Microsoft just released a survey that indicates unauthorized spending on smart phone apps and in-app purchases by kids in the UK could amount to £30.9m per month.  Yup, per month.  Assuming Microsoft didn’t mistake their math, as they say, that means more than half a billion dollars a year in the UK alone. And this is on top of data bill shock created by business roamers. Although this survey focused on Microsoft's advanced Windows 8 parental control features (against the supposedly weaker iOS and Android approaches – no comment from our side), the survey does provide some fundamental insights on client overspending and what to do about it.

 

 

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Today’s mobile subscribers are a sophisticated species.  In a market where practically every subscriber is equipped with smartphones and devices, there’s a growing sense of familiarity with technology and the costs of ownership. This is especially the case as consumers find it so easy to shop around, either in retail outlets or online.

Operators now accept the business imperative that says innovation is critical for success. The ability to support this change, however, often requires CSPs to update their back office systems; ensuring that they have the right foundation in place to support the newest technologies, deliver the latest services, and market more effectively to their subscribers. Before making any changes, however, CSPs need to ask what are their primary goals and objectives and what are the gaps in their systems today? ...Read more

A typical line item on the agenda of my meetings with customer CIOs is “what to do about the cloud.”  Some CIOs in the Tier 1 space avoid talking about the cloud, mainly because cloud computing seems outside their control, and anything outside their control is too risky to touch.  The more enlightened are more open, but usually won’t consider looking at the cloud for their mission critical systems. The thinking goes that non-critical, low-volume systems can be “cloud-ified” rather easily, with little or no risk to operations or the company’s (or their personal) reputation. But the same logic holds that business support systems (BSS) are the central nervous systems for every telcos operation, so moving BSS to the cloud may be considered a risky proposition.

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This week the industry is buzzing with the announcement that Redknee plans to acquire Nokia Siemens Networks’ Business Support Systems (BSS) business.

This acquisition is a significant milestone in Redknee’s long-term growth strategy: to be the provider of choice for real-time converged billing, customer care, policy, and payments solutions in the communications industry. Nokia Siemens Network’s BSS unit provides real-time charging, rating, policy, and customer care solutions to more than 130 communication service providers, including half of the top 100 global mobile operators around the world. Redknee will gain a larger global footprint that spans more than 90 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Redknee will take on approximately 1200 employees, expanding the team to drive greater success and continued service excellence for customers. 

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This week, Amazon officially announced its intentions to launch a prepaid mobile internet services in Japan, signifying that brands are increasingly entering the mobile space as MVNOs. Executives from Redknee, KPN Spain and Informa Telecoms & Media recently sat down to take a closer look at this trend and discussed the key drivers and the likely outcomes. ...Read more

I was recently asked if I have seen any changes in service provider behavior in the past year due to the continued economic uncertainties. While the global economic outlook is showing signs of improvement, I see that many service providers are still, to some extent, being fiscally conservative and holding back on making significant investments into their infrastructure. This operating environment has been a major contributing factor to the uptake of new and more agile business models that are needed to manage today’s infrastructure demands and enable service providers to successfully compete with traditional and alternative service providers in the future. The key takeaway being, service providers need customer and operational agility to adapt their business for future cost savings and increased profitability. ...Read more

In an era where service providers may have, at times, seen third-party content or over-the-top-players (OTT) as competitors to the customer experience, it may now be time to consider how CSPs and third-parties can share the stage to secure loyalty in customers. ...Read more