Digital Economy

InsIghtExecutive Briefing

04 EditionNov 2015

Bi-annual Magazine

Monetizing the Connected

Economy

The $1.3 Trillion Opportunity Awaits

Increasing Customer Value with Prepaid Energy Solution

Meralco

› page 20

Successful Monetization of the Internet of Things will bring a $1.3 Trillion Reward › page 22

Redknee Receives 2015 Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan Global Competitive Strategy Innovation & Leadership Award for CSP Billing › page 12

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040812162024293236

Letter from the Editor

Outside PerspectiveSuccessful Monetization of the Internet of Things will Bring a $1.3 Trillion Reward

Customer storyEco Mobile - Realizing theBenefits of Cloud and SaaS Services

Red PerspectiveRedknee acquires Orga Systems

thought LeadershipPrepaid Energy

Red trendsTop trends impacting the industry

Introductionby Lucas

Customer storyMeralco - Increasing Customer Value with Prepaid Energy Solution

Customer storyAfghan Wireless - Enhancing the

Customer Experience and Expanding Growth with Unified Charging and Policy

Awards and RecognitionRedknee Receives 2015 Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan Global Competitive Strategy Innovation & Leadership Award for CSP Billing

Outside Perspective Gartner Magic Quadrant

for Integrated Revenue andCustomer Management for CSPs

Red Comment Interview with Redknee Chief

Technology Officer - Ralf Guckert

Red PerspectiveRedknee Consulting Services

Outside Perspective Billing Vendors Vary inReactions, Solutions to IoT

Red news

Beyond the Buzz

Red LocationRio de Janeiro, Brazil

Redknee Events Meet Redknee at a City Near You

Letter from the Editor 02

Speaking of changing business environments, when it comes to prepaid services, electricity may not come to mind - but this is a growing trend in the utility market and it has made a huge impact on how people think about, consume and pay for electricity. Redknee has partnered with Elster, one of the world’s leading providers of smart meter solutions, to deliver an end-to-end prepaid energy solution. To learn more about this exciting way of delivering and paying for electricity and the benefits of the joint Redknee/Elster solution, check out our article ‘Prepaid Energy’ on p. 18. Also on the topic of prepaid energy is our case study about Meralco, which is the largest distributor of electricity in the Philippines. Redknee has helped them launch a large-scale prepaid energy program to collect and manage real-time energy consumption data from their smart meters. It also allows their customers to manage, pay for and track their energy consumption over their mobile phones. Go to p.20 to read the full story.

Other ‘Can’t Miss’ articles are two additional case studies we’ve highlighted in this issue – Afghan Wireless and Eco Mobile. The Afghan Wireless case study on p.14 highlights the growing adoption of new services in Afghanistan, a market that has had huge hurdles to overcome, and how this is giving service providers opportunities to increase their customer base and unlock more subscriber revenue. Following that story, we have an interview with Garvin Garmo, CEO of Eco Mobile, a US-based MVNO that provides low cost, pay-as-you- go monthly plans for voice, text and data. Eco Mobile is leveraging Redknee’s cloud based billing solution and full 24/7 operational support.

Enjoy this issue of INSIGHT, and we hope to see you at some of our upcoming events. Check out p. 36 to see where we’ll be next, and visit our website at www.redknee.com to book a meeting.

Sincerely, Michaela Radman, Head of Global Marketing and Editor of INSIGHT

Welcome to the November edition of INSIGHT Magazine from Redknee.

This is our most exciting issue yet, focused on the new Digital Economy and how businesses are evolving to keep up with the pace of technology. We are at the cusp of a digital revolution – one that will have a tremendous impact on almost every aspect of how we live our lives, and Redknee is front and center, providing businesses of all types with a real-time way to monetize their services in this dynamic new market. Be sure to check out the interview with Redknee CEO Lucas Skoczkowski on p.06, and Redknee CTO, Ralf Guckert, on p.10, to understand why we feel the IoT is such a game-changer.

Redknee is investing heavily in the new digital economy and expanding beyond telco to address markets like smart energy, connected cars and Enterprise IoT. We recently partnered with analyst firm Machina Research on a new Whitepaper that is focused on successfully monetizing the Internet of Things. Page 22 provides a summary of the research, which identifies a USD$1.3 trillion monetization opportunity over the next ten years. To download the full paper, go to https://goo.gl/FPU0zJ. Analyst Denise Culver of Heavy Reading covers the topic of Billing Vendors and the IoT in the article on p.29, where she points out that “Monetization will become increasingly critical as more verticals begin to explore how they can benefit from the IoT model.” She goes on to add, “As IoT continues to expand, communications service providers and enterprises will search for a billing solution that provides a combination of customer loyalty, predictable income and user information. They will require an agile recurring billing platform that can adapt to changing business environments and address evolving end-user preferences.” Her 24 page report on this topic can be downloaded from Heavy Reading’s website.

INSIGHT / November 2015INSIGHT / November 2015

Top trends

the industryimpacting

Red Trends 04

INSIGHT / November 2015

The world is quickly becoming a connected one, where every product, device and person is linked to the Internet, which essentially links them to every other thing as well. While some businesses have embraced an M2M world for years, others are just realizing the potential of what this means for their organizations and wish to take advantage of this exploding market.

Connectivity1

Consumers increasingly want access to their account and billing information without delay. With billions of devices generating enormous amounts of data, businesses need to process this data in real-time and quickly turn it into actionable information and insight. The ability for businesses to collect and process this data in real-time, and provide current information using online platforms, will become critical for any business wanting to compete in the future.

Online and Real-time 2

The ability to collect and analyze data is critical. Getting the analytics you need to understand your customers - when and what they are buying, and how services should be tailored to suit customer needs and buying behavior – will be essential to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.

