By Susan J. Campbell
Application Enablement is getting a lot of attention in certain portals as of late as service providers are seeking new ways to optimize their current environments to drive new revenue opportunities. While it is critical to leverage key assets that service providers already own within their networks, not all understand the value in Application Enablement and what it can do for their business model.
This AE Multimedia Use Cases explore real-world scenarios of how Application Enablement can work across multiple industries such as healthcare and insurance. For example, a loyal subscriber discovers that his favorite news portal offers a free application that allows viewers to upload live news video. Through a free application, the TV station partners with its viewers to build a social community, based on viewer-generated news.
Users and network providers can benefit from Application Enablement. Users benefit from the ability to extend their own content, while service providers expose the key assets within their own network such as Quality of Service, Subscriber Context information and bandwidth management. The application innovation ecosystem enables all channels to work together, including insurance, news media, retail, healthcare and more to create the new business models, as well as opportunities for all those involved.
Within this ecosystem, Alcatel-Lucent enables network providers to create new value, solve key challenges and benefit from business models. As a result, overall application and service delivery can be improved, while the network operator’s business becomes more relevant in this new world. And, when more users create more subscriptions, advertising revenues can soar. The service provider offers a web video share service to create new revenue streams – Application Enablement at its best.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Open API QoS solution ensures service providers can deliver differentiated services, instead of delivering simple broadband services. As a result, network QoS is transformed into added value and growing revenue for the provider. These QoS assets can be shared and service providers gain the improved average revenue per use (ARPU) through differentiated services from existing networks. This lays the firm foundation for future services and provides sustainable growth.
The company also provides the Alcatel-Lucent Open API Enriched Communication solution to expose communication APIs that will enable developers to combine the communication capabilities of the network with current Web applications. As a result, the service provider remains in control of communication, allowing them to increase customer stickiness and reduce overall churn. Potential revenue sharing with developers and trusted partners is also identified.
Case studies, such as the one provided above, demonstrate how the overall application innovation Ecosystem works together to address different challenges in different industries to create new business models and new opportunities for all key players. A total of five use cases are available, including the Citizen Journalist listed above, the simplified insurance, the power shopper, healthcare and new media. Each one demonstrates how applications can easily change the industry, creating a new playing field for all service providers and subscribers.
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