1. No category

Insight
03
Edition
Apr 2015
Executive Briefing
Bi-annual Magazine
Preparing for
the Connected
Economy
Technology trends that are
shaping the networks of tomorrow
and changing how we live, work and communicate.
Letter from
the Editor
Thought
Leadership
Redknee & Microsoft
Customer Spotlight
Buying Energy Credits
through Your Mobile Phone
Customer Spotlight
Supporting the Monetization of
Multiple Vertical Businesses
Red Comment
View from Redknee’s
VP of Marketing
Beyond the Buzz
Industry updates from
around the globe
Redknee Events
Recap of MWC
02
06
10
14
18
22
26
04
08
12
16
20
24
28
Red Trends
Top trends impacting
the industry
Awards
Customer Spotlight
Utilizing Integrated Charging
and Policy to Provide Innovative
Services and Pricing Plans
Outside Perspective
Telesperiemce
Red News
Latest highlights
from Redknee
Red Locations
Where in the world
is Redknee?
Redknee Events
Meet Redknee at
a city near you
Letter from
the Editor
02
One Step Closer
2015 is quickly moving ahead and it’s already shaping
up to be an interesting year. The world economy is
finally starting to show signs of improvement and
exciting technology changes are in the air. For the
past few years our industry has been talking about all
the exciting things to come, especially in the area of
connected devices and the Internet of Things, but for
the first time ever, I believe we are really starting to
see the impact; finally moving from experimentation
to execution.
The Business behind the Magic
As Arthur C. Clarke, inventor and author of
2001: A Space Odyssey, once wrote , “Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
While that certainly seems to be the case in telecom
today, it’s what lies just around the corner that seems
truly amazing, and indeed, magical. This issue of
Redknee Insight is dedicated to the business behind the
magic. In other words, our focus is on monetizing the
digital world by helping service providers, their partners,
and businesses of all types create new ways to monetize
today’s growing digital economy and the Internet of
Things.
2020 – From Science Fiction
to Science Fact
Take a look into Redknee’s thoughts on the future
and the value of your brain on p. 22 in ‘Beyond the
Buzz- Industry Updates from around the Globe’. For
something less disturbing but equally engaging, read
our article “Red Comment: Communication Service
Providers – The True IoT Enabler” on pp. 18 about new
business models and other opportunities that service
providers will see emerge along with the IoT. This is a
view into what we think will happen when 5G rolls out in
2020 and the steps service providers can take today to
prepare. Additionally, Teresa Cottam, Chief Strategist at
Telesperience, has contributed an excellent article (p. 16)
03
titled ‘IoT – Opportunity or Hype?’ where she declares,
“verticalization and partnerships are key to creating
value from Enterprise 2020.”
Speaking of Verticalization
Last year we introduced the Redknee Connected Suite;
a group of solutions that takes us beyond telecom and
into new connected businesses, including energy, retail
and transportation. The delineation between telecom
and other business verticals continues to blur. For
instance, we recently announced that Digicel, a long
standing Redknee telecom customer, has launched
Easypay, a prepaid electricity metering service. This
service enables Digicel subscribers to purchase
electricity at any time directly from their mobile phone.
Energy customers simply enter their meter number
and the required amount of electricity, receive a text
message confirmation, and the payment is deducted
directly from their mobile airtime balance (to read the
full story, go to p. 14) .
Carpe-Diem
Another article that highlights business and telecom’s
convergence can be found on p. 14. This focuses on a
large national conglomerate in APAC using Redknee’s
charging solution to support a cross-vertical loyalty
points program, helping to build customer loyalty
and drive cross-sell opportunities across its group of
subsidiary businesses. Businesses like these will seize
the day. Those willing to forge new business partnerships
and think outside of the traditional box will be tomorrow’s
winners; Redknee is here to help.
2015 is already proving to be another exciting year. The
reality of the IoT is fast approaching and we look forward
to helping our customers grow in the digital age to reach
previously unimaginable heights. Join Redknee as we
continue our digital journey and as we take you further
than a science fiction writer, perhaps Arthur C. Clarke,
could have ever dreamt.
Sincerely,
Michaela Radman,
Editor-in-Chief
04
Red Trends
Top trends impacting
the industry
05
Tech Trends
Systems that let customers communicate in ways that
work best for them will be what shapes the successful
businesses of tomorrow.
Setting the Scene
with Multi-play
Up in the Cloud
IsUpVoice
in the
Dead?
Cloud
Operators have been trying to
update their voice services to
compete with all the Over-the-Top
(OTT) players in this space, including
Skype and Lync. Now, with Voiceover-LTE emerging and discussions
for seamless handover to Voiceover-Wifi, there seems to be a new
future for voice services after all.
Deploying and using cloud services in
different flavors (private, public and
hybrid) and the spread of virtualization
across many operator domains will
change the industry. Virtualizing
services not only reduces initial
investment costs and operational
expenses, but also enables a more
flexible business setup. As Internetbased Service Providers have shown,
utilizing a cloud environment can
make launching new services very fast.
Turning to the Cloud will help operators
gain momentum and also open up new
opportunities.
BSS will play a key role for service
providers to achieve the promises
of a profitable multi-play offering.
While many operators still struggle to
consolidate their billing and customer
care systems and the corresponding
products into a modern IT
infrastructure that supports innovative
products, extending into new
business areas like IoT, again creates
challenges. Successful multi-play
offerings will require a streamlined, fast
and decisive approach towards BSS,
if operators don’t want to be stuck
in organizational and infrastructure
complexity. We will see more emphasis
on BSS evolution in the near future.