Analyze and Predict3

With increasing competition many businesses are finding ways to differentiate themselves by expanding their service offerings to create additional value for the customer. For many IoT companies it is all about creating a partner ecosystem by expanding their service offerings to create additional customer value. Creating, managing and reconciling partner bills will also be a critical element of any IoT business partner strategy.

4 Creating a Partner Eco-System

Many companies are seeking a monetization platform that can easily and seamlessly scale to their needs and allow for new business models and pricing models, especially as more and more devices are becoming connected. With most IoT businesses starting small, but experiencing rapid growth, the number of devices and transactions will increase significantly within a short period of time making scalability critical to business success.

Read Redknee’s 10 Things You Need to Know about Monetizing the Internet of Things at http://goo.gl/enHfZY

5 Scalability

5 Critical Steps for Monetizing the Internet of Things

06

This has been another exciting and successful year for Redknee, where

we grew our customer footprint by adding five new customers, expanded our share of wallet, while improving our financial metrics. One of the highlights is that this past summer, we closed the acquisition of Orga Systems, which provided monetization solutions to more than 45 customers in the communications, automotive, energy, and railway industries. This acquisition has extended our reach into new markets, including energy and transportation.

Today, there are more than 50 million smart meters deployed in the United States alone, and utility providers are looking for new ways to deliver additional value to these connected customers. Redknee’s Connected Suite provides customers with alternative ways to pay for services. Prepaid energy is a rapidly growing alternative to how most customers pay for energy today, and provides

utility companies with a more secure revenue stream.

As part of our growth and focus in the energy market, Redknee recently solidified a partnership with Elster, one of the world’s leaders in measuring and improving the flow of natural gas, electricity and water in more than 130 countries. Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world and more than 200 million metering modules deployed. Our joint end to end energy payment solution is changing how people think about and use energy.

Smart energy is just one of the areas Redknee is focused on. The connected car industry is growing rapidly as well. In fact, Gartner predicts that one in five vehicles on the road will have some form of wireless connection by 2020. Redknee is investing heavily in this space. Through the Orga acquisition, BMW is now a Redknee customer, relying on us for

monetizing their ConnectedDrive Services, which provides extensive vehicle connectivity and enables access to services such as Online Entertainment, the internet and Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI).

Finally, we remain heavily focused on monetizing content and services for many of the world’s leading communication service providers (CSPs). We see digital services and cloud based billing driving new opportunities for all types of businesses, with CSPs at the center as they evolve to become DSPs (digital service providers). DSPs will be the engine of the digital ecosystem- driving connectivity and creating more value by delivering more content, more services, and a more seamless experience for their subscribers. We look forward to helping them realize this future, and to playing a significant role in how this digital ecosystem is monetized and shared across devices, partners, subscribers, and beyond.

Planning for a

Digital Future


One of the year’s highlights is that this past summer we closed the acquisition of Orga Systems.

‘‘‘‘

Lucas Skoczkowski,CEO, Redknee

@lskoczkowski

[email protected]

Red Perspective 08

Redknee acquires

Orga Systems


Over the last few years the OSS/BSS market has matured and this has resulted

in significant consolidation, as communications service providers increase their capabilities to support more than just billing and those in the market are looking for product and customer diversification. In July this consolidation trend continued with Redknee’s acquisition of Orga Systems.

Orga Systems was a real-time monetization software provider with customers across the telecommunications, energy and automotive sectors. At first glance it appears the product range is similar to that of Redknee, but the investments made by Orga in its products and customer base were actually complementary to Redknee - making it an attractive acquisition target.

The acquisition further extended Redknee’s reach into geographic markets, such as Latin American and the CIS markets, in which it had some prior success but had not yet invested in a significant local presence. Redknee also gained talent with Orga employees working on projects that include BMW’s connected car solution and Meralco’s large-scale prepaid energy roll out that made energy more accessible to the people of Manila. Orga also provided Redknee with intellectual property including a product and order management catalog to complement its existing technology and product suite. As a result the combined entity has a strong and comprehensive product portfolio combined with strong references and experience to take advantage of future opportunities across telecommunications, vertical markets and the Internet of Things.


Interview with Redknee Chief Technology Officer-Ralf Guckert

INSIGHT: Your career has focused on product and technology, with your current position being Chief Technology Officer at Redknee. In your view, what has enabled this success and what do you enjoy about your job?

Ralf Guckert: Success comes in many forms and there many more reasons for success.

Having a sense of passion and enjoyment is important. To put it simply, I love building things, and throughout my career I have worked on many projects to build products and find solutions. I find it very rewarding to build something that adds value and lasts over time.

I also enjoy taking the time to build client relationships, understand their challenges and create a solution. Over time I have developed many good friendships.

INSIGHT: The communications sector is undergoing change, how do you see

the market developing in the short to medium term?

Ralf Guckert: The demand for data will grow stronger and become more important over time. When I compare my generation with that of my son, he does not understand any potential communication barriers that my generation or previous generations have experienced. When I was his age I wanted to become a policemen or a pilot – but he wants to become a “You-tuber”. This highlights the change in attitude in the way we consume and use data in just one generation.

The telecommunications sector faces many challenges, on one hand companies are seeing revenues more or less stagnate but there is a need to transform from a voice to a data orientated business - and that requires infrastructure investment. Gartner research suggests that we will see close to 60% growth in mobile data traffic in 2015, and a further 53%

in 2016, highlighting the need for providers to invest in infrastructure to increase capacity in this area.

It will become more important for companies to use data in a predictive fashion to anticipate customer needs or create targeted offers, but this needs flexibility from supporting infrastructure to execute and monetization of these services. To be successful companies need to instill greater agility and take a more client centric approach to the way they do business.

