InsIghtExecutive Briefing

03 EditionApr 2015

Bi-annual Magazine

Preparing for the Connected

Economy

technology trends that are shaping the networks of tomorrow

and changing how we live, work and communicate.

02061014182226

04081216202428

Letter from the Editor

Red Comment View from Redknee’s

VP of Marketing

Outside PerspectiveTelesperiemce

Awards

Beyond the BuzzIndustry updates from

around the globe

Red trendsTop trends impacting the industry

thought Leadership

Redknee & Microsoft

Red newsLatest highlights from Redknee

Customer spotlightSupporting the Monetization of

Multiple Vertical Businesses

Customer spotlightUtilizing Integrated Charging and Policy to Provide Innovative Services and Pricing Plans

Redknee Events Recap of MWC

Customer spotlightBuying Energy Credits

through Your Mobile Phone

Red LocationsWhere in the world is Redknee?

Redknee Events Meet Redknee at a city near you

Letter from the Editor 02

Redknee Insight is dedicated to the business behind the magic. In other words, our focus is on monetizing the digital world by helping service providers, their partners, and businesses of all types create new ways to monetize today’s growing digital economy and the Internet of Things.

2020 – From science Fiction to science Fact

Take a look into Redknee’s thoughts on the future and the value of your brain on p. 22 in ‘Beyond the Buzz- Industry Updates from around the Globe’. For something less disturbing but equally engaging, read our article “Red Comment: Communication Service Providers – The True IoT Enabler” on pp. 18 about new business models and other opportunities that service providers will see emerge along with the IoT. This is a view into what we think will happen when 5G rolls out in 2020 and the steps service providers can take today to prepare. Additionally, Teresa Cottam, Chief Strategist at Telesperience, has contributed an excellent article (p. 16)

One step Closer

2015 is quickly moving ahead and it’s already shaping up to be an interesting year. The world economy is finally starting to show signs of improvement and exciting technology changes are in the air. For the past few years our industry has been talking about all the exciting things to come, especially in the area of connected devices and the Internet of Things, but for the first time ever, I believe we are really starting to see the impact; finally moving from experimentation to execution.

the Business behind the Magic

As Arthur C. Clarke, inventor and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, once wrote , “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” While that certainly seems to be the case in telecom today, it’s what lies just around the corner that seems truly amazing, and indeed, magical. This issue of

titled ‘IoT – Opportunity or Hype?’ where she declares, “verticalization and partnerships are key to creating value from Enterprise 2020.”

speaking of Verticalization

Last year we introduced the Redknee Connected Suite; a group of solutions that takes us beyond telecom and into new connected businesses, including energy, retail and transportation. The delineation between telecom and other business verticals continues to blur. For instance, we recently announced that Digicel, a long standing Redknee telecom customer, has launched Easypay, a prepaid electricity metering service. This service enables Digicel subscribers to purchase electricity at any time directly from their mobile phone. Energy customers simply enter their meter number and the required amount of electricity, receive a text message confirmation, and the payment is deducted directly from their mobile airtime balance (to read the full story, go to p. 14) .

Carpe-Diem

Another article that highlights business and telecom’s convergence can be found on p. 14. This focuses on a large national conglomerate in APAC using Redknee’s charging solution to support a cross-vertical loyalty points program, helping to build customer loyalty and drive cross-sell opportunities across its group of subsidiary businesses. Businesses like these will seize the day. Those willing to forge new business partnerships and think outside of the traditional box will be tomorrow’s winners; Redknee is here to help.

2015 is already proving to be another exciting year. The reality of the IoT is fast approaching and we look forward to helping our customers grow in the digital age to reach previously unimaginable heights. Join Redknee as we continue our digital journey and as we take you further than a science fiction writer, perhaps Arthur C. Clarke, could have ever dreamt.

Sincerely,Michaela Radman,Editor-in-Chief

03

04

Up in the Cloud Is Voice Dead?

Up in the Cloud

Operators have been trying to update their voice services to compete with all the Over-the-Top (OTT) players in this space, including Skype and Lync. Now, with Voice-over-LTE emerging and discussions for seamless handover to Voice-over-Wifi, there seems to be a new future for voice services after all.

Deploying and using cloud services in different flavors (private, public and hybrid) and the spread of virtualization across many operator domains will change the industry. Virtualizing services not only reduces initial investment costs and operational expenses, but also enables a more flexible business setup. As Internet-based Service Providers have shown, utilizing a cloud environment can make launching new services very fast. Turning to the Cloud will help operators gain momentum and also open up new opportunities.

tech trends

Setting the Scene with Multi-play

BSS will play a key role for service providers to achieve the promises of a profitable multi-play offering. While many operators still struggle to consolidate their billing and customer care systems and the corresponding products into a modern IT infrastructure that supports innovative products, extending into new business areas like IoT, again creates challenges. Successful multi-play offerings will require a streamlined, fast and decisive approach towards BSS, if operators don’t want to be stuck in organizational and infrastructure complexity. We will see more emphasis on BSS evolution in the near future.

Systems that let customers communicate in ways that work best for them will be what shapes the successful businesses of tomorrow.

