Putting Products First

By: Scott St. John, Pipeline

There's a seismic shift taking place in the way communications service providers (CSPs) view the world. For many CSPs, their focus is changing from a network-centric view to a more customer-centric one. As a result, they are starting to see products and services as the heart of their customers' experience. This shift is not only having a direct impact on customers, but it's having a significant impact on the way CSPs are looking at communications technology products as well.

When asked about this emerging trend, Ernest Margitta of Tribold commented: "We're definitely seeing our customers looking for real solutions that will have a tangible impact on the customer experience." He continued, "We are also seeing the decision making moving away from IT and network operations to the business decision makers, marketers, and product managers who drive top-line revenue growth." And, Tribold is in a good position to know.

Tribold manages over $64 billion in products and services for their customers in 20 different countries. The company's suite of products is specifically designed to more quickly deliver, monetize, evaluate, and adjust their product and service offerings. However, how their customers are leveraging their products to generate tangible return on investment (ROI) is what makes them truly unique. Their customers include a long list of CSPs such as CenturyLink, BSkyB, Orange, Telecom New Zealand, Teliasonera, and others who have used Tribold's Enterprise Product Management (EPM) software to successfully reduce product delivery time by up to 75 percent. For at least one customer, that reduction in time to market has equated to top-line revenue growth of $125 million annually.

Fueling Competition

For CSPs, innovative new products and services provide valuable ways to leverage new and existing infrastructure to generate revenue and increase profitability. They also provide a mechanism by which they can differentiate their offerings and harness the capabilities and resources that make them truly unique. However, the process for bringing new products to market is complicated and involves multiple stakeholders across a complex organization. The time, cost, and complexity it takes to orchestrate a new product launch can stifle innovation, cost the company its competitive edge, or even kill the new product or service altogether.

Companies like Tribold provide product management software that can help to simplify this process. These products help streamline the design, build, and test processes, and reduce the complexity and time-to-market. This idea-to-cash cycle can have significant impacts on a service provider's business including:

• Reduced Time-to-market: CSPs can achieve new service revenue faster, enabling them to capture revenue that would otherwise be lost.
• Heighten Competitiveness: By launching more innovative, new services faster, CSPs can achieve a higher level of competitiveness. 
• Lower Cost-to-market: By simplifying, consolidating, and automating the product launch process, CSPs can lower the operational cost and eliminate the inefficiencies associated with this process.
• Optimize Offerings: By providing real-time visibility into the entire product life-cycle and performance, CSPs can see actual product performance and modify their offerings to ensure optimal uptake.