Engaging the
Customer in Real-time
In the past, a lot of attention has been placed on the
touchpoints that influence customer experience, such
as proactively engaging with the customer in case of
network problems, or having all customer information
consistently available when the customer calls the operator.
In the future we will see this taken to the next level, where
customer interactions are tracked in real-time and
personalized marketing campaigns are created based on
customer behavior and analytics.
As customer experience management evolves we will
see this method extended towards partners within the
operator’s ecosystem, helping to enable new business
models and revenue streams around campaigns and
promotions.
Analytics Power to the People
The hype around Big Data has pushed the value of business
intelligence and analytics in all business areas. However,
in many domains we still see a conventional approach to
viewing data, such as creating dashboards or corporate
reports. While this is an important aspect of controlling the
business, it does not tap into the full potential of data. In
the future, we will see the rise and increasing emphasis of
two additional areas of analytics; exploratory analytics and
automated or autonomous analytics.
Business Support Systems at the center of service usage
and commercial data will play an essential role in enabling all
analytics scenarios to enable competitive advantages in the
future.
Read Redknee’s Ten Trends to watch in 2015 and beyond at:
http://redknee.com/pdf/forms/2015_Trends.aspx
Thought
Leadership
Redknee & Microsoft
06
07
A New Approach to Retail
Forester predicts web will account for
more product flexibility and convergent
brings new and innovative retail capabilities
or influence 59% of U.S. retail sales by
services, the integration of retail systems
to CSPs such as:
20182. With today’s connected customers
has lagged behind and has not been
deriving a plethora of information from
readily addressed in the next generation
various sources, brick-and-mortar
retail experience.
shopping is no longer a singular, contained
event. Rather it should be considered as
part a multi-channel, multi-stage buying
process—one that excites customers,
history and subscription data as well
Designing the new retail
experience
through self-care channels. Redknee’s
as recommendations and customer
dedicated Dealer Portal application feeds
life-time value;
and in-store experiences. Even smaller
In order to achieve this new generation
about customers and enables online
players such as Greek operators Wind
retail experiences, CSPs need to look
customer service features such as
Hellas is refurbishing their retail outlets
at the design of their business support
product activation, product upsell
to be characterised by friendliness, high
systems, as this plays a major role in
and customer information inquiry.
technology, interactivity and personalized
achieving these holistic touch points.
Additionally, the solution integrates with
service.
There is the aspect of delivering seamless
campaign management and customer
and frictionless customer transition as they
recommendations—creating an even
pass through various channels, e.g. online
This pre-defined integration is the baseline
more powerful in-store customer
research for new products or services
for fully addressing the requirements of a
experience.
successful next generation retail strategy.
Some CSPs are looking to go a step
Making retail the “king” of
customer interaction
opportunities.
further consistency between online
Enabling holistic touch points
As CSPs look to revitalize their retail
experience, there are three questions
that need to be address as part of your
transfers a customer directly to a retail
store for purchasing. The systems also
need to ensure that all information that is
ot long ago analyst firms were
through other means, e.g. online. While the
predicting that e-commerce would
study is focused on the banking industry, it
kill brick-and-mortar stores and all
does emphasizes that personal customer
1. How do we make retail an aspect of a
business and customer would move to an
interaction, whether through call agents
multi-channel customer journey?
representatives in the retail store as well
online retail environment. Fast forward to
or in physical retail buildings, is still a very
2. How do we empower front line staff to
as to other channel agents. For example,
today, this is far from accurate.
efficient means to solve more demanding
have a more personalized face-to-
customer issues.
face customer interaction?
strategy:
3. How can we make the retail
Company identified several intriguing facts
similar observations can be made. We
experience more sophisticated and
about the value of physical retail branches
see several large communication service
more consistent?
in the banking industry. Not only do 65
providers (CSPs) have already started or
percent of banking customers use multiple
announced initiatives to strengthen their
channels for interaction with their banks,
physical presence by transforming retail
but the study showed customers who use
stores into experience centers. AT&T’s
online and mobile channels at least once
Chicago-based retail store now boasts
a week are over 60 percent more likely
of an Explorer Lounge, Apps Bar, Lifestyle
to use a retail branch . The study also
Boutiques and more, while rival Verizon is
reported that only 25% of call agents’
focused on showcasing mobile lifestyles
interactions could have been solved
>> Empowering retail agents by giving
that other customer care agents have
the entire shopping experience by driving
1
shopping carts and wish lists;
information including customer
announced last year plans to reinvigorate
Shift to the telecommunications industry,
interactions through seamless
real-time access to all relevant
increases loyalty and drives upsell
Smart Store concept. Vodafone UK also
industry, consulting firm McKinsey &
for enabling innovative retail solutions
web portals and other channel
the same information and capabilities
make these lifestyles possible via its new
In a recent study of the US banking
clients to address this gap. An initial step
journey by integrating retail with
is to empower sales representatives with
and the devices and accessories that
N
At Redknee, we have been working with
>> Enabling a multi-channel customer
These ‘holistic touch points’ are key
to enabling a new generation retail
experience that is being driven by
sophisticated buyers who are more
informed than ever before. In the U.S.,
visible in real-time to customers through
online channels is also available to sale
call center agents should have the same
data, recommendations and campaigns
available as retail staff.
