Support where it is needed

In 2011 Ericsson counted 12 managed services contracts in the region and 70 million subscribers under management at the end of the year. The demand for such services underlies an increasing awareness by service providers to be first-to-market with products and services as well as the cost savings inherent in well-planned and implemented efficiency drives

Akesson says service providers are focussed on business innovation through the development of new vertical markets to address

Ericsson has more than 15 years’ experience managing multi-vendor, multi-technology networks for operators globally and during 2011 entered into 70 managed services contracts worldwide that covered a subscriber base numbering 900 million.

Ericsson’s managed services offering is built on global scale and proven processes, methods and tools. It consists of activities within network design, build, planning and operations. Its offering consists of five segments:

• Network managed services
• IT managed services
• Broadcast managed services
• Network sharing
• Managed services for enterprises

The telecom technology provider manages multi-vendor and multi-technology environments, enabling service providers and enterprises to concentrate on their core business. All service segments are flexible in terms of scope and setup, and can be adapted to fit individual needs.

Ericsson also has extensive experience in advising and supporting operators to secure network quality, revenue enhancement and improved cost efficiency. The company manages networks in which more than 50 per cent of the equipment comes from other vendors.

By utilising Ericsson’s managed services expertise and experience, service providers and enterprises:

• Gain the right competence in the right place at the right time
• Can be confident that network and business complexity is well managed
• Achieve a fast and cost-effective launch of new services
• Reduce costs
• Secure predictable performance.

Ericsson’s Staffan Akesson, vice president and head of Managed Services for Region Middle East believes that operators are chasing a number of ‘x-factors’ in order to achieve success, and Ericsson has been instrumental in helping them realise such. Increasingly service providers are looking to improve the customer experience through the offer of personalisation, wider choice of services, and bundling; while at the same time looking to drive business efficiency through modernisation of networks, outsourcing models and development of cloud services.

Akesson says service providers are also focussed on business innovation through the development of new vertical markets to address the opportunities offered by the growth in machine-to-machine applications, and the opening up of new services given the investment in mobile broadband.

“We have solutions to help service providers deliver on these x-factors, for instance our OSS/BSS offering, which facilitates modernisation, simplification, and consolidation of network elements,” Akesson said. “In managed services we are working in areas that include the network, IT, network sharing, and even broadcast, where there are real efficiencies to be gained by the service provider,” he added.

On-going endorsements of Ericsson’s managed services vision in the region come from engagements such as that given when MTN Afghanistan a deal in May for Ericsson to operate and optimise its mobile network as well as its charging systems and value added services such as mobile applications. The deal was part of an agreement that covers end-to-end managed services.

Under the managed services agreement, Ericsson agreed to deploy its end-to-end solutions and systems to help MTN in Afghanistan achieve better network efficiency, simplify operations and ensure better quality network through 24/7 network monitoring. The agreement was in line with MTN’s growth strategy and its continuous focus to enhance customer experience through improved network capacity.

More than 20,000 employees have been transferred to Ericsson from operators around the world, through large arrangements such as the signing of a deal with Zain Iraq last year for US$650 million in a five-year network outsourcing agreement. Under the agreement, Ericsson agreed to optimise, modernise and manage IT operations and Zain’s mobile network in Iraq that included more than 3,700 sites across the country.

In Q411, Ericsson’s sales in services were almost equal to the sales in networks in the Middle East, highlighting the twin dynamics of slowed infrastructure investment during the period and continued interest from service operators in the benefits that can be driven by managed services engagements.

The vitality of managed services to Ericsson itself is also clear to see, with the technology company reporting that its Global Services and Support Solutions showed strong performance in the Q212 to end-June, with revenues for the period up 26 per cent and 47 per cent year-on-year respectively. Ericsson described that the underlying business mix, with higher share of coverage projects than capacity projects, was unchanged in the quarter and is expected to prevail short-term.

Ericsson’s managed services portfolio may imminently be boosted further with persistent rumours that the company is interested in acquiring rival Nokia Siemens Networks’ (NSN) business support systems (BSS) division, according to reports.

Ericsson has been busy expanding its OSS/BSS unit, including the acquisition, completed at the beginning of this year, of US OSS company Telcordia for US$1.15 billion.

At Ericsson, the belief is that good support systems and business processes provide for opportunities to be seized and turned into value. They do not just help a company operate a business, but also to develop it, scale it, optimise it and transform it in a cost-efficient way.

Ericsson also believes that good support systems and business processes bring organisations closer to customers and places such organisations in a pole position, ready to respond to customer needs and grab new opportunities as they arise.

As the scale and scope of business increase, so does the challenge to provide operators with the simplicity needed to remain efficient, innovative and always focused on the customer experience.

Bringing together cutting-edge technology, world-leading consulting, systems integration, and managed services, with an unmatched holistic insight into the operator’s challenges makes Ericsson a partner to count on in a fast changing world packed with opportunity.