Churn buster

It seems as if every telecommunications company is stammering to announce a wireless initiative. Although the rush is to stay competitive and gain a stronger bottom line, carriers often struggle to maintain focus on customer bases and the value-added services that keep churn low.

Call Sciences allows operators to do this by offering enhanced services on an outsourced basis. The company wants to cut operating costs for wireless carriers so operators can offer customers enhanced services at competitive prices.

BellSouth Mobility was one of the first to bite. The operator teamed with Call Sciences in February to spice up its portfolio.

"If you look at the wireless industry as a whole, everyone needs to improve on churn," said Scott Wallace, product development manager for BellSouth Mobility. "The days of selling just telephone service are over."

When Wallace realized that Call Sciences' solution would attract its current customer base - many of which receive many inbound calls - he was more convinced it would give BellSouth Mobility a competitive edge.

The companies signed a three-year agreement whereby BellSouth Mobility would use Call Sciences' Personal Assistant single-number service platform for wireless customers in key markets. The service allows subscribers to consolidate multiple contact numbers, including mobile phone, office phone, home phone and fax, into one number with advanced management features.

Teaming up technically was easy. BellSouth Mobility ran a T-1 line from its mobile switching center to Call Sciences platform. No additional software or hardware was needed at the switch.

In addition, Call Sciences is responsible for all maintenance and upgrades. The front end of its call processing system is composed of parts from Intel and Dialogic, and the company puts the system together itself.

Here's how the system works: When a BellSouth Mobility subscriber gets a call, Call Sciences retrieves that subscriber's profile. This happens on the front end. Depending on how that subscriber customized the unified messaging package, the call rings any number of times on multiple devices or rings on one phone four times and then jumps to another device, if specified.

Another subscriber might have the personal assistant interface, which greets a caller when there is no answer. While callers announce themselves, the system searches for phone numbers that are turned on or off. If the subscriber's cell phone is turned off, the system goes to the next number.

On the back end, a Hewlett-Packard peripheral server determines if a wireless device is on or off. It also stores the messages and creates billing records.

Call Sciences will maintain 12 service bureau nodes nationwide - 10 already have been deployed - to support carriers' enhanced service platforms. What differentiates Call Sciences is that it maintains the service bureaus for carriers.

Call Sciences is confident that it can help wireless carriers deploy enhanced services without upfront capital investment, lengthy product development and expensive upgrades. Operators can pass this savings to customers.

BellSouth Mobility had tried to offer its own version of the one-number service but found that scalability and cost made it difficult.

"The strength of outsourcing is that carriers can start with simpler services and then add additional features later," said James Healy, director of product management for Call Sciences.

The one-number service also keeps callers on the line longer than mail, Healy said, which translates to more money for the carrier.

Offering customers a way to avoid missing calls, including those that do not result in a voice mail message, keeps carriers competitive.

BellSouth Mobility is introducing the service commercially in 12 cities. All of BellSouth Mobility's markets are expected to go commercial by April 10.

Call Sciences expects to work with at least one national carrier and two regional carriers by the end of this year.

- One number for office, home, mobile phone, fax, pager

- Call screening

- Unified messaging mailbox: one call to check voice mail, return calls, retrieve faxes and e-mails

- Automatic notification of voice and fax messages through pager or e-mail

- Voice and fax broadcast

- Web interface