Convergence is everywhere - whether it's voice and data convergence, fixed/mobile convergence or the convergence of telecoms and media.
This change is being driven by a desire to expand market share and the pressure to take advantage of new technology. Growth is slowing in mature markets, while developing markets are being challenged to reach under-penetrated communities cost-effectively. This race is resulting in lower prices, bigger bundles, more flat-rate price plans... and many more services.
Combining a portfolio of services brings new challenges, forcing carriers to transform their business models and network infrastructure. To achieve this without compromising customer service levels or risking any loss of revenue, carriers need their service management and delivery infrastructure to change as well. This new solution must also allow them to collaborate and compete with content owners, advertisers and broadband services.
Web 2.0 companies have shown that large communities can be built quickly by leveraging new technology to lower the barriers to customer adoption with easy sign-up, ubiquitous access and little or no cost. Their customers can create 'mash-ups' by combining web services into unique personalized hybrids, while 3rd party application developers use open APIs to enrich the platform and make it more valuable.
The opportunity for carriers is to build on their own huge community of customers. The capabilities of their network platform managing customer preferences, identity, mobility, location and presence can provide a competitive advantage if harnessed to the right service management systems. Evolving Systems is ready to show you how.
