When Convergent Charging Met Policy Management

If you’ve been following my blog posts closely, you’ll know that I recently discussed the growing industry buzz about shared wireless data plans. As people buy more connected devices, service providers have an exciting opportunity to create shared plans. There’s just one catch:

According to a recent report conducted by Heavy Reading and commissioned by Amdocs, the majority of service providers worldwide currently lack the capabilities to enable this for their customers. This research, based on 64 interviews with decisions makers from 32 service providers across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, shows that 85 percent see a need to integrate charging and policy management capabilities so as to monetize new data pricing strategies. They want the ability to create and enforce rules and policies based on a customer’s identity, family members and service category. This is sure to play a large role in the flexible new data plans that will be taking over the market as devices like iPhone 5, iPad 3 and the upcoming Amazon tablet cause data usage to skyrocket.

With service providers noting that the average family can have 10 or more connected devices in their household, it’s no surprise that 67 percent plan to launch family plans in the future. The research found that a whopping 82 percent of service providers plan to launch a single data plan for multiple devices. The latter is sure to spur sales of 3G tablets by consumers who may have been apprehensive to pay for yet another separate plan. It’s not just “techy folks" who want more sophisticated data pricing plans – 83 percent of participants say their marketing organizations are asking for IT to enable innovative plans. Additionally, 90 percent of respondents say their companies are looking to create packages across lines of business, customer types and payment methods. Variety is the spice of life, indeed.

While service providers create next-generation data services, it’s important to keep in mind that their customers also want to get their new services in a simple and intuitive manner. This is where value-based pricing – charging based on the perceived value as seen by the customer – comes into play. For example, offering a sports fan the ability to stream the latest Giants game with all of the data and speed prerequisites already embedded will offer a personalized experience. Or a simple “turbo boost" button on YouTube to speed up a jerky video playback. There is no doubt consumers would be willing to pay more for this type of service.

So what have we learned? In order to create next-generation data plans to support the ever-evolving connected world, service providers need to integrate charging and policy management. Amdocs is working to make this happen through the recent acquisition of Bridgewater. Consumers are waiting for more advanced plans, and service providers are planning to deliver.

In the classic ‘80s romance, “When Harry Met Sally," Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal were longtime friends before they discovered true love. Something very similar is happening with charging and policy management – the friendship is turning into a union. Service providers and their customers will benefit. And maybe they will even be able to watch the movie on a 4G device for an attractive price — this weekend only! (Now that’s integrated policy management and charging).

Rebecca Prudhomme is vice president of Product & Solutions Marketing at Amdocs . She currently leads Amdocs’ entire global team of product marketing professionals focused on bringing to market Amdocs’ products, services and solutions.