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BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH
© Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan 2016 2 “We Accelerate Growth”
Contents
Background and Company Performance ..................................................................... 3
Introduction .................................................................................................... 3
Industry Challenges .......................................................................................... 4
Stratecast End-to-End Billing Market Assessment .................................................. 6
Telarix ............................................................................................................ 9
Telarix Market Leadership ................................................................................ 13
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 16
Significance of Market Leadership ........................................................................... 17
Understanding Market Leadership ........................................................................... 17
Key Performance Criteria ....................................................................................... 18
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards .................. 19
About ODAM ........................................................................................................ 19
About Stratecast .................................................................................................. 19
About Frost & Sullivan .......................................................................................... 20
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© Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan 2016 3 “We Accelerate Growth”
Background and Company Performance
Introduction
The interconnect & settlement segment of communications service provider (CSP) billing
emerged nearly 30 years ago to address the transport of fixed-line voice calls from one
carrier’s network to another. It has evolved to handle new services such as mobile voice,
mobile roaming, text messaging, and data services.
Interconnect is a wholesale connection between network operators. An interconnect
agreement defines the business and technical terms a carrier accepts for transporting
network traffic with another carrier. In most cases, this involves international carriers
working with other international carriers. In the United States, interconnection also occurs
locally and regionally.
Wholesale carrier services are bought and sold by nearly every network operator
throughout the world, and are supported by a range of interconnect agreements
composed of at least three parts:
First, a technical agreement defines the connection pathway with associated
operational attributes, and specifies the needed protocol definition to allow diverse
types of network traffic to flow between carriers. These technical ―pathways‖ are
generally established once, and then held in place.
The second part pertains to the business relationship of the interconnect
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agreement—the high level contract specifications concerning how network traffic
will be processed and managed. Again, this part of an interconnect agreement is
essential, and is also generally static.
Finally, a pricing agreement is the business contract that defines the pricing and ―in
effect‖ timing of the agreement, along with any other specific terms and conditions
about how network traffic from one carrier will be routed across another carrier’s
network. The pricing agreement is dynamic and an essential part of all wholesale
connections.
Pricing agreements change quickly, sometimes daily. Profitability in the wholesale space
for a network operator comes with routing traffic appropriately to maintain the highest
margin, while balancing volume commitments, quality of service (QoS), and similar
factors. Automated agreement management, especially for pricing agreements, is now an
essential requirement for the end-to-end interconnect partner management process.
Due to the sheer number of CSPs in the world—in excess of four thousand—that must
exchange agreements, price lists, and invoices, an automated, auditable, business
information exchange service has considerable merit. Stratecast believes that an
automated pricing agreement function must be integrated with the interconnect &
settlement solution.
Industry Challenges
The CSP billing segments of interconnect & settlement and partner management share
many similarities. Interconnect is broadly defined as a carrier-to-carrier wholesale
agreement for handling a voice or data connection from one operator by another when the
terminating point of the connection falls outside the original operator’s network. An
interconnect agreement defines the business and technical terms with which a carrier
accepts and transports such connections.
Settlement addresses the financial aspects of these transactions; for example, how much
does Carrier A owe Carrier B for transporting and delivering its traffic? How much does
Carrier B owe Carrier A? The amounts charged or owed in the forward direction do not
always equate to the reverse direction, due primarily to traffic patterns and rate
agreements. A settlement payment is usually initiated on a 30-day cycle between CSPs,
often using a financial clearinghouse supplier to complete the settlement process.
A new source of interconnect is tied to network transport agreements involving the
wholesale delivery of content partner service capabilities for inclusion in complex CSP
service offerings. Another need involves application programming interface (API)
connectivity between partners. This API-to-API association can be facilitated through a
partner-focused orchestration platform provided by a CSP, or it could be provided by other
suppliers within the global communications marketplace. Both of these new requirements
are driving growth.
