By Tim Young
Last month, OSS/BSS types from around the world made their annual trek to the sunny shores of the Riviera for TM Forum's Management World 2009. The show has, at times, been a bit of a bacchanal, with vendors pouring the drinks heavy, seemingly intent on getting any attention at all, rather than getting specific, focused attention from potential customers. And this year? In the light of all the economic goings-on?
It should be said, for starters, that the entire show had a somewhat humbler feel, on the whole. As recently as last year, there were nightly parties on the beachfront and at chateaus, on hotel rooftops and in nearby Cannes. This year, these celebrations, if present, were far less obvious. Rest assured, there were plenty of dinner parties and no shortage of enjoyment of the Mediterranean air. Still, the whole event seemed taken down a peg from previous shows... and that's only appropriate.
The economy was the elephant in the room the entire event... though not always in the ways I had expected. There seemed to be a sense of measured optimism among vendors. After all, the key word underlying the vast majority of OSS/BSS companies is efficiency. In an era of reduced revenue and shaky future prospects, now is the perfect time to look at driving out cost, reducing revenue
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And this year? In the light of all the economic goings-on? |
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The floor itself had some of its usual hiccups. Vendors on the lower floor are consistently frustrated, year in and year out, by the lack of traffic they receive. However, the Forum made a wise choice by placing its Forumville exhibit in the middle of the lower exhibition floor, and giving it a very open floorplan, encouraging flow-through. This led expo attendees into Forumville by making it somewhat more amenable to the casual browser. It also helped to increase the interplay between Forumville visitors and the vendor booths that surrounded the central exhibit. That didn't solve the “lower floor doldrums,” as I've decided to call them. However, it was a step in the right direction. (Now, if they could do something to prevent the escalator between floors from failing mid-show, that would be ideal, but you can't
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leakage, streamlining processes, etc. “It’s surprising, but there’s really not a lot of gloom and doom about economic woes, and the industry is already looking beyond the recession,” said Keith Willetts, TM Forum Chairman. “They are seeing the need to invest in service innovation, but it’s not about fancy new retail services as in previous years; rather, the industry has realized that its role is as an enabler for others to provide the retail service.” (Which is a topic explored in more depth in the Noble Bit Pipe article this month, written by Trevor Hayes.)
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always get what you want, I suppose.)
Overall CSP numbers seemed down, but vendors claim that the quality of meetings was high. It seems the economy has most clearly impacted the travel abilities of the lower rungs on the totem pole, making tradeshows the territory of the decision-makers. And the vendors that we talked to thought that was a good thing.
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