Red TrendsTop trends impacting the industry

In the past, a lot of attention has been placed on the touchpoints that influence customer experience, such as proactively engaging with the customer in case of network problems, or having all customer information consistently available when the customer calls the operator. In the future we will see this taken to the next level, where customer interactions are tracked in real-time and personalized marketing campaigns are created based on customer behavior and analytics.

As customer experience management evolves we will see this method extended towards partners within the operator’s ecosystem, helping to enable new business models and revenue streams around campaigns and promotions.

Engaging the Customer in Real-time

The hype around Big Data has pushed the value of business intelligence and analytics in all business areas. However, in many domains we still see a conventional approach to viewing data, such as creating dashboards or corporate reports. While this is an important aspect of controlling the business, it does not tap into the full potential of data. In the future, we will see the rise and increasing emphasis of two additional areas of analytics; exploratory analytics and automated or autonomous analytics.

Business Support Systems at the center of service usage and commercial data will play an essential role in enabling all analytics scenarios to enable competitive advantages in the future.

Analytics - Power to the People

Read Redknee’s ten trends to watch in 2015 and beyond at:http://redknee.com/pdf/forms/2015_Trends.aspx

05

Thought Leadership 06

A New Approach to Retail

Not long ago analyst firms were

predicting that e-commerce would

kill brick-and-mortar stores and all

business and customer would move to an

online retail environment. Fast forward to

today, this is far from accurate.

In a recent study of the US banking

industry, consulting firm McKinsey &

Company identified several intriguing facts

about the value of physical retail branches

in the banking industry. Not only do 65

percent of banking customers use multiple

channels for interaction with their banks,

but the study showed customers who use

online and mobile channels at least once

a week are over 60 percent more likely

to use a retail branch1. The study also

reported that only 25% of call agents’

interactions could have been solved

through other means, e.g. online. While the

study is focused on the banking industry, it

does emphasizes that personal customer

interaction, whether through call agents

or in physical retail buildings, is still a very

efficient means to solve more demanding

customer issues.

Shift to the telecommunications industry,

similar observations can be made. We

see several large communication service

providers (CSPs) have already started or

announced initiatives to strengthen their

physical presence by transforming retail

stores into experience centers. AT&T’s

Chicago-based retail store now boasts

of an Explorer Lounge, Apps Bar, Lifestyle

Boutiques and more, while rival Verizon is

focused on showcasing mobile lifestyles

and the devices and accessories that

make these lifestyles possible via its new

Smart Store concept. Vodafone UK also

announced last year plans to reinvigorate

the entire shopping experience by driving

further consistency between online

and in-store experiences. Even smaller

players such as Greek operators Wind

Hellas is refurbishing their retail outlets

to be characterised by friendliness, high

technology, interactivity and personalized

service.

Enabling holistic touch points

As CSPs look to revitalize their retail

experience, there are three questions

that need to be address as part of your

strategy:

1. How do we make retail an aspect of a

multi-channel customer journey?

2. How do we empower front line staff to

have a more personalized face-to-

face customer interaction?

3. How can we make the retail

experience more sophisticated and

more consistent?

These ‘holistic touch points’ are key

to enabling a new generation retail

experience that is being driven by

sophisticated buyers who are more

informed than ever before. In the U.S.,

Redknee & Microsoft

Forester predicts web will account for

or influence 59% of U.S. retail sales by

20182. With today’s connected customers

deriving a plethora of information from

various sources, brick-and-mortar

shopping is no longer a singular, contained

event. Rather it should be considered as

part a multi-channel, multi-stage buying

process—one that excites customers,

increases loyalty and drives upsell

opportunities.

Designing the new retail experience

In order to achieve this new generation

retail experiences, CSPs need to look

at the design of their business support

systems, as this plays a major role in

achieving these holistic touch points.

There is the aspect of delivering seamless

and frictionless customer transition as they

pass through various channels, e.g. online

research for new products or services

transfers a customer directly to a retail

store for purchasing. The systems also

need to ensure that all information that is

visible in real-time to customers through

online channels is also available to sale

representatives in the retail store as well

as to other channel agents. For example,

call center agents should have the same

data, recommendations and campaigns

available as retail staff.

As for customer experience, the new

retail experience requires the integration

of retail solutions with business systems,

most notably the customer relationship

management (CRM), billing and

provisioning systems. While the closer

integration of CRM and billing has been on

the agenda for quite some time in order

to achieve a better customer experience,

more product flexibility and convergent

services, the integration of retail systems

has lagged behind and has not been

readily addressed in the next generation

retail experience.

At Redknee, we have been working with

clients to address this gap. An initial step

for enabling innovative retail solutions

is to empower sales representatives with

the same information and capabilities

that other customer care agents have

through self-care channels. Redknee’s

dedicated Dealer Portal application feeds

retail staff with real-time information

about customers and enables online

customer service features such as

product activation, product upsell

and customer information inquiry.

Additionally, the solution integrates with

campaign management and customer

recommendations—creating an even

more powerful in-store customer

experience.

Some CSPs are looking to go a step

further—a broader transformation of retail

support as part of their overall business

transformation strategy. In such cases,

Redknee has worked with Microsoft, a

long time strategic technology partner,

to enable a wider retail solution based on

Microsoft Dynamics AX.

