A presentation used in front of a carrier sales team to review trends and influences on the VAS space for SMBs.

1. Value-Added Services (VAS)
State of the Industry

2. Overview
› Importance of Value-Added Services (VAS) for
Telcos
› Is the Market Ready?
› Examples from Other Carriers
› Best Practices for Success
› Mi Negocio en Línea v2

3. What VAS Means for Telcos

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. ARPU and Revenue Trends
› Data revenue is
increasingly critical for
Mobile operators to
maintain ARPU
› Meaning it‟s a fight to
keep topline revenue in
place with the existing
customer base
› For fixed line providers
approaching broadband
saturation, the same
ARPI support does not
exist for data plans.
Source: Morgan Stanley
11

12. What it has meant for carriers
› Applications have
shown the power of
driving carrier
switching behavior
12

13. Accelerating Growth

14. VAS Definition
› THEN – clear enhancements, modifications or alterations to traditional telecom /
communications services
o Voicemail
o Email
o Fax-to-Email
o Voice-to-text
› NOW – Business applications that run on top of and integrate with the
communications network, including converged fixed line and mobile solutions
o Web Presence
o Marketing
o Data Management
o Security
o CRM

15. The Long Tail© of the VAS Market
Core Carrier Services – Phone, High Speed Internet
Traditional Add-Ons – Security, Backup, Email
Customers
Number of
What can we sell to these folks?
Revenue
per
Customer
Copyright © Anderson, Chris
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More | Hyperion Books 2006

16. Success in VAS
› For the size and breadth of maximizing the VAS space, carriers are
universally considered to have the best possible opportunity
› Strategies should focus on applications with the broadest possible
appeal, with low customization and integration

17. Is the Market Ready?

18. The Time is Right
Growing broadband access for SMBs and Consumers
Economic models are in sync – economic recession and
resulting tight IT budgets are driving demand for more
economically efficient solutions
CIOs need to deliver strategic, mission-critical value,
VAS
and will outsource other functions to allow a more strategic
internal focus
Improved security and acceptance of web-based content
and secure data centers by customers Now is the right time.
Greater Depth and Breadth of VAS offerings, including
greater alignment with customer needs (e.g. SMBs need
lighter-weight applications than Large Enterprise)
Emergence of Platforms for developing VAS applications
• Windows Azure, Microsoft CRM 4.0, Amazon EC2
• SalesForce.com AppExchange, Google AppEngine

19. SaaS/VAS Stats
› 86% of SMBs will adopt SaaS in 2009 according to MSFT
Study (US, Canada, China, France, Brazil)
› SaaS Spend > $8B in 2009 (Gartner)
› IT spend in Emerging Markets is growing at 3X overall
market

20. Business-Centric Buyer
› How they
Web-Agnostic Buyer
consume
Web-Centric Buyer
information
› How they
interact with
others
› How they find
and buy
products and
services
› How they solve
problems
Feature-Centric Buyer
20

21. Facebook in Mexico 2009
› Mexico had largest gross gain (470K users) and second largest
percentage gain (10%) of Facebook users from September to October
2009
› Over 5M Facebook accounts in Mexico, or 4.8% of population
› Added 1/2% of the entire population in just 1 month

22. What Solutions are In Demand
› Small companies want
help growing larger
› Medium companies
want to grow more
profitable at the same
size
› Everyone wants to
acquire new customers
or communicate better
with those they have
Source: Edge Strategies

23. Are Buyers Ready
› The good news, is
the vast majority of
businesses will
take a hosted
solution (78%)
› But they may
require some
selling on security,
reliability, control
and costs
Source: Edge Strategies

24. ?
! !?
!
!? ?
The road to VAS is fraught with
challenges that providers must
proactively help their customers
overcome.