Partner management is similar to interconnect & settlement, but has emerged more
recently, and has evolved quickly. This segment includes supplier agreements: the
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business terms and technical interoperability details that define the conditions pertaining
to content or services delivered via a CSP network. Partner management also includes a
financial settlement function: the details of who gets paid, how payments are defined, and
how often they are made. The figure below provides a summary of the differences
between the interconnect and partner management functions.
Source: Stratecast
Both types of wholesale relationships involve business-to-business (B2B) interaction; but,
while the interconnect segment focuses exclusively on CSP-to-CSP agreements, partner
management is more far-reaching: CSPs to multiple other organizations. In addition,
traditional interconnect focuses on network connectivity services (voice, text, and data),
while the partner management side covers a wider spectrum of needs.
Interconnect & settlement and partner management share many similarities, and some
suppliers now blend functionality from both domains within their solution offerings. While
practical on many levels, there is still strong resistance to combining them at the solution
implementation and process level for the CSPs that use these tools—often due to historical
preferences and organizational opposition, but also due to the specialized needs of each
domain.
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Stratecast End-to-End Billing Market Assessment
The Stratecast ODAM1 team annually assesses the role of billing within the changing
communications marketplace and within the CSP monetization practice. "Billing" is defined
by Stratecast as shown in the figure below, to include the major business management
functions of: billing mediation, rating & charging, other core billing, policy management,
interconnect & settlement, and partner management. Along with associated analytics,
these monetization functions enable the management approaches of today, as well as the
hope for new revenue streams in the future.
Source: Stratecast
1 The processes and tools that communications service providers (CSPs) have utilized to run their businesses have changed over time. More than a half-century ago, CSP network and business management processes were manual (OAM&P). As CSPs evolved over the years, so did the operations support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) that address CSP business and network management needs. In recent years, the lines between OSS and BSS have become less clear, with much overlap. In addition, the roles in which OSS and BSS operate have expanded beyond traditional boundaries. As such, Stratecast now uses the term Operations, Orchestration, Data Analytics &
Monetization (ODAM) to encompass both the traditional OSS and BSS functions and the new areas in which business and operations management must now work together, including virtualized networks and telecom data analysis.
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Additional Billing Functions
The monetization needs of today’s complex services require an increasingly real-time
business support process that involves interaction with various network technologies,
computing capabilities, external partners, and suppliers. The end-to-end billing process
consists of the six primary functions previously noted and shown in the figure above, in
addition to others including:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions have long been adjacent to
CSP billing, which is used by CSPs to communicate with their end-customers. Self-
care is a function that has gained importance in recent years, to allow end-
customers to address most business issues interactively with automated systems
rather than with a customer care agent. Stratecast delineates self-care as part of
Other Core Billing.
Analytics, in particular what Stratecast refers to as purpose-built analytics, is now
part of each of the major billing segments.
Product and service catalogs are an integral part of a CSP billing system, acting as
business logic "glue" to define what customers pay for and what they are provided
by the technology that renders a service offering. As a whole, the product catalog
does not fit neatly into any of the billing segments. However, because product and
service catalogs describe what defines a service, what the role is for each sub-
system delivering a service, and lays out the business rules for how customers are
charged when they use a service, the product and service catalog function is
counted as part of Other Core Billing.
Policy management, as depicted in the figure above, consists of a rules function,
which Stratecast includes as part of billing, and an enforcement function, which
Stratecast views as network capabilities mostly beyond the scope of billing.
Stratecast Billing Report Series
The recently completed Stratecast assessment of the global billing marketplace involves
over 100 global suppliers. The findings are delivered in a multi-part report series
consisting of:
Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 1: End-to-End CSP Billing Market
Forecast and Market Share Analysis provides a market share analysis and five-
year market forecast for the overall, end-to-end global CSP billing market. Recently
released,2 this report identifies the overall billing industry leaders, and highlights
billing solution leaders by revenue within the various global regions.
Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 2: Billing Mediation Market Forecast
and Market Share Analysis assesses the billing mediation sector, provides a
global market share analysis, and establishes a five-year forecast for this market.
2 See OSSCS 17-05, Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 1: End-to-End CSP Billing Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis, June 2016.
