"At Redknee, we see the move to real-time billing on the cloud will depend on the level of agility that different segments require," Skoczkowski says. "The obvious benefits in terms of reducing hardware and maintenance costs as well as delivery time and risk is extremely compelling, especially for Tier 3 carriers, MVNO/Es and Tier 1 second brand operators. We see these as the segments that will look to the cloud over the next few years. For Tier 1 and 2 CSPs, we believe that they will continue to opt for on-premise solutions as they will want to maintain control and have the ability to customize their solution."
At the end of 2010 Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) sponsored a study, that measured six areas of impact where cloud is seen as a major "engine of growth" (Fig. 1).
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This study revealed "Reducing IT Workload" and "Improv(ing) bottom line, cost savings" as the top things cloud enables enterprises to do. Over 70 percent of respondents said they had used cloud services to start a business and nearly 50 percent saw cloud as an "engine of innovation."
"We are definitely seeing a growing need by CSPs in competitive and fast-growing markets to invest in a real-time, converged billing and customer care solution based on the open and scalable public cloud." Skoczkowski adds. "With Microsoft Windows Azure, it will bring greater agility and flexibility while reducing capital expenditure, enabling service providers to scale as required with a 'pay as your grow' model and to minimize risk."
#2 Integration
The sophistication of hosted CRM and browser-based CSR portals are compounding the need for a cloud-based BSS as well. In fact, the trend to browser-based-everything is a significant factor. As web connectivity becomes more ubiquitous and the popularity of mobile device usage continues to penetrate enterprises—the need to integrate with other hosted solutions and provide a scalable SaaS solution is driving the demand that billing evolve to a hosted environment.
#3 Virtualization
The virtualization of business is also driving the demand for hosted BSS. The growing availability of wholesale networks is creating new market opportunities for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), where margins are smaller and IT resources are more limited. Other key trends like mobility, outsourcing, and telepresence impact both large and small enterprises alike and are driving the need for a comprehensive, but easy-to-use browser based Billing solution provide multi-tenant access to a central application from many locations.
#4 Extinction
We may also be at the precipice of a fundamental shift in how software is delivered. The days of on-premise installations may be going the way of the dodo. It may not be what the Mayan's were predicting for 2012, but there is a strong current driving on-premise software and applications to move to browser-based solutions. This is evidenced by big moves from companies like Microsoft—with the introduction of Microsoft Office 365 and, perhaps more specifically, Microsoft SQL Azure and the recent Microsoft System Center 2012 announcement.