INSIGHT: Redknee recently acquired Orga Systems, where you also held the position of Chief Technology Officer. What synergies do you see between the two product lines and what are you most excited to see from Redknee in the future?

Ralf Guckert: There are many similarities in the strategy of the two companies and their vision for the

Red Comment 10


future. This is reflected in the product portfolios, which in some respects are quite similar, but in other respects are quite complementary.

The customer roadmap looks exciting, with a broader product portfolio with functional richness and multi-dimensional features. I also look forward to seeing how the combined team will work together to discuss ideas and experiences to trigger new innovation within the Redknee environment. Together we will continue to design products in a way that is fun and uses technology wisely to benefit both customers and end users.

INSIGHT: Technology is increasingly moving towards a connected world, with the Internet of Things (IoT) starting to become reality. How do you think society will change in the coming decade or so and what role will Redknee play in this evolution?

Ralf Guckert: I was involved in a number of government funded research projects exploring ideas around smart grids, smart cities, smart cars and even water. These projects were all based on the exchange of ideas and information between different devices - and humans are no different in that respect.

Humans have an insatiable appetite for information and future generations will not accept any boundaries, consequently we will see a world that

will connect any device that can benefit from being connected. By 2020, we will see a significant increase in the number of connected devices, with the number predicted to exceed 40 billion devices.

Over time the Internet of Things (IoT) will change the way we approach both information and technology, but the volume of data will require us to be smarter in the way we route, connect and prioritize information. The challenge is the ability to automate and consume the flow of this data, and use it to deploy our resources most efficiently while making a profit. Redknee is able to play a critical role in connecting different services and bring them to the customer in one simple view.

INSIGHT: In a number of countries, we are starting to see some traditional sectors such as the energy/utility sector offer complementary services to their customers. Where do you see the most demand and traction outside of the telecommunications sector?

Ralf Guckert: The use and application of technology is changing, and this is creating new market structures, opportunities and new business models. Some markets have already changed significantly resulting in innovation, for example, the automotive industry. Today, the younger generation

doesn’t care about owning a car, whereas this was important to the previous generation. This has created car sharing. Companies like Tesla are also revolutionizing the industry and we can now see possibilities that include using a car battery for energy storage. In the future more innovative ‘value add’ services will be created in response to the changing market, for example, it may include the automatic provisioning of personal car settings to rental cars. Many other markets are facing similar changes, but only time will tell how extensive the change will be, how fast it will happen and what new services can be monetized.

INSIGHT: When you are outside of the office and are not thinking about the world of billing and charging, what do you do? Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Ralf Guckert: Outside of the office, I spend my time with my family and in particular my son, as such, I am an expert in all things LEGO. I love building and it also encourages kids to ask questions and be creative - after all we all need to be nosey in life.

On a more personal note, I am addicted to Speaker Design and have just recently completed another set of Active Speakers that I have positioned in our living room.

There are many similarities in the strategies of the two companies ‘Redknee and Orga Systems’ and their vision for the future.

‘‘‘‘INSIGHT / November 2015

Awards and Recognition 12

Redknee Receives 2015 Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan Global Competitive Strategy Innovation & Leadership Award for CSP Billing

Redknee has been awarded the 2015 Global Stratecast CSP Billing Competitive Strategy

Innovation & Leadership Award. The Award recognizes Redknee’s leadership in the global CSP billing market, in particular for the strength of Redknee’s strategy, ability to innovate, solid customer experience, high customer satisfaction levels, and strong brand equity.

As part of the annual Stratecast deep dive into the end-to-end billing1 marketplace, the Stratecast research process looked to identify billing solution suppliers that are market leaders by revenue today, market innovators of solution strategy, market enablers of next-generation new business capabilities, and market visionaries working to meet upcoming new business opportunities. The Stratecast Operations, Orchestration, Data Analysis & Monetization team looked at more than 100 CSP billing suppliers that presently address a global demand market well in excess of $10 billion annually.

The Stratecast Global Competitive Strategy Innovation & Leadership Award for CSP Billing is based on a comparative analysis of 10 criteria, including: strategy effectiveness, strategy execution, competitive differentiation, executive team alignment, stakeholder integration, price/performance value, customer ownership experience, customer purchase experience, customer service experience, and brand equity.

Karl Whitelock, director of global strategy for the Operations, Orchestration, Data Analysis & Monetization team at Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan, commented: “Stratecast congratulates Redknee on winning the 2015 Global Stratecast Competitive Strategy Innovation & Leadership Award for CSP Billing. The Award recognizes Redknee for its noteworthy achievements over the last few years, including the choices made by Redknee’s leadership team and employees to contribute to the company’s growth, customer focus and strategy effectiveness. We look forward to seeing Redknee’s future achievements in the years to come.”

1 Stratecast defines end-to-end billing to include mediation, rating & charging, policy management, other core billing (invoicing, collections, ledger), interconnect & settlement, and partner management.

The Award recognizes Redknee for its noteworthy achievements over the last few years, including the choices made by Redknee’s leadership team and employees to contribute to the company’s growth, customer focus and strategy effectiveness.

‘‘‘‘

To differentiate its services and provide an advanced customer experience to its

subscribers, Afghanistan’s leading telecom operator, Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) is utilizing the Redknee Unified Charging and Policy solution.

Redknee’s real-time solution enables AWCC to leverage these convergent services to monetize their next generation data strategy, support future growth and take a range of value-add and personalized services, faster to market.

Maximizing the Network with Integrated Charging and Policy

AWCC operates in a highly competitive and evolving market, which has created the need for communications service providers (CSPs) in the region to address how they maximize the value of their networks and support customer expectations. With Redknee, AWCC is increasing its market presence,

driving subscriber growth and becoming even more competitive.

