The next generation

A next-generation MVNE should be able to provide all the core capabilities of a traditional MVNE but with more flexibility, at a lower cost and while utilizing cloud technology. In this case it’s a multitenant platform, or solution, that gives each tenant complete access to data and functionality, the ability to customize and adapt the platform to suit its unique business needs, strong application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow for integration with on-site and other third-party solutions, and the advantages of a fully hosted offering.

In a fully hosted environment the MVNE is a business partner that mitigates risk, verifies the platform’s responsiveness and takes on the responsibility of maintaining, upgrading and customizing it to meet the MVNO’s needs. In fact, the platform itself should facilitate these activities, enabling rapid development and release cycles so that it’s a catalyst for the MVNO’s evolution and competitiveness, not a hindrance. For a business the combination of cloud-based technology, economic advantages, full-service support, and flexibility is crucial.

In addition to having all the core capabilities of a traditional MVNE platform, the next-generation MVNE introduces:

• real-time debit capabilities and balance management to support pay-as-you-go and on-demand service offerings;
• proactive network monitoring to identify and respond to customer-facing issues before or as they occur;
• extreme fault tolerance to guarantee business continuity and revenue management;
• advanced carrier monitoring of file drops, task timing and interface activity to ensure that errors aren’t escalating;
• security and robustness to enable 100 percent uptime; ultrasafe access, partitioning and data storage; a disaster-proof environment; and extremely high performance so that sales agents never have to tell their customers, “Sorry, my computer’s a little slow today.”

Amping up the customer experience

Because MVNOs are marketing driven and customer focused, a next-generation MVNE platform has to set the stage for strong customer experiences at every touchpoint on the customer life cycle. The MVNE must drive logistics, inventory processes, device activations, and all other principal business activities. It must also ensure that POS channels and processes and customer-care interactions operate smoothly in order to maintain a high-quality customer experience.

And because consumers are seeking out shopping experiences and customer care more and more often on mobile devices, the MVNE must provide customer-facing functionality via tablets and smartphones. A mobile interface for ordering, care and payment, for example, can enable field-sales agents to sign up customers through face-to-face interactions. This is especially effective for event-based marketing, in which MVNOs engage new customers one on one by personally distributing devices and activating them on the spot.

Similarly, as more customers use tablets to access the internet, web-based self-care channels need to operate fluidly through a tablet-based interface. Relying on older POS models or PC-based web care, as traditional MVNEs have, doesn’t align with current customer behavior.

The importance of resellers

Reseller channels represent another important aspect of many MVNO businesses. One of the most costly and complex technical challenges an MVNO can face is on-boarding new resellers and keeping them synchronized. In-house IT groups tend to suffer when it comes to upgrading and maintaining resellers on the latest and greatest version of their operations platform. Worse, resellers often aren’t working from the same platform as in-house agents, meaning there’s yet another platform to maintain and support. A next-generation MVNE can simplify this scenario by enabling a plug-and-play reseller model for its MVNO clients.