Machine to machine (M2M) service provision is changing at a rapid pace. The days of communication service providers (CSPs) being satisfied with offering vertical solutions in a single area are fading quickly. A recent Bain report on trends in the IoT industry indicates that enterprises are blaming IoT vendors for not helping them to integrate IoT solutions into their businesses. CSPs, therefore, need to strategize to be in position to help their customers. One way to give the needed help is to offer bundled services across various verticals/enterprises to cater to the unique needs of the users in the Internet of Things (IoT). How can a BSS/OSS partner help your company to adapt to the unique needs of the IoT industry?
Thriving in Numerous Verticals
M2M/IoT customers desire unfettered freedom to access the services they need without paying for what they don’t need. Offering flexible service bundles is a straightforward way to address this need. In practice, however, offering bundles that are relevant to the needs of customers is much more challenging for IoT customers than for regular subscribers. The needs of IoT customers tend to transcend enterprises and industry verticals. You will usually need to offer services that transcend connectivity, service level agreements, telecommunication services, cloud technology, quality of services, as well as vertical enablers.
This ability to meet this challenge and present unique offers that meet the customers’ needs, no doubt, improves the customer experience by leaps and bounds. Some service providers consider operating in a number of verticals risky because this requires specialized knowledge in each vertical. While operating across verticals presents certain challenges, service providers need not worry. Partnering with a good IoT BSS/OSS partner can enable CSPs to meet the challenge.
At (v)WeCare, we can enable your company to offer a huge selection of services including hosting and backup, data, and more. We have helped various CSPs to grow from simply selling smart connectivity services to morph into service aggregators and eventually becoming full-functional integrated service providers. Your company can leverage our experience to launch operations and to offer services in a number of completely unrelated industry verticals.
Hardware and Software Needs
It is clear that the IoT industry is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. A 2018 Gartner report predicted that there will be a whopping 14.2 billion connected things in 2019, rising to 25 billion by 2012. CSPs need modern software and hardware to run projects in a number of verticals. In addition, companies may earn big by reselling gadgets for the IoT industry.
This may include connectivity equipment like batteries, antennas, and units with sim cards. Telecom companies may also need to offer payment terminals, wireless monitoring cameras, and the devices. Monitoring applications for the various devices also need to be procured and installed. Sourcing the right hardware and software while focusing on the other aspects of production may stretch any service provider.
At (v)WeCare, we support a number of CSPs in the IoT industry. We can help your company to source cutting-edge hardware for the internal needs of the company and for reselling. In addition, we provide needed software platforms to get things up and running.
Convenient Service Management
Automation of the M2M/IoT service management is an absolute necessity if a CSP is to succeed in this industry. One way to help customers is to use a convenient customer and partner self-care portal. Telecom companies also need tools to quickly troubleshoot and analyze all network events in a holistic manner. In addition, a good technology platform should support bulk operations and be able to automate order management processes.(v)WeCare is in a good position to help telecom companies to automate service management. Our tech platform, Telgoo5, enables CSPs to comprehensively and conveniently manage services. It enables easy monitory of IoT services. Our platform gives CSPs real-time notifications, reports, and very detailed diagnostic tools.
Service providers in the IoT industry are faced with unique challenges that require telecom companies to change rapidly to utilize the available opportunities. The best bet for most telecom companies in this industry is to operate in various verticals essentially becoming service providers for everything. They also need a world-class tech platform and the right hardware tools.
At (v)WeCare, we provide the tech and tools needed to enable connectivity, sell IoT services, bill, and analyze customer and device behavior. Whether your CSP offers IoT solutions for manufacturing, healthcare, smart lighting, automobile, banking, energy and utilities, FMCG, manufacturing, security, public services, transport, and logistics, or home consumers, we have the right solutions for you. Contact us for a free consultation today.