This powerful platform gives CSPs the

ability to drive innovation into their

retail infrastructure, including: store

management, logistics, staff management

and training, etc. with pre-defined

integration to Redknee’s billing and

customer care solutions—Unified Billing

and Unified CRM. Combined, the solution

brings new and innovative retail capabilities

to CSPs such as:

> Enabling a multi-channel customer

journey by integrating retail with

web portals and other channel

interactions through seamless

shopping carts and wish lists;

> Empowering retail agents by giving

real-time access to all relevant

information including customer

history and subscription data as well

as recommendations and customer

life-time value;

> Delivering a sophisticated customer

experience, such as enabling store

appointments that reduce waiting

time and real-time marketing

campaigns that provide more

meaningful in-store engagement.

This pre-defined integration is the baseline

for fully addressing the requirements of a

successful next generation retail strategy.

Making retail the “king” of customer interaction

The push towards this new generation retail

experience is set to make retail agents the

new ‘kings’ of the customer interaction and

experience. Redknee and Microsoft are at

the forefront this transformation and are

working with CSPs to make this vision a

reality by creating a consistent, real-time

flow of information at both ends of the

retail process.

Together we are helping deliver a more

delightful customer experience—the

essence of brand loyalty and future

business success.

1 McKinsey & Company, “The future of US retail-banking distribution.” August, 2014.2 Forrester Research Inc, “The state of retailing online report.” July, 2014.

07

08Awards

Redknee’s focus on driving innovation and increasing customer profitability for service providers across the globe, has once again

been recognized with leading industry awards, including:

Deloitte’s technology Fast 500

Deloitte’s technology Fast 500

telecom Review’s Best Oss/Bss Provider

Deloitte’s technology Fast 500

Deloitte’s technology Fast 500

Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500

Gartner Magic Quadrant for IRCM increased Redknee’s position

Telecom Review’s Best OSS/BSS Provider

GTB Power 100

These are demonstrative of Redknee’s continued strategy to equip CSPs with innovative solutions that support their growth and profitability strategies.

Reimagining telecommunications in a mobile-first, cloud-first world

Omni-channel

Make customer experience the top priority by delivering fluid experiences that transcend time, place, context, and device

Cloud Platform

Respond more quickly to changing needs with a flexible, hybrid cloud that scales for growth

Workforce Productivity

Become a modern workplace by empowering your workforce to make an impact and be responsive

For more information:microsoft.com/telco

10Customer Spotlight

Differentiating with converged billing and customer care

Redknee’s converged solution

addresses the full range of Digicel’s

billing requirements from a centralized

platform. Redknee’s software is

enabling Digicel to monetize other

digital services across various

industries, including utilities and other

future business opportunities. Today,

with Redknee’s support, Digicel is

offering prepaid electricity to residents

and business owners in Papa New

Guinea.

Redknee’s converged billing system

and SMS gateway is supporting

Digicel’s Easypay ‘Easipawa’ prepaid

electricity metering service, enabling

Digicel customers to purchase

electricity at anytime directly from

their mobile phone. Energy customers

simply enter their meter number and

the required amount of electricity,

receive an SMS message confirmation,

and the payment is deducted directly

from their Digicel airtime balance.

Digicel’s postpaid customers can also

utilize the prepaid electricity service

were the purchased amount of energy

is added to the monthly bill.

With Redknee, Digicel is able to

increase revenue and differentiation

by offering its communications

subscribers’ real-time targeted

promotions, service bundles, incentives

and hybrid payment options such

as family or group account plans. In

addition, Redknee is supporting Digicel

to deliver an advanced business model

and generate new revenue streams

by providing energy customers with

the ability to purchase electricity via

their mobile phone through Digicel’s

network. Working in partnership with

the country’s incumbent electricity

utility provider, Digicel and Redknee

provided an alternative solution to the

existing prepaid electricity voucher

top-up payment method, where

rural customers had to travel long

distances to vending sites that were

only available during business hours.

This was time consuming, costly and

inconvenient for the customer.

“With Redknee, the Digicel Easypay

‘Easipawa’ service, which uses a

Buying Energy Credits through Your Mobile Phone

Digicel Group is a leading global communications provider with operations in 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. Renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network Digicel has a trusted partnership with Redknee, who has been instrumental in supporting Digicel to launch and monetize innovative mobile services across its operations.

How Redknee is helping Digicel make life easier for their subscribers

combination of USSD and SMS

technologies, allows Digicel customers

to use any mobile phone to purchase

electricity anytime, anywhere.” Said

John Mangos, CEO at Digicel. “In less

than 18 months Digicel has achieved

a positive ROI, and today, Easipawa

is responsible for a large majority of

all pre-paid electricity purchases in

Papua New Guinea.

A powerful partnership for growth

Operating in a competitive market with

a distributed and remote geographical

presence, meant Digicel has unique

billing and customer care needs,

requiring not only the benefits of a

traditional prepaid and postpaid billing

solution, but one that could reliably

span across a broad geographic

region. Digicel also needed to be

able to scale the solution to support

its rapid growth and to launch new

services in a timely and cost-effective

manner. Digicel required a solution

that could meet the needs of a very

diverse subscriber base, including

language, currency, social and cultural

differences, while providing localized

customer care for each market.