As for customer experience, the new
retail experience requires the integration
of retail solutions with business systems,
most notably the customer relationship
management (CRM), billing and
provisioning systems. While the closer
integration of CRM and billing has been on
retail staff with real-time information
further—a broader transformation of retail
support as part of their overall business
>> Delivering a sophisticated customer
experience, such as enabling store
appointments that reduce waiting
time and real-time marketing
campaigns that provide more
meaningful in-store engagement.
transformation strategy. In such cases,
The push towards this new generation retail
Redknee has worked with Microsoft, a
experience is set to make retail agents the
long time strategic technology partner,
new ‘kings’ of the customer interaction and
to enable a wider retail solution based on
experience. Redknee and Microsoft are at
Microsoft Dynamics AX.
the forefront this transformation and are
This powerful platform gives CSPs the
ability to drive innovation into their
retail infrastructure, including: store
management, logistics, staff management
working with CSPs to make this vision a
reality by creating a consistent, real-time
flow of information at both ends of the
retail process.
and training, etc. with pre-defined
Together we are helping deliver a more
integration to Redknee’s billing and
delightful customer experience—the
customer care solutions—Unified Billing
essence of brand loyalty and future
and Unified CRM. Combined, the solution
business success.
the agenda for quite some time in order
to achieve a better customer experience,
1
McKinsey & Company, “The future of US retail-banking distribution.” August, 2014.
2
Forrester Research Inc, “The state of retailing online report.” July, 2014.
08
Awards
Redknee’s focus on driving innovation and increasing customer
profitability for service providers across the globe, has once again
been recognized with leading industry awards, including:
Deloitte’s Technology
Technology
Deloitte’s
Fast 500
Fast
500
Telecom
Review’s
Best Best
OSS/
Telecom
Review’s
BSS Provider
OSS/BSS
Provider
Reimagining telecommunications
in a mobile-first, cloud-first world
Omni-channel
Cloud Platform
Workforce Productivity
Make customer experience
the top priority by delivering
fluid experiences that
transcend time, place,
context, and device
Respond more quickly to
changing needs with a
flexible, hybrid cloud that
scales for growth
Become a modern workplace
by empowering your
workforce to make an impact
and be responsive
Gartner Magic Quadrant
Deloitte’s Technology
for IRCM increased
Fast 500
GTB Power 100
Redknee’s position
These are demonstrative of Redknee’s continued strategy to equip CSPs with
innovative solutions that support their growth and profitability strategies.
For more information:
microsoft.com/telco
10
‘‘
Digicel has worked in partnership with Redknee
for some years to expand our service offerings
and increase our market presence. Redknee’s
converged billing solution is supporting Digicel
to launch new data services and provide
advanced customer care capabilities to
enhance the experience of our customers.
Buying Energy Credits
through Your Mobile Phone
How Redknee is helping Digicel make life easier for their subscribers
Digicel Group is a leading global communications provider with operations in 32 markets in the Caribbean,
Central America and Asia Pacific. Renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network Digicel
has a trusted partnership with Redknee, who has been instrumental in supporting Digicel to launch and
monetize innovative mobile services across its operations.
Differentiating with converged
billing and customer care
Redknee’s converged solution
addresses the full range of Digicel’s
billing requirements from a centralized
platform. Redknee’s software is
enabling Digicel to monetize other
digital services across various
industries, including utilities and other
future business opportunities. Today,
with Redknee’s support, Digicel is
offering prepaid electricity to residents
Digicel customers to purchase
addition, Redknee is supporting Digicel
electricity at anytime directly from
to deliver an advanced business model
their mobile phone. Energy customers
and generate new revenue streams
simply enter their meter number and
by providing energy customers with
the required amount of electricity,
the ability to purchase electricity via
receive an SMS message confirmation,
their mobile phone through Digicel’s
and the payment is deducted directly
network. Working in partnership with
from their Digicel airtime balance.
the country’s incumbent electricity
Digicel’s postpaid customers can also
utility provider, Digicel and Redknee
utilize the prepaid electricity service
provided an alternative solution to the
were the purchased amount of energy
existing prepaid electricity voucher
is added to the monthly bill.
top-up payment method, where
and business owners in Papa New
With Redknee, Digicel is able to
Guinea.
increase revenue and differentiation
Redknee’s converged billing system
and SMS gateway is supporting
Digicel’s Easypay ‘Easipawa’ prepaid
electricity metering service, enabling
by offering its communications
subscribers’ real-time targeted
rural customers had to travel long
distances to vending sites that were
only available during business hours.
This was time consuming, costly and
local regulatory mandates are adhered
to within a single platform. In fact, with
Redknee, Digicel’s installations are
managing five separate currencies. The
flexibility of Redknee’s software also
enables Digicel to offer creative billing
initiatives that gives it a competitive
edge.
