| While always a significant factor in any
market, it's no secret that churn is a major problem for wireless service
providers. And it's likely to become more significant as wireless
penetration increases and as more and more people begin considering (or at
least wanting to consider) their wireless connection as their main
connection -- to the telephone network, to the Internet, and to the office
LAN.
Why is churn going to be so significant? Because, in order to cover
their expenses in building out their infrastructure, wireless service
providers need to show growth in their subscriber base, and it's difficult
to show growth if every new customer you sign on results in another
customer leaving. While churn isn't quite this bad at present, purely
anecdotal evidence suggests that as more people use wireless devices, an
increasing percentage of them are unhappy with the service they are
receiving.
Wireless service providers are not ignorant of this, but with all the
pressure and hype about wireless Internet, wireless over IP, and other
advances, who has time to take care of their customers? The answer, of
course, is that everyone should have time to take care of their customers.
If there is a shake-out in the wireless industry, which many people
expect, customer service will be one of the key factors determining who
survives.
So what is a wireless service provider to do? Several companies are now
trying to answer this question by unifying traditional billing
applications with more customer-oriented CRM capabilities. The idea is to
capture customer information and then use this information proactively to
better serve the customer.
A case in point is the recent announcement that Primal
will be supplying its Outfront CRM product to Hutchison Telecommunications
(Australia). Hutchison plans to use Outfront to analyze customer usage and
spending patterns, profitability of rate plans and services, and churn
factors.
As Primal says, Outfront provides a "closed loop" model of
customer care, allowing business rules to be put in place that handle not
only the acquisition of customer data, but also the analysis of that data
and the implementation of actions that would traditionally require the
intervention of company personnel. This "closed loop" allows
service providers to offer timely, customized customer care while avoiding
the delay and expense that can result from requiring agent intervention.
Primal is but one example of this new approach toward customer care in
the wireless market. The key here is that as wireless begins to compete
with wireline as the sole connecting medium for some users, wireless
service providers will have to deal with some of the customer service
issues that they have been able to ignore for the most part until now
because of the enormous growth rates and lower user expectations.
-- Greg Galitzine
Next-Gen Services News
Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel Launch Internet Portal Alliance
Hewlett-Packard and Alcatel have entered into a strategic
marketing agreement to deliver next-gen Internet-based services to users
of mobile and other devices. HP will market and distribute Alcatels
HomeTop Solutions software suite in a version optimized to run on its HP-UX
WAP-enabled platform, allowing telecom operators, service providers, and
corporate customers to deploy Internet-based service offerings such as
unified messaging and e-commerce applications.
No. 549, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
GiantBear.com Partners With Content Providers
GiantBear.com has announced the formation of relationships with
eight content providers to deliver a comprehensive, time-sensitive
selection of news and specialized information to subscribers using
wireless phones, pagers, and other devices. GiantBear.coms content
providers will include Reuters, Hollywood.com, Daily Racing Form,
Astrology.net, AllLotto.com, AboveTrade.com, SmartRoute Systems, and e-Memes.
No. 550, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
3Com, Samsung Team For cdma2000 Wireless Networks
3Com and Samsung Electronics have announced that they will jointly
deliver cdma2000 high-speed wireless networks to service providers
worldwide. The two companies will integrate their solutions for delivering
high-speed wireless voice/data networks to provide Internet, intranet, and
multimedia services to mobile subscribers. The initial 3G networks from
3Com and Samsung will allow data speeds of up to 144 Kbps. Future releases
will increase data rates to more than 384 Kbps.
No. 551, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
QUALCOMM, Symbian Partner On Wireless Devices
QUALCOMM and Symbian announced a partnership promoting the
interoperability of Symbian-based wireless information devices using
QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies' Internet Mobile Station Modem (iMSM) family of
chipset and system software solutions. QUALCOMM's technology will run on
the Symbian platform, which includes an operating system, applications,
and connectivity software. In a related announcement, QUALCOMM and
Microsoft have stated their intent to form a strategic alliance to jointly
define and develop advanced wireless, multimedia-capable devices.
No. 552, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Ericsson Announces WAP-Enabled CDMA Phone
Ericsson has unveiled its first CDMA phone that delivers superior
voice quality and easy access to the mobile Internet, e-mail, and other
communication services. The A1228c signals Ericsson's entry into the CDMA
market. The A1228c features a WAP micro-browser and also supports SMS for
direct text communication.
