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Managing Customers and Content
The impact of the convergence of IT, Telecoms and Media is immense on all suppliers in the sector. Customers have an increasing number of information assets and can choose services to choose from a range of suppliers. For companies wishing to succeed in the ‘new world,' understanding and managing information is key. In order to achieve this, multiple content types and complex customer data must be able to be stored and retrieved quickly and efficiently.
Key Findings

  • Convergence is finally here
    Technology is enabling companies to deliver services outside of their traditional competences: mobile companies can deliver high speed Internet access; telcos TV services. Commercial pressures are forcing companies to broaden the range of services they offer, and they are seeking ways to generate incremental revenue from information services.
  • Customers can do so much more
    This explosion of information possibilities offers customers choice as never before; they can buy, exchange or store pictures, music, video, emails and messages which are generated from many sources and through a variety of companies in the telecoms and media space. Such organisations have significant value tied up in informational assets and need to be able to manage these for maximum commercial benefit.
  • Data remains in ‘silos' - and the number and size of these silos is increasing
    Traditionally, data sources were limited to basic call and customer data from network and customer management systems. As organisations increase the range of services offered, and more and more content is added, an explosion of data results. What is needed is a different approach to managing this data, pulling it together for the benefit of the business.
  • Information can be used for revenue generation and cost reduction
    If information can be appropriately indexed and categorised, it can be used to better understand customers, their value and needs, to increase revenue by better customer retention and new service development. It can also help content providers better understand the value of their content and price it accordingly. It can help reduce costs by enabling more dynamic network provisioning and improving regulatory compliance.
  • A single ‘abstraction layer' is what is needed
    We need to create an abstraction layer between the physical and logical assets and utilise this single resource pool as a single information library. This can be enabled through the use of virtualisation - at the storage and compute capability level. A service engine approach should identify and capture information at the point of creation, enabling the creation of composite applications for a range of business purposes.

Conclusions
The challenges of managing an ever increasing amount of data in a converged telecoms, media and IT world are immense and increasing. Customer pressure and pressure from the business, will mean that companies will have to manage this data more efficiently, offering more targeted services and improving profitability. Customers will want content - be that emails, video, photos or music - where they want, on the device they want, at the time they want.

Creating a single abstraction layer has the potential to provide this data to service the business in a highly flexible and responsive manner to meet the challenges of this new world.