Monetizing digital services now
and in the future
combination of USSD and SMS
By deploying Redknee’s converged
technologies, allows Digicel customers
billing and customer care solution,
The utilities sector and other verticals
to use any mobile phone to purchase
Digicel is benefitting from an end-to-
such as health and transportation are
electricity anytime, anywhere.” Said
end platform that enables real-time
increasingly providing avenues for
John Mangos, CEO at Digicel. “In less
rating and charging for a wide range
communications service providers
than 18 months Digicel has achieved
of prepaid and postpaid services
like Digicel to drive customer loyalty,
a positive ROI, and today, Easipawa
across voice, messaging and data.
increase revenues and improve
is responsible for a large majority of
With Redknee’s software, Digicel is
profitability. By utilizing Redknee’s
all pre-paid electricity purchases in
able to deliver personalized offers,
converged billing solution, Digicel
Papua New Guinea.
distinctive price plans and tariffs,
has the capability and agility to
real-time notifications and customer
efficiently manage subscribers and
self-care to enhance the experience
service revenue through a centralized
of its customers. For operators such as
platform. In addition, by consolidating
Digicel, which support multiple markets,
the billing functions onto a core
other key advantages of Redknee’s
platform and managing its multiple
solution is its ability to manage
operations from one base, Digicel
multiple international currencies and
is able to control costs and achieve
tariffs, and ensure that taxation and
OPEX and CAPEX savings.
A powerful partnership for
growth
Operating in a competitive market with
a distributed and remote geographical
presence, meant Digicel has unique
billing and customer care needs,
requiring not only the benefits of a
traditional prepaid and postpaid billing
solution, but one that could reliably
span across a broad geographic
region. Digicel also needed to be
able to scale the solution to support
its rapid growth and to launch new
services in a timely and cost-effective
manner. Digicel required a solution
that could meet the needs of a very
diverse subscriber base, including
inconvenient for the customer.
language, currency, social and cultural
and hybrid payment options such
“With Redknee, the Digicel Easypay
customer care for each market.
as family or group account plans. In
‘Easipawa’ service, which uses a
promotions, service bundles, incentives
11
‘‘
Customer
Spotlight
differences, while providing localized
Digicel customers can purchase electricity credits
at anytime right from their mobile phones.
system was critical. To represent multiple
countries, to actually build plans like our
World 66 Plan all-in-one bundle requires
a very agile system. What we liked about
the Redknee products was the flexibility
and capability provided by the marketing
use cases.
INSIGHT: Can you give examples of the
Colin Windsor: They were very intrinsic
experience. The local calling capability
innovative services, price plans and tariff
to helping us get it off the ground.
is one example, and the fact that we
options you provide to drive customer
satisfaction and loyalty?
Colin Windsor: Part of our offering is
we are local in eight countries, so when
you make a call from the USA to the UK,
Utilizing Integrated Charging and Policy to
Provide Innovative Services and Pricing Plans to
Global Subscribers at Home and When Roaming
for example, it is a local call. When you
Colin Windsor, Truphone’s Chief Operations Officer discusses the benefits of an
integrated charging and policy solution to support its growing global mobile network.
We also offer the capability to have
call from the UK to Holland, or Germany
to Holland, or Poland to Hong Kong,
they are all local calls, because they are
countries where we have local presence.
multiple numbers on one SIM. For
example, on my phone, I have eight
INSIGHT: Can you tell us about Truphone?
Colin Windsor: Truphone is a unique
it off the ground, they were an intrinsic
proposition is very different from that
part of the project team. We had about
of most carriers. We are constantly
five suppliers working with us to build
extending that proposition, such as a
out the solution. We were building a
global portal where you can see all your
global network. We were implementing
traffic around the world, various things
eight countries, and we did all of that in
we are constantly extending, new price
about two years, so it was a pretty fast
tariffs, and having an infrastructure in
implementation of eight MVNOs.
which we can do that is very important to
Truphone.
INSIGHT: As a global provider, what are
you doing to monetize 4G/LTE?
INSIGHT: How will Redknee’s solution
multi-currency billing capability, which
Colin Windsor: LTE is in our plans. We are
Germany. For me, the benefit is that it
is integrated into our network, and is
implementing infrastructure to support
makes me more connected to the people
Colin Windsor: We regularly share with
very different. Therefore, it was partly
LTE, we are in the process of various
in that country. For example, I lived in
Redknee what we are doing. As a supplier
our uniqueness that took us down the
arrangements with Network Operators
San Francisco for a few years. My friends
normally would, Redknee gives us advice
Redknee NSN path. Our situation is
to get access to LTE capabilities, and we
in San Francisco text me or call me on
and guidance about what they think they
very unique, and one of the vendors
expect in the course of this year, to come
my USA number. For them, it is a local
can help us with.
that could provide what we needed was
out with an LTE proposition.
call. That is part of our uniqueness. Our
Redknee.
66 Truphone World all-in-one bundle,
INSIGHT: Dynamics in the industry are
Redknee understood the uniqueness
where you get minutes and texting for 66
quickly changing, what does “being fast”
of our proposition, and worked with us
countries around the world, is a pretty
mean to Truphone?
in how we could engineer that in their
into one global mobile network. That
our network infrastructure and our BSS
means we make you ‘local’ in every one
infrastructure, and selected them to
of those countries. It is very different from
implement parts of that project.
of interesting capabilities, like multiple
the network is very unique, so our
Kong, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and
three years ago. We went out to rebuild
everywhere. On top of that we offer lots
Colin Windsor: When we were getting
We built a multi-tax, multi-language,
eight countries, and these are integrated
need for roaming and make you local
good. The way we have constructed
Redknee customer?
then became Redknee, approximately
With our infrastructure, we remove the
the world means our quality is very
numbers: USA, UK, Australia, Hong
Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in
to another country, you have to roam.
facilitate that?
have more points of presence around
specific requirements in what we do.