By deploying Redknee’s converged

billing and customer care solution,

Digicel is benefitting from an end-to-

end platform that enables real-time

rating and charging for a wide range

of prepaid and postpaid services

across voice, messaging and data.

With Redknee’s software, Digicel is

able to deliver personalized offers,

distinctive price plans and tariffs,

real-time notifications and customer

self-care to enhance the experience

of its customers. For operators such as

Digicel, which support multiple markets,

other key advantages of Redknee’s

solution is its ability to manage

multiple international currencies and

tariffs, and ensure that taxation and

local regulatory mandates are adhered

to within a single platform. In fact, with

Redknee, Digicel’s installations are

managing five separate currencies. The

flexibility of Redknee’s software also

enables Digicel to offer creative billing

initiatives that gives it a competitive

edge.

Monetizing digital services now and in the future

The utilities sector and other verticals

such as health and transportation are

increasingly providing avenues for

communications service providers

like Digicel to drive customer loyalty,

increase revenues and improve

profitability. By utilizing Redknee’s

converged billing solution, Digicel

has the capability and agility to

efficiently manage subscribers and

service revenue through a centralized

platform. In addition, by consolidating

the billing functions onto a core

platform and managing its multiple

operations from one base, Digicel

is able to control costs and achieve

OPEX and CAPEX savings.

Digicel has worked in partnership with Redknee for some years to expand our service offerings and increase our market presence. Redknee’s converged billing solution is supporting Digicel to launch new data services and provide advanced customer care capabilities to enhance the experience of our customers.

‘‘‘‘11

Digicel customers can purchase electricity credits at anytime right from their mobile phones.

12Customer Spotlight

Utilizing Integrated Charging and Policy to Provide Innovative services and Pricing Plans to global subscribers at home and When Roaming

InsIght: Can you tell us about Truphone?

Colin Windsor: Truphone is a unique

business in that we operate eight Mobile

Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in

eight countries, and these are integrated

into one global mobile network. That

means we make you ‘local’ in every one

of those countries. It is very different from

typical mobile providers, who are normally

based in one country, and when you travel

to another country, you have to roam.

With our infrastructure, we remove the

need for roaming and make you local

everywhere. On top of that we offer lots

of interesting capabilities, like multiple

numbers on one SIM, and 66 countries all

in one bundle, that make it a very unique

proposition for customers.

InsIght: How long have you been a

Redknee customer?

Colin Windsor: We selected NSN, which

then became Redknee, approximately

three years ago. We went out to rebuild

our network infrastructure and our BSS

infrastructure, and selected them to

implement parts of that project.

InsIght: This is a big project, which

other vendors did Truphone evaluate?

Colin Windsor: It was all the

typical big players like Huawei, ZTE

Telecommunications, and HP. The usual

suspects.

InsIght: Why did you select Redknee

above other competitors?

Colin Windsor: We have some very

specific requirements in what we do.

We built a multi-tax, multi-language,

multi-currency billing capability, which

is integrated into our network, and is

very different. Therefore, it was partly

our uniqueness that took us down the

Redknee NSN path. Our situation is

very unique, and one of the vendors

that could provide what we needed was

Redknee.

InsIght: What are the benefits of

having an integrated charging and policy

system?

Colin Windsor: For Truphone, the

benefits include the ability to represent

multiple countries and a range of unique

and different tariffs. We have one global

set of products, because we operate

in multiple countries, and the ability to

represent that in the online charging

Colin Windsor, Truphone’s Chief Operations Officer discusses the benefits of an integrated charging and policy solution to support its growing global mobile network.

system was critical. To represent multiple

countries, to actually build plans like our

World 66 Plan all-in-one bundle requires

a very agile system. What we liked about

the Redknee products was the flexibility

and capability provided by the marketing

use cases.

InsIght: Can you give examples of the

innovative services, price plans and tariff

options you provide to drive customer

satisfaction and loyalty?

Colin Windsor: Part of our offering is

we are local in eight countries, so when

you make a call from the USA to the UK,

for example, it is a local call. When you

call from the UK to Holland, or Germany

to Holland, or Poland to Hong Kong,

they are all local calls, because they are

countries where we have local presence.

We also offer the capability to have

multiple numbers on one SIM. For

example, on my phone, I have eight

numbers: USA, UK, Australia, Hong

Kong, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and

Germany. For me, the benefit is that it

makes me more connected to the people

in that country. For example, I lived in

San Francisco for a few years. My friends

in San Francisco text me or call me on

my USA number. For them, it is a local

call. That is part of our uniqueness. Our

66 Truphone World all-in-one bundle,

where you get minutes and texting for 66

countries around the world, is a pretty

unique proposition. That is all enabled by

the use of Redknee Unified. We offer a

very different product than anybody else

out there.

InsIght: Do you think you could have

accomplished everything you have done

without Redknee’s functionality and

capabilities?

Colin Windsor: They were very intrinsic

to helping us get it off the ground.

INSIGHT: How has Redknee helped you

facilitate that?

Colin Windsor: When we were getting

it off the ground, they were an intrinsic

part of the project team. We had about

five suppliers working with us to build

out the solution. We were building a

global network. We were implementing

eight countries, and we did all of that in

about two years, so it was a pretty fast

implementation of eight MVNOs.