Having recently launched its 3.75G high-speed network across multiple regions in Afghanistan, AWCC is paving the way to provide superior service to its customers.

service providers to create more personalized customer experiences with online, real-time information and service options, real-time marketing campaigns and targeted personalized promotions – making service providers like AWCC twice as fast as their competition.

“To support our continued growth and business strategy, AWCC selected Redknee’s market-leading integrated charging and policy control solution,” said Daniel Florentine, member Board of Directors at Afghan Wireless (AWCC).

Redknee’s Integrated Charging and Policy solution allows service providers to reuse charging and policy control elements in a single solution – providing an end-to-end view of services and products, reducing risk of misconfiguration and enabling new services such as commercial high definition (HD) voice and WiFi to be quickly rolled out across the complete customer base with simple and consistent processes. With Redknee’s solution,

Enhancing the Customer Experience and Expanding Growth with Unified Charging and Policy

With Redknee’s combined solution AWCC is equipped with increased visibility and control of our network, allowing us to better manage and roll out new services, and monetize our 3G investment.

With the Redknee Unified Charging and Policy solution, AWCC is able to quickly deliver targeted incentives and rewards to subscribers to increase ARPU and customer loyalty. From a go-to-market perspective, Redknee’s integrated solution enables

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Customer Story 14

Afghan Wireless


service providers like AWCC can quickly monetize relationships and generate revenue through new business models and partnerships with third parties such as OTT application and content providers, M2M and IoT, and cloud services.

Providing Superior Customer Experiences in Real Time

The growing adoption of 3G services in Afghanistan is providing CSPs with opportunities to increase their customer base and unlock more subscriber revenue. The key to enhancing the customer experience is in enabling the customer to interact in real time, with up-to-date information and options available online. Redknee’s integrated solution improves the subscriber experience through transparency, control and flexibility.

Transparency – provides visibility into data usage across multiple channels, for example, smartphone app, website and social media networks.

Control – enables subscribers with increased choice and command of their services, such as additional bandwidth.

Flexibility – allows subscribers to adjust services, such as available call minutes, or share plans across devices without the lengthy process it often takes to set up. Close alignment of the charging and policy functions are required to achieve an improved customer experience.

The Redknee Unified Charging and Policy solution has enabled AWCC to set differentiated quality of service for individual subscribers, reduce the load on its network and optimize its network investments. AWCC is now equipped to deliver tomorrow’s needs today.

Amin Ramin, Managing Director at Afghan Wireless further added, “AWCC’s trusted relationship with Redknee - a recognized leader in the converged real-time billing, policy management and charging market - has enabled us to differentiate our services to provide innovative offers and pricing models that enhance the experience of our customers now and in the future.”

Redknee enables CSPs to monetize and optimize the subscriber experience across the entire customer lifecycle. From activation to provisioning, to providing a 360 degree view of the customers’ usage, preferences, and integration with 3rd party social media sites, to empowering customers with self-care tools and the ability to pay for services on the go, Redknee provides one of the industry’s most comprehensive real-time converged billing, charging, customer care and payments solutions.

Supporting BSS Convergence with Monetization Software

Redknee’s Integrated Charging and Policy solution is cloud and virtualization ready and leverages a single consolidated database - a single provisioning and central management of products and offers. This enables service providers to improve operational efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by nearly 40% compared to standalone solutions – all while achieving maximum scale and flexibility. With Redknee’s real-time monetization and subscriber management software AWCC is able to achieve much more flexibility and responsiveness in today’s dynamic marketplace.

Redknee’s highly scalable and flexible solution enables CSPs to monetize third party relationships and content, support resellers and dealers and launch multi-country operations quickly, effectively and with a low TCO.

Customer Story 16

Eco Mobile Realizing the Benefits of Cloud and SaaS Services Garvin Garmo, CEO of Eco Mobile highlights the benefits of utilizing Redknee’s cloud-based converged billing and customer care solution to increase market share, drive differentiation and innovation in a competitive market.


INSIGHT: Tell us about Eco Mobile.

Garvin Garmo: Eco Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) operating in the USA on 3 of the largest nationwide 3G and 4G networks. We offer our customers a ‘no contract’ low-cost wireless service, for Voice, Text and 3G and 4G LTE Data. Tailored for cost conscious individuals and businesses, Eco Mobile provides services including Prepaid Wireless, Mobile Broadband, Smart Phones, Enterprise Solutions, M2M, PAYG, and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). We can tailor a plan for any opportunity.

INSIGHT: How is Redknee supporting you?

Garvin Garmo: We selected Redknee’s fully managed cloud-based converged billing and customer care solution to support our growth strategy. As a provider of wireless communication services it is important that we create innovative solutions and take them to market faster than the competition. Eco Mobile wanted a solution that could help drive new services and offers quickly into the market, whilst minimising risk. With Redknee’s end-to-end solution we were able to achieve this and much more.

Having recently launched on Redknee’s US Cloud, Eco Mobile is fully supported with SaaS-based converged charging, billing, policy and customer care, and can utilize the integrated analytics and business intelligence to efficiently manage customers and generate revenue. With Redknee, Eco Mobile is equipped to deliver innovative promotions, personalized offers and an enriched customer experience, including self-care capabilities, without the headache or hassle of increased CAPEX or OPEX investment.

INSIGHT: How is Eco Mobile benefiting from the cloud-based SaaS solution?

Garvin Garmo: It’s all about delivering services faster, moderating the company’s risk profile and lowering cost. Redknee’s cloud-based SaaS solution has the agility and flexibility that allows Eco Mobile to react very quickly to the market and competition. Redknee’s solution removes the need for Eco Mobile to focus on the billing and customer care aspects, allowing us to concentrate on our sales and marketing efforts to drive our growth strategy and provide superior services to our customers.