Colin Windsor: We selected NSN, which
based in one country, and when you travel
INSIGHT: How has Redknee helped you
INSIGHT: How long have you been a
business in that we operate eight Mobile
typical mobile providers, who are normally
‘‘
The collaborative nature Redknee had while
working with us was great. They were a good
collaborative company to get things done with.
‘‘
12
Customer
Spotlight
INSIGHT: This is a big project, which
other vendors did Truphone evaluate?
INSIGHT: What are the benefits of
Colin Windsor: It was all the
having an integrated charging and policy
typical big players like Huawei, ZTE
system?
Telecommunications, and HP. The usual
suspects.
numbers on one SIM, and 66 countries all
you are building something like this. It
is fundamentally different from most
incredibly innovative product. We focus
MNOs. The collaborative nature Redknee
it on the B2B marketplace. We tend
had while working with us was great. They
INSIGHT: Do you think you could have
to go for the mid-size to large-scale
were a good collaborative company to
accomplished everything you have done
corporations who operate in more than
get things done with.
without Redknee’s functionality and
one country, and when you do that
capabilities?
with our proposition, it is a very unique
benefits include the ability to represent
out there.
in one bundle, that make it a very unique
proposition for customers.
above other competitors?
and different tariffs. We have one global
set of products, because we operate
in multiple countries, and the ability to
represent that in the online charging
technologies. It is very different when
about is innovation. We have an
the use of Redknee Unified. We offer a
very different product than anybody else
multiple countries and a range of unique
plans?
Colin Windsor: What we are talking
Colin Windsor: For Truphone, the
INSIGHT: Why did you select Redknee
Colin Windsor: We have some very
unique proposition. That is all enabled by
help support Truphone’s future growth
Redknee’s real-time loyalty solution
creates loyalty points at a Point of
Sale (PoS). Depending on the amount
spent, the customer will receive a
corresponding amount of loyalty
points. Typically these will be attached
to a member’s loyalty card. In turn, the
‘‘
15
With Redknee’s converged charging, billing, policy
management and customer care solution, the
service provider can utilize the loyalty management
system to support other lines of business, including
energy supply, transportation, retail and cable TV,
all from a single platform.
customer will be able to redeem the
loyalty points to help pay for goods and
services at any of the service provider’s
various businesses. The solution can also
care portal.
Monetization software to support
growth and differentiation
Delivering tomorrow’s
needs today
As well as the advanced real-time loyalty
The Redknee Connected Suite provides
scalability: manage billions
customer care, real-time analytics,
of events or transactions in
will also be supporting this customer to
Redknee recently announced a
transportation, real estate, retail, leisure,
based on triggers such as the purchase
significant deal with a leading enterprise
and business support services, to offer
of services or goods, the time and cost
business where Redknee’s Connected
a special loyalty points program and
of the purchase, and even the location;
Suite, powered by Redknee Unified,
marketing promotions that span all of
for example, at a train station or retail
will support different industry verticals
their businesses.
store. With Redknee, the service provider
experience, including loyalty and
cross bundling programs as well as
rating and charging of various kinds of
transactions.
To support its growth in the retail sector,
the service provider selected Redknee
to provide its complete solution stack,
which enables monetizing services
across Telco, Cable, Utilities, and M2M.
Redknee’s software platform will enable
the service provider, which offers
A real-time loyalty solution to
increase customer satisfaction
Redknee’s system allows flexible
will also be able to deliver real-time
promotions and marketing campaigns
via SMS, email or social networking sites
such as Facebook.
implement an innovative retail energy
billing and real-time rating for various
digital services. Designed for both
High throughput and
real-time
solution.
telco and non-telco businesses, the
Partner billing and
Redknee Connected Suite enables
Redknee Unified will rate and bill data
the delivery of bundled offers and
settlement: manage
from smart meters and Home Energy
promotions across various industry
Management Systems (HEMS) in real-
verticals, including utilities, smart homes
time. The service provider will be able
and transportation, and it also provides
to notify customers about their energy
partner billing and settlement to manage
consumption by providing real-time
the complex Internet of things (IoT)
insight on electricity usage and billing
partner ecosystem. Service providers
data. Customers can access their
can leverage Redknee’s highly flexible
and scalable solution to support other
lines of business from a centralized
platform.
the complex IoT partner
ecosystem
Dynamic rate and tariff
plans: support various
business models and
payment types
Cross bundling of offerings:
bundle offers and
promotions across various
industry verticals
calculation of loyalty points in real-time
‘‘
Cloud-based: scale up
‘‘
to deliver an improved customer
dedicated smartphone app and web self-
be used to offer personalized coupons.
points and rewards program, Redknee
Supporting the Growth and Monetization Strategy
of a Leading National Corporation
consumption data and benefits via a
‘‘
14
Customer
Spotlight
Redknee is supporting the implementation of an
innovative retail energy solution, to monetize
energy, retail business and other digital services
to consumers and business customers.
or down with ease. Cost
efficient and secure.
16
Outside
Perspective
Telesperience
17
Opportunities from
and shortages in human capital, as well as
operating in ever-more remote operational
locations. However, due to the sudden
drop in oil prices, the Oil & Gas industry is
experiencing particularly acute pressure to
Teresa Cottam, Chief Strategist Telesperience
IoT – opportunity or hype?
