Billing and OSS Trends: the transition to telecoms IT

Abstract

"Service providers that can address applications-level telecoms IT challenges will have a critical competitive advantage that will help them to exploit badly needed new revenue streams. It is crucial that service providers address those challenges in order to survive in an increasingly competitive market and realise the full potential of their investment in next-generation networks." Teresa Cottam, Analysys Associate

Transformation and consolidation are the key characteristics of the current telecoms IT market. Many service providers are now less concerned about the functionality on offer than they are about how to pick apart a complex infrastructure in order to renew and realign it, while still performing ' business as usual' . The evidence from contract announcements suggests that there is a growing emphasis on strategic purchasing and on implementation of solutions.

Billing and OSS Trends: the transition to telecoms IT analyses real-life purchasing decisions and considers the opinions of a range of industry players in order to answer your key questions:

• What are the main drivers of the telecoms IT market? What were the key trends in telecoms IT purchasing in 2006? What is the outlook for 2007- 8?
• What were the supply-side market dynamics in 2006? Which regions and sectors have been most active, and which vendors have been particularly successful in each sector?
• Who are the top vendors overall? Which vendors are the ones to watch in the next two years and who are the new up-and-coming players?
• On the demand side, what are the key difficulties faced by service providers worldwide and how are they solving them?
• What new types of functionality and systems are on offer? Who is buying what type of system and why?
• What new factors are affecting the market and which service providers are increasingly taking these factors into account in their purchasing decisions?

In order to examine the telecoms IT market from a process-driven - rather than technology-driven - viewpoint, data is analysed according to four application domains:

• Customers - systems and processes that support the customer relationship, including customer relationship management, order management and service activation solutions, and ' self-management' applications such as self-care and self-provisioning.
• Cash - systems and processes that support revenue management, including billing, rating, mediation, revenue assurance and fraud management.
• Services - systems and processes that support service delivery, including service delivery platforms, service assurance applications, product catalogues and other service-assembly functionality.
• Resources - systems and processes that connect the network to the business, including inventory management and service provisioning systems.

The report provides key statistics on the telecoms IT market based on data from the Analysys Research Next-Generation Telecoms IT contracts database and includes in-depth analysis and insight from leading industry figures. A supplementary PowerPoint presentation summarises the key findings of the report.

Who should read this report

• Vendors: gain up-to-date insight on the most active sectors in the telecoms IT market and on the drivers behind these key investment trends, in order to inform sales and marketing initiatives. Find out how well you are performing against your competition and identify possible partners and acquisition targets. Discover how the evolving needs of service providers will affect your client relationships.
• Operators: discover which key technologies your rivals are investing in and why, and cut through the vendor hype to find out what these new technologies can do to solve your most pressing problems. Learn which vendors are most successful in each region and sector, and identify new vendors offering innovative technologies.
• Investors and analysts: understand current and future trends in the telecoms IT market. Discover how telecoms IT strategy can improve the business performance of service providers and learn which technologies are currently of particular interest to them. Identify promising new vendors, as well as merger and acquisition trends.
• Systems integrators and consultancies: discover which vendors are being selected by operators, identify emerging players and trends, and learn what the regional investment patterns are. Discover the key transformation models that service providers are employing worldwide. Understand key changes in the migration market and how these changes can help you become more profitable.