Eco Mobile’s full infrastructure stack is hosted and managed by Redknee, which means the need for specially trained staff and additional IT resources are eliminated. Plus, 24/7 operational support means maintenance and upgrades are conducted smoothly with no service interruption or delay.

Through Redknee’s cloud solution, Eco Mobile is utilizing an innovative platform that has minimized investment risk through low initial setup costs, and enabled fast time to market to launch new services.

INSIGHT: What products and services set you apart?

Garvin Garmo: We recently reformed and introduced an exceptional Point Plan system offering our end users the ability to choose affordable and customizable usage to support their unique wireless needs without

having a menu of plans and options to support each particular end users’ unique mobile habits.

A key differentiator, the Point Plan is designed to eliminate waste by providing customers with a plan that suits their mobile communication needs. The Point Plan, which includes free text messages, provides one point for one minute of talk, and one point for one MB of data. Ranging from 3,000 points, the service empowers customers with the flexibility to increase points to 5,000 or 7,000 and adjust the plan to add points as a bundled option, for example $5 for 500 more points. The customer benefits from the ability to control their budget and can also take advantage of great low rates by adding international long distance calls to the plan.

INSIGHT: What is key to success when operating in a highly competitive market?

Garvin Garmo: In addition to having a robust sales and distribution network and the ability to quickly cater to market demands and customer expectations, the need for agility and flexibility is crucial to success. Whether it’s to increase revenue and monetization, drive customer acquisition and retention, or test new offers in the market, such as M2M or IoT services, it’s vital that the business is able to adapt and innovate instantly. By launching Redknee’s cloud-based billing and customer care solution, Eco Mobile has the capabilities and support required to accomplish our growth goals, now and in the future.

We selected Redknee’s cloud-based converged billing and customer care solution to support our growth strategy.

‘‘‘‘

Prepaid

Prepaid energy is about to change the way we think about energy consumption. Put simply, prepaid energy is a type of rate plan that allows customers to pay for energy before

it’s consumed – eliminating end of the month bill shock surprises, and the need for large deposits. It works the same way a prepaid mobile phone plan works, and in many cases, energy payments can be topped up and managed over a mobile phone or via the internet, providing customers with a view to real-time energy use.

Prepaid energy is an excellent option for emerging markets, and for people with credit problems or low incomes, but it is also gaining in popularity with those who just want more control over their monthly spend or those who only require temporary access. With prepaid energy, a customer can purchase a block of electricity upfront and go online or use their mobile phone to add extra credit to their accounts. They can also monitor their energy usage more closely and budget their electricity consumption much more effectively than they can on a standard tariff.

Of course, utility providers need to have the right infrastructure in place to offer pre-paid energy services to customers in the first place. They must have flexible and easy-to-use billing solutions that can manage the data from smart meters. Redknee has an established record in providing monetization solutions to many types of companies, including utility companies. With Redknee’s Connected Suite, energy providers can successfully launch new tariffs and services, improve the customer experience and reduce bad debt. They can also use our solution to connect and disconnect smart meters remotely, thereby reducing operational costs while improving energy usage.

At Redknee, we’re keenly aware of the challenges that ordinary consumers face in managing their energy consumption. That’s why we’ve introduced features into our Connected Suite billing solution that allow energy providers to offer tiered rate plans based on time of day, resource availability and other dynamic parameters. At the same time, our solution allows households and businesses to have more control over their day-to-day energy consumption – all while managing budgets and conserving valuable resources.

Earlier this year, Redknee entered into a partnership with Elster, a world leader in smart grid and energy management solutions, to develop an end-to-end pre-payment solution for the utilities sector. The new solution combines the best features of Redknee’s Connected Suite for smart utility billing, with Elster’s smart grid software. The joint offering is available across the Asian, European and South American markets and will allow energy providers to increase revenues, improve profitability and enhance the customer experience.

The new prepaid energy offering is built around Connexo, Elster’s next generation smart grid software suite. Connexo integrates key operational workflows, business processes and smart grid data from multiple devices and vendors into a single, end-to-end integrated solution. As a result, it provides utility firms with a unified and simple approach for securely collecting, processing, storing and managing smart grid data.

Our belief is that by bringing together best-of-breed technology from Elster and Redknee, we create a comprehensive pre-payment energy solution that is second to none, and will help change how energy is paid for and delivered.

Thought Leadership 18

A new wAy to Give Customers more Control over their enerGy BudGet And improve CAsh Flow For utility providers Energy

INSIGHT / November 2015Give customers control over their energy budget and improve your cash flow

Prepaid EnergyEnables you to:

› Increase revenues› Improve profitability› Enhance customer experience

Allows your customers to:› Monitor energy usage more closely› Budget electricity consumption more effectively› Avoid surprises due to high energy bills

Established as the “Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company” in 1903, Meralco is

the largest distributor of electrical power in the Philippines. Today, Meralco provides more than 50% of the total electricity usage in the Philippines and powers over 5.3 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. The company’s major shareholders are the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and the San Miguel Corporation.

Revolutionizing the Philippine Energy Market

The Philippines is a country undergoing significant transition, as it develops from a subsistence and agriculture based economy to one that is more services and manufacturing orientated. At this point in time the country remains characterized by varying levels of income distribution and energy infrastructure across the country. As the largest distribution utility in

the Philippines - distributing power throughout Metro Manila and neighboring provinces - Meralco wanted to bring greater value to its customers, and make energy more accessible to a broader section of the population, especially those who couldn’t afford a deposit and monthly energy contract.

In addition to its current offers of tiered postpaid and time-of-use (ToU) tariffs, Meralco sought to improve the customer experience, and increase its competitiveness, by introducing prepaid energy.

