Enhance Network Relevance to Strengthen Customer Relationships

Next Generation Communications Blog

Enhance Network Relevance to Strengthen Customer Relationships

As the network continues to become an increasingly valuable tool - indeed a necessity - for both business and personal communications, entertainment, and information, network operators are faced with a serious challenge. Specifically, they must address the need to expand and enhance their network capabilities to deliver a quality user experience, but they must develop a strategy for doing so that will allow them to remain financially competitive.
 
In other words, while network evolution and investment are required - for instance, by evolving to all-IP high leverage networks that enable scalability and increased flexibility -- operators must find the right business models to balance that investment with new revenue streams to ultimately meeting users' demands for new applications and service quality and reliability.
 
The current environment is not conducive to meeting that goal. Network operators are hesitant to invent in network resources because they feel they are not being appropriately compensated for their resources. On the other hand, application and content providers are not given access to the resources and data they need to deliver the experience users demand. 
 
To overcome this hurdle and to create a network ecosystem that benefits all constituencies - from network providers to developers and content providers to end users - the network must be evolved into a more relevant resource, more than just a "dumb pipe."
 
Alcatel-Lucent's answer is its application enablement strategy for operators, which is designed to leverage both the network and the content and applications to help create a more stable, more easily monetized - and significantly enhanced - user experience. By making network resources available - in a controlled and managed environment - the idea is to help operators develop and build new relationships and business models increasing the ROI on their network investment.
 
The strategy is founded on the fundamental that network operators and content and application providers add value to the overall network and services environment, and are all necessary to deliver a viable end product. It also is based on an understanding that each must derive value from the relationships between them.
 
In addition to the network infrastructure, operators have significant resources that can be leveraged to deliver applications and content more efficiently and reliably and, importantly, to the users that need or want them. It is these resources that can be leveraged to extend the value of the network to developers and content providers, increasing the ability to generate recurring revenue. 
 
These resources include:
  • Integrated billing systems that allow multiple alternative billing options
  • Security to enable private transactions
  • Network-based storage to allow more efficient delivery of digital content
  • End-to-end bandwidth management for ensuring QoS and enhancing the user experience
  • Contextual information and other user data that can be leveraged to personalize services and applications
Alcatel-Lucent drives additional innovation to drive these new services through its Alcatel-Lucent Ventures division of Bell Labs, which focuses on creating innovative products and services, from concept to market availability, all designed to enhance the value of the network for both operators and their applications developer and content provider partners.
 
By taking measures to ensure content providers and application developers gain value from their relationships, network operators can increase their value as a vehicle for delivering services, ultimately cultivating stronger relationships between themselves and their partners, as well as with end users.
 
For more on Alcatel-Lucent's application enablement strategy, read its recent white paper.
 
 


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