InsIght: As a global provider, what are

you doing to monetize 4G/LTE?

Colin Windsor: LTE is in our plans. We are

implementing infrastructure to support

LTE, we are in the process of various

arrangements with Network Operators

to get access to LTE capabilities, and we

expect in the course of this year, to come

out with an LTE proposition.

InsIght: Dynamics in the industry are

quickly changing, what does “being fast”

mean to Truphone?

Colin Windsor: What we are talking

about is innovation. We have an

incredibly innovative product. We focus

it on the B2B marketplace. We tend

to go for the mid-size to large-scale

corporations who operate in more than

one country, and when you do that

with our proposition, it is a very unique

experience. The local calling capability

is one example, and the fact that we

have more points of presence around

the world means our quality is very

good. The way we have constructed

the network is very unique, so our

proposition is very different from that

of most carriers. We are constantly

extending that proposition, such as a

global portal where you can see all your

traffic around the world, various things

we are constantly extending, new price

tariffs, and having an infrastructure in

which we can do that is very important to

Truphone.

InsIght: How will Redknee’s solution

help support Truphone’s future growth

plans?

Colin Windsor: We regularly share with

Redknee what we are doing. As a supplier

normally would, Redknee gives us advice

and guidance about what they think they

can help us with.

Redknee understood the uniqueness

of our proposition, and worked with us

in how we could engineer that in their

technologies. It is very different when

you are building something like this. It

is fundamentally different from most

MNOs. The collaborative nature Redknee

had while working with us was great. They

were a good collaborative company to

get things done with.

The collaborative nature Redknee had while working with us was great. They were a good collaborative company to get things done with.

‘‘‘‘

14Customer Spotlight

Redknee recently announced a

significant deal with a leading enterprise

business where Redknee’s Connected

Suite, powered by Redknee Unified,

will support different industry verticals

to deliver an improved customer

experience, including loyalty and

cross bundling programs as well as

rating and charging of various kinds of

transactions.

To support its growth in the retail sector,

the service provider selected Redknee

to provide its complete solution stack,

which enables monetizing services

across Telco, Cable, Utilities, and M2M.

Redknee’s software platform will enable

the service provider, which offers

transportation, real estate, retail, leisure,

and business support services, to offer

a special loyalty points program and

marketing promotions that span all of

their businesses.

A real-time loyalty solution to increase customer satisfaction

Redknee’s system allows flexible

calculation of loyalty points in real-time

based on triggers such as the purchase

of services or goods, the time and cost

of the purchase, and even the location;

for example, at a train station or retail

store. With Redknee, the service provider

will also be able to deliver real-time

promotions and marketing campaigns

via SMS, email or social networking sites

such as Facebook.

supporting the growth and Monetization strategy of a Leading national Corporation

Redknee is supporting the implementation of an innovative retail energy solution, to monetize energy, retail business and other digital services to consumers and business customers.

‘‘‘‘

Redknee’s real-time loyalty solution

creates loyalty points at a Point of

Sale (PoS). Depending on the amount

spent, the customer will receive a

corresponding amount of loyalty

points. Typically these will be attached

to a member’s loyalty card. In turn, the

customer will be able to redeem the

loyalty points to help pay for goods and

services at any of the service provider’s

various businesses. The solution can also

be used to offer personalized coupons.

Monetization software to support growth and differentiation

As well as the advanced real-time loyalty

points and rewards program, Redknee

will also be supporting this customer to

implement an innovative retail energy

solution.

Redknee Unified will rate and bill data

from smart meters and Home Energy

Management Systems (HEMS) in real-

time. The service provider will be able

to notify customers about their energy

consumption by providing real-time

insight on electricity usage and billing

data. Customers can access their

consumption data and benefits via a

dedicated smartphone app and web self-

care portal.

Delivering tomorrow’s needs today

The Redknee Connected Suite provides

customer care, real-time analytics,

billing and real-time rating for various

digital services. Designed for both

telco and non-telco businesses, the

Redknee Connected Suite enables

the delivery of bundled offers and

promotions across various industry

verticals, including utilities, smart homes

and transportation, and it also provides

partner billing and settlement to manage

the complex Internet of things (IoT)

partner ecosystem. Service providers

can leverage Redknee’s highly flexible

and scalable solution to support other

lines of business from a centralized

platform.

With Redknee’s converged charging, billing, policy management and customer care solution, the service provider can utilize the loyalty management system to support other lines of business, including energy supply, transportation, retail and cable TV, all from a single platform.

‘‘‘‘15

High throughput and

scalability: manage billions

of events or transactions in

real-time

Partner billing and

settlement: manage

the complex IoT partner

ecosystem

Dynamic rate and tariff

plans: support various

business models and

payment types

Cross bundling of offerings:

bundle offers and

promotions across various

industry verticals

Cloud-based: scale up

or down with ease. Cost

efficient and secure.

16Outside Perspective

Opportunities from

Iot – opportunity or hype?