Meralco implemented an Advanced Metering Infrastructure and launched

a large-scale prepaid energy program to collect and manage real-time energy consumption data. Utilizing smart meters, Meralco required a flexible and dynamic real-time billing solution, to monetize new services that better serve customers.

Powered by Redknee Unified, Redknee’s real-time energy billing, rating and charging solution was installed to provide a centralized rating and pricing system for Meralco’s electricity products and services. The real-time capability and tariff flexibility supports Meralco to offer tiered prepaid energy tariffs using multilevel thresholds to enhance the customer experience.

MeralcoIncreasing Customer Value with a Prepaid Energy SolutionUtilizing real-time billing and charging to provide greater accessibility, transparency and a superior customer experience.

With Redknee, Meralco is able to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering its prepaid energy customers’ targeted promotions, incentives and multiple payment options, in real-time.

‘‘ ‘‘Customer Story 20


Redknee’s real-time billing and charging software enabled Meralco to launch a new line of prepaid energy services, alongside its traditional monthly and quarterly contract services. These new services allow customers to pay for energy in smaller amounts, e.g. daily, multi-day, or weekly, making energy accessible to lower or fluctuating income households and small businesses such as food stalls. To advance the experience of its customers, Meralco also offers new methods of payment, including SMS top-ups, and ensures more accurate account information is delivered to customers in real-time.

The program revolutionized the energy market in the Philippines as it offered a secure energy supply to those unable to afford monthly contracts and also offered more accessible and transparent account information while reducing ‘bill shock’.

Making Energy More Accessible with Real-Time Billing and Charging

To support its efforts to make energy more accessible for all, and to monetize new services, Meralco implemented Redknee’s real-time billing, rating and charging system.

With Redknee, Meralco is able to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering its prepaid energy customers’ targeted promotions, incentives and multiple payment options, in real-time. Meralco is also afforded with the ability to connect and disconnect customers in real-time.

From the customer perspective, the Meralco prepaid energy solution can be easily topped up via SMS, email or USSD push. It also allows for customer self-care functionality, giving the user the ability to log into a web portal, use a mobile phone application, SMS or USSD to access self-care features. Customers also benefit from payment flexibility, as the solution provides them with the ability to pay over the counter, via a bank, or through a vending device or SMS.

Delivering Market Leading Solutions

Redknee provides real-time monetization and subscriber management solutions that drive a unique user experience, increase profitability and support any new product or business model. Redknee has helped a number of energy companies to challenge the traditional business model and offer market leading solutions that truly embed innovation such as the provisioning of new service lines, distribution of real-time account information, allowing ‘on-demand’ and top-up payments, and user friendly payment methods and customer care solutions.


Outside Perspective 22

The growth of the Internet of Things is the defining technology trend of the

next ten years, with billions of connected devices generating trillions of dollars of revenue. IoT covers a diverse range of enterprise and consumer use cases, each with their own characteristics and requirements. Each will also have its own requirements for monetization. Some will be simple, based on the transmission of data, but over time we expect the business models associated with IoT devices to be increasingly complex, encompassing the likes of multi-sided business models, data analytics, servitization, and data exchange.

These changing business models bring with them more complex monetization requirements. Machina Research has looked at its global IoT forecasts through the prism of monetization and identified that a large, and growing proportion of the revenue associated with IoT is related to more sophisticated monetization opportunities. The growth of IoT brings almost boundless diversity

to the applications and services for which companies will need to charge. In many ways the beauty of the IoT is the way in which it permits and encourages new emerging business models. To be successful in IoT everyone will need to understand how to monetize this new massive opportunity.

Specifically, between 2014 and 2024, there is a total of US$1.3 trillion in IoT revenue that is available to companies that have sophisticated monetization capabilities. Specifically, Machina Research identifies seven key capabilities required by a monetization platform for the IoT: it must be scalable, open, real-time, flexible, transparent and secure, agile, and built with the diverse requirements of the IoT in mind.

Redknee has a strong heritage supporting the emerging IoT demands of vertical sectors such as automotive and utilities, and they recently partnered with Machina Research for a whitepaper on this topic. To read the full report, please go to: https://goo.gl/FPU0zJ

Successful monetization of the

Internet of Thingswill bring a $1.3 trillion rewardBy Matt Hatton, CEO and Founder, Machina Research

Consulting ServicesMy 12 year old son has recently developed a

strong fascination for robots… it is probably a direct outcome of all those ‘Ironman’ movies he

repeatedly watches, which has led him to declare that he wants to become a robotics engineer when he grows up, and wants to run a high-tech company just like Tony Stark…

Over the summer we started research on the best robots out there in the market, and while doing so, it dawned on me that what we found could be broadly categorized into 2 groups. On the one hand there are the robots that come pre-configured, do a certain amount of tasks, but cannot be customized to go beyond. They are nice to play with, quite good at what they do, but you run out of new possibilities after a while.

The second category of robots come with a programmable yet user-friendly tool-kit, which allows the user to get the most out of the technology, apply it to specific scenarios, and really elevate the robot from being simply a toy to actually delivering real-life productivity. These robots also

come with a broad range of after-sales support in terms of online expert advice as well as social media communities that develop apps. It turns out that this group of robots has a much higher user rating, and have been employed to deliver many creative lifestyle use-cases.

The above analogy holds true also for the space that Communication Service Providers (CSPs) find themselves in. There are a lot of good products out there, but there are limited offerings in terms of associated services to help them become more efficient, extract more innovation, and ultimately drive larger revenue streams and improved customer experience from their BSS platforms.

At Redknee, to tackle this situation, we have united a comprehensive set of Consulting services, which focus on addressing and solving three primary business challenges for our CSP customers; namely increasing revenue, improving the customer experience, and enhancing operational efficiencies.

