|
|
|
From the desk of Steve Kelly
Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the former readers of the Latin American edition of Global Telecom News. No doubt you have noticed as we enter the new decade that these are exciting - and challenging - times for the telecoms sector. Uncertainty, change and confusion increasingly influence today's environment. Declining revenues from traditional services, the change from a highly regulated to a free market, shorter product life spans, new applications from new innovative partnerships, and the tough global economic climate all present challenges and opportunities that you must address head on. Telecom business leaders need fundamentally different ways to analyse, lead and maintain a sustainable, profitable business.
In my reading about our industry, I found articles about two surveys of telecom operators across the globe as they face these issues:
According to a recent study for the 2010 Telecom World Congress*, "finding ways to save costs" is the number one strategic challenge in the next five years for 71.1% of telecom operators questioned. "Getting more out of your network infrastructure" is the top strategic opportunity for 59.8% of telcos in the survey.
A survey of wireless carriers around the globe by PricewaterhouseCoopers** indicated that carriers' risk of revenue leakage is accelerating as they turn to new revenue streams from next-generation platforms and also reduce their capex investments. Carriers, however, are not well prepared to manage such risks: while 65% of survey respondents view revenue management as very important to the business and 35% view it as important, two-thirds have 10 or fewer resources dedicated per $1 billion of revenue, and these resources focus primarily on billing and servicing of network activities.
When the market is buoyant, it is easy to overlook the many ways in which revenue and especially gross margin can escape from a business, for example through pricing, charging and/or invoicing errors, poor credit management, incomplete or incorrect usage data and fraud. But when you face less stable economic conditions, you need to prevent such leakage to improve your top line and manage costs. Fortunately, our sector has a strong track record of innovation and providing quality services to its customers, which should help it to embrace creative solutions in these difficult times.
BT can help you prevent leakage in the end-to-end process through BT Revenue Maximisation solutions. These include revenue assurance, fraud management, interconnect and partner billing management, cost management and data integrity management.
To find out more about how BT can help you maximise the return from your subscriber base, see the article "Enhance the return from your subscribers with Revenue Maximisation" in this edition of Global Telecom News or visit our website.
In closing, I'd like to suggest you read "BT Next Generation Contact Centre: helping you enhance the customer experience" and the article by my colleague in GTM's consultancy arm BT Telconsult: "Telco Insights with Ralph Hengstenberg". You may also be interested in the articles about interoperability and SMS Hubbing.
Very best regards and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year,
Steve
Steve Kelly
GTM vice president
Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa
* 2010 Telecom World Congress
**"Beyond the Horizon: 2008 Global Wireless Industry Survey" by PricewaterhouseCoopers
Biography
Steve Kelly is vice president of Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa for BT Global Telecom Markets (GTM).
When he joined GTM in 2007 Steve returned to BT, where he had worked in the early 80's prior to its privatisation. Back then he spent 14 years in many different roles, the last one in Carrier Services; this division is now known as Global Telecom Markets, so he has come full circle.
In the nearly 10 years he was away from BT, Steve worked in Worldcom/MCI/Verizon, where latterly he was vice president of their global accounts organisation for EMEA. In his 24 years in the telecommunications industry, Steve has held positions and gained knowledge and expertise in sales, mobile, international, global accounts and international carrier services.
In his spare time Steve enjoys sports such as running, tennis and golf.
|
