Consolidated Policy & Charging – why digital transformation is so important

We recently published a whitepaper on how adopting a consolidated Policy & Charging Control (PCC) approach can aid the transition from being a traditional Communication Service Provider (CSP) to a Digital Service Provider (DSP), with particular focus on why making this transition is so important. If you’ve not had the time to download and read the whole paper yet, here’s a quick round up of the main points discussed.

The telecommunications industry is changing, customers are demanding more control over their services and products. This has led to a need for greater understanding of how to maintain the customer base, providing the quality of service required to meet expectations is essential. Real time technology is the key to enabling customers to manage their subscriptions in the automated way they are now demanding.

Changes are already being seen in the market, challenger Operators and MVNOs are starting to shake things up, by coming to the market with optimised digital offerings right from the start. Operators who do not meet these needs will soon fall behind, and begin losing customers.

There is a definite need to add value in areas where others have not yet realized there is potential, i.e. by transforming from a CSP to a DSP and enabling the customers seamless online experience.

The adoption of a combined PCC approach brings a variety of benefits for Operators:

• Network value is maximized
• Operational work is reduced
• Points of failure are eliminated
• Time to market is faster
• Customer satisfaction is higher
• Automation is increased

In particular, a PCC approach can help prioritizing bandwidth for services like video streaming, gaming and VoLTE, making the customer experience a more positive one.

Use Case 1 – Data Buckets

When offering different ‘buckets’ of data on a customer’s subscription plan, PCC can ensure that every byte of data in the plan is counted and apportioned accurately. This is possible thanks to the PCC network being programmed to automatically reduce or improve the quality of service, depending on which data bucket is being used at any given time. The beauty of a PCC approach in this use case is that large amounts of data can be made available to customers without the risk of overloading the network.

Use Case 2 – PCC Controlling Quality of Service

When subscribers want to stream video, they expect to watch without delays, buffering or stuttering. When using a PCC approach, the network can automatically decide to either increase the quality of service (having been pre-programmed to do so) or notify the customer of how best to proceed if they’d like to watch high quality video. Based on whether the customer has a pre-paid contract or if they are on a pay as you go contract, this decision being made automatically in real-time, when the customer wants to watch video, can have a huge operational impact on MNOs and MVNOs.

There is a constant battle for market share in the telecommunications market. In order to embrace the opportunity and subdue the competition, a digital transformation is a necessity. By leveraging a consolidated real-time charging, and policy control function, Operators can embrace a digital transformation quickly, efficiently and with a reduced risk.

If you’d like to read the whole paper, it is available as a download here.

Originally posted on www.symsoft.com, find out more about Symsoft’s rebrand to Sinch in the press release here.