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This recently published report3 provides a market share analysis of approximately
50 suppliers that deliver mediation solutions to the global CSP market, along with a
five-year revenue forecast.
Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 3: Rating & Charging and Other Core
Billing Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis assesses the rating &
charging and other core billing sectors, both individually and in combination. For
each, the report delivers a five-year market forecast, and a global market share
analysis of approximately 90 suppliers that operate within one or both of these
billing domains. The report is scheduled for publication in August 2016.4
Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 4: Policy Management Market Forecast
and Market Share Analysis. Global CSP Billing Part 4 assesses the policy
management sector—in particular, what is known as the rules function. It provides
a market share analysis of approximately 55 suppliers that deliver policy
management rules function solutions, along with a five-year global forecast. The
report will be published during third quarter 2016.
Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 5: Interconnect & Settlement and
Partner Management Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis. Global
CSP Billing Part 5 assesses the interconnect & settlement and the partner
management sectors, both individually and in combination. This report is the
source for this award. The report establishes a five-year market forecast for
these two markets, and a market share analysis of the more than 60 suppliers that
operate within them. This report will be published during third quarter 2016.
These five reports constitute what Stratecast refers to as our ―numbers‖ reports, providing
market forecast and market share data for the CSP end-to-end billing market and the six
billing sub-sectors. These five reports are delivered annually.
Global CSP Billing - Interconnect & Settlement Market Share Analysis
The first report in this billing series, OSSCS 17-05, Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 1:
End-to-End CSP Billing Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis, June 2016, provides a
market share analysis for the end-to-end billing market, utilizing a base year of 2015. As
in previous Stratecast forecasts, this analysis is based on the sum of revenue generated
by supplier offerings in six related global billing segments including:
Billing Mediation
Rating & Charging
Other Core Billing functions
Policy Management (Rules Function)
3 See OSSCS 17-06, Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 2: Billing Mediation Market Forecast and
Market Share Analysis, July 2016. 4 See OSSCS 17-07, Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 3: Rating & Charging and Other Core Billing Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis, August 2016.
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Interconnect & Settlement
Partner Management
The source report for this award, Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 5: Interconnect &
Settlement and Partner Management Market Forecast and Market Share Analysis, provides
a market share analysis for the interconnect & settlement and partner management
market segments, both individually and in combination.
The findings, as published in this report, show that Telarix leads in market share
for the global CSP billing interconnect & settlement market. Stratecast believes
that Telarix addresses approximately 20% of the interconnect & settlement
market based on revenue collected from the sale of these solution capabilities.
The next four competitors address approximately 19%, 14%, 10%, and 8% of
the market respectively by revenue.
For this report series, Stratecast contacted more than 100 billing suppliers that address
one or more of the above mentioned market segments, including approximately 56
suppliers that offer interconnect & settlement solutions. Stratecast revenue estimates
include vendors with software solution offerings that obtain revenue from license fees,
maintenance fees, services associated with the initial installation and configuration of a
solution, service bureau fees, cloud services fees, and installed solutions managed by a
supplier. Internal CSP spending attributed to internal work teams or assistance from
professional services consulting resources is not included. In addition, hardware-related
revenue and revenue generated by systems integrators or companies without their own
billing solutions are not included. The professional services fees for integration of new
solutions with existing systems, and updates to CSP business processes are also not
included in the market share analysis.
The market share analysis is developed by analyzing multiple sources including
information supplied to Stratecast through a market questionnaire, information from
public sources, direct interviews, and raw market data. The analysis is developed from
2015 company-level revenues, projections of future earnings, global financial market
insights, as available, and our strategic acumen concerning billing functions.
To obtain estimated revenues and associated market share, Stratecast used a modified
Delphi method for revenue analysis. Factors such as known deployments, publicly and
privately reported revenue, customers served, press releases, financial reports, and
related information were analyzed by a multi-person analyst team, each working
independently, to estimate each vendor’s 2015 revenues, where such was not specifically
provided. Final estimates were iterated to reach a consensus using a 90% confidence
interval.
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Telarix
Telarix is a privately held independent software supplier headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.
