Latest CRM Software Industry News

The Amdocs Next-Generation Billing solution – an end-to-end mediation, rating and billing platform – is recognized for its innovative architecture

MILAN, ITALY – March 28, 2007 – Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experienceâ„¢, today announced that the Amdocs Next-Generation Convergent Billing Solution has won the 2007 “Best Converged Billing Product” award from Convergence World magazine and the International Engineering Consortium (IEC). The Amdocs solution supports all aspects of convergence, from customer payment method (pre- and postpaid) to services (e.g. voice-data-content) and lines of business, including fixed-line/mobile and telephony-satellite-cable. The award finalists also included Comverse, Highdeal and Martin Dawes. The Convergence World Awards were presented yesterday at a reception on the exhibition floor of the C5 World Forum event that is taking place in Milan.

The Amdocs Next-Generation Convergent Billing Solution is an end-to-end mediation, rating and billing platform. The solution leverages the revenue management products of the Amdocs 7 suite which was introduced in January, 2007. Based on an innovative architecture that is comprised of a single customer data management facility, invoicing engine, comprehensive product catalog, and a powerful rating engine, the Amdocs Next-Generation Convergent Billing Solution speeds time to market for innovative service bundles while increasing operational efficiencies and savings. With built-in 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) compliance support for next-generation networks such as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) capabilities, the Amdocs solution makes integrating with third party software easier, helping to lower providers’ total cost of ownership.

Only recently, Amdocs 7 was selected by PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk.( XL), a leading mobile communications service provider in Indonesia and part of the TM group Malaysia, for convergent prepaid-postpaid billing across XL’s wireless, broadband Internet and Internet Protocol (IP) based voice as well as offerings for next generation networks such as IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem).

“The Amdocs Next-Generation Convergent Billing Solution gives us advanced tools to ensure we can offer a unique customer experience, attract millions of new customers and profit from the evolution to next generation networks and services,” said Joy Wahyudi, director of commerce at XL. “As we transform into a multi-play provider, Amdocs is also helping us minimize costs and risks along the way.”

“Amdocs demonstrated, through its customer testimonials, the high quality of its converged billing product,” said Stuart Willet, publisher of Convergence World Magazine. “Its solution helps providers improve service levels and offer an innovative and intentional customer experience.”

“With the recent launch of the Amdocs 7 suite, we now offer the first industry-specific software suite that enables service providers to achieve and profit from convergence — offering customers access to any service, over any network, at any time and on any device,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer at Amdocs. “Within the revenue management offering of Amdocs 7, the Next-Generation Convergent Billing Solution now boasts enhanced functionality to support cable and multi-play.”

VAIL, CO – March 29, 2007- Amdocs, the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experienceâ„¢, is honored to sponsor Joe Tompkins, who will compete at the SkiTAM fundraising weekend from March 29 to April 1. This year will mark the 12th anniversary of SkiTAM, which is the key fundraiser for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team (USDST) hosted by The Rocky Mountain chapter for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM). It is Amdocs’ fifth consecutive year sponsoring Tompkins.

Tompkins has been an active member of the USDST since May 1999. Prior to that, Tompkins was a recreational skier until a car accident in 1988 left him paralyzed and without the use of his legs. He is an avid competitor and ranked the fifth best mono-skier in the United States and 12th in the world. In 2006, Tompkins participated in the 2006 Paralympics in Torino, Italy. Joe also participated in the 2002 Paralympics where he placed sixth in the Winter Games as the top U.S. racer in his class.

“Mono-skiing has given me the unique opportunity to serve as a role-model to people facing obstacles — when competing, I strive to represent all those with disabilities and show what can be achieved when you believe in yourself,” says Tompkins. “I am thrilled to be skiing at SkiTAM again this year and I am grateful for Amdocs’ continued support and passion for my cause throughout the years.”

In addition to being a devoted skier, Tompkins is the founder and board member of the Extreme Edge Foundation, Inc. (E2). Its mission is to advance the paralympic movement through outreach programs, athlete sponsorship programs, an athlete mentoring program and more.

SkiTAM is a major source of funding for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, providing over half of the team members’ funding. Amdocs is a platinum sponsor at the event and will also host the Athlete Partner Program Dinner on Thursday, March 29. More information about SkiTAM and the U.S. Disabled Ski Team is available at www.skitam.com.

