SAP FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

CONVERGENCE IS CHANGING THE COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY . . .

“. . . The war has begun, and the telecom, cable, and related industries

may be about to enter the bloodiest battle in their history.”

“Tearing Down the Walls in Telecom,” BusinessWeek, March 2, 2004

HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?

You don’t run a generic business. So why use generic solutions?

The SAP for Telecommunications solution portfolio takes you beyond the generic

to give you exactly what you need. Combining leading-edge software applications with

the solid industry-specific expertise of SAP consultants and technicians, it contains

solutions that suit your requirements, your size, and the way you do business.

These comprehensive solutions, which provide an unsurpassed range of industry-

specific functionality, are tailored to the particular standards, processes, and challenges

of the communications industry. They help communications service providers (CSPs)

gain cross-enterprise visibility for better decision making in critical business areas. And

they can help your organization improve its operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and

increase profitability while enabling innovative business models and customer services.

The portfolio’s end-to-end solutions integrate enterprise business on a coherent

platform, streamline existing operations, and introduce efficient, future-proof business

functionality. They are supported by the SAP NetWeaver® platform – a powerful

integration and application platform – and deliver rich functionality and productivity-

building tools throughout your organization. And they help you adopt the best

practices SAP has developed in over 30 years of working with major communications

providers and industry leaders from around the world.

SAP for Telecommunications also helps you minimize risk and increase reliability by

providing the content, tools, and methodologies you need to design, measure, analyze,

improve, and control your enterprise. Because it enables easy integration and virtually

unlimited scalability, this portfolio is an investment you can’t outgrow.

EMPOWERING COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS

A UNIFIED VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER . . .

BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE THAT SUPPORTS A CONVERGED INDUSTRY

For communications service providers, it is a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity. Connectivity is now a com-modity, with broadband providing the core infrastructure. And content is king, as digital content distribution networks deliver data, video, voice, software, and services to customers around the world.

Although these trends have altered the competitive landscape for CSPs, savvy providers, media companies, and ad agencies are beginning to take advantage of the opportunities these changes present. In fact, traditional telecom companies, cable and satellite providers, retailers, network equipment providers, and entertainment companies are partnering and competing throughout the market-place. By embracing technologies that shift the operational focus from the network to the customer and support real-time, agile business processes, CSPs can adapt to new market realities, inno-vate, and compete effectively in today’s market.

SAP can help. The SAP for Telecommu-nications solution portfolio provides the business infrastructure you need to deliver on the changing expectations of customers and consumers. It also enables the functionality you need to grow and strengthen your business ecosystem and seize new marketplace opportunities as they develop. At the foundation of SAP for Telecommuni-cations is industry-standard SAP® soft-ware you can use to create an adaptive

infrastructure – one that will help you evolve your current IT landscape into a strategic environment that drives business change. Built on the SAP NetWeaver platform, this flexible, service-oriented software enables infinite configurability and extensibility, allowing you to model customized, dynamic business processes and provide the unique solutions your business requires.

Implemented at more than 1,200 telecom and media companies worldwide, the SAP for Telecommunications solutions allow you and other CSPs to streamline the order-to-cash cycle, enhance customer relationships, accurately anticipate demand, plan supply networks, manage assets, extend collaborative processes, plan and distribute content, and optimize the network life cycle. They provide everything you need to become an adaptive CSP.

Yet this content is increasingly personal-ized and customized – one size no longer fits all – forcing CSPs to find new ways of delivering services efficiently and profitably to ever-smaller audiences. With advertising revenues shifting to online and edge devices, media compa-nies must be prepared to take advantage of new business models.

REQUIRES INTEGRATION AND SEAMLESS PROCESSES

POWERFUL FEATURES THAT PROVIDE THE BENEFITS NEEDED BY CSPs

To compete effectively in today’s com-munications marketplace, you must adjust rapidly to changing conditions, customer demands, and partnership requirements. Only with a culture and an infrastructure designed to support change and strategic execution can you bring new services to market quickly, deploy services and set prices in real-time, and offer service bundles that reflect customer needs.

