionality.

The market is mixed, including vendors from large global network equipment providers to small analytics start-ups. Large CSPs generally source their core CEM technology solutions from a handful of larger independent software vendors (ISVs).

But for small and midsize CSPs, and for large ones looking for adjunct solutions, there remain dozens of suppliers.

CSPs are looking for greater flexibility in their IT solutions and partnerships models to combat harsh market conditions.

Vendors that successfully embed themselves in their CSP customers by becoming part of their operating models will be successful in the long run. In addition, vendors need to be in constant dialogue with various departments within CSPs beyond IT, such as those of the CIO and CMO, because CSPs are changing how they make IT decisions. More decisions are being made by strategy-focused executives than by IT, which reflects the greater interdependence of business processes and the fact that investments in software and IT affect business processes across the entire company.

As business models for CSPs are undergoing rapid changes, CSPs do not want vendors, they want partners. Many times, in the midst of large CEM projects, things do not work out as

planned; at such times CSPs want vendors to cooperate and even invest further in the relationship. They want their vendor partners to walk with them on the journey.

Conclusion This report has discussed the changing dynamic of the relationship between a CSP and its customers. CEM is a complicated endeavour. It does not have a simple technology solution – there is no “CEM” product that, once deployed, produces seamless customer experiences. The CEM philosophy has to be consistent across all departments, systems, and channels for all elements of this customer journey. Only then will a CSP be able to describe itself as customer-centric.

The biggest challenge for all vendors, though, is to demonstrate clear business benefits of the solution. Suppliers are still struggling to articulate their CEM strategies, but market dynamics should become clearer as vendors develop their CEM frameworks and as vendor ecosystem becomes more definite.

Going forward, technology suppliers that can best capture and harness the growing volumes of structured and unstructured data will become leaders in this space.

About Ovum We create tangible business advantage for our customers by providing actionable intelligence that can be relied upon in evaluating opportunities, benchmarking performance, and making better business-critical decisions. Ovum is the leading analyst house across converging telecoms, media and IT markets. We offer more metrics and insight across more markets, than any other provider.

Working with Ovum puts at your disposal: 220+ country market forecasts and KPI’s 10,000,000+ market data points and 180 analysts, each with on average more than 10 years industry experience.

Our Telco IT research channel evaluates the challenges facing communications services providers as they transform their IT systems, software and business processes. Our research identifies the role that vendor partners can take in supporting that journey and provides detailed evaluations of the competitive vendor landscape.

To find out more about how Ovum can help your business visit www.ovum.com, or email us enquiries@ovum.com

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September 2014

Company summary Accanto Systems offers customer and network analytics that facilitate CSPs to manage the quality of experience of their customers.

Headquartered in Lahti, Finland, Accanto Systems has 180 customers across 60 countries including BT, Elisa, Hutchison, MTN, Orange, Telefónica, Telekom Austria and Vodafone.

CEM credentials Accanto Systems’ flagship intelligent CEM (iCEM) solution, powered by its patented real-time business analytics algorithm, calculates the quality of experience (QoE) of subscribers across fixed and mobile networks, voice, VoIP and data technologies. Accanto iCEM provides real-time insights into all aspects of the customer experience, including applications, devices and the network. iCEM’s architecture collects and correlates input from a wide array of sources, including probes, OSS, CRM and others.

The solution identifies the business impact of the lost revenues and costs that stem from poor service in order to provide recommendations to improve the QoE and optimise ROI for each customer segment.

The latest version of iCEM (iCEM 6.0) introduced in early 2014, is able to process significantly more traffic and data volumes, and includes four key redesigned applications: QoE driven operations, customer experience analytics, network analytics and customer care.

Company summary Amdocs is an established IT solutions vendor in the telecoms market.

With its headquarters in Chesterfield, MO, United States, the company employs more than 20,500 people. Since 1982, the firm has focused on meeting the needs of CSPs with its BSS, OSS and network control product portfolio along with professional services and managed services operations. Its customer base includes the world's ten largest mobile operators, many of the largest incumbent (integrated) operators, and a number of major cable and satellite providers. AT&T and Vodafone are among its customers.

CEM credentials Amdocs provides a broad Customer Experience Solution (CES) portfolio for CSPs which offers an integrated set of applications to holistically manage the customer experience from the device to the network. Key capabilities in the Amdocs’ CES portfolio that enable CSPs’ CEM strategies include: Amdocs Multi-Play which utilises a single product catalogue across all lines of business and devices.

Amdocs Social Care Solution which integrates customers’ social identity with their BSS profile and uses real-time analytics to enable care agents to identify and respond to customer issues across social networks.

Amdocs Smart Net an intelligent Wi-Fi offload solution.

Amdocs Big Data Analytics which encompasses an Insight platform

September 2014

iCEM views are divided into two value added packages servicing customer-centric and network-centric data with a focused set of applications. iCEM offers a wide range of use cases and applications such as advanced monitoring and troubleshooting, investment recommendations to optimise the QoE, high-value customer QoE monitoring, and big data analytics enabled marketing.

