Innovation – the light at the end of a dark economic tunnel

Singapore (March 09, 2009) /ChinaNewswire.com/ — When it comes to Operations Support Systems and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), it's truly survival for the fittest communications service provider (CSP). Over the past few years, the global CSPs have realised that OSS/BSS are a 'part-of-theservice' and not a mere back-end support function. Today, complex customer-focused services have gained importance, especially those involving mobile data integration with voice capabilities.

With the current economic situation, the CSPs are struggling to offer real-time services and face hurdles like waning average revenue per user (ARPU) and increased competition. It is now becoming critical, more than ever, to create sustained business success and to focus on the operational functions that can better support customers and help address new revenue generating capabilities.

During tough economic times, it is often innovation that gets a backlash from the efforts of cost cutting and down-sizing. However, as learnt from previous economic downturns, innovation is all the more crucial at a time like this. Whether targeted towards cost reduction and reduced cost of ownership or customer retention and revenue generation, it is innovation that will enable CSPs to define and deliver new services and remain competitive in a challenging economy.

In an aid to further understand the challenges and latest developments within the OSS/BSS space in Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan along with Stratecast, is organising the 3rd Annual OSS/BSS Asia Pacific Summit. The summit is slated to be held from March 25 – 26, 2009 at Amara Sanctuary Resort, Sentosa, Singapore.

"The customer experience is now the CSP's most strategic differentiator," says Susan McNeice, Global Program Director, Communications Infrastructure and OSS/BSS for Frost & Sullivan/Stratecast.

"OSS/BSS systems and processes are at the centre of this opportunity, making innovation and transformation to a more flexible, efficient and responsive infrastructure critical to long-term success," McNeice adds.

Today, CSPs are examining business and operational processes, in search of this market advantage. While some are undertaking large transformation projects, others are taking a more measured approach to augment and update selected operational processes and systems. Regardless of the methodology involved, CSPs have clear objectives like responsiveness and interoperability, leveraging on existing assets and cost reduction.

The two-day summit will host senior industry practitioners, chief officers of leading corporations and renowned thought leaders of the OSS/BSS industry. The summit aims to offer global analyst insights along with a rich mix of practical implementation successes.

Speakers include representatives from Oracle Communications, Convergys Corporation, Orange Business Services, Celcom Malaysia, Telecom New Zealand, CAT Telecom Thailand, Accanto Systems Italy, Telekom Indonesia, amongst others.

Karl Whitelock, Senior Consulting Analyst, and Susan McNeice, Global Program Director, both within Frost & Sullivan's Stratecast practice, will share their OSS/BSS expertise and research findings regarding today's most significant business issues.

The summit is designed to have several panel discussions to upscale the interactivity amongst the participants. The delegates will also receive a complimentary copy of 2009 Stratecast/Telecom Asia magazine survey at the summit.

The summit is sponsored by Oracle Communications, Comverse, Convergys, Ixia, Accanto and Anritsu. The official media partners for the summit include Billing & OSS, TelecomAsia and Wireless Asia and other media partners are Billing OSS Magazine, China Newswire, ChinaTechNews.com, Connect World, Convergence World, Developing Telecoms, mCubeDigital.com, OSS News Review and Wireless Business Review. Global Revenue Assurance Professional Association (GRAPA) and ITU-APT Foundation of India are the supporting associations for the summit.

For more information/registration details, please visit www.frost-oss.com.

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 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit www.frost.com

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