AMDOCS EAGER TO SHARE ITS VISION

Amdocs launched its Strategic Vision Group two years ago in response to a shaky market and shifting demands from its customers. Next week, the company will share with those customers the resulting vision and the comprehensive results of a global market segmentation study done in conjunction with U.K.-based research firm Ovum.

The Strategic Vision Group was established to help customers better understand changing business and marketplace conditions that were affecting their businesses. Better defining their relationship with Amdocs was a bonus.

“As a systems vendor there is a certain amount of understanding we bring to the table you can't get from traditional sources,” said Wayne Purboo, vice president of Amdocs' SVG.

Purboo believes having an eight-person team do its own broad business research provides Amdocs with an advantage.

“We do our own primary research to understand the marketplace in the context we need to understand it and the way our customers need to understand it,” Purboo said.

As a market leader in the billing space, a certain amount of research and theorizing is expected of Amdocs, Purboo said. The Strategic Vision Group is trying to take it to a new level with the Ovum study, which examines the consumer purchasing dynamics.

“When you look at consumers as a whole, it really boils down to market segments and understanding that certain market segments tend to buy things in a certain way,” Purboo said.

With that understanding, said Purboo, Amdocs can help customers determine the right pricing models for emerging services. The study gathered intelligence from Tier 1 carriers around the world to get a holistic view of how communications services get consumed and by whom. Amdocs plans to leverage the data in its CRM solution for better marketing performance and in its billing systems for more accurate pricing models.

It will have its own public relations value as well.

“That we can do a study like this and garner the respect from our customers throughout our market is very important from a market positioning standpoint,” Purboo said.

Amdocs isn't alone though in doing its own research. Convergys is issuing its own report this week on the consumer attitudes toward wireless number portability.

“Utilizing in-house research and knowledge management expertise to better understand customer needs, attitudes and market trends is a critical differentiator for success,” said Mike Cholak, vice president of Convergys' Marketing Research Services.