Each January, as the year stretches

ahead of me, I wonder what the next great

telecoms trend will be. Without a doubt,

the most hyped topic of 2014 was the

Internet of Things (IoT) and, in early 2015,

the interest and conversations around IoT

show little sign of abating. Unlike many

hyped trends, IoT looks like it will deliver

sooner rather than later, and is being driven

by industries other than our own – both in

terms of vision and demand.

The inevitability of IoT was underlined for

me when, at CES15, Samsung’s CEO and

president BK Yoon stated that by 2020 the

company’s entire range of hardware would

be Internet-connected – whether that was

air purifiers, ovens, vacuum cleaners or the

‘smart’ chair he posseted might warm up

when it senses that the user has walked into

the room and is feeling cold.

This bold stake in the ground should have

both excited and frightened the telecoms

industry in equal measure. Excited it,

because it will create untold opportunities;

and frightened it because the industry

is as yet ill-positioned to maximise the

commercial potential to itself from these

opportunities

As important as IoT will be to Enterprise

2020, however, it must be remembered

that the smart, connected enterprise of

the future encompasses not just IoT but

connected and mobile people as well

(employees, customers and partners)

– creating what has been termed the

‘Internet of Everything’ (IoE). Opportunities

thus arise from how enterprises run

themselves, as well as from how they

interact with customers, and from how they

make money.

Verticalization and partnerships are key to creating value from Enterprise 2020

As enterprises move to a more connected

model of doing business, the challenge for

communications service providers (CSPs) is

to secure a lucrative position in the future

value chain. If they fail to do this, they risk

being disintermediated into dreaded bit-

pipe status and, although I strongly believe

a utility network business has undoubtedly

got its place in the mix, most CSPs desire

more than this.

The good news is there are a wide range

of ways in which CSPs can add value,

assume critical positions within the value

chain, and build a more lucrative business

for themselves. To do this they need to

identify not just horizontal services but

also verticalized services they can deliver

– since much of the value deriving from

Enterprise 2020 will lie in verticalization,

just as it lies in personalisation on the B2C

side.

To take just one vertical market example,

in the Mining and Minerals industry there is

a rapid shift from ‘Rock Factory’ to ‘Smart

Mine’, fuelled by IoT, Big Data, Analytics and

Mobility. The Oil & Gas industry is somewhat

ahead of mining but shares common

drivers. It needs to comply with legislation

and must address key operational

challenges such as improved efficiency

Telesperience

Teresa Cottam, Chief Strategist Telesperience

and shortages in human capital, as well as

operating in ever-more remote operational

locations. However, due to the sudden

drop in oil prices, the Oil & Gas industry is

experiencing particularly acute pressure to

combat pricing volatility with increases in

operational efficiency, which reinforces the

need for smarter, connected technology.

At the other end of the spectrum, retailers

perceive huge commercial advantage

in creating personalised and compelling

buying experiences, fuelled by an

understanding of the customer context and

profile. Retailers are ‘weaponising’ social

media, deploying WiFi for both always-

on connectivity and customer location

purposes, and investing in multichannel

commerce – with the emphasis always

on the commercial reality of attracting

customers, and subsequently persuading

and enabling them to spend more money.

As exciting as these scenarios are, however,

pragmatism is required. CSPs are unlikely to

be able to adequately serve every vertical,

and so must choose which ones hold the

most potential for them. They’re also

unlikely to be able to innovate internally

every product required by a vertical,

which points to the requirement for a

clever partnership strategy supported by

the ability to manage and recompense

partners in the value chain.

Enterprise 2020 presents huge opportunities for those who can think differently and react quickly

To prosper in the longer term and to

squeeze more value out of the connected

world, CSPs need to consider how they will

enable Enterprise 2020 beyond providing

bits and bytes. For example by:

> Providing tuneable and guaranteed QoS – to meet the connected enterprise’s need for performance

> Securing and protecting the connected world across any network and to an appropriate level for different customer and service types

> Providing Cloud-based applications, storage or analytical capabilities

> Delivering seamless, appropriate and network agnostic experiences

> Monetizing proximity to the end customer by analyzing context and delivering context-appropriate experiences

> Creating insight on customer behaviour

and preferences to deliver better experiences and new commercial opportunities

> Helping enterprises transact for the services and experiences they provide in the connected world.

For once, lack of opportunity is not the

problem. The problem is creating CSP value

as the commercial world becomes ever-

more connected. The nightmare scenario

is having to manage ever-rising data traffic

without the commensurate rewards to

compensate CSPs for doing so, while being

locked out of more lucrative opportunities

because they moved too slowly.

To avoid this trap a mindset change is

required. Simply charging for data by

volume and focusing on traditional,

direct business relationships risks missing

out on the value generated by indirect

(albeit often more complex) business

relationships, as well as the true value

inherent in the data itself.

Teresa Cottam is the Chief Strategist at Telesperience. She has over 20 years’ experience in the telecoms industry and has worked in senior roles at Analysys Mason, Chorleywood Consulting and Ovum. She is the author of numerous influential reports and trends papers, is a regular speaker and chair at telecoms events, and is a judge at the Global Mobile Awards presented annually at Mobile World Congress. In addition she has worked as a consultant and strategist in a wide-range of vertical and geographical markets. Her current research focus is to help CSPs maximise their opportunities, attract and retain customers, and operate more efficiently. You can follow Teresa on Twitter at @teresacottam.

