Service Providers realize they need to develop new business models because they face a significant threat from over-the-top content providers.  Until recently, carriers lacked the tools required for telco 2.0 services, but today that capability has been made possible by the transition to flat IP networks and converged core infrastructure. Business challenges, more so than technical issues, are preventing service providers from pursuing so-called “telco 2.0” opportunities, which aim to create new revenue streams and insert providers more deeply into today’s digital value chains. 

The session will examine issues including:

• Delivering a superior customer experience in order to differentiate yourself in a fiercely competitive market

• Developing successful two-sided business models that not only provide value, but also offer enhanced forms of connectivity to consumers

• Successfully pursuing new 2.0 revenue streams, particularly in the wholesale market

With the continuing proliferation of e-Services, service providers have the opportunity to design themselves into the value chain for the delivery of new value added services in markets such as e-Health, Smart Grid, eMobility and Smart Home. While their traditional assets give service providers a competitive advantage, they clearly enter into a new market with new business rules, competitors and technical requirements. This interactive panel evaluates the business models carriers can pursue, and assesses their commercial potential and infrastructural implications. The session will provide guidance on how service providers can accelerate mass market acceptance of  e-Services and what approach they should take to capitalize on this growth opportunity. 

•  Identifying the most promising new use cases/business models that customers will demand
• Establishing the critical success factors – ensuring you understand the prerequisites for customers acceptance
• Determining what customers are willing to pay for e-Services and ensuring you develop an appropriate pricing strategy
• Maximizing revenues from multi-sided business models – avoiding the modest revenue scenario
• Developing strategies for service providers to position themselves against the ‘Google’s and Amazon’s’ of in the market 

(Additional panelists are currently being confirmed for this session) 

Moving to Smart Grid is a huge and expensive business and a major technical transformation job for the energy industry.  Upwards of $45 trillion may be spent in the US alone. The TM Forum has been instrumental in leading the telecom industry on a similar journey; transforming large-scale operations environments from being network-centric to customer control/services-centric.  These similarities have the potential to form the basis for knowledge sharing between the two industries.  

Specifically, there is an opportunity for TM Forum knowledge assets including Frameworx and Best Practices to be applied to the Smart Grid challenge and in the process, enable energy providers to more rapidly create, deliver, manage and monetize a wide range of ‘Smart’ services.

The TM Forum Energy online community is leading this effort and will share real-time lessons learned and go-to-market approaches.  The session will consist of 2 free flowing panel discussions.  The first will focus on the energy industry’s viewpoint and their requirements.  The second will examine things from the supplier’s perspective. Then the audience will break into roundtable discussions to probe various aspects of making smart energy a cost-effective reality.

• Examining the relationship between Smart Grid and the communications market – determining the role for service providers partner and profit

• Outlining recent  market dynamics in  telecom and utilities as they converge to empower a Smart Society

• Examining case studies from TM Forum-inspired Smart Grid ventures around the world

• Positioning your organization to leverage the revenue opportunities in Smart Grid

• Overcoming issues that currently impede M2M market development, including  test and certification, business processes, provisioning and regulatory issues

• Successfully targeting opportunities in vertical markets such as healthcare, automotive and utilities sectors

• Accelerating the development of new services and promoting the mobile industry as the right partner for adjacent industries

• Reducing initial investments in order to develop and introduce new services more cost-effectively

• Overcoming the business, technical and operational challenges of managingbillions of M2M devices, including:

  • Managing new protocols and overcoming security, authentication and roaming challenges
  • Effective data and service management
  • Ecosystem and partner management
  • Selecting the right business model to maximize revenues

• Devising a strategy that can counter a complex environment to help you create stable revenue stream

(Additional panelists to be confirmed for this session)

• What is important to my customer?
• Do my services make my customers happy?
• How do I ensure proactive management of my IT environment to achieve customer satisfaction?