Key differentiators The QoE driven operations application is a key differentiator for Accanto Systems. It acts as a foundation for iCEM. It calculates the QoE Index for all deployed services and for each subscriber. Once it has identified a drop in QoE, it sources the location of the problem and identifies the root cause. It then simulates a path to an improved QoE and generates recommendations for the CSP.

Competitive pressures The competition among CEM providers is becoming stiff as the market place becomes more crowded with look-alike products. Many IT and network vendors are making investments to understand the customer experience with sophisticated analytics offerings, so Accanto Systems will have to make continuous investments in R&D and partnering efforts to stay ahead of the game. Also, the vendor must expand its presence globally.

to analyse data in near real-time from Amdocs systems and third party data sources Following the acquisitions of Actix and Celcite, and the introduction of its Big Data Analytics offerings, Amdocs has also introduced new solutions that integrate network insight into its B/OSS to further improve the customer experience: customer network care, smart cell placement, and corporate network experience applications.

Key differentiators Overall, Amdocs’ focus on the telecoms vertical, along with in-depth knowledge of CSP processes, are the biggest differentiators from its competitors. Since many large CSPs globally have already deployed Amdocs billing systems, many enterprises can benefit from integrating Amdocs CES systems to existing billing platforms. Amdocs provides a combination of deep vertical capabilities and integration with platform components provides a ready-to-roll, scalable, end-to-end solution.

Competitive pressures Amdocs needs to overcome numerous internal challenges to reap the full benefits of its new and enhanced position in the market. It must cope with the integrating is acquisitions, removing duplication and coordinating R&D investment across multiple product streams. Amdocs faces stiff competition from other vendors such Oracle and Ericsson however, Amdocs is actively focused on winning more deals with the top tier CSPs.

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Company summary Founded in 1876, Ericsson is a provider of communications networks, telecoms services and support solutions. With its headquarters in Sweden, the company employs more than 110,000 people and serves more than 500 CSP customers in 180 countries.

CEM credentials Ericsson has a broad portfolio of network equipment, OSS, BSS, system integration and consulting capabilities to help CSPs achieve their CEM goals. As one of the leading IT and network equipment providers, Ericsson can seamlessly integrate various IT and network data points in the CRM system to create a holistic profile of customers.

This allows CSPs to manage experience at each and every touch point.

Recognising the growing need for evolving CRM in the industry, Ericsson launched its Telecom CRM in 2012. Ericsson uses the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform to offer a telecoms-specific solution.

Ericsson has built a layer with robust telecom industry-focused functionalities and APIs based on the Shared Information and Data (SID) model. Additionally, Ericsson has recently launched a horizontal analytics platform called Ericsson Expert Analytics (EEA). This platform enables several applications, including Customer Experience Assurance (CEA), which combines and correlates network and customer data from multiple sources for customer care and network and service operations centre use cases, as well as Expert Analytics for Marketing (EAM), which combines real-time, network-based contextual data, enabling

Company summary hybris delivers enterprise software and on-demand solutions for ecommerce, multi-channel commerce, master data management and order management. The solution covers all industries and has been optimised for telecoms, with specific relevant functionality. hybris was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.

In 2013 SAP acquired hybris to enhance its customer experience portfolio. A new line of business in SAP has been created called Customer Engagement and Commerce. This is a new breed of solution that supports relevant and contextual interactions, enables marketing, commerce, charging, billing, sales, service, and support with unified data (customer, product, order) and business process across a diverse and rapidly evolving set of interactions.

CEM credentials hybris is a platform that handles the complexities of managing multiple customer touch points, delivering consistent information and consistent customer experience regardless of how the customer wants to engage with a CSP. hybris’ commerce suite is an open, extensible omnichannel platform, with product content management, order management and unified commerce processes designed to give CSPs a single view of its customers, products and orders, and its customers a single view of the CSP. With its platform, in addition to the standard commerce functionality, hybris provides product and services bundling, subscription management and order management functionality.

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marketing to add fresh user experience insights to their defined customer profiles and deliver tailored offers that drive usage and retention.

Over the past ten years, Ericsson has built a significant services business, representing 43% of net sales in 2013 (42% in 2012). As CSPs carve out their CEM strategies, Ovum predicts that the company may see an increase in the demand for its services, and hence increase its revenues. Past success in areas such as managed services, consulting and systems integration will in turn create opportunities for more business.

Key differentiators Ericsson’s broad network and software portfolio combined with its strong operations outsourcing and systems integration business that supports customer experience-centric managed services makes it a one-stop-shop for all CSP CEM needs.

Competitive pressures Ericsson faces strong competition from other large network and IT providers such as Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Oracle and IBM in the telecoms market. Attempts to match Ericsson’s end-to-end portfolio and 130 years of industry expertise have led other vendors such as Amdocs and Oracle to ramp up acquisitions in recent years. However, long-standing relationships with CSPs across the globe and a strong product and services portfolio rightly position Ericsson to succeed in the telecoms market.

hybris solutions are available for deployment as on-demand, onpremise and managed services. It is also available in multiple languages and currencies. hybris commerce platform is fully integrated to SAP solutions such as CRM, marketing, billing and analytics for customer engagement and commerce deployments.

