What is Driving the Global Revenue Assurance Market? (Part 1 of 2)
by Dan Baker, Research Director, TRI (Guest Blogger)
Dan is the first in a series of guest bloggers GRAPA has chosen to feature due to their knowledge and experience in Revenue Assurance matters. Dan is Research Director and founder of Technology Research Institute (TRI), a market research and analyst firm focused on tracking BSS/OSS and telecom assurance software markets since 1994. Baker has authored dozens of multi-client and single-client research studies in areas that span the breadth of telecom back office systems, including wireless and wireline billing, OSS/provisioning, customer care/CRM, revenue assurance, service assurance and test, as well as telecom analytics.
In the last several years, operating a telecom company has become a rather risky business.
Yes, the slowdown in the world economy has brought more risks, but I was referring to a more elemental factor driving risk: the sheer competitive nature of today’s communications business.
Not only have governments around the world permitted numerous operators to compete in the same wireline/mobile/cable markets, but industry outsiders from internet (i.e. Google), consumer electronics (LG and Apple), IT companies (Microsoft), and media companies (BBC) are all aiming for their own slices of the communications revenue pie.
In a climate that competitive, it is hard to accurately predict which telecom services will win the gold medals and which will drop out of the race.
So what can a telecom do to assure its future? I think the secret is to keep trying something new — keep experimenting. Telecoms need to constantly innovate to stay ahead of the pack. They need to continually launch new network services, then bill for them creatively, provision them accurately, and market them wisely.
And to do all that, frankly, means making lots of mistakes along the way. Services fail, revenue drops through the floor, and processes get entangled in a big bowl of spaghetti. Get used to it! Having lots of revenue assurance operational problems is perfectly normal. It is the natural process of remaining a competitive company. In fact, if you are not finding plenty of revenue assurance problems to investigate, you either; 1) work for a telecom company who is playing too conservative, or 2) you need invest in tools that will give you greater visibility into the problems you have not seen yet.
Here is the irony of all this: while life has become much more complex for the telecom company you work for, the same tough problems your employer faces may actually boost your career as a revenue assurance professional!
As the delivery, ordering, and billing for new services gets more complex, auditors and process experts are needed to straighten things out and keep revenue operations running smoothly. In other words, there is a big need for smart people and problem solvers in the back office. And I think the worldwide growth of the GRAPA organization is a good indicator of that trend. Frankly I was a little surprised to discover there are over 3,100 GRAPA members worldwide, given how specialized the revenue assurance function is. Those numbers suggest GRAPA’s membership represents between half and a third of the revenue assurance professionals in the world.
And is not it reassuring that in a fiercely competitive telecom industry, there are organizations such as GRAPA where issues can be freely aired and people can help each other succeed? In many ways, revenue assurance has long since become a professional function, like internal audit, where sharing information and opinions benefits the community as a whole.
But discussion needs to be based in facts and data. Most of you have no doubt already downloaded (as I have) GRAPA’s internationally ratified standards book, as well as their mediation benchmark. In addition, Technology Research Institute (TRI), the market research organization I run, also has some experience looking at trends in the revenue assurance market, particularly on the software side, trends that are often of great interest to revenue assurance professionals. In fact, we have published four industry reports on revenue assurance software and services since 2001, including our most recent one completed in September 2009. I will talk more about my findings from that report in my next blog post, coming soon.
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Dan Baker is the Research Director of Technology Research Institute (TRI), a firm that’s followed the BSS/OSS market since 1994. Highlights and a table of contents on TRI’s latest research report, The Telecom Revenue Management, Mediation, and Analytics Software Market, can be found by visiting www.technology-research.com/products/revenue.php.
GRAPA is looking for qualified and experienced revenue assurance professionals interested in submitting posts or articles on issues relating to the practice of revenue assurance. Send us a draft or proposal, along with a resume, and start a conversation with the entire GRAPA membership.