Each January, as the year stretches
ahead of me, I wonder what the next great
telecoms trend will be. Without a doubt,
the most hyped topic of 2014 was the
Internet of Things (IoT) and, in early 2015,
the interest and conversations around IoT
show little sign of abating. Unlike many
hyped trends, IoT looks like it will deliver
sooner rather than later, and is being driven
by industries other than our own – both in
terms of vision and demand.
The inevitability of IoT was underlined for
me when, at CES15, Samsung’s CEO and
president BK Yoon stated that by 2020 the
company’s entire range of hardware would
combat pricing volatility with increases in
and frightened it because the industry
being disintermediated into dreaded bit-
is as yet ill-positioned to maximise the
pipe status and, although I strongly believe
commercial potential to itself from these
a utility network business has undoubtedly
At the other end of the spectrum, retailers
opportunities
got its place in the mix, most CSPs desire
perceive huge commercial advantage
more than this.
in creating personalised and compelling
As important as IoT will be to Enterprise
2020, however, it must be remembered
The good news is there are a wide range
that the smart, connected enterprise of
of ways in which CSPs can add value,
the future encompasses not just IoT but
assume critical positions within the value
connected and mobile people as well
chain, and build a more lucrative business
(employees, customers and partners)
for themselves. To do this they need to
– creating what has been termed the
identify not just horizontal services but
‘Internet of Everything’ (IoE). Opportunities
also verticalized services they can deliver
thus arise from how enterprises run
– since much of the value deriving from
themselves, as well as from how they
Enterprise 2020 will lie in verticalization,
interact with customers, and from how they
just as it lies in personalisation on the B2C
make money.
side.
be Internet-connected – whether that was
To take just one vertical market example,
when it senses that the user has walked into
Verticalization and partnerships
are key to creating value from
Enterprise 2020
the room and is feeling cold.
As enterprises move to a more connected
Mobility. The Oil & Gas industry is somewhat
model of doing business, the challenge for
ahead of mining but shares common
communications service providers (CSPs) is
drivers. It needs to comply with legislation
to secure a lucrative position in the future
and must address key operational
value chain. If they fail to do this, they risk
challenges such as improved efficiency
air purifiers, ovens, vacuum cleaners or the
‘smart’ chair he posseted might warm up
This bold stake in the ground should have
both excited and frightened the telecoms
industry in equal measure. Excited it,
because it will create untold opportunities;
operational efficiency, which reinforces the
in the Mining and Minerals industry there is
a rapid shift from ‘Rock Factory’ to ‘Smart
Mine’, fuelled by IoT, Big Data, Analytics and
need for smarter, connected technology.
buying experiences, fuelled by an
understanding of the customer context and
profile. Retailers are ‘weaponising’ social
media, deploying WiFi for both alwayson connectivity and customer location
purposes, and investing in multichannel
commerce – with the emphasis always
on the commercial reality of attracting
customers, and subsequently persuading
and enabling them to spend more money.
As exciting as these scenarios are, however,
pragmatism is required. CSPs are unlikely to
Enterprise 2020 presents huge
opportunities for those who can
think differently and react quickly
To prosper in the longer term and to
squeeze more value out of the connected
world, CSPs need to consider how they will
and preferences to deliver better
experiences and new commercial
opportunities
>> Helping enterprises transact for the
services and experiences they provide
in the connected world.
enable Enterprise 2020 beyond providing
For once, lack of opportunity is not the
bits and bytes. For example by:
problem. The problem is creating CSP value
as the commercial world becomes ever-
>> Providing tuneable and guaranteed
QoS – to meet the connected
enterprise’s need for performance
>> Securing and protecting the connected
world across any network and to an
appropriate level for different customer
and service types
>> Providing Cloud-based applications,
storage or analytical capabilities
>> Delivering seamless, appropriate and
network agnostic experiences
>> Monetizing proximity to the end
customer by analyzing context and
delivering context-appropriate
experiences
>> Creating insight on customer behaviour
more connected. The nightmare scenario
is having to manage ever-rising data traffic
without the commensurate rewards to
compensate CSPs for doing so, while being
locked out of more lucrative opportunities
because they moved too slowly.
To avoid this trap a mindset change is
required. Simply charging for data by
volume and focusing on traditional,
direct business relationships risks missing
out on the value generated by indirect
(albeit often more complex) business
relationships, as well as the true value
inherent in the data itself.
be able to adequately serve every vertical,
and so must choose which ones hold the
most potential for them. They’re also
unlikely to be able to innovate internally
every product required by a vertical,
which points to the requirement for a
clever partnership strategy supported by
the ability to manage and recompense
partners in the value chain.
Teresa Cottam is the Chief Strategist at Telesperience. She has over 20
years’ experience in the telecoms industry and has worked in senior roles
at Analysys Mason, Chorleywood Consulting and Ovum. She is the author
of numerous influential reports and trends papers, is a regular speaker
and chair at telecoms events, and is a judge at the Global Mobile Awards
presented annually at Mobile World Congress. In addition she has worked
as a consultant and strategist in a wide-range of vertical and geographical
markets. Her current research focus is to help CSPs maximise their
opportunities, attract and retain customers, and operate more efficiently.
You can follow Teresa on Twitter at @teresacottam.
View from Redknee’s VP
of Marketing
18
‘‘
19
The introduction of 5G will be
the technology enabler that
supercharges the IoT, empowering
even the smallest of connected
devices to support rich content
and services.