Telarix was founded in 1996, with a global customer base including CSPs in Asia, Europe,
North America, and South America. All of the company’s offerings fall within the CSP
billing segment of interconnect & settlement.
Interconnect & Settlement
Telarix focuses on Interconnect Business Optimization, shown in the figure below,
which provides efficient carrier-to-carrier relationships through its portfolio of wholesale
solutions. The portfolio includes two complementary, patented interconnect & settlement
solution suites: iXTools and iXLink.
Source: Telarix
The Telarix iXTools suite can be offered in a licensed, hosted, or Software as a Service
(SaaS) model. The company reports that the suite provides CSPs with a comprehensive
management, optimization, and settlement solution in support of their interconnect
business. The five business modules that define the iXTools solution suite include:
iXConnect – The core module for the iXTools suite, iXConnect, serves as a
―business intelligence platform,‖ collecting and managing all business information.
This includes network elements, products, route plans, rates, and agreements. This
business information forms the main data repository for all other modules.
iXConnect also defines and manages agreements between CSPs and partners, and
applies rates to different types of traffic within the scope of each agreement.
Finally, iXConnect provides near real-time access to business information via its
reporting capabilities, including dashboards with drill-down functionality.
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iXRoute – The module enables CSPs to identify and implement optimal routing
strategies, to keep the network profitable. By incorporating volume commitments
and margins, termination costs, network capacity, quality of service requirements,
and other user-defined criteria, Telarix explained to Stratecast that iXRoute can
produce ―the optimal commercial and technical route guides‖ by leveraging the
company’s patented routing algorithms.
iXTrade – iXTrade is an offer management and decision support solution, which
allows CSPs to simplify and automate the buying, pricing and selling processes
within the wholesale interconnect business. This includes managing international
interconnect complexities resulting from non-standardized numbering plans for
country, city, and mobile terminations, and allows rating of calls based on each
partner’s specific numbering plan, to give CSPs the ability to gain near real-time
margin visibility.
iXBill – This module ensures that all billable activities are captured, rated, and
billed. iXBill leverages its integration with other iXTools to provide embedded
revenue assurance capabilities. It allows CSPs to support a variety of agreement
types and rating scenarios, including multi-party settlement and revenue sharing
partnerships.
iXAudit – iXAudit is an end-to-end audit and dispute management system
designed to streamline the validation of interconnect invoices, reconcile charges,
and manage settlement. It serves as the data repository for all carrier invoices.
iXAudit automatically reconciles invoice data with internal traffic and cost
management information. The solution matches a CSP’s interconnect agreements
with invoice data, traffic usage, and cost data, to determine if discrepancies exist.
This process includes auditing and reconciling incoming interconnect invoices, in
addition to tracking and managing disputes of incoming invoices from vendors, and
outgoing invoices to customers.
Telarix provides an additional interconnect & settlement solution associated with
interconnect agreement management. Branded iXLink, the solution is an information
exchange platform that enables CSPs to automate the exchange of business documents
for the interconnect processes, and to electronically share documents; i.e., pricing quotes,
rate and dial code changes, numbering plans, invoices, and declarations. iXLink has over
4,000 members with 40 million transactions monthly. The iXLink exchange service allows
members to apply business rules that are specific to each partner and/or service to
validate transactions, meet internal business objectives, and capture errors so that the
sender can be notified immediately.
iXLink reduces risks and costs associated with the manual exchange of business
information relating to interconnect & settlement, by automating and assuring the
process. Initiated in 2007, iXLink has become the de facto standard business information
exchange for the interconnect space, with a large majority of global service providers
participating.
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Stratecast Insights
As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to gain solution focus for all industries, so do the
interconnect needs of this evolving environment. The machine-to-machine (M2M)
interactions of IoT and the human-to-machine (H2M) interactions, through devices like
consumer wearables or advanced healthcare monitoring, make the IoT marketplace ripe
for new wholesale connectivity agreements between carriers and between a carrier and its
large business or enterprise customers. Wholesale agreement management for IoT
solutions, with likely pricing agreement requirements similar to wholesale carrier
interconnect today, will become the norm of the future.
