I first attended the WWUG in 2013 and was struck by WeDo Technologies' unique approach to its flagship event. The event acts as a forum to hear the perspectives of other WeDo Technologies customers and partners and learn about the Revenue Assurance (RA) and Fraud challenges they have faced and are facing, the ways in which they chose to deal with issues and how they were able to overcome them. Attendees from across the globe gather in Portugal to listen to and share stories so there is a real sense of collaboration and a mutual effort to find solutions to drive the industry forward.
Ericsson, as an established leader in the Communications & Media industry in both the Technology & Services space, aims to help and advise our customers on innovative and creative ways of addressing a wide range of topics around Operational Risk Management (i.e. Fraud and RA). The industry is evolving rapidly, with new technologies emerging and customer service methods having to adapt and improve as billing and services are provided in real-time. Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management were historically dealt with in the same way for a long time, but we are currently witnessing a real revolution in this space which our customers are acknowledging more and more. The WWUG acts as a great opportunity for us to get a sense for global trends and the different flavours of and approaches to these topics as well as to ensure we continue to be innovative and stay ahead of the curve.
There are a number of topics, which I am hoping will be discussed and addressed during the presentations and demos this year. Machine to machine, mobile money and everything enabled through LTE are all trending from Ericsson’s perspective, and the Business Assurance cases created as a result are very relevant to my focus.
During the TM Forum Live! Event last year, Ericsson and WeDo Technologies collaborated on an LTE catalyst project which assessed the main market risks, challenges and realities for operators enabling LTE services which was a great success. I’m looking forward to hearing what WeDo Technologies has to say about this topic a year on from the project and how they feel things have progressed since.
The customer experience and online / service aware charging are also extremely hot topics and are dramatically shaking up the telecoms industry, creating new risk areas to address. With each transaction being processed and rated in real-time, the improvements to the consumer mobile experience are evident and the risk of bill shock is dramatically reduced. However, this level of instantaneity means that there is little or no room for error during the rate set up process and removes the window of opportunity to go back and correct some errors, so creates a new set of issues for operators to address. Additionally, more and more operators are providing bolt-on options such as additional video and social media access to address the growing consumer demand for these services. With this comes an increased risk of operator churn should an error occur somewhere across the value chain which affects the customer experience. This is a fairly recent development for operators so it would be great to hear how WeDo Technologies is adapting and developing RAID in response to these developments.
Aside from customer presentations, WeDo Technologies offers a unique insight and a different viewpoint due to the wide range of sectors it operates in – I always enjoy presentations from company CEO Rui Paiva and Joāo Resende. It is interesting to hear how the telecoms sector compares to retail and in particular utilities, which previously didn’t place too much importance on leakage but is of course now changing drastically.
In the CSI (Consulting & Systems Integration) space, Ericsson takes on large amount of responsibility, becoming the prime consultant on large-scale Risk Management assignments. As such, it is essential to have solid partners that you can count on that are agile, flexible and can deal with the complexities and intricacies of such projects.
Having worked with WeDo Technologies now for a number of years, I see them as one of the very few partners on the Business Assurance space that can provide real value. We have a great and unique synergy across our teams that our customers are always happy to see, and we are always able to find a solution to and overcome whatever challenges we face together. I look forward to spending time with WeDo Technologies and my peers again this year on both a personal and professional level at this invaluable event.
Note: Thomas Steagall is a guest writer on WeDo Technologies' Blog
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