Leading Operator to deploy Amdocs’ Cramer6 OSS Suite as the foundation for its next generation OSS

NEW DELHI–March 7, 2007–Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable the intentional customer experienceTM, today announced that Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), India’s leading international telecoms provider, has expanded its relationship with Cramer, Amdocs OSS division. VSNL will deploy Amdocs’ Cramer6 OSS Suite as the centerpiece of its operations support systems (OSS) to manage its broadband, wholesale voice, as well as enterprise and carrier data offerings. The announcement was made today at TeleManagement World India Regional Summit.

VSNL is a leading international telecommunications company and is part of the $ 22 billion Tata Group. It is the leader in global wholesale voice and one of the world’s largest owners of submarine cable bandwidth. Amdocs’ Cramer6 OSS Suite will be deployed at VSNL’s Centralized Network Operations Center (NOC) located in Mumbai. VSNL’s NOC is the nerve-center that monitors and manages telecommunication services for the company’s multiple business units, systems and services across 52 subsidiaries in 21 countries worldwide. Amdocs’ Cramer solutions will support VSNL’s multiple lines of business and technologies for both domestic and international geographies.

“In order to meet growing network demands, we needed a scalable OSS solution that supports all services across all networks,” said Mr. M. R. Madhusudhan, VSNL’s chief technology officer. “We believe that an inventory-centric integrated OSS coupled with Cramer and Amdocs’ extensive experience in helping global service providers transform their OSS is the right combination to support VSNL’s future growth. With Cramer6 OSS Suite, we can manage all lines of business, across all geographies with the ability to support local access, as well as centralized management of the network and services.”

VSNL will deploy a number of products from Amdocs’ Cramer OSS Suite to gain an enterprise-wide view of its network resources for streamlined network inventory management and operations, and to support service fulfillment and service assurance. For more efficient network management, VSNL will deploy Partition Manager, a key product within the suite. Partition Manager will allow VSNL to grant access of parts of its network to multiple regions or business units to determine which network resources or assets are available to fulfill services. As a result, VSNL can maintain one consistent and up-to-date view of its network to ensure common processes across the enterprise, resulting in reduced capital and operating expenses.

“As Indian companies continue to acquire foreign assets and manage outsourced networks, it is essential that they automate and standardize their business management processes,” said Karl Whitelock, Senior Consulting Analyst at Stratecast, Frost & Sullivan’s OSS Group. “To meet increasing demand, both locally and globally, and to deliver on this next phase of growth, carriers must partner with vendors who can help them drive future-proof OSS transformation strategies. Operators that embark on such strategies now will be well positioned to remain more competitive in both the short and long term.”

“As VSNL continues to evolve into a truly global communications company, it needs an OSS that can scale to meet the complex needs of its networks,” said Guy Dubois, president of Cramer, Amdocs OSS division. “Amdocs’ Cramer OSS solutions will enable VSNL to deploy an architecture that is integrated and scalable and to gain a global view of its entire network to support existing and emerging services.”

Amdocs platform consolidates all voice and data mediation across Neuf Cegetel’s disparate operations as it continues to grow through acquisitions and launches new multi-play offerings

BOULOGNE, France and ST. LOUIS, MO – March 14, 2007 – Neuf Cegetel, the leading alternative telecom operator of the most advanced all-IP network in France, and Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experienceâ„¢, today announced the successful expansion of Neuf Cegetel’s Amdocs Service Mediation Manager platform to support mediation operations at Cegetel, the operator’s most recent acquisition. This marks the eighth mediation system that Amdocs is replacing at Neuf Cegetel as the service provider consolidates voice and data mediation support across its acquired entities and new multi-play lines of business.
Amdocs Service Mediation Manager is a single convergent mediation system for all types of networks and services. It serves as a network-abstraction layer for both operations and business support systems (OSS and BSS), transforming network data into business information and providing a complete view of information related to network services. As a result, providers can introduce new services rapidly, offer multiple payment models and reduce their total cost of ownership. Initially deployed at Neuf Cegetel in 2003 to support data mediation, Amdocs Service Mediation Manager now interfaces with the operator’s legacy voice networks and provides convergent mediation across its wireline, wireless, broadband Internet and IP-based voice and TV offerings.

“Amdocs Service Mediation Manager gives us time-to-market advantages for next generation and multi-play services,” said Eric Iooss, Director of Information Systems at Neuf Cegetel. “Its comprehensive out-of-box functionality and inherent flexibility also enables us to support increasingly larger traffic volumes while driving down ownership costs.”

