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PrintEfficient operations are the foundation for 3G success
From enhancing staff competence, to developing systems that eliminate integration overheads for new services, Thailand’s AIS is putting itself in a good position to capture the 3G opportunity.
"A willingness to tackle operational efficiency can best deliver services that match user needs."
3G subscriptions in emerging markets are widely expected to soar over the next few years. In its January 2009 report, Parks Associates predicted more than 2.5 billion 3G subscribers worldwide by 2013, with over one billion in Asia alone.
Reaching these heady numbers will take a combination of widespread coverage and innovative, high quality services at ever lower prices. While 3G technologies bring huge economies of scale, the efficiency with which operators run their networks is a key factor.
In what will undoubtedly be intense competition in emerging markets, the front running operators will be those that can achieve the highest operational efficiency coupled with the best service levels for consumers. Improving operational efficiency demands a good assessment of current business performance that can be benchmarked to identify areas that need improvement.
Understanding weaknesses
One operator that clearly recognizes the need for efficiency is Thailand’s Advanced Info Service Public Company Ltd (AIS). As the country’s leading mobile operator, with close to 50 percent of the market, AIS launched Thailand’s first 3G commercial network in the northern city of Chiang Mai in May 2008. To support its 3G expansion plans, AIS undertook benchmarking studies to pinpoint its weaknesses and strengths.
Some key areas were thrown up. One finding was that IT resources could be put to better use and operational costs reduced through better outsourcing. A subsequent evaluation of resource allocation processes has led to internal IT staff concentrating on high-value, revenue-generating projects.
“As a result of reassessing our outsourcing strategy and analyzing our outsourcing agreements, we are able to reduce our IT outsourcing and maintenance costs,” comments Mrs. Suwimol Kaewkoon, Customer Officer and Terminal Business Officer, AIS.
A second finding was that AIS needed to allocate more resources to marketing, particularly in channel management. “We thought we had poured sufficient funds into marketing,” continues Kaewkoon. “But now we understand that we need to invest more, as it is critical for our growth and our ability to retain our leadership position.”
3G systems know-how is vital
AIS also recognized the need for greater technical competence in 3G among AIS staff. Accordingly, the operator addressed the management of its training budget by working with Nokia Siemens Networks to implement a 3G competence development program to ensure that its 3G expansion strategy stays on track and that training investments are optimized.
“We wanted a clearer picture of the impact of our existing training programs on employees. We identified the 3G competence gaps of each staff member and then developed specific development programs for each of them,” says Mr. Surachai Hirannitichai, Technical Training Manager, AIS. “Employees now only undergo training that is the most appropriate to them, improving the utilization of our training budget by 20 percent. The response from AIS employees is also very encouraging. They were enthusiastic throughout the program, and many spent extra hours preparing for online tests.
” With clearer insight into the competencies of each staff member, management is now able to allocate jobs more accurately and efficiently. This goes a long way in enhancing the service level and quality of AIS’ 3G network.
AIS also recognized the challenges it faced in rationalizing network infrastructure and supporting systems to save costs, reduce time to market and introduce new applications. Multiple subscriber identities and the need to apply and manage common service attributes over numerous subsystems and applications were central to the challenges.
“We needed to find a cost-effective way to eliminate problems if we were to have the agility essential to compete in such a crowded and sophisticated marketplace as Thailand,” clarifies Mr. Arakin Rakchittapoka, Telecom and IT Application Development Manager, AIS.
The answer came in the form of a subscriber data management platform that provides AIS with the ability to develop and trial its own in-house developed applications. The platform also provides a single centralized repository of subscriber profile data, consolidating the disparate applications to enable a highly robust and streamlined service creation architecture.
Current estimates by AIS indicate that the company can expect to make annual savings in the order of millions of dollars through both direct and indirect savings. Additionally, the applications that are currently running over the platform contribute significant revenues for AIS each year.
As AIS has shown, a willingness to tackle operational efficiency in a variety of ways can reduce both the cost and complexity of delivering 3G services that match users’ needs and budget. Efficiency is the foundation on which to build 3G success.
Source: Expanding Horizons 3/2009