Opportunities in Telco Cloud Billing
Innovation Observatory report September 2011 The increase in adoption of cloud-based services for computing infrastructure, software platforms and business applications in many enterprises across multiple sectors has spurred telcos and their suppliers to look for new revenue opportunities. Telcos are well positioned to deliver all kinds of cloud services, and they may also be able to act as trusted providers of management for multiple clouds – or “cloud service brokers”. Some will need to invest in new billing systems that can charge flexibly for multiple services in real-time, and in some cases to have true multi-tenant capabilities in order to meet the requirements of customers requiring “pass through” billing capabilities (allowing their customers to build value-added services of their own and bill for them in ways that suit their business model). Though not all cloud services necessarily require telco-style billing systems, there is a trend – as there was in telecom billing systems some 20 years ago – to move from in-house-developed billing to solutions provided by specialists. Cloud-based billing-as-a-service (BaaS) solutions have emerged that offer increasingly sophisticated functionality, which are optimised for the needs of cloud service billing, and which are much lower in cost than buying and deploying a traditional on-premises telco-style billing system. BaaS providers are also threatening established telco billing system vendors on their home patch, but there will be a spectrum of needs, met by a spectrum of solutions. The Innovation Observatory report Opportunities in Telco Cloud Billing:
- examines the way the cloud services market is structured, and the role that telecoms operators and service providers are playing
- identifies examples of telco-provided cloud services of various kinds
- looks at how billing for cloud services will evolve as the market matures
- examines the development of cloud-based billing services, and their likely future role
- forecasts global and regional spend to 2015 by enterprise and public-sector organisations on cloud services, and spend captured by telcos
- forecasts global spend to 2015 by telcos on systems to enable them to effectively bill for cloud services
- forecasts global spend to 2015 by telcos on cloud-based billing systems and services
- explores the supply landscape for billing systems to support cloud services and BaaS provision
- profiles 12 of the leading suppliers.
Who should read this report
- Billing managers and IT directors at telecoms network operators and service providers - they will learn about options for the delivery of billing functionality to support both cloud services and traditional telecom and data services
- Vendors of telecom billing systems - they will understand the scale of the new cloud billing opportunity, the challenges in providing relevant systems to bill for cloud services, and the threat posed to their business by BaaS providers
- Providers of cloud-based billing services - they will learn the extent of the opportunity within telecoms, and how which types of telco are most likely to consider buying BaaS.
Table of contents 1. Executive summary 2. Introduction to cloud services 2.1 Cloud service types and examples 2.2 Supply chain complexity 2.3 The role for network operators and service providers 3 Billing for cloud services 3.1 Billing requirements for evolving cloud business and charging models 3.2 How the billing needs of cloud service providers will be met 4 Billing in the cloud 4.1 Private, hybrid and public cloud-based billing 5 Forecasts for cloud services and cloud billing 6 Supplier profiles 6.1 Amdocs 6.2 Aria Systems 6.3 Convergys 6.4 CSG International 6.5 Ericsson 6.6 Infonova 6.7 MetraTech 6.8 Monexa 6.9 Nokia Siemens Networks 6.10 Parallels 6.11 Redknee 6.12 Zuora 7 Conclusions The report is 34 pages long and costs GBP2000 (plus applicable taxes) for a five-user licence. Contact Innovation Observatory on +44 (0) 1480 309341 or sales@innovationobservatory.com to buy this report.