Far from being just a pipe for transferring data, Amdocs Service Mediation Manager can process large volumes of call detail records (CDRs) per day – enhancing the data to produce business information that supports different processes at various BSS & OSS systems. At Cegetel, Amdocs Service Mediation Manager collects approximately 150 million CDRs per day and processes them into 400 million information-enhanced CDRs. The information produced is being used by multiple Neuf Cegetel systems, including billing systems supporting residential, corporate, interconnect and wholesale segments, and business intelligence systems.

“We are happy to see another project successfully delivered at Neuf Cegetel, helping the service provider create an optimal experience for its customers, thus setting itself apart from the competition,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer of Amdocs. “As leading industry players such as Neuf Cegetel consolidate to offer growing service convergence, Amdocs Service Mediation Manager gives them the business agility to deliver multi-play bundles for a unique customer experience, while cost-efficiently supporting the associated myriad of mediation needs.”

Amdocs now positioned to take advantage of the rapid growth of pre-paid mobile services in emerging markets around the world

ST. LOUIS — February 8, 2007 — Amdocs (NYSE: DOX – News), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience(TM), today announced that it completed the acquisition of SigValue Technologies, Inc. (SigValue), a provider of an integrated billing, customer care, and service control platform designed for service providers in high-growth emerging markets around the world. With previous ownership of approximately 14 percent of SigValue’s outstanding capital stock, Amdocs acquired all of SigValue’s remaining share capital for approximately $54 million in cash, net of cash on hand.

SigValue’s platform addresses the needs of pre-paid mobile subscribers who represent the vast majority of customers in the emerging markets and tend to have relatively low levels of average revenue per user. The platform combines the basic functions required for billing and customer care with a service control function, offering a single system that supports multiple networks, multiple services and all lines of business.
“With SigValue, Amdocs is now able to provide solutions that connect directly to service providers’ networks, and address the needs of providers in markets that are in the earliest stages of development through those that have the most advanced and sophisticated requirements in the world,” said Patrick McGrory, Network Business Unit president, Amdocs. “We believe that Amdocs’ unparalleled expertise and experience in telecommunications, combined with SigValue’s light-weight, real-time service platform technology and its sales channels, will enable Amdocs’ success in the high-growth emerging markets.”

SigValue forms the core of the newly created Network Business Unit at Amdocs, focusing on service providers in emerging markets. Patrick McGrory is the Unit’s president.

The impact of the acquisition on Amdocs’ non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be neutral in fiscal 2007. The impact on GAAP results is expected to be dilutive in fiscal 2007 but will not be known until after Amdocs completes the purchase price accounting for the acquisition. Amdocs may incur a one-time acquisition-related charge in the quarter ending March 31, 2007 to account for certain costs related to the acquisition.

Amdocs helps service providers and media companies sell $2 billion worth of premium content – an increase of more than half a billion dollars since October 2006

BARCELONA, SPAIN and ST. LOUIS, MO — February 12, 2007 — Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience â„¢, today announced that its Qpass digital commerce solution has processed more than $2 billion worth of premium products and services, representing over 730 million transactions since 2003 and an increase of more than half a billion dollars since October 2006. Ringtones and games remain the most commonly purchased products, while new applications such as ringback tones, mobile chat, video and full track music are rising in popularity as well. The announcement was made today at the 3GSM World Congress (Amdocs Stand No. B101, Hall 8).

“The digital commerce industry continues to grow rapidly as mobile subscribers demand the benefits of convergence on any device,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer of Amdocs. “Over the last year, we saw an 83 percent increase in the number of transactions processed by Amdocs’ award-winning Qpass platform, and that number will continue to grow as the mobile content market continues to expand and subscribers’ demand for multimedia content increases. With service providers racing to meet this demand and win consumer favor, Amdocs enables providers to make digital commerce a significant revenue stream.”

The Qpass solution facilitates the growth of digital commerce by helping service providers and media companies realize new revenue streams and increase profitability. By managing the entire digital commerce lifecycle, the platform allows companies to deliver a personalized, intentional and innovative customer experience across multiple screens or devices, on any network and supporting any commerce model. Qpass works with leading providers such as Cingular, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile International and Alltel and has recently been selected by,MetroPCS and Amp’d Mobile.