17

Red Comment 18View from Redknee’s VP of Marketing

Gartner’s Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies ranks the Internet of Things right at the top. That

is to say that the IoT is at the ‘peak of inflated expectations’, or in layman’s terms, everyone is talking about it but only a few are actually doing it. Before long, within the next 3-5 years, the business models will shake out and the IoT will move beyond the height of the hype curve and more towards reality.

The introduction of 5G in 2020 will be the technology enabler that supercharges the IoT, empowering even the smallest of connected devices to support rich content and services. 2G networks were designed for voice, 3G for data, and 4G for apps and broadband internet. With 5G, we’ll see computing power combining with communications, so billions of things will be able to talk to other things. This

is where the Internet of Things becomes the Internet of Everything.

Today, in much of the consumer IoT market, there is a home gateway that connects sensors to the Internet via Bluetooth, Zigby or Wi-fi. With 3G and 4G networks, your Fitbit talks to your smartphone and then your smartphone talks to a 3G or 4G network. This is a 2 step process with a gateway in the middle. The reason for this is that connecting sensors directly to today’s networks cause power and frequency problems. At the current stage 5G will address these issues by more efficiently use spectrum, thus enabling lower power usage. It opens up the playing field for more sensors to move away from their reliance on Wi-fi and fixed networks and connect directly to mobile networks.

Many industry pundits are imagining where CSPs will fit into the IoT value chain– will they be focused on connectivity alone, or will they move into IoT device management and have their own IoT offerings, expanding into other verticals such as connected home, transportation and utilities? Today, if your smartphone talks to your Nike wearable device account – there is no value-add from a CSP’s perspective. The connection is routed through a gateway. But if CSPs move towards managing the individual devices themselves and providing the connectivity, which will be possible with 5G, there is more value delivered from the CSP, and more services that they can bill for. Now let’s take it a step further, to a model where the CSPs not only deliver the connectivity and device management, but the rating, charging, policy management and partner settlement as well.

Communication service Providers -The True IoT Enabler

Chris Newton-Smith,Vice President of Marketing

The introduction of 5G will be the technology enabler that supercharges the IoT, empowering even the smallest of connected devices to support rich content and services.

‘‘‘‘

The thousands of businesses entering the IoT ecosystem will need all of these services, and the majority of them are not equipped. 5G is only 5 years away, and in many ways the industry is moving forward already. We are progressing towards this now and CSPs need to be ready. They need to decide what the impact will be. What does it mean for business models and how will they make money in this changing ecosystem? As Steve Prentice, vice president and Gartner Fellow points out, “CIOs must understand that the most disruptive impact and competitive threats — and, equally, the greatest competitive opportunities — arise not from simply digitalizing a product or service, but from creating a new business model and value proposition,”

Our view, even in today’s 4G world, is that the new business model and value proposition lies in the enablement of enterprise businesses in the IoT. There are a growing group of industries and businesses that need an easy

and efficient way to launch their IoT offerings and support their various partners. CSPs that provide an IoT BSS ‘Platform as a service’ (PaaS) with enterprise middleware/integration will be among the early winners in monetizing the IoT. The “billions” of devices that are projected to be connected will need to be connected to something that has value on the other end – and businesses will need a way to charge for these services beyond a flat rate.

Gartner estimates that IoT will support total services spending of $69.5 billion in 2015 and $263 billion by 2020. Today’s early IoT platforms are successful because they make it easy for CSPs to support new IoT businesses - they bundle together connectivity, device management and some basic billing functionality, allowing IoT businesses to quickly launch new services. But many of the platforms in this space today only provide the most basic billing functionality–flat rate billing for connectivity of IoT devices with a few basic SLAs that need to be supported. The problem is that the

IoT is a complex space with complex partnerships and billing arrangements- and it’s only going to get more and more complex. There will undoubtedly be many instances where flat rate billing isn’t enough; where additional one time fees, usage based billing and real-time payments and partner settlements will be required.

CSPs can offer connectivity with full turnkey BSS support to their enterprise IoT customers, just like they do for their traditional MVNO partners today. CSPs are trusted brands that can help their enterprise customers by moving beyond connectivity, towards providing a full IoT packaged offer. This should include device management along with charging, policy management, partner settlement and customer care.

CSPs should be able to look at the services their enterprise customers want to provide and give them the flexibility to make it happen; from supporting new business models and complex charging scenarios, to launching campaigns and promotions on the fly. All provided with an out of the box solution that can be quickly implemented, so IoT businesses can do what they do best, focus on developing their next killer app.

19

Learn more about Redknee’s

innovationin the Iot marketplace:

http://goo.gl/6FpRSA

Red News 20Latest highlights from Redknee

Redknee, PLDT-SMART Foundation (PSF) and Smart Communications Inc. continue to provide relief to support Philippine communities a year after Typhoon HaiyanA little over a year ago, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded devastated parts of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. In response to the natural disaster, the Philippines leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) in partnership with the government, national and international enterprises like Redknee, supported relief efforts. A key initiative that PSF is driving is the rebuilding of schools, especially in remote areas. Today, PSF is identifying possible sites for construction of classrooms in the areas of Antique and will utilize funds and partner with Redknee to achieve this school project.

