TM Forum Recognized in Global Telecoms Business 40 under 40 for Helping Industry Navigate the Digital Storm

Focus on helping industry overcome challenges of digital world and enabling open, digital economy ranks TM Forum’s Chief Strategy Officer, Nik Willetts, among top young leaders for 2013

MORRISTOWN, NJ — May 8, 2013: As TM Forum gets in high gear to enable and accelerate a thriving, open digital economy, it announced that Global Telecoms Business has recognized its efforts by naming Nik Willetts, chief strategy officer, TM Forum, to its 40 under 40 list of the most exciting young leaders in the communications industry for 2013.

Nik is responsible for driving the Forum’s success and value-delivery across a broad range of competencies, including TM Forum’s unique Digital Services Initiative which focuses on helping service providers overcome the challenges of managing complex digital services, and enabling an open, vibrant digital economy.

He also takes a leading role in TM Forum’s Open Digital Steering Group which includes 11 of the world’s largest service and solution providers, such as Accenture, China Mobile Communications Corp., France Telecom-Orange, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Oracle, Telecom Italia, Telefónica Digital, Telstra and Vodafone. The group provides executive guidance and support, including strategic direction and consultation to help shape TM Forum’s Digital Services Initiative, and its members also act as representatives for the initiative within their own company and the industry as a whole, encouraging broader engagement and support.

“The Global Telecoms Business 40 under 40 is a very special group to watch because these are the people who will play a key role in taking the industry into the future,” said Alan Burkitt-Gray, editor, Global Telecoms Business. “As the communications industry quickly evolves to encompass a whole new realm of players, the TM Forum under Nik’s leadership is helping its members face the challenges of the future.”

Nik will host digital services-focused panels and debates on industry transformation and the future role of service providers in the open digital economy during TM Forum’s Management World 2013 Keynote Perspectives program at the Acropolis Convention Center in Nice, France, May 13-16.

Navigating the digital storm is the focus of TM Forum’s Management World conference and expo which draws over 3,000 attendees from leading industries in the digital services economy, including communications, cloud, finance, government and healthcare. Management World features eight conference Forums covering big data analytics, customer experience management, enterprise cloud, M2M and digital, agile IT, revenue management, security and privacy, and a full-day cable summit on Monday, May 13. Register now for Management World 2013 for your last chance to receive maximum savings.

TM Forum and World’s Largest Communications and IT Companies Take Major Leap to Ease Digital Services Delivery

TM Forum’s Open Digital Steering Group expands membership to include eleven of world’s largest communications, digital and IT companies; first of many intensive collaborative meetings brings leaders together to solve digital services challenges

Singapore — April 24, 2013: As the digital-based economy continues to grow and evolve rapidly, global industry body TM Forum announced that its newly formed Open Digital Steering Group has now expanded to include 11 of the world’s largest service and solution providers, including Accenture, China Mobile Communications Corp., France Telecom-Orange, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Oracle, Telecom Italia, Telefónica Digital, Telstra and Vodafone. The group recently hosted an intensive session in London to set in motion an aggressive plan to deliver essential tools necessary for profitable digital service delivery.

TM Forum, the global industry association with over 900 member companies from across the digital services ecosystem, is focused on removing roadblocks to delivering and operating all types of digital services, and supporting a vibrant open digital economy. Its expanded steering group provides executive guidance and support, including strategic direction and consultation to help shape TM Forum’s Digital Services Initiative.

The steering group members also act as representatives for the initiative within their own company and the industry as a whole, encouraging broader engagement and support.

In London, TM Forum brought the group’s members and other industry leaders together for a rapid collaboration-style ‘Hot House’ meeting where 35 participants from more than 20 companies took part in intensive collaboration to solve some of the most pressing industry challenges related specifically to digital services delivery. Over two days, the group set in motion plans to deliver early versions of the following tools in time for TM Forum’s flagship conference and expo, Management World 2013 in Nice, France:

 A digital services reference architecture to enable the standardized design of the critical architectural elements for the enablement of digital services

 Outlines of critical Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) needed for the end to end management of key capabilities, such as identity, payment, balance checking, charging and billing and more

 Definitions of B2B2X business models and their impact on service provider IT and operations to facilitate building rapid partnerships in the digital ecosystem, both for communications and other types of digital service providers such as cloud, content and information providers

Based on the success of the first Hot House meeting, the Forum plans to expand its use of intensive collaborative process to solve other business and operational challenges in order to expedite their delivery, ultimately producing much quicker results for TM Forum’s members and the industry at large.

“As growth of the digital economy continue to accelerate, the Forum’s Digital Services Initiative is putting a stake in the ground to solve the challenges of a vibrant, open digital ecosystem, and giving our members the tools to thrive in the digital world,” said Nik Willetts, chief strategy officer, TM Forum.

