IPTV: Bringing Back Office Usage Data into the Front Office

Traditionally, the term �usage� has been associated with network engineers, billing analysts, scary systems no one understands, and a lot of errors that seem to delay the launch of brilliant products. Being a former billing manager myself, the word �usage� spoken in a corporate strategic meeting was enough to gloss over a few eyes and yield a yawn or two. Needless to say, I was never the most popular attendee. If IPTV had been in the product mix ten years ago, that may have changed. I think a new boardroom discussion could be on the horizon.

The collecting and analyzing of usage records could just be the missing ingredient of success for a service provider looking to provide a differentiated (aka �cool�) IPTV service. The potential of personalization, TV and gaming interaction, customer use information, and low service delivery costs should keep any product manager dreaming of dollar signs. The billing department has long known the potential of having call data to build better products and create calling plans to meet customer needs. Now this knowledge can be used for some the most high level decisions about future services.

Knowing and understanding how and when your customers use your service is arguably the most important attribute to a product management organization. The ability to determine when you have a flop or when your offer is working, based on the usage your customers are generating in real to near-real time, would be a dream for the person who lives and dies by the P&L of IPTV services. Alas, this cornucopia of data does not happen on its own. Defining and deciding what data is important about a customer�s transaction takes strategy and thought from all areas of the company. Accounting will be interested that costs are not out of line; Product Management will be interested in what services are utilized and what features are used most often; Billing will need to bill; and Network Planning will need to ensure adequate bandwidth. The next step will be determining where each one of the data elements is sourced and how to get the data in an aggregate form. With the current architecture of most IPTV test markets, this represents a big challenge. Most services today are in a limited launch or test mode and comprise a number of vendors that may not necessarily define data in the same way. Several articles have been written about the challenges of getting equipment and software vendors to interoperate on IPTV services. Having 40 people in a room speaking several different languages will never get a problem solved, no matter how much money is thrown at it.