Redknee Unified Introduces Innovative Features to Deliver Faster Monetization Dedicated to developing innovative software to meet the challenges of service providers around the world, the latest release of Redknee Unified is now available and includes innovative features to help drive revenue, increase profitability and advance the customer experience. Redknee Unified 10 empowers service providers with greater flexibility, scalability and the ability to monetize new revenue streams faster in today’s challenging market.

Redknee’s Connected Suite Enables Growth in the Retail Energy Sector Redknee signed its first commercial order with a leading national corporation and service provider in Asia Pacific, enabling them to monetize their retail energy business and other digital services to both consumer and business customers.

Monetize the Mobile Data Explosion with Redknee’s Policy WizardRedknee’s Policy Control Server (PCS) provides operators the agility they need to deliver and charge for digital services in ways that work best for their subscribers. Its easy-to-use interface allows marketing and non-technical teams to create new policy and charging plans that customers crave – in minutes.

Vodafone India Leverages Redknee Unified ChargingOperating in one of the most competitive markets in the world, Vodafone India has chosen to employ the latest version of Redknee Unified Charging to boost its data subscribers’ adoption and enhance customer satisfaction. Redknee’s converged charging solution is driving customer loyalty and generating new revenue opportunities for this Tier 1 operator.

21

Beyond the Buzz 22Industry updates from around the globe

Source: TechCrunch

http://goo.gl/culnqV

Your Watch May be Watching YouWearables are invading the workplace, leading to new ways of improving employee productivity and engagement – and perhaps even some spying.

http://goo.gl/swnYvw

how Much is your Brain Worth?By 2020, a $1000 personal computer will have the raw processing power of a human brain. This will impact how and to what extent humans will add value in an increasingly complex marketplace.Source: Cisco

Ax Pax, a Californian company, has successfully tested prototype hoverboards that are lifted by a magnetic field created by disc-shaped hover engines that can levitate about an inch from the ground. Source: International Business Times

Back to the Future

http://goo.gl/LCj2PW

23

Red Locations 24Where in the world is Redknee?

As the birthplace of Redknee’s visionary founder and CEO,

Lucas Skoczkowski, it is only fitting that Poland is home to

the company’s core Research & Development division.

Supporting Redknee’s global business, the Polish R&D unit is

one of the company’s most vital locations providing product

design, development and delivery as well as exclusive

24/7 customer support. With over 200 forward-thinking

professionals including world-class software engineers,

solution architects and project managers, Redknee Poland

hopes to expand its talented team this year.

Redknee showcases

Real-time Monetization at MWC 2015

At the year’s most anticipated mobile

technology event, Mobile World Congress,

Redknee once again stood before 90K+

attendees at the forefront of leading-edge

solutions for today’s service provider. In over

150 meetings, Redknee demonstrated how we

help our customers unlock the potential of

new revenue streams at the heart of worldwide

innovation while driving profitability in their

businesses.

Redknee will ready your business for navigating

the complex world of mobile technology to

deliver an advanced customer experience. From

data and wearables to connected homes and

cloud services, we facilitate the means for your

business to support the new business models

that tomorrow’s technology requires.

Redknee Events 26Recap of MWC

At Mobile World Congress 2015, we showcased our latest product demos:

Pave the way for a more connected and smarter city

with direct loyalty applications for transportation, retail,

entertainment and communications that will improve your

customers’ experience and power a varied ecosystem of

enterprise businesses from a single platform.

Smart Loyalty

Integrated Multi-play

Seamlessly replicate the mobile product offers and self-

service experience that consumers have come to love

and extend it to other lines of business. Streamlining your

billing and charging into one convenient system for multiple

business lines can bring innovative product cross-bundle

opportunities that will raise new streams of revenue.

Enhance your ability monetize mobile data. Stimulate usage

across your active customer base, gain new business insights,

launch ‘smart’ campaigns and tap into new revenue streams.

Leverage new business insight to identify opportunities and

see how you can quickly rollout marketing campaigns that

guide customer behavior while shaping demand.

Data Monetizaton

27

Listen to Redknee’s CEO, Lucas Skoczkowski, as he explains the opportunities and

challenges in monetizing the growing world of digital content and the Internet of Things.

http://goo.gl/u7LhZc

Redknee Events 28

VanillaPlus nFV Roundtable Discussion30

APRIL 2015

http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/NFVRoundtable_2015.aspx

telco strategies 2015Jakarta, Indonesia

http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/events05201501.aspx

20-21MAY 2015

Meet Redknee at a city near you

(12pm EDT)

Data hypergrowth: Challenges, Opportunities and Monetization strategiesWebinar

26MAY 2015

http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/webinars/DataMonetizationWebinar2015.aspx

Webinar

tM Forum Live!Nice, France

1-3JUNE 2015

http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/events06011501.aspx

29

MVnO Industry summit LAtAM 2015Mexico City, Mexico

16-17JUNE 2015

http://redknee.com/about_us/news_events/events/events06161501.aspx

Redknee Corporate headquarters2560 Matheson Boulevard EastMississauga, Ontario Canada L4W 4Y9Tel: +1 905 625 2622Fax: +1 905 625 2773www.redknee.com