“Based on the success of recent meetings, we plan to introduce a wide range of agile collaborative formats throughout the Forum’s R&D program to create a fast-paced development environment that can keep pace with the world’s largest digital services companies.”

Earlier this year TM Forum named former BT executive, Phil Dance, as chairman of the Open Digital Steering Group, responsible for guiding the group’s work, goals and output. Phil is a TM Forum Ambassador and one of its Distinguished Fellows. He is also a former member of TM Forum’s Board of Directors, and as chief information officer at BT he was a key player in the design and development of BT’s 21st Century Network.

Don’t miss TM Forum in action at Management World in May. TM Forum’s Management World conferences and expos stand apart by offering outstanding quality and insights through expert keynotes, sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities, and TM Forum’s renowned Training and Certification programs. Register now for Management World and receive maximum savings.

For additional information or to join TM Forum, please visit the Membership section of our Website or email memberservices@tmforum.org and a local representative will respond.

TM Forum’s CEM and Analytics Tools Help Asian Service Providers Deliver Digital Services, Reduce Churn

TM Forum’s Management World Asia C-Level keynotes from Axiata Digital, DST Communications, Groupon, Hong Kong Broadband Network, Indosat, Mobilink, MTS India, PT XL Axiata, QNET, Robi Axiata, Research in Motion and Starhub offer strategies for survival

MORRISTOWN, NJ and SINGAPORE – March 11, 2013: Service providers across the Asia Pacific region are facing the same issue: rapidly maturing mobile sectors resulting in declining top and bottom lines. While mobile data services are key to many operators’ longer term strategies, simply building out more capacity and competing on price alone is not a sustainable approach in the digital world, they must better understand their customers, reduce churn and drive digital service delivery. TM Forum, a global, non-profit industry association with over 130 members across Asia, and nearly 1,000 members worldwide, opens the doors tomorrow to its Management World Asia conference and expo in Singapore, where 60 speakers from across the globe will address these issues and more.

TM Forum’s Management World Asia, which runs from March 12-13 at the Marina Bay Sands, features 19 keynotes from leading regional service providers taking a hard look at overcoming the challenges of delivering innovative products and services. Keynotes include: Celcom Axiata Berhad, DST Communications, Groupon Travel Asia Pacific, Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd., Indosat, Mobilink, MTS India, PT XL Axiata, QNET, Robi Axiata, Research in Motion and Starhub, plus 40 additional speakers from the communications industry and beyond.

According to TM Forum’s most recent Asia Insights report, which will be released at Management World Asia, top-line service revenues grew by just 8 percent across the region in 2012; only China and Indonesia saw double-digit growth. In order to stay one step ahead of the fierce competition, Asian operators need to put customers at the heart of their business through the use of customer experience management (CEM) tools, which enable service providers to implement, manage and measure CEM programs. For example, TM Forum’s Customer Experience Guidebook outlines key principles in implementing CEM programs in service providers. Its new CEM Index defines the KPIs that service providers should be constantly evaluating to understand if their investments in CEM are paying off. And a new CEM Maturity Model helps service providers understand and evaluate their programs.

Karan Henrik Ponnudurai, chief innovation officer for Axiata Digital, and one of Management World Asia’s keynote speakers, stresses the importance of CEM, especially with the proliferation of smartphones in the Asia Pac region. “A number of emerging markets in Asia have five or more operators, leading to fierce competition. As the markets mature, there is a smaller pool of potential new users, while much of the population has little disposable income,” he said. “Competing on price alone is a race to the bottom so better segmentation is a key aim for many during 2013, and operators should focus on improving customer experience to succeed in the current marketplace.”

Martin Creaner, president of TM Forum, will open Management World Asia on Tues., March 12 at 9am, with a keynote stressing the importance of CEM and analytics for operators as digital services present opportunities and drive the need for radical change in all aspects of business operations.

According to Creaner, “Yesterday’s market dynamics rewarded aggressive infrastructure rollout and subscriber acquisition at any price. These strategies were based on increasing voice and SMS traffic, which is easy to scale; broadband access is not,” he said. “The rise of mobile broadband has necessitated a rethink around customer data and analytics, specifically around how legacy systems can be integrated.
Transformation brings the need for unified views of the customer across networks, products, finance and other business units. TM Forum’s goal is to help service providers transform their businesses to meet the demands of the digital world and help to build an open, vibrant digital economy.”

TM Forum’s Management World conferences and expos stand apart by offering expert keynotes, sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities, and TM Forum’s renowned Training and Certification programs. Upcoming Management Worlds include:
Management World, Nice, France, May 13-16
Management World Americas, San Jose, Calif., Oct. 28-31

Please contact TM Forum’s event sales team at eventsponsorship@tmforum.org; Carine Vandevelde (+44 207 193 8678); or Vanessa Lefebvre (+34 605 165 449) to discuss Management World sponsorship packages that are right for your company and your budget.