BSS Applications Managed Services for CSPs
November 2012

BSS Applications Managed Services for CSPs
This research programme analyzed the BSS managed-services market, exploring applicationsled services targeted at communications service providers (CSPs). The research has a particular focus on application development and management (ADM) and application operations (AO) trends and looks at a broad area encompassing billing, mediation, CRM, ordering, self service, revenue assurance, fraud management and partner management.
The report evaluates CSP requirements for BSS managed services and provides an analysis of global market drivers and managed services trends, with a particular focus on Asia Pacific,
Europe and the Americas. Research for the report included an online survey of 120 senior executives within CSPs as well as in-depth interviews with over 30 companies including CSPs and managed services providers (MSPs).
Because of the sensitive nature of the information, the identity of the CSPs has been kept anonymous. The MSPs profiled in-depth include: Accenture, Amdocs, Atos, Ericsson, HP,
Huawei, IBM, Infosys and Tech Mahindra. The report includes a competitive vendor landscape study and analysis of individual MSP’s market positioning, SWOT analysis and differentiators.

© 2012 Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved. www.informatandm.com CSPs Develop Appetite for BSS Managed Services
•Managed service model grows in popularity: In a global online survey conducted by ITM,
87% of respondents said that they already work with or intend to work with a managed services provider (MSP) in the next three years; 46% of respondents are already in an active relationship with an MSP for BSS.
•
•There is more to managed services than cost cutting: Cost reduction and management of capex and opex, of course, are important market drivers for CSPs using the managed service model. But service quality, innovation, domain expertise and the experience and understanding of the CSP business is as important as cost-related drivers.
•
•Managed service providers as partners, not suppliers: CSPs need to see their MSPs as trustworthy, transparent and flexible so as to create a holistic and agile approach to their application and product development. But responsiveness is also important – the ability to respond with speed to competitive action or negative customer feedback is vital for CSPs.
•
•CSPs prefer to work with an MSP that is able to act as prime to manage multi-vendor relationships: Growing perception of CSPs that it is important for an MSP to be able to manage the relationship of several vendors and be responsible for their selection.
© 2012 Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved. www.informatandm.com Testing the demand for CSP appetite of BSS managed services
Online survey of CSP requirements for BSS managed services, May 2012 – 120 respondents
Split of respondents, by company type

Split of respondents, by job type

Source: Informa Telecoms
& Media

Profile of CSP interviews, June/July 2012

Region

No of CSP interviews and countries

Asia Pacific

Five: Malaysia; Indonesia; India; Bangladesh

Europe

Seven: Germany; UK; Netherlands; Switzerland; Finland

Americas

Six: USA, Brazil, Chile

Rest of the World

Two: Israel; South Africa

© 2012 Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved. www.informatandm.com Key themes from CSP interviews
• “Your mess for less” is a

• A mature MS market has to be built on a partnership approach, which, in turn, is built on trust. Result of partnership must be development of roadmap.

principle of the past. Domain expertise and an understanding of the CSP business are now as important to CSPs as cost.

•Growing perception of
CSPs that no one supplier will deliver best-of-breed in everything and they generally accept the management of multiple relationships. More to managed services than simple cost reduction Trust, partnership and transparency are pivotal to
CSP-MSP
relationship

A place for best of breed solutions as