Report Author's Letter
Dear Colleague:
What will the telecom industry look like in ten years? Will cloud services be a big winner or passing trend? Will smartphones dominate the landscape or be replaced by “the next big thing”? Will over-the-top (OTT) players dominate mobile operators or will operators turn the tables and gain newfound strength?
These are interesting questions. But our ability to answer any of them is poor for the same reason that 10 years ago, almost no one predicted the wild successes of mobile notepads, over-the-top VoIP, and social networks.
But one thing we can reliably say: telecoms will always need business controls that oversee their vast array of services and systems. And for that reason alone, opportunities abound in business assurance – the people, processes, and tools that allow a telecom to monitor, protect and therefore grow its revenue and profits no matter which direction the telecom business ultimately turns.
A Comprehensive 635-Page Report
Hello, I’m Dan Baker, the research director and owner of Technology Research Institute (TRI) and I’d like to explain how our new 635-page report on the Telecom Business Assurance market and practice will benefit you.
The report is actually written for two audiences:
- Software and Services Vendors who want to better understand the market landscape; and,
- Telecom Managers responsible for control functions such as revenue assurance, cost assurance, and fraud management and who want to ensure their practices and tools are on the cutting edge.
Frankly TRI is not the only author of this report. Many experts -- some acknowledged and many not -- contributed to what you see here. Overall, TRI interviewed around six dozen people for this study, and among that number are some of the finest minds in the industry as you'll see when you read our table of contents. We also drew insights from many conference sessions we attended in the past year and a half.
About 80% of the report’s content is based on fresh research including new vendor profiles on leading software and services firms. The remaining 20% is essential background material that we have updated from TRI's 2009 report in the same market.
Making the Report Accessible
While the report is long, we have organized and delivered it in way that makes it easy for you to dip in and out of the report and quickly find what you are looking for. Here are the deliverables you get:
- Report-in-One-File based on the (.chm) HTML Help file format including a table of contents tree, subject index, and keyword search
- Microsoft Word version allows you to print out and comment on various chapters in the report.
- Excel sheets for Forecasts & Marketing Sizings
Screen shots of the deliverables are here.
Why Software & Services Vendors will Benefit from this Report
Being a service or software solutions provider has never been more challenging. The business assurance market is like the Arabian Desert. Seemingly solid mountains of sand (yesterday's markets) in a very short time are blown down by the wind to form into new mountains at another location.
The niche your company occupies today may be well known. But in two years' time that market opportunity will go away, so where should you take your company tomorrow? To answer that questions requires a broad prospective. And that's exactly what this study delivers: a broad assessment of major and emerging solutions, leading competitors, telco management bottlenecks, plus industry and B/OSS trends.
The report will show how you and your company can find profitable niches, invest safely, and avoid excursions into market sectors that are either too competitive or too specialized to attract enough paying customers.
Uncertainty is everywhere, yet decisions need to be made. Where should I invest my R&D? What markets look the most fruitful? These are the questions that our report is designed to help you answer.
One further benefit is market training. Salespeople, product managers, and executives will benefit from a study like this, especially if they are new to the field of business controls.
What Service Providers can Gain from the Report
Our coverage of issues relevant to telecom managers has improved greatly since our 2009 edition of this report. In the revenue assurance area, in particular, we examine issues such as: maturity, RA organizations, and best practice ideas. The report's sweeping view of the practice will help you answer the key question: what areas of my business need further controls?
Case studies is another strong point. Our analysis of Verizon Communications' RA program, for example, is a lengthy (10 page) discussion that covers the carrier's work methods, philosophy, and systems. This intelligence was assembled from a variety of sources (both private and public) and blended to form a detailed picture of Verizon's innovative and large scale "preventative RA" programs.
Finally, if your firm is contemplating a system purchase and needs an objective appraisal of software vendor capabilities, the report will prove useful in narrowing down your choices and understanding what questions you need to ask.
Why TRI is your Best Choice for Business Assurance Research
To understand the opportunities and state of the practice, there’s no substitute for having an analyst who is close to the market. Consider this: when you buy an analyst report from a Gartner, Frost & Sullivan or Yankee, who is doing the research? In most cases, the report is the work of only one analyst – and the quality of the analysis is highly dependent on the experience and market interviews conducted by that single analyst, not the larger firm they work for.
Looked at in that light, TRI stacks up pretty well. Though we are a small boutique firm, we are highly focused on the business assurance market as evidenced by our blog on B/OSS, community website Revenue Assurance Roundtable, and our many webinar contributions for Vanilla Plus. In fact, we published the first syndicated study on the revenue and cost assurance market back in 2001 and authored follow-up studies in 2005 and 2009. TRI has also been writing research studies on the B/OSS market since 1994, so we know the context behind the systems that telecom controls need to watch over.
Answering Key Questions in Business Assurance
Whether you're a carrier executive aiming to improve your revenue assurance, fraud, or cost assurance posture or a vendor delivering solutions, the Report will help you discover:
- What are the most important market priorities?
- Which success strategies of other operators can you adopt at your own telecom organization?
- Which vendors have industry market share and are leading in specific niches?
- Which business assurance players have the right background and market experience to partner with?
- What emerging trends and industry requirements can your company capitalize on?
Please scan the detailed table of contents we’ve enclosed. It’s there where you'll find explanations of what’s covered in each of the study’s 28 chapters. You'll see why this report delivers the tactical and strategic information you need to fully understand where telecom business assurance is headed.
To access this market intelligence today, contact us at +1-570-620-2320 or email me at dbaker at technology-research.com.
Sincerely,
Dan Baker
Report Author & Research Director, TRI
P.S. As with any research you buy from TRI, your satisfaction is fully guaranteed. If the report does not deliver the quality of research you expect, within 15 days you can return the study and receive a full refund on its purchase.