Sculpting the Seamless User Experience

By Jesse Cryderman

Just for fun, I wrote the first paragraph of this story on a collaborative cloud document editor on three different devices, across three different networks. I started on my laptop over Wi-Fi from a terrestrial broadband connection. I then shifted over to my smartphone and onto a 3G wireless network, wrote what I could with Swype input while walking to a nearby cafe, and turned on my tablet as I entered. My tablet connected to the free Wi-Fi inside, and I promptly finished typing this sentence.

» read this article

Unified Communications: Death of the Desk Phone, Birth of Opportunity

By Becky Bracken

You're busted. We know you've stopped answering your desk phone. You only pick up a mobile call if you recognize the caller ID. You haven't listened to an actual voicemail in about 18 months. And, really, the best way to reach you is by email. It's something people who work with you regularly know all too well. But what about the poor saps buried behind that blinking red light?

» read this article

Profitable Convergence: The Integration of Charging and Policy Management

By Guy Hilton

In today's connected world, perhaps the most powerful examples of convergence are smartphones–in which voice is simply one application among many–and tablets, which have emerged as one of the most revolutionary communications platforms in terms of their impact on how we work, play and live.

» read this article

One Network to Rule Them All

By Jesse Cryderman

Right now there are large billboards all around the city of Chicago with lightning bolts and bold colors, proclaiming the promise of 4G and LTE. The ads are also plastered on buses and inside trains–it's difficult to escape them. I recently flew to Florida, and on the plane, every seat-back tray was emblazoned with the same marketing.

» read this article

From Billing & Technology Convergence to Ecosystem Convergence: Why M2M matters to your business

By Jim Dunlap

Telecom people have a habit of sticking to certain industry words long after the meaning behind those words has dramatically changed. Take "billing," for example. Back in the 1970s, telecom billing was considered strictly an accounting function. But today, billing has evolved to encompass a broad spectrum of telco-to-customer interactions, from pre-paid charging and real-time marketing offers, to usage analytics and e-billing. Though, by the way, billing still does actually include batch processing of monthly invoices.

» read this article

Clouds Ahead: A New Look At Convergence

By Tim Young

Convergence: For a washed-up marketing term, it still has a way to go before it fulfills its promise. Since the first time the word was uttered in reference to the communications space, through its flurry of dotcom-era buzz and its eventual decline from overuse and periodic reemergence, convergence has been a catch-all term for a very good idea. It's the idea of a user-experience that is well-integrated and seamless from the moment a prospective customer begins shopping for service, through activation, provisioning, customer care, service changes, rating, charging, billing, and every other piece of interaction between customer and device, network, and service provider.

» read this article

Telco Tesla: Empowering the iWorker

By Becky Bracken

Like Nikola Tesla's Power Tower dream, tomorrow's Enterprise 2.0 customers have a view of the world that includes a practically free, limitless supply of power right at their fingertips, wherever they are. Can you become a Telco Tesla for your customers?

» read this article

The High-Quality Converged Experience: Strategies & Tools for Becoming a Successful One-Stop Shop for Customers

By Chad Dunavant

Many Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are becoming the central hub for consumers to get their voice, video, data and wireless from a single provider. As CSPs enter the race with Over-the-Top (OTT) players to provide content to consumers, they will become more entrenched in a consumer's life. This provides a significant opportunity for CSPs to increase loyalty, and ultimately, revenue.

» read this article

Bridging Siloed Services for a Seamless Customer Experience

By Becky Bracken

Convergence is a tired old term that sounds deceptively simple. In fact, bringing together silo-ed services, like voice, data and IP across different networks so that the customer seamlessly moves within a multi-play environment, requires both deep technical acumen and a deft touch from organizational leadership.

» read this article

Newswatch - December 2011

By Jesse Cryderman

AT&T and T-Mobile Merger on the Ropes

Just six months ago, public consensus was that the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger was imminent and unstoppable. Discussion was framed around "when" instead of "if." After all, the US Government seemed reluctant to interfere with the massive Comcast-NBC merger, and that touched an ISP. As the regulatory review period became protracted however, doubts began to arise.

» read this article

Letter from the Editor

By Tim Young

In this issue, as we examine the promise and reality of the seamless user experience, we are collectively approaching a seam of a different sort. This temporal seam is the divider between each rapidly fading old year and the new year just beyond. Amid a flurry of holiday activity (and, if you live someplace like Chicago, where most of our editorial team lives, you'll also see holiday flurry-activity), one year ends and another takes its place.

» read this article