Communication
Service Providers
-The True IoT Enabler
‘‘
Red Comment
Chris Newton-Smith,
Vice President of Marketing
G
artner’s Hype Cycle of Emerging
Technologies ranks the Internet
of Things right at the top. That
is to say that the IoT is at the ‘peak of
inflated expectations’, or in layman’s
terms, everyone is talking about it but
only a few are actually doing it. Before
long, within the next 3-5 years, the
business models will shake out and the
IoT will move beyond the height of the
hype curve and more towards reality.
The introduction of 5G in 2020
will be the technology enabler that
supercharges the IoT, empowering
even the smallest of connected
devices to support rich content and
services. 2G networks were designed
for voice, 3G for data, and 4G for apps
and broadband internet. With 5G, we’ll
see computing power combining with
communications, so billions of things
will be able to talk to other things. This
is where the Internet of Things becomes
the Internet of Everything.
Today, in much of the consumer IoT
market, there is a home gateway that
connects sensors to the Internet via
Bluetooth, Zigby or Wi-fi. With 3G and
4G networks, your Fitbit talks to your
smartphone and then your smartphone
talks to a 3G or 4G network. This is a
2 step process with a gateway in the
middle. The reason for this is that
connecting sensors directly to today’s
networks cause power and frequency
problems. At the current stage 5G will
address these issues by more efficiently
use spectrum, thus enabling lower
power usage. It opens up the playing
field for more sensors to move away
from their reliance on Wi-fi and fixed
networks and connect directly to
mobile networks.
Many industry pundits are imagining
where CSPs will fit into the IoT value
chain– will they be focused on
connectivity alone, or will they move
into IoT device management and have
their own IoT offerings, expanding into
other verticals such as connected
home, transportation and utilities?
Today, if your smartphone talks to
your Nike wearable device account
– there is no value-add from a CSP’s
perspective. The connection is routed
through a gateway. But if CSPs move
towards managing the individual
devices themselves and providing the
connectivity, which will be possible with
5G, there is more value delivered from
the CSP, and more services that they
can bill for. Now let’s take it a step
further, to a model where the CSPs
not only deliver the connectivity and
device management, but the rating,
charging, policy management and
partner settlement as well.
The thousands of businesses entering
the IoT ecosystem will need all of these
services, and the majority of them
are not equipped. 5G is only 5 years
away, and in many ways the industry
is moving forward already. We are
progressing towards this now and CSPs
need to be ready. They need to decide
what the impact will be. What does it
mean for business models and how
will they make money in this changing
ecosystem? As Steve Prentice,
vice president and Gartner Fellow
points out, “CIOs must understand
that the most disruptive impact and
competitive threats — and, equally,
the greatest competitive opportunities
— arise not from simply digitalizing a
product or service, but from creating
a new business model and value
proposition,”
Our view, even in today’s 4G world, is
that the new business model and value
proposition lies in the enablement of
enterprise businesses in the IoT. There
are a growing group of industries
and businesses that need an easy
and efficient way to launch their IoT
offerings and support their various
partners. CSPs that provide an IoT
BSS ‘Platform as a service’ (PaaS)
with enterprise middleware/integration
will be among the early winners in
monetizing the IoT. The “billions”
of devices that are projected to be
connected will need to be connected
to something that has value on the
other end – and businesses will need
a way to charge for these services
beyond a flat rate.
Gartner estimates that IoT will support
total services spending of $69.5
billion in 2015 and $263 billion by
2020. Today’s early IoT platforms are
successful because they make it easy
for CSPs to support new IoT businesses
- they bundle together connectivity,
device management and some
basic billing functionality, allowing
IoT businesses to quickly launch new
services. But many of the platforms in
this space today only provide the most
basic billing functionality–flat rate
billing for connectivity of IoT devices
with a few basic SLAs that need to be
supported. The problem is that the
IoT is a complex space with complex
partnerships and billing arrangementsand it’s only going to get more and
more complex. There will undoubtedly
be many instances where flat rate
billing isn’t enough; where additional
one time fees, usage based billing
and real-time payments and partner
settlements will be required.
CSPs can offer connectivity with full
turnkey BSS support to their enterprise
IoT customers, just like they do for
their traditional MVNO partners today.
CSPs are trusted brands that can help
their enterprise customers by moving
beyond connectivity, towards providing
a full IoT packaged offer. This should
include device management along with
charging, policy management, partner
settlement and customer care.
CSPs should be able to look at the
services their enterprise customers
want to provide and give them the
flexibility to make it happen; from
supporting new business models
and complex charging scenarios, to
launching campaigns and promotions
on the fly. All provided with an out of
the box solution that can be quickly
implemented, so IoT businesses can do
what they do best, focus on developing
their next killer app.
Learn more about Redknee’s
innovationin the IoT marketplace:
http://goo.gl/6FpRSA
Red News
Latest highlights
from Redknee
20
21
Redknee’s Connected Suite
Enables Growth in the Retail
Energy Sector
Redknee Unified Introduces
Innovative Features to Deliver
Faster Monetization
Redknee signed its first commercial order with
a leading national corporation and service
provider in Asia Pacific, enabling them to
monetize their retail energy business and
other digital services to both consumer and
business customers.
Dedicated to developing innovative software to
meet the challenges of service providers around the
world, the latest release of Redknee Unified is now
available and includes innovative features to help
drive revenue, increase profitability and advance the
customer experience. Redknee Unified 10 empowers
service providers with greater flexibility, scalability
and the ability to monetize new revenue streams
faster in today’s challenging market.