Redknee

Marketing Consulting

Business Process Consulting

IoT Consulting

Architecture/Transformation Consulting

MVNO/E Consulting

Marketing & Business Consulting

“transform to the next level”

Campaign Consulting

Tariff Optimization Consulting

Wholesale/Settlement Consulting

CEM/CRM Consulting

Policy Control Consulting

Product & Application Consulting

“unlock the potential”

Capacity/Performance Consulting

Proactive Care

Operational Consulting

Security Consulting

Operational Consulting

“keep the systems alive”

Redknee Consulting Services Portfolio

Red Perspective 24

Aamir Sardar,Head of Consulting, Redknee


The spectrum of Redknee’s Consulting offerings is fairly broad, ranging from developing strategic market and business transformation plans, and conceptualizing and launching winning product campaigns, to optimizing business processes across the full BSS lifecycle. We also maximize performance by implementing a cost-efficient operations set-up that focuses on being preventative, proactive and predictable.

Redknee Consultants bring 20+ years of worldwide experience in real time charging, billing and customer care, profound insights from global markets, as well as a deep technical understanding of Redknee products and their capabilities.

Over the past few years, we have been partnering successfully with CSPs in various geographies, helping them to overcome their key business challenges, whether it is a program managing complex projects within short timelines, leap-frogging competitors through innovative product launches, driving new revenue streams such as 4G data monetization, converting customer complaints into customer satisfaction and subsequently delight, attacking new market segments through sub-brands or MVNOs, converging from silo single-play to multi-play, and more recently dipping our toes into the M2M/IoT space.

The outcome of consulting engagements are measurable in terms of business KPIs such as ARPU, churn, market share, a number of new campaign launches; or in terms of system performance KPIs

such as project launch milestones, proactive care metrics, and capacity/performance reports, as well as process optimization KPIs. On the right, I have included a snapshot of sample business outcomes from real-life customer engagements with some of our CSP customers.

The industry is quickly moving in the direction where CSPs are focusing more on their core competencies of sales, marketing, and management; while their vendor partners are taking over additional responsibilities beyond traditional product delivery and implementation. At Redknee, we have a clear goal of focusing our Consulting services’ deliverables to ensure our CSP customers are able to maximize their business performance. We do this through our world-class consultants who combine their industry knowhow, experience gained from markets in multiple geographies, solid hands-on working competence of Redknee products, and strong business acumen.

Why don’t you also try out our Consulting services, and experience for yourself!

I concluded my robot adventures from this summer, by buying not one but two different robots for my son, and nowadays he is busy exploring, with lots of help from the online community, how he can combine the capabilities of both robots to help him with his daily chores!

Note: For all your questions and any further queries related to Redknee Consulting Services portfolio, please reach out to [email protected].

20% increase in ARPU in just 2 months

Churn reduced from 3.9% to 1.7%

15 new campaigns launched within six months

Added 1 Million New Subscribers in 2 weeks

INSIGHT / November 2015At Redknee, we have a clear goal of focusing our Consulting services’ deliverables to ensure our CSP customers are able to maximize their business performance.

‘‘‘‘Working to Achieve Positive Results

We are in the midst of a revolution; a new way of communicating - not just between people,

but between ‘things’. The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way we work, play and

live, through new digital services and content. Redknee Unified enables businesses to rate,

charge and bill for these digital services across today’s connected world, helping

businesses to monetize the IoT revolution.

Outside Perspective 28

Gartner has released its 2015 Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and

Customer Management (IRCM) for Communications Service Providers (CSPs). The IRCM Magic Quadrant evaluates solution suites that provide billing, customer care, rating, charging, pricing, partner relationship management, policy management, mediation, self-service and analytics for CSPs. The report advises CSP CIOs looking for commercial software packages that address business-critical revenue and customer management processes.

The report positions Redknee as a challenger, which attest to Redknee’s continued momentum in the market, to support CSPs with real-time monetization and subscriber management solutions to achieve their growth and business objectives. The report highlights Redknee’s broad product portfolio that incorporates all of the IRCM components for mobile CSPs.

Gartner’s IRCM Magic Quadrant Report for CSPs recognizes Redknee’s leadership and investment in developing its product portfolio capabilities, including a focus on virtualization, market agility, multi-play and non-CSP vertical markets. The quadrant also acknowledged the quality of services provided to Redknee clients, reinforcing Redknee’s client retention history.

To read Gartner’s full analysis of the IRCM Magic Quadrant for CSPs, please go to: https://goo.gl/TKgzC9

The graphic of the Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management for CSPs was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management for CSPs

Challengers Leaders

ABIL

ITY

TO E

XECU

TE

COMPLETENESS OF VISION

Niche Players Visionaries

Tecnotree

As of October 2015

SunTec Business Solution

Redknee

SAP

NetCracker Technology

Huawei

Amdocs

EricssonOracle

ZTEsoft

CSG InternationalAsiaInfo

Comarch

ElitecoreOpenet Infonova

FTSCerillion

NVision Group


In many ways, trying to ascertain the differences in billing for Internet of Things (IoT) services versus

communications-related services is quite difficult because the billing policies and technology is widely different even among providers of communications-related services. Communications service providers cater to widely different markets, offer widely different services and have vastly different metrics relating to the customer experience. It is likely that billing and revenue management systems will have a tremendous impact on communications service provider’s ability to deliver differentiated and superior customer experience in the IoT.

Companies will have greater interest in the ability to monetize IoT solutions as more verticals begin to explore how they can benefit from the IoT model. One of the major incentives for adopting IoT is the ability to add the predictable, recurring revenue streams of a

subscription-based service with a firm client commitment to products that previously were one-off transactions. Beyond the immediate financial benefits, recurring revenue also has proven to be an increasingly significant factor in how companies are valued. This is an added incentive for businesses to investigate their IoT options.