No. 553, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
MobileQ.com Unveils XMLEdge 2.0
MobileQ.com has announced the release of the newest version of its
mobility software platform, XMLEdge 2.0. XMLEdge allows any organization
to make their commerce and enterprise applications accessible to people
using any wireless Internet device, anywhere, in any language. "Our
platform allows corporations to view the development and implementation of
wireless solutions the same way they view the development of a standard
Web site," said Vish Canaran, CEO of MobileQ.com. The platform comes
equipped with a full suite of testing, administration, and deployment
tools and includes a rich development environment for developing and
hosting production systems in areas such as e-retail, financial planning,
investment banking, and portals.
No. 554, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
OZ.COM Develops Unified Communications Suite For
Wireless
OZ.COM has announced the release of mPresence, a unified
communications suite of services for telcos and wireless service providers
looking to stake a claim in the mobile Internet space. mPresence is a
full-scale hosted solution offering fast deployment of secure messaging
services based on iPulse, a product jointly developed by OZ.COM and
Ericsson. mPresence also supports VoIP, global directory, and integrated
billing and commerce services across the Internet, fixed, and mobile
networks.
No. 555, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Primal Intros Connect CCB
Primal has introduced Connect CCB (Customer Care and Billing), a
software solution providing next-gen customer care and billing services
with enhanced capabilities such as unified messaging and VoIP. Connect CCB
is a Java-based, scalable system enabling service providers to better
manage customer information, billing, rate plans, and ratings for a wide
variety of IP services. "Primal's versatile customer care and billing
software solutions provide customers with immediate, online access to
their account, while allowing the ultimate in customer service, as
representatives can work anywhere there is access to the Internet,"
said Stephen Combe, senior director of product management for Primal.
No. 556, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Ericsson Announces IP Billing, E-Commerce Solutions
Ericsson, through a licensing agreement with EHPT, has announced
two new solutions for IP billing and Internet payment. EHPT Net-Charger is
a service-centric billing and customer care solution for IP-based
services. It gives operators the ability to personalize customer accounts
charges for a range of IP services. EHPT Safetrader is a Jalda-based
e-commerce solution enabling fast and secure payments on the Internet.
Jalda is a standard that connects each use to a specific account, allowing
charges to be made flexibly on events such as time, number of mouse
clicks, number of searches, or the level reached in a game.
No. 557, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Logica Unveils m-WorldPortal For Mobile Internet
Logica has released m-WorldPortal, a solution allowing operators
to bring mobile Internet services to subscribers with either WAP or non-WAP
devices. m-WorldPortal is a service management environment that combines
mobile Internet functionality with the "Personal Portal"
feature, advanced security, customer care, and billing. "Subscribers
using non-WAP terminals will make up the majority of the operators"
customer base and revenue stream for some time to come, said Larry
Quinn, CEO Mobile Network Division, Logica. m-WorldPortal can service
both markets and is set apart by its ability to deliver advanced
intelligent network services such as VPN and access to virtual corporate
networks."
No. 558, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
NetMorf Intros SiteMorfer For Wireless E-Business
NetMorf has introduced SiteMorfer 2.0, a wireless e-business
product that transforms e-commerce sites to wireless devices by
integrating directly with a company's back-end data sources. SiteMorfer
allows companies to expand their Web presence by enabling wireless devices
to act as clients. Unlike other tools that source from the HTML pages,
SiteMorfer integrates data directly from the back-end data sources for
maximum performance and flexibility, then securely transfers the content
from the source to the appropriate wireless device. SiteMorfer
automatically detects the protocol and device making a content request and
generates the relevant protocol -- PQA for Palms, WML/HDML for WAP
devices, compact HTML for WinCE devices, SMS for compatible phones,
pagers, etc.
No. 559, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Nokia Intros Two Phones For Professionals
Nokia has introduced two new mobile phones for professional and
business travelers. The Nokia 6210 is a GSM 900/1800 dual-band mobile
phone supporting high-speed circuit-switched data (with data speeds of up
to 43.2 Kbps) and WAP. The Nokia 6210 is designed for the business user
who needs reliable and convenient information access, and the 6210 can
easily be integrated into an enterprise's information management
infrastructure using the Nokia WAP Server 1.0 to allow access to company
databases, intranet, and e-mail. Additionally, Nokia has unveiled its
first "world phone," the Nokia 8890. The 8890 is a dual band,
GSM900/ GSM1800 phone simplifying international travel by offering
automatic network selection and a real-time clock to automatically set the
local time on five continents and over 120 countries.
No. 560, www.comsolmag.com/freeinfo
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