Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
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Mobile Data<br />
format information services from an<br />
external server. The formatted content<br />
is delivered to profiled mobiles when<br />
requested via a short number dial-up.<br />
SMS feedback can provide useful<br />
information about pharmacy opening<br />
hours in the district, train timetables<br />
or school enrolment procedures, to<br />
name but a few.<br />
There are enthusiastic reports from<br />
service providers in the poorest parts<br />
of the world regarding the peoples<br />
eagerness to learn how to use the keypad<br />
and scroll.<br />
What we really need now is a concerted<br />
effort to help mobile coverage reach<br />
the remotest corners of the world, so<br />
everyone has a chance to get digital<br />
with the most user-friendly applications<br />
possible.<br />
In terms of service delivery, information<br />
by text messaging is often the<br />
most reliable way of reaching the<br />
mobile user. In many countries where<br />
GSM penetration has developed faster<br />
than the infrastructure could keep up,<br />
network equipment is nearing saturation<br />
and calls often do not get through.<br />
SMS messaging not only ensures<br />
potential traffic throughput, but<br />
increases quality of service (QoS) and<br />
hence customer satisfaction.<br />
Talk to any operator in large mobile<br />
operators, from Sydney to London,<br />
about the key issues in technology rollout<br />
and the same words and same<br />
issues are invariably heard, even from<br />
the poised giants of 3G. Basically, the<br />
three issues decision makers around<br />
the world comment on are building the<br />
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)<br />
from data services, improving customer<br />
satisfaction using Customer<br />
Relations Management (CRM) and<br />
reducing the Total Cost of Ownership<br />
(TCO) using streamlined CRM.<br />
The first two issues aim at raising,<br />
boosting, improving and enhancingyou<br />
name the verb with a fastforward<br />
feel to it; the TCO matter,<br />
though, usually puts a damper on<br />
ambitions and remains a spanner in<br />
the works as far as ensuring service<br />
satisfaction is concerned.<br />
It seems a tall order for an operator to<br />
cut customer care costs, while making<br />
sure that their valued customers are<br />
not getting seriously frustrated by yet<br />
another failed attempt to set up a multimedia<br />
or other advanced service.<br />
It would seem that the answer lies in<br />
being able to gather device and subscriber<br />
metrics automatically over the<br />
network and then use them to make<br />
life easier for the people that actually<br />
use them.<br />
Customer-care services related to configuration<br />
enquiries are often complex<br />
and time consuming. Asking a subscriber<br />
to navigate the many menus<br />
and keystrokes necessary to make a<br />
modification increases call-handling<br />
time and reduces subscriber satisfaction.<br />
It is vital to take over these devicerelated<br />
tasks and solve them before<br />
they even occur. To do this requires<br />
high-performance software tools with<br />
a database that recognises all the functions<br />
of every device on the market. By<br />
implementing automatic device discovery<br />
software on the server, there is<br />
no longer a need to rely upon a customers<br />
initiative to sort out his service<br />
requirements.<br />
With the appropriate systems, full<br />
information about the type of phone<br />
and the available settings, can be<br />
retrieved by the operators server. The<br />
server can then anticipate customer<br />
needs and invisibly cure device management<br />
headaches before the customer<br />
even perceives them.<br />
With the right software, we can now<br />
detect the specifications and capabilities<br />
of every single mobile device on<br />
the networkits manufacturer, its<br />
model and even the settings available<br />
on that particular model.<br />
The device detection technique is fairly<br />
revolutionary at the moment, but it<br />
has already been successfully implemented<br />
on the Wataniya Telecom network.<br />
No doubt, the use of such software<br />
will snowball, and will spread to<br />
networks worldwide, as operators<br />
realise the benefits of such capabilities.<br />
Device characteristics have many uses.<br />
Automatic device discovery, knowing<br />
what each device can do — what services<br />
can be implemented — is a valuable<br />
marketing tool; sales pitches and<br />
offers can be directed to the owners of<br />
devices that can take advantage of<br />
them.<br />
The appropriate software patches and<br />
updates can be sent over the air to<br />
enable new services, fix configuration<br />
problems, or at times provide security<br />
patches.<br />
An obvious CRM application is the<br />
automatic delivery of service settings.<br />
By adjusting device settings over the<br />
air, the customer can start using WAP,<br />
MMS or GPRS services. As a result, no<br />
time is lost delivering the new data<br />
service delivery and the quality of customer<br />
service is improved. Another<br />
key application is device diagnostics<br />
for troubleshooting; the ability to correct<br />
faulty devices with the minimum<br />
of hassle for the customer.<br />
Converging technologies pose new<br />
challenges in designing devices. We<br />
are now dealing with ever more complex<br />
device lifecycles, different operating<br />
system versions, conflicts between<br />
installed applications, frequent device<br />
changes and great amounts of personal<br />
data to be saved and restored.<br />
In the mad scramble to keep up with<br />
marketing opportunities, operators are<br />
commercialising devices that are barely<br />
off the test bed and, which more<br />
often that not, contain firmware bugs.<br />
The challenge facing mobile software<br />
architects is to design software tools<br />
that can troubleshoot problems and<br />
deliver corrective patches. To do this,<br />
the device management solution must<br />
include a comprehensive database of<br />
handset functions, constantly updated<br />
in line with commercial releases.<br />
All this takes resources and strategic<br />
integration of device criteria into the<br />
device management tool. However,<br />
the rewards for an operator who can<br />
effectively manage all customer-base<br />
devices remotely can be considerable.<br />
Automating customer care is critical<br />
for profitable mobile data marketing;<br />
effective device management will be<br />
the foundation upon which most<br />
future service provisioning, bug troubleshooting<br />
and CRM will be well<br />
administered.<br />
Ultimately, the aim is to ensure seamless<br />
multimedia access to the entire<br />
operator customer base and provide<br />
effective customer-care and self-care<br />
tools.<br />
Such systems should lead rapidly to a<br />
considerable reduction of TCO. Device<br />
management software, by anticipating<br />
customer needs, or by correcting problems<br />
over the air, should substantially<br />
reduce calls to customer care services.<br />
Such calls cost an estimated industry<br />
average of $5.50 each, so huge savings<br />
can be realised in device management<br />
related queries.<br />
In a nutshell, from a mobile operator<br />
perspective, device management is<br />
certainly not to be over looked.<br />
Operators, by quickly and easily<br />
updating end-user phones, can build<br />
customer loyalty and gain a competitive<br />
edge. <br />
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