What this all means for communications service providers is that focusing on IoT billing is a worthwhile extension of the billing platform. The IoT is, without question, creating new dynamics in billing. While many billing vendors have added IoT functionality to their existing billing systems, others have created entirely new billing platforms for the IoT ecosystem. There is little question that, as IoT continues to expand, billing systems also will have to evolve to address the needs of communications service providers and enterprises that are developing IoT functionality.

As IoT continues to expand, communications service providers and enterprises will search for a billing solution that provides a combination of customer loyalty, predictable income and user information. They will require an agile recurring billing platform that can adapt to changing business environments and address evolving end-user preferences.

Billing Vendors Vary in Reactions, Solutions to IoT examines the IoT billing market, utilizing data collected from 12 IoT billing providers. It analyzes how IoT is impacting billing and billing solution trends. It discusses drivers and challenges in the industry and includes a comparative analysis of IoT billing solutions available. Finally, it examines the geographic landscape of the market and details trends that are likely to occur in the industry over the next 18-24 months.

As a leading provider of IoT billing solutions, Redknee anticipates there will be a strong push from communications service providers to provide more than just IoT connectivity services to become platform and service providers.

To read the full report, please go to: http://goo.gl/8xO4WQ

Billing Vendors Vary in Reactions, Solutions to IoTBy Denise Culver, Contributing Analyst, Heavy Reading

Redknee wins VMware IT Excellence Award VMware, one of the largest providers of cloud and virtualization software and services, recently held an award ceremony in Mumbai. VMware considered over 100 nominations including some of the largest and most well-known companies in the industry. During the event, Redknee was awarded the IT Excellence Award for Software Defined Networking. This award recognized Redknee as the first organization to adapt network virtualization towards a Software Defined Data Centre and Software Defined Network and was able to show it overcame the infrastructure challenges to implement the latest technology in the market.

Red News 30

offer end-to-end prepaid energy solution

Redknee and Elster

Elster and Redknee announced a partnership to deliver an end-to-end prepaid energy solution, providing utilities with a unified and simple approach for securely collecting, processing, storing and managing smart grid data. The advanced and differentiated solution enables energy providers to increase revenues, improve profitability and enhance the customer experience.


Redknee wins VMware IT Excellence Award

Redknee Expands its Presence in JapanRedknee recently opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan, to better serve our clients in the region. Japan is the third largest broadband market in the world after USA and China.

The opening of the Tokyo office is part of Redknee’s global growth strategy, focusing on investing in both products and customers. With the opening of the Tokyo office and continued investment in the region, Redknee has become one of the largest monetization players in Japan, offering a broad product portfolio to clients across telecommunications, energy, transportation and other vertical markets.

Billing as a service overcomes constraints of in-house systemsRedknee will support EcoMobile, operating on the Sprint network, with its fully managed software as a service offering, as part of its growth strategy. EcoMobile can go to market faster, and customers can benefit from a cloud based converged billing and customer care solution.

Growth and investment is on the Redknee agendaRedknee’s ambitious growth strategy is to become a billion dollar software company, through growth from acquisition as well as organic growth. In the last two years Redknee has grown its revenue from approx. $60 million in 2012 to $260 million last financial year. Redknee’s focus remains on expanding its footprint, investing in research and development and acquiring customers across key sectors.

Beyond the Buzz 32

Facebook is Heading to Space

BBC

http://goo.gl/AAtjCx

Facebook has just announced their plan to launch a satellite into space to deliver internet to certain areas of the globe, specifically Africa. Our global friend list just keeps growing!

The Internet of DNA is Here

TechnologyReview

http://goo.gl/NrzHqT

Programmers are testing a system for automating and trading genetic information with other hospitals globally to compare DNA from sick people to find similarities and new cures.


Nokia Networks to Test Steve Perlman’s pCell Approach for Speeding Wireless Networks

ReCode

http://goo.gl/C4saoY

New network speeds will be 40 times faster than 4G- Internet speeds of the future are on the way.

New electronic sensor can detect ovarian cancer in your breath

ScienceAlert

http://goo.gl/rkO3Af

Breathing is vital for life, and now new advances can save your life by monitoring your breath.

In the heart of South America, home to the longest country in

the world, housing some the world’s largest metropolises

and the largest economy in the region, Brazil is a dynamic country

offering a wealth of opportunity.

The country offers some of the most comprehensive

infrastructure networks in the world, including the second

highest number of airports, the third largest road and tenth largest

rail network on the planet, while the people offer a welcoming

open hearted culture with a love for soccer and renowned

biodiversity that covers 25% of the world’s rainforests, including

the Amazon.

Redknee’s new office in Rio de Janeiro provides the

perfect launching pad to serve and support our clients throughout the

country and the region.

To learn more about Redknee’s presence in Brazil, please visit

www.redknee.com.

Red Location 34

INSIGHT / November 2015BR

AZIL

Rio de Janeiro


AfricaCom 2015Cape Town, South Africa

Internet of things World Forum 2015London, UK

17-19NOVEMBER 2015

18-19NOVEMBER 2015

http://goo.gl/qYcxvi

http://goo.gl/G8cGoj

MVnO America 2015Dallas, USA

http://goo.gl/bm1GRg

18-19NOVEMBER 2015

Redknee Events 36


Mobile World Congress 2016Barcelona, Spain

22-25FEBRUARY 2016

http://goo.gl/92fsqI

tM Forum Live 2016Nice, France

9-12MAY 2016

http://goo.gl/g53fwp

Redknee Corporate headquarters2560 Matheson Boulevard EastMississauga, Ontario Canada L4W 4Y9Tel: +1 905 625 2622Fax: +1 905 625 2773www.redknee.com

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