Source: Stratecast
Other partner relationship requirements involving CSP connectivity are tied to the new
level of capabilities that will come from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). In
addition, the high data volume processing capacity and low latency needs that 5G mobile
will bring to light, add substantially to the growing opportunity window for companies such
as Telarix in satisfying the accountability needs of wholesale network capacity
management. Finally, the world of wholesale virtual network functions (VNFs) traded,
sold, or shared between CSPs, and between a CSP and possible VNF development
factories, will keep both the partner management and interconnection markets far from
becoming stagnant in the months ahead.
Stratecast views Telarix as the market leader within the wholesale interconnect
& settlement sector as defined today, with an entrenched focus on this space
through its Interconnect Business Optimization strategy. With both the iXTools
suite of interconnect & settlement solutions and its iXLink carrier-to-carrier
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information exchange, Stratecast expects the company to remain at, or near, the
top of this market segment for addressing the needs of wholesale carrier-to-
carrier connectivity management.
With the same types of business solutions as what iXTools and IXLink bring the
carrier-to-carrier market, Telarix is well-positioned to address the upcoming
business connectivity needs of related markets including IoT, AR, VR, 5G, and
virtual network management.
Telarix Market Leadership
The 2016 Stratecast Global Market Leadership Award in CSP Billing for the Interconnect &
Settlement Market is judged based on ten criteria detailed later in this document. Telarix
was compared against two other leading suppliers in the CSP interconnect & settlement
space.
The following details a selection of the comparisons from the ten criteria. The data behind
the comparisons comes from Stratecast report: Global CSP Billing 2016 Edition Part 5:
Interconnect & Settlement and Partner Management Market Forecast and Market Share
Analysis, which will be released in the coming weeks.
Growth Strategy Excellence
Stratecast assesses the end-to-end CSP billing market every year, which involves analysis
of over 100 suppliers of billing solution functionality. This market, and most of its
components, have each grown over the last six years with some segments growing faster
than others. Stratecast forecasts the five-year compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) for the interconnect & settlement market to continue to climb at a single-
digit rate from 2016-2020. This growth comes from a number of sources, each
relating to changing business needs and customer expectations. Today,
interconnect & settlement accounts for approximately 4% of the overall CSP
billing market.
In a marketplace that has been expanding such as the end-to-end CSP billing market, in
general, and for interconnect & settlement in particular, growth is essential to maintain
market position. For the 2016 version of the Stratecast end-to-end billing market
assessment, we identified 56 billing solution suppliers that deliver some level of
interconnect & settlement functionality for the communications market. Telarix continues
to grow at a year-over-year rate higher than the overall market, with a share of
approximately 20%. This is up from the 19% share identified by our last assessment of
the interconnect & settlement market.
With the potential growth opportunities that are coming for the wholesale revenue
management billing segment, Telarix is poised to grow even more as the opportunities
relative to the IoT, AR, VR, and 5G markets begin to take shape.
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Implementation Excellence
Stratecast recognizes that to be a leader in CSP billing, in an individual segment of CSP
billing, or in any of the areas of CSP ODAM, a supplier must be able to implement the
solutions they have sold; each and every time. This process has become easier recently,
with the growing number of cloud-enabled solutions directed to every segment of the end-
to-end billing market. As Telarix continues to expand its SaaS business model strategy for
all of its solution offerings, implementation complexity for its customers will diminish. In
addition, the fast turn-around of new solution functionality characteristic of SaaS-based
solution offerings will surely spawn new ways for service providers to look at business
challenges, which will eventually create new business management needs.
Stratecast's knowledge of the excellence in implementation with regard to Telarix is well
founded based on several customer testimonials, continued press from Telarix that
identifies CSPs by name, and the ongoing discussions Stratecast has with both Telarix and
its competitors. Together, these actions indicate that the company is keeping its existing
customers happy as it continues to gain new ones in all aspects of its current and
developing business strategy.