Key differentiators The company's software is built on a single platform, based on open standards, which is scalable to be able to expand as a CSP grows. The core architecture of the platform provides a master data-management layer that ensures consistent inventory, pricing, order-status and other information across all channels web, mobile, call centre or retail stores.

There's also a process-management layer that applies the same business rules across channels, so prices and promotions encountered online are consistent with those encountered in stores or on mobile devices. Consistent information across channels helps CSPs to provide relevant, contextual information and, thereby, enhanced customer experience at each touch point.

Competitive pressures IBM and Oracle are clearly SAP's chief rivals, and they've both spent billions on acquisitions in the commerce and customer experience arena. The most directly competitive products to hybris at IBM are Unica and Sterling Commerce, while Oracle has ATG and commerceoriented capabilities of BEA, E-Business Suite, FatWire, Stellent and Eloqua.

September 2014

Company summary Polystar is a long-standing analytics provider to the telecoms industry.

With 30 years of industry expertise, Polystar has established a strong global customer base, servicing over 110 mobile and fixed-line telecoms operators, service providers and network manufacturers in more than 50 countries. Polystar is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and also has ten offices around the world in Sweden, Canada, USA, Russia, South Africa, Germany, UAE, and Singapore.

CEM credentials Polystar provides customer and network analytics, monitoring, troubleshooting and reporting solutions that facilitate CSPs to harness the value of big data and successfully monetise their data assets.

Polystar provides proactive real-time Network and Customer Assurance solutions, including Network Analytics, Network Monitoring, Roaming Analytics, Interconnect Analytics for Network Insights and Subscriber Analytics, Marketing Analytics and Corporate Analytics for Customer Insights. Those solutions are used across the entire CSP organisation in network operations and engineering; roaming and interconnect; customer care; product management and marketing departments.

These solutions can be deployed as stand-alone solutions, or integrated with third party systems, when required. As stand-alone

Company summary Razorsight provides cloud-based analytics software to the telecom industry. Headquartered in Virginia, USA, Razorsight serves 100 CSPs worldwide including tier-1 CSPs such as AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Orange, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile, Telus, Tata, Virgin Mobile and Verizon. The vendor has developed over 200 telecoms industry specific rules to run on its advanced predictive analytics platform, and is continuously adding more.

CEM credentials Razorsight's cloud-based predictive analytics solution, RazorInsights, provides real-time predictive analytics insights that streamline operations, refine marketing to meet customer demand, and enhance the customer experience. RazorInsights is tailored to serve four groups: The Sales and Marketing product provides insights to deliver the right offer and message to ensure satisfaction and loyalty.

The Operations and Care product generates insights to optimise expenditures and address emerging and hidden operational weaknesses before they impact the customer. This results in preventing network issues, reducing calls to care, optimising truck rolls and improving the customer experience.

The Executive Insights product provides a unified view of key financial metrics, trends and predictive outcomes, to understand consumption by customer, device, site, and segment.

September 2014

solutions they grant operators vital information, displayed in an easy digestible graphical user interface, specifically designed to deliver immediate value to their customers.

Key differentiators Polystar enables CSPs and network equipment providers to adopt a focused approach to their CEM and big data analytics initiatives. It provides a strong solution for LTE as well as an integrated unified platform with the end-to-end functions for supporting multiple generations of mobile technologies from 2G, 2.5G, 3G to 4G. Polystar’s platform combines all its analytics solutions that facilitates a seamless drill down for deeper insights into the network and customer data.

Competitive pressures With the large service assurance vendors and other suppliers such as HP and IBM, aggressively pursuing the telecoms analytics market, it becomes difficult for smaller vendors to stand out from the crowd.

However, with a strong solution portfolio and a comprehensive range of services, including best practices, methodologies and disciplines, Polystar has managed to gain and maintain a strong market position.

Polystar has a strong customer base in EMEA and needs to continuously expand its geographical presence in North and Latin American, Asian and African markets.

The Audience Management product delivers forecasts of audience viewership at the household and time-slice levels to help optimise sales for addressable and digital content delivery in near real-time.

The vendor has developed strong mobile and web capabilities for its solutions.

Key differentiators Razorsight’s cloud-based software is unique in the industry, delivering both high performance and economy. Insights into subscriber, care and network activities are operationalised out-of-the-box to improve margins via revenue growth, retention and cost reduction.

Competitive pressures From large IT and network equipment vendors to start-ups, vendors are focused on the CEM space, each vying to differentiate its offerings with advanced predictive analytics capabilities. In 2013, SAP acquired KXEN to deepen its predictive analytics ability. In addition, Oracle and IBM, the former with its 2007 purchase of Hyperion and the latter with its 2009 acquisition of SPSS, have tightly integrated predictive analytics capabilities into their offerings. Razorsight need to continuously integrate more data sources and bridge the gap between IT and network data to stay ahead of competition.

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