Redknee, PLDT-SMART Foundation
(PSF) and Smart Communications Inc.
continue to provide relief to support
Philippine communities a year after
Typhoon Haiyan
A little over a year ago, one of the strongest tropical
cyclones ever recorded devastated parts of Southeast
Asia, particularly the Philippines. In response to the natural
disaster, the Philippines leading wireless services provider
Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) in partnership with
the government, national and international enterprises like
Redknee, supported relief efforts. A key initiative that PSF is
driving is the rebuilding of schools, especially in remote areas.
Today, PSF is identifying possible sites for construction of
classrooms in the areas of Antique and will utilize funds and
partner with Redknee to achieve this school project.
Monetize the Mobile
Data Explosion with
Redknee’s Policy Wizard
Redknee’s Policy Control Server (PCS)
provides operators the agility they
need to deliver and charge for digital
services in ways that work best for their
subscribers. Its easy-to-use interface
allows marketing and non-technical
teams to create new policy and charging
plans that customers crave – in minutes.
Vodafone India Leverages
Redknee Unified Charging
Operating in one of the most competitive
markets in the world, Vodafone India has
chosen to employ the latest version of
Redknee Unified Charging to boost its data
subscribers’ adoption and enhance customer
satisfaction. Redknee’s converged charging
solution is driving customer loyalty and
generating new revenue opportunities for this
Tier 1 operator.
Beyond the Buzz
Industry updates
from around the globe
22
23
How Much is your
Brain Worth?
Your Watch May
be Watching You
Wearables are invading the
workplace, leading to new ways of
improving employee productivity
and engagement – and perhaps
even some spying.
By 2020, a $1000 personal
computer will have the raw
processing power of a human brain.
This will impact how and to what
extent humans will add value in an
increasingly complex marketplace.
Source: Cisco
http://goo.gl/swnYvw
Source: TechCrunch
http://goo.gl/culnqV
Back to the Future
Ax Pax, a Californian company,
has successfully tested prototype
hoverboards that are lifted by a
magnetic field created by disc-shaped
hover engines that can levitate about
an inch from the ground.
Source: International Business Times
http://goo.gl/LCj2PW
Red Locations
Where in the world is
Redknee?
24
As the birthplace of Redknee’s visionary founder and CEO,
Lucas Skoczkowski, it is only fitting that Poland is home to
the company’s core Research & Development division.
Supporting Redknee’s global business, the Polish R&D unit is
one of the company’s most vital locations providing product
design, development and delivery as well as exclusive
24/7 customer support. With over 200 forward-thinking
professionals including world-class software engineers,
solution architects and project managers, Redknee Poland
hopes to expand its talented team this year.
Redknee Events
Recap of MWC
26
27
At Mobile World Congress 2015, we
showcased our latest product demos:
Redknee Showcases
Integrated Multi-play
Real-Time Monetization
Seamlessly replicate the mobile product offers and selfservice experience that consumers have come to love
and extend it to other lines of business. Streamlining your
at MWC 2015
billing and charging into one convenient system for multiple
business lines can bring innovative product cross-bundle
opportunities that will raise new streams of revenue.
Smart Loyalty
Pave the way for a more connected and smarter city
with direct loyalty applications for transportation, retail,
A
entertainment and communications that will improve your
t the year’s most anticipated mobile
customers’ experience and power a varied ecosystem of
technology event, Mobile World Congress,
enterprise businesses from a single platform.
Redknee once again stood before 90K+
attendees at the forefront of leading-edge
Data Monetizaton
solutions for today’s service provider. In over
Enhance your ability monetize mobile data. Stimulate usage
150 meetings, Redknee demonstrated how we
across your active customer base, gain new business insights,
help our customers unlock the potential of
launch ‘smart’ campaigns and tap into new revenue streams.
new revenue streams at the heart of worldwide
Leverage new business insight to identify opportunities and
innovation while driving profitability in their
see how you can quickly rollout marketing campaigns that
businesses.
guide customer behavior while shaping demand.
Redknee will ready your business for navigating
the complex world of mobile technology to
deliver an advanced customer experience. From
data and wearables to connected homes and
cloud services, we facilitate the means for your
business to support the new business models
that tomorrow’s technology requires.
Listen to Redknee’s CEO, Lucas Skoczkowski,
as he explains the opportunities and
challenges in monetizing the growing world
of digital content and the Internet of Things.
http://goo.gl/u7LhZc
Redknee Events
Meet Redknee at
a city near you
APRIL
30
28
29
JUNE 2015
2015
(12pm EDT)
VanillaPlus NFV
Roundtable Discussion
1-3
TM Forum Live!
Webinar
Nice, France
http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/
events/NFVRoundtable_2015.aspx
http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/
events/events06011501.aspx
JUNE 2015
MAY
16-17
2015
20-21
Telco Strategies 2015
Jakarta, Indonesia
http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/
events05201501.aspx
MAY
2015
26
Data Hypergrowth: Challenges,
Opportunities and Monetization
Strategies
Webinar
http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/
webinars/DataMonetizationWebinar2015.aspx
MVNO Industry Summit
LATAM 2015
Mexico City, Mexico
http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/
events/events06161501.aspx
Redknee Corporate Headquarters
2560 Matheson Boulevard East
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L4W 4Y9
Tel: +1 905 625 2622
Fax: +1 905 625 2773
www.redknee.com