Brand Strength
Brand is of great importance to a customer when choosing a product for purchase. This is
true of consumer goods and it holds for CSPs when they choose their ODAM systems with
price tags that usually reach into the millions of dollars. In the area of CSP end-to-end
billing, and in the billing segment of interconnect & settlement, CSPs are trusting their
ability to generate revenue, and even in their ability to stay in business, on a vendor—
trust in a company and in a brand is of utmost importance.
The company’s brand strength is greatly increased by the Telarix iXLink exchange service,
now used by almost all (more than 4000) service providers globally. With the de facto
standard agreement exchange service, the Telarix brand is of great value when offering its
iXTools solution.
Stratecast is certain increasing revenues correlate strongly with CSP brand trust. Telarix
increased its revenue, and CSP customer base over the past year, and therefore its brand
strength since Stratecast’s previous assessment of the CSP billing market.
Product Quality
Similar to the previous two criteria, product quality is very important to CSPs, who expect
any solution they purchase to not only work as promised, but to meet their specific
business needs within the timeframe of delivery they agree to with the software supplier.
Poor quality solutions immediately cause issues with the CSP customer and, bad news
travels fast, which is hard to overcome within the communications marketplace.
Stratecast is certain revenue growth indicates that CSP customers continue to put trust in
a supplier, the quality of their products, and in the supplier's ability to satisfy all needed
business change needs in order for the new solution to operate effectively. The continued
growth Telarix has experienced in the carrier-to-carrier interconnect space over the last
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few years is a strong indicator that its CSP customers find the company's products and
solution delivery capabilities to either meet or exceed expectations.
Product Differentiation
Telarix faces many global competitors, some of which offer solutions that share similarities
to the Telarix iXTools product suite. Telarix would argue that its IXTools is a superior
solution—and its continued growth in revenue and customers backs this argument—what
truly differentiates Telarix is its unique iXLink offering. iXLink, which the company explains
is ―an open, secure, global business information exchange designed by carriers for
carriers,‖ is the de facto standard in interconnect & settlement pricing agreement
information exchange. Telarix reports that more than 4000 iXLink members generate in
excess of 40 million iXLink-facilitated transactions per month.
The iXLink solution gives Telarix a huge competitive advantage when selling its iXTools
solution set to almost every CSP already using iXLink. Telarix was recently acquired by
Vista Equity Partners, the largest software and data-focused investor in the world, that
emphasizes that the SaaS business model is the future for the industry. Telarix is finding
it’s iXLink experience and customer successes are accelerating the decision by iXTools
license customers, to move their IXTools implementations from an on-premise license
model to the iXTools SaaS model. As this shift occurs, both iXLink and iXTools are
becoming shining differentiators for independent solutions representative of all categories
of the CSP marketplace.
Technology Leverage
Much of the above discussion concerning product differentiation directly relates to Telarix
leveraging technology to gain a competitive advantage. Creating an information exchange
solution through its iXLink offering solved a fundamental business problem within the
interconnect & settlement domain. Using its in-depth knowledge of the interconnect
and settlement space, combined with the company's technology know-how and
extremely effective marketing, Telarix essentially has every global CSP as an
iXLink member, giving it a huge and ongoing advantage in this market space.
Stratecast believes that this same level of success will be an accelerator for Telarix to
bring its existing iXTools customers and new customers to its new iXTools cloud-based
solution service.
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Conclusion
Stratecast recently concluded its annual assessment of the end-to-end global CSP billing
market. Stratecast specifically evaluated the role of billing within the CSP business
support system and monetization operations. In so doing, Stratecast reached out to and
analyzed the insights from over 100 suppliers, covering various aspects of the end-to-end
CSP billing marketplace.
Stratecast analysis of the global interconnect & settlement segment revealed that Telarix
leads in market share for this sector based on 2015 supplier revenue. Stratecast analysis
also concluded that Telarix presently addresses approximately 20% of this market by
earned revenue.
In recognition of Telarix' superior ability to lead in market share and address
communications service provider’s key challenges, Stratecast awards the 2016
Global Market Leadership Award in CSP Billing for the Interconnect & Settlement
Market to Telarix.