SAP for Telecommunications offers customer-centric solutions designed specifically to meet the challenges facing CSPs. The solutions are based on power-ful software applications that can help you increase flexibility, enhance profit-ability, and introduce innovative growth strategies in a competitive marketplace.

IN A DYNAMIC MARKETPLACE . . .

These solutions support the following functions:• Network life-cycle management and

asset management functions, which help you reduce capital investment expenditures

• Enterprise resource planning, strategic sourcing, and supplier relationship management functions, which enable new efficiencies and let you control operating expenses and achieve bottom-line growth

• Customer financials management, customer relationship management, and master-data management func-tions, which allow you to realize the synergies of convergence

• Intellectual property management, advertising management, partner management, and settlement func-tions, which help you differentiate and innovate your business so you can drive top-line growth

In short, SAP for Telecommunications offers maximum value for your invest-ment, helping you realize business benefits across the enterprise through organizational management processes. It enables you to perform analytics, manage financials, support human capital management, deliver corporate services, and execute operations to achieve a wide range of benefits.

“SAP had an advantage

over the competition

because it has extensive

industry experience . . .

SAP has a proven track

record, it makes invest -

ments in its software

for the media and enter-

tainment world, and it

has long-term vision

and commitment.”

Leo Collins,Chief Information

Officer, Lionsgate Entertainment

ONLY ADAPTIVE CSPs WILL SURVIVE

Increased Value for Every CustomerThrough its industry-specific solutions, SAP for Telecommunications enables a 360-degree view of customers across the enterprise. It supports both traditional and new business processes and encour-ages collaboration within the enterprise and among business partners. And it provides functionality for billing, finan-cials, and customer relationship manage-ment. With this functionality, you can provide each customer with relevant and personalized messages or offers. And customers can specify the commu-nications methods they prefer you to use, allowing you to interact with them seamlessly across multiple channels. With a single view of the customer, you can increase average revenue per user, average margin per user, and bundle penetration.

Maximized Business Opportunities By understanding the customer’s needs and desires and having that information available across the enterprise, you can more accurately anticipate customer needs and be ready to offer appropriate services at the right time. In doing so, you can increase up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, reduce subscriber acquisi-tion and retention costs, and decrease the rate of order fallout.

Enhanced Customer SatisfactionThe SAP solutions available in the tele-com portfolio help you provide every customer with world-class support and service. Because you can respond to customers’ unique needs and concerns, you can increase their overall satisfaction. Keeping customers happy lets you reduce churn, optimize your investment, and reduce the cost of doing business.

Reduced Capital ExpendituresBy enabling network life-cycle manage-ment, SAP for Telecommunications helps you increase efficiencies in design-ing, building, and operating telecom networks, which can reduce duplicate and unnecessary capital expense.

Incremental Transformation The solutions in SAP for Telecommuni-cations are powered by the SAP NetWeaver platform. SAP NetWeaver unifies tech-nology components into a single plat-form, providing the best way to integrate all systems running SAP or non-SAP software. SAP NetWeaver also helps organizations align IT with their business. As the foundation for enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), SAP NetWeaver allows organizations to compose and enhance business applica-tions rapidly to drive business change.

SAP DELIVERS VALUE

TO FIND A GOOD SOLUTION . . .

SAP supports the processes most important to CSPs and provides the tools to help you manage these processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness. The solution map shown on the following page gives you a clear overview of the processes relevant to the communications sector.

Built using input from customers and industry analysts – and the technical expertise SAP has acquired through extensive experience and research – solution maps are multilevel blueprints of processes defined for a particular industry. They help you visualize, plan, and implement a coherent, integrated, and comprehensive information technology solution. They also show how various processes are covered, including the processes that SAP and its partners support. Solution maps help you quickly understand software solutions and the value they can bring. The solution map for the communications industry is available at www.sap.com/industries/telecom/businessmaps.epx.