25. What Are Other Carriers Doing?

26. British Telecom
› Major push on „owning‟ the presence on the web for SMBs
› What‟s „on the end‟ of the Internet line (just like the phone was on the
end of the phone line)
› Thousands of web-centric VAS sales / week
› Combination of products (Tradespace, Domains) and services
(Search Engine Marketing, Design)

27. Verizon
› Segmentation Based
with a focus on
business lifecycle
› Increasing
investment in
application catalog
and marketplace
› Focus on converged
(mobile + fixed line)
solutions

28. But nobody has approached this…

29. Importance of Customer Activation
› “the cost of acquiring new customers, compared to retaining clients,
is a staggering 7:1 ratio” (Sunday Business Post – Ireland 3/22/09)
Common
What‟s Possible
Challenges
• Low activation • Reduced churn
• High Churn • Increasing ARPU
• Lack of Expertise • Higher user counts
• Misdirected Selling • Increased WOM
• „Control Panel‟ focused • Support as a marketing
tools investment
• Support as a „cost‟

30. Activation Program Example
Current Base
•Targeted calling by segment or region
•Callfire Virtual Call Center
Pre/New Sales
PROCESS •Tele – „Getting Started‟ Follow on call Free, “Red Carpet” Advocate WOM
directly post sale Consultation and Upsell
•Online – Live Chat in order experience Guided Activation
•Welcome Email
Setup
Live Chat, Call Scripts, Canned Tele + Remote Desktop Facebook Fans, Twitter
Responses / Knowledge Base, Quick Start Walk-Through
TOOLS Scheduling Tool, Exclusive CX2 Tools, Social
150 Activations Booked / Week 60% 5-15%
Activation Rate Activation Rate Incremental VAS
(some VAS service) (some VAS service) Attach Rate
10%
TARGETS Assisted Setup
Attach Rate

31. Balancing Activation & Volume
1:1 Coaching Sessions
1:FEW, HIGH Email
ENGAGEMENT
Advocates
Facebook Fans
& CONTENT
DM Twitter
Webinars
Activated Remote Desktop
Call Centers
1:MANY, LOW Live Chat
ENGAGEMENT Registered Mass Twitter
& CONTENT
Copyright © 2008 Mural
Consulting, LLC and Mural 31

32. Customer Support as Marketing
› Top providers can realize New
Customers
up to 50% of sales through
Word of Mouth (WOM)
referrals
Discover Support
› Meaning the „cost‟ of VAS
activation and support is Customer
Interactions
actually an investment in
marketing Evaluate Purchase
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33. How to be Successful

34. Conclusions
› Choose the right „sharp tip‟ applications that the call centers can
sell/attach easily to the existing broadband customer base
› Bundle for simplicity – not just with broadband, but as packages of
solutions
› Define and guide the customer lifecycle – especially in the products
themselves
› Activate and engage your VAS customers with an activation channel

35. What Does Sharp Tip Mean?
The service provides a solution that the target customer
doesn‟t already have. Not a replacement.
The service can be sold to an individual stakeholder/buyer
within the customer organization. One buyer.
Time to value is short. The service has an immediate impact.
Focused on growth or profit.
35

36. “Do you want” – 1 Sentence Closes
› Do you want to be discovered in Google?
› Do you want a website?
› Do you want to sell more?
› Do you want to backup your computer?
› Do you want to prevent your computer from getting a virus?
Top carriers attach services (some free / trial) to
nearly 80% of calls, and have 1.4 VAS units per
customer

37. Typical VAS Packaging / Bundling
› Use the Web to Grow My Business
o Web Presence Solutions
o Marketing Services
o eCommerce
› Protect My Data and Infrastructure
o Backup
o Security
o IT Support
› Communicate More Effectively / Efficiently
o Email
o VoIP
o File Sharing / Collaboration

38. Sample Customer Lifecycle – Use the Web
eCommerce, Scheduling,
Transact CRM Solutions
Email Marketing, SMS
Marketing, Click-to-Call
Interact
Social Discovery
(Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn
Get Discovered
Natural Search Restuls,
Search Engine Marketing,
Banners and Display
Directories and Yellow Pages
Get Online
Presence (Domain, Site)

39. Over-Invest the First 60 Day from Sign Up
+ 2 days – Remote Desktop Support Session
+ 24 Hours - First Contact/Phone Call
+ 7 Days (and each week) Email
• Higher Up-Sell
• Increased Customer Retention
• Increased Customer Referrals
• Increased Customer Satisfaction
How-To Tips
+ Etc.
0 DAYS 60 DAYS 90+ DAYS
Copyright © 2008 | Mural
39
Consulting Corporation

40. Thank You