Editorial: Billing World & OSS Today for 2007

Like most organizations, Billing World and OSS Today is heading into 2007 with refreshed goals and ideas for better serving our readers. Here’s where our sharpened focus will take us in the coming year.

E-Newsletter: Going Weekly
Every day brings news items that reflect the dynamics of our industry. So to keep you up to date, Billing World and OSS Today is now publishing its e-newsletter weekly.

The e-newsletter complements the print magazine with timely, quality coverage of breaking news. It will provide thoughtful, objective analysis drawing on viewpoints across the industry, including Wall Street, operators, vendors, analysts and other insiders.

Jill Morgan leads the e-newsletter effort as Publisher and Editorial Director. If you know of an item that belongs in the e-newsletter, contact her at jmorgan@billingworld.com. If you aren’t a subscriber, simply go to www.billingworld.com and enter your email address. It’s free! (And don’t forget to update your email spam filter.)

Web Portal: More Content, Richer Media
On our web site you can search more than 10 years of Billing World and OSS Today, access our webinar library, browse the latest articles in the print magazine and use all kinds of great OSS/BSS resources. Our 2007 goal is to expand our online resources through our thought leadership portal.

The portal originally was mainly a place to post whitepapers. This year, we’re adding audio and video segments from interviews conducted for our magazine or with experts at TeleStrategies conferences. This format allows us to expand on sub-topics and offer you full interview transcripts that we can’t always publish in our feature stories. You’ll also get an unedited view of experts’ opinions and perspectives.

We’re also looking for user-generated content, so get involved. If you can deliver the content—white papers, audio or video—we’ve got the infrastructure and audience. Send ideas to Ed Finegold at efinegold@billingworld.com.

Print Magazine: More Analysis, Broader Coverage, Bi-Monthly
We’ll continue covering the tough operations challenges that telecoms face, as well as the OSS/BSS tools for overcoming them. Of course this means billing. But we’ll also cover the spectrum of OSS/BSS processes, such as revenue assurance, taxation, customer management, service assurance, usage processing, online charging, network management, bill production and more.

The biggest change is that we’re moving to bi-monthly print distribution. This is a tough decision for us. But we also want to strengthen our e-newsletter and thought leadership portal, and going to bi-monthly print coverage will help us make it all work.

The challenge will be to sort through all the disruption in the industry, make sense of innovation and help you assess the impact on telecom operations. Here’s our plan:

• Focus on services - New services are where the action is. IPTV, entertainment, IMS-based services, FMC, web-applications, software—this is where the excitement and new revenue opportunities lie, and where the next OSS/BSS challenges are surfacing. We’ll thoroughly cover the technologies behind these service rollouts and the pending OSS/BSS issues.

• Focus on deals - The deal watch section of our news briefs is one of our most popular columns. If there’s some overlap with the e-newsletter, that’s OK because we know you value hearing about the deal flow, where operators are investing, how niche OSS products are doing (versus suite solutions), what verticals are spending, and more. Where else can you see the industry at a glance, without spending huge money on reports?

• “Services Watch” - Starting in the May/June issue, we’ll introduce “Services Watch,” a column that will complement our services coverage with high-level briefs on innovative services that telcos are launching, testing or contemplating. We’ll separate hype about new services from what is actually in production. We’ll also look at the accounting models for these services, since it’s the revenue that’s important, not just the coolness factor.

• User-generated content - As always, we’ll draw on contributed articles. Our editors are available to discuss your ideas; send inquiries to Ed Finegold (efinegold@billingworld.com). If you are interested in joining our editorial board, contact Matthew Lucas (mlucas@telestrategies.com).

• It could happen to you - In the second half of 2007, we’ll launch a new column on OSS/BSS “gotchas,” not to embarrass anyone, but to provide a forum for operators to learn from situations that are unpredictable but inevitable. Why not share them? After all, they could happen to you!

• International scope - Our industry is global, so we’re expanding our international coverage. Look for more on EMEA and Asian markets, since they foreshadow what’s coming to the States.

• More focus on emerging players - The Internet community generates tremendous innovation. Many apps get a free ride on telco pipes, but we think the innovation is worth it. We’re expecting the Internet and telco communities to sort out their business relationships, and drive revenue with their respective assets. Expect strong analysis and coverage here—it’s the future of the industry.

In summary, Billing World isn’t sitting still. We’re focusing on offering quality, objective information affecting the industry—whether in print, in our e-newsletter or on our web site.

Sincerely, the Billing World Team