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Significance of Market Leadership
Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from your
company, and then making the decision to return time and again. Loyal customers
become brand advocates; brand advocates recruit new customers; the company grows;
and then it attains market leadership. To achieve and maintain market leadership, an
organization must strive to be best-in-class in three key areas: understanding demand,
nurturing the brand, and differentiating from the competition.
Understanding Market Leadership
As discussed on the previous page, driving demand, strengthening the brand, and
competitive differentiation all play a critical role in a company’s path to market leadership.
This three-fold focus, however, is only the beginning of the journey and must be
complemented by an equally rigorous focus on the customer experience. Best-practice
organizations therefore commit to the customer at each stage of the buying cycle and
continue to nurture the relationship once the customer has made a purchase. In this
manner, such companies build a loyal, ever-growing customer base and methodically add
to their market share over time.
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Key Performance Criteria
For the Market Leadership Award, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan analysts focused on
specific criteria to determine the areas of performance excellence that led to the
company’s leadership position. The criteria that were considered include (although not
limited to) the following:
Criterion Requirement
Growth Strategy Excellence Demonstrated ability to consistently identify,
prioritize, and pursue emerging growth opportunities
Implementation Excellence
Processes support the efficient and consistent
implementation of tactics designed to support the
strategy
Brand Strength The possession of a brand that is respected,
recognized, and remembered
Product Quality
The product or service receives high marks for
performance, functionality and reliability at every
stage of the life cycle
Product Differentiation
The product or service has carved out a market niche,
whether based on price, quality, uniqueness of
offering (or some combination of the three) that
another company cannot easily duplicate
Technology Leverage
Demonstrated commitment to incorporating leading
edge technologies into product offerings, for greater
product performance and value
Price/Performance Value Products or services offer the best value for the price,
compared to similar offerings in the market
Customer Purchase Experience
Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal
solution that addresses both their unique needs and
their unique constraints
Customer Ownership Experience
Customers are proud to own the company’s product
or service, and have a positive experience throughout
the life of the product or service
Customer Service Experience Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and
of high quality
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The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards
Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree
research methodology represents the
analytical rigor of our research process. It
offers a 360-degree-view of industry
challenges, trends, and issues by integrating
all 7 of Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan's
research methodologies. Too often,
companies make important growth decisions
based on a narrow understanding of their
environment, leading to errors of both
omission and commission. Successful growth
strategies are founded on a thorough
understanding of market, technical,
economic, financial, customer, best
practices, and demographic analyses. The
integration of these research disciplines into
the 360-degree research methodology
provides an evaluation platform for
benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels.
About ODAM
The processes and tools that communications service providers (CSPs) have utilized to run
their businesses have changed over time. More than a half-century ago, CSP network and
business management processes were manual (OAM&P). As CSPs evolved over the years,
so did the operations support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) that
address CSP business and network management needs. In recent years, the lines between
OSS and BSS have become less clear, with much overlap. In addition, the roles in which
OSS and BSS operate have expanded beyond traditional boundaries. As such, Stratecast
now uses the term Operations, Orchestration, Data Analytics & Monetization (ODAM) to
encompass both the traditional OSS and BSS functions and the new areas in which
business and operations management must now work together, including virtualized
networks and telecom data analysis.
About Stratecast
Stratecast collaborates with our clients to reach smart business decisions in the rapidly
evolving and hyper-competitive Information and Communications Technology markets.
Leveraging a mix of action-oriented subscription research and customized consulting
engagements, Stratecast delivers knowledge and perspective that is only attainable
through years of real-world experience in an industry where customers are collaborators;
today’s partners are tomorrow’s competitors; and agility and innovation are essential
360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN
THE CHAOS
BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH
© Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan 2016 20 “We Accelerate Growth”
elements for success. Contact your Stratecast Account Executive to engage our experience
to assist you in attaining your growth objectives.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth
and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's
Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined
research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation
of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 50 years of experience in
partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment
community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit
http://www.frost.com.