iPhone Critical for Service Providers

By Ely Compean, CHR Solutions

I will start by admitting I own no Apple products. I just did a walkthrough of my home to validate some technological facts. To date, my family of four owns:

• five laptops, one desktop
• four HD-capable TVs plus all the usual gaming systems attached to them, although only the Wii-based units seem to get any use
• three smartphones, all with unlimited data and calling minutes (for the record, these devices are MobilePC devices – 6.x or greater and 4G-capable.)

BTW, this does NOT include my business-issued artillery: laptop, PDA, etc.

As the leader of a practice that does customization to integrate in-house and third-party BSS and OSS, the impact of the iPhone has now arrived front and center on our business front.

Up until now, it only came from my daughters who are making arguments that the iPhone is the way to go. From my youngest – because it’s the cool thing to have, which by definition means she is not a cool soon-to-be third grader, something I feel she will have to learn to deal with. From my oldest – the “platform has the most apps and the usability is intuitive,” which tells me I am having way too many business-related calls while driving that she is using the words – platform, usability, and intuitive. She too will have to wait until at least junior high before I give into the need for “useable apps argument” from a soon-to-be fifth grader.

What I cannot delay on is the fact that service providers are becoming AT&T agent partners in order to gain access to the iPhone and want to (or more so needed to in order to maintain the whole iPhone experience) electronically bond with the AT&T wireless autonomous portal in order to activate in real-time the iPhone. Additionally, the users of the iPhone must have four bars, thus it is driving femtocell.

Having just completed an integration that will allow a client to provide seamless delivery of iPhone devices and their related services and products, it is clear to me that service providers at all levels are well-aware that their customers will walk away from them unless they, too, are able to provide access to the “platform that has the most apps and the usability is intuitive.”

The lessons learned are invaluable, and next time I’ll share some of them with you. In the meantime, feel free to e-mail me at ely.compean@CHRsolutions.com.

Ely Compean is a senior technical consultant at CHR Solutions. With expertise in BSS/OSS, he has a proven record of accomplishments in leading revenue-driven projects and resolving complex issues across a range of industry segments. Specializing in business and technical acumen of complex heterogeneous telephony and data communications systems, Compean’s collaborative approach engages teams and individuals across organizational functions to achieve key objectives.