YOU NEED A GOOD MAP

Suppliers & Partners

Design & Build Infrastructure

Operate Infrastructure

Develop & Promote Products & Services

Sell & Fulfill Assist Customers Customers & Channels

Network Life-Cycle Management

Demand and Supply Planning

Investment Management

Network Design and Build

Operations and Maintenance

Bill & Collect

Marketing Analytics &

Product Management

Product Planning and Prioritization

Project Management

Product Development

Marketing & CampaignManagement

Churn Management

Sales & Service Fulfillment

Lead and Opportunity Management

Sales and Order Management

Customer Field Service Management

Logistics Management

Dealer Management

Dealer Lifecycle Management

Dealer Operations Management

Incentive and Commission Management

Forecasting and Replenishment

Billing, Invoicing & Presentment

Billing

Invoicing and resentment

Customer Financials Management

Credit Risk and Collections Management

Receivables Management and Payment Handling

Financial Customer Care and Dispute Management

Reconciliation and Closing

Auditing

Enterprise Management & Support

Analytics

Financials

Human Capital Management

Corporate Services

Operations Support

The SAP for Telecommunications Solution Map

Customer Service

Customer TroubleManagement

Complaints and ReturnsManagement

Customer Field ServiceManagement

KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY . . .

THE AGILITY TO INNOVATE, WITH A FOCUS ON PROFITABILITY

SAP for Telecommunications is a highly configurable set of solutions that incorporates global best practices – processes that have been proven over time at 63% of media companies and 81% of telecommunications companies within the Global 500. It is based on the SAP NetWeaver platform, which acts as the foundation for an enterprise SOA, an architecture that allows organizations to evolve their current IT landscapes into strategic environments that drive business change.

Customers worldwide have used the solutions in SAP for Telecommunications to drive quantifiable business benefits. For example, telecommunications provider TeliaSonera used customer financial management functions to significantly reduce unallocated pay-ments and line disconnection. The number of cases in its collections process has dropped and the period-closing activities are much faster as a result of the integration of accounts receivables and general ledger features.

Let SAP for Telecommunications help you become an adaptive CSP. With the flexible, powerful infrastructure offered by SAP solutions, you can seize opportunities to expand your market-place, deliver on customer expectations in real time, and strengthen your ties with partners throughout your ecosystem. To learn how SAP for Telecommunications can help your enterprise succeed, visit us at www.sap.com/industries/telecom.

The solutions in the SAP for Telecommunications portfolio are carefully designed to help you and other CSPs deliver the responsive and valuable services customers want – with a low total cost of ownership that frees resources needed to create innovative processes. Among these solutions is a flexible, easy-to-use interface that enables employees to work efficiently with a very short learning curve. Role-based and personalized access means that users can quickly and easily gain access to the information they need to do their jobs effectively.

“SAP’s solution came

out on top in our cost/

benefit comparison.

It was clearly the most

advanced solution, and

the one best suited to

our needs.”

Hernan Saavedra, CIO,

Entel S.A.

BY DELIVERING VALUABLE SERVICES

BENEFITS OF SAP FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Activity Advantage

Network Life-Cycle Management

Single view of network assets, enabling coordinated network growth plans, enhanced visibility into network utilization, and improved inventory management for spare parts

Customer Relationship Management

Coordinated customer interactions across multiple touch points, supporting increased penetration of bundled services, higher average revenue per user, and reduced rate of customer churn

Customer Financials Management

Single view of the customer across multiple billing and customer care systems, enabling increased customer profitability, faster time to market with new services, reduced accounts receivable volumes, and bad debt write-offs

Supply Chain Management Inventory visibility into channel partners and suppliers, supporting effective demand management as well as supply collaboration with stakeholders

Supplier Relationship Management

Coordinated relationships with suppliers, enabling reduced maverick buying, increased contract compliance, improved spending visibility, decreased cost of procurement, shorter procurement cycles, and enhanced data accuracy

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