Qpass’ market leadership position in the digital commerce marketplace was recently recognized when leading industry analyst firm Frost & Sullivan honored Amdocs’ Qpass division with the 2007 Mobility Award for Mobile Content Commerce Solution in U.S. Premium Content Markets. Frost & Sullivan recognized Qpass’ role as a key enabler in the U.S. premium mobile content market and its efforts at continuously striving to offer the most relevant solution.

Europe’s leading cable provider selects Amdocs to help enhance experience of its more than 12 million service subscribers

ST. LOUIS, MO — February 27, 2007 — Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience™, announced today that UPC Broadband, operator of the largest cable network in Europe, has selected Amdocs to deliver a superior customer experience when offering triple-play – voice, video and Internet – services to its more than 12 million service subscribers. UPC Broadband will initially deploy the new system in Romania and Switzerland.

Replacing its legacy system with Amdocs CRM 6 will allow UPC Broadband to reduce its total cost of ownership, automate the ordering process, improve customer service and shorten the time to market for new services. Amdocs will provide an integrated, easy to maintain application to support UPC Broadband’s subscribers across all its lines of businesses.

“We are moving to a more flexible and integrated solution with Amdocs CRM 6 which has the new features and functionalities to service our triple-play customers throughout Europe within the cost and timelines the business requires,” said Mehrdad Mansourpour, managing director and chief information officer for UPC. “We selected Amdocs, our partner of more than six years, because of its approach to customer service and service oriented architecture, as well as its experience in telecommunications, broadband and cable industries.”

Amdocs CRM 6, with its advanced customer management and order management capabilities will help UPC Broadband improve customer satisfaction and retention, reduce call waiting time for customers, make the ordering process quicker and more effective, and bring new services to market faster.

“In the competitive European cable market, organizations which focus on the customer will be the ones which win,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer for Amdocs. “With Amdocs, UPC Broadband will be able to enhance the customer experience and build customer loyalty, as it rolls out triple-play bundles of voice, video and high-speed Internet services.”

Keynotes by Former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell and David Goldberg of Yahoo! Music

NEW YORK, NY—January 24, 2007—Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience™, hosted a Customer Experience Innovation Forum with Forbes magazine, yesterday at the Rainbow Room in New York City, with more than 60 telecoms, broadband cable, satellite and entertainment industry executives attending. The thought-leadership event facilitated an in-depth discussion of new strategies for delivering next-generation services and profiting from the convergence of these industries and of voice, video and data services, with a focus on creating an integrated, innovative and intentional customer experience.
Attendees examined how to differentiate their offerings by delivering a customer experience which is consistently simple, uniquely personal, and immediately valuable at every point of service. Keynotes were given by Michael Powell, former chairman of the FCC, who pointed out the conflicts, potential pitfalls and opportunities in the communications landscape; and David Goldberg, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Music who addressed how the consumer is far ahead of the media industry and is currently driving innovation. As Michael Powell observed in his keynote address, “personalization is where the value is perceived by our teenage children and this explains why they are willing to pay more for next-generation services. While some may be unwilling to pay for a full music download of a song, they will pay two dollars for a thirty second ringtone. The reason is that the ringtone adds a stamp of personal identity to their mobile phone, which they value more than simple entertainment.”
The event also featured a panel presentation on customer experience innovation. Speakers included Emily Nagle Green, chief executive officer of Yankee Group; Michael McSherry, senior vice president of Emerging Technologies at Amp’d Mobile; Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer of Amdocs; Lawrence Kenny, senior vice president and general manager of telecommunications at IBM; Von Wright, vice president of Cingular; and Tara Maitra, vice president and director of programming for TiVo. There were also breakout sessions focusing on profiting from next-generation services, delivering the lowest total cost of ownership to the service provider market, and enabling the delivery of the intentional customer experience.

“We live at a time of unprecedented change in terms of technology and customer business models. This change is constant; however if you can’t keep your customers, it doesn’t matter if you are on the right side of this evolution,” said Rich Karlgaard, publisher, Forbes magazine.

Service providers have realized that the key to their success lies in enhancing the customer experience — and that will continue to be their top business priority in the next two years, according to a recent survey commissioned by Amdocs.

“Amdocs is about helping service providers focus on the customer experience, and we wanted to offer a venue to discuss this key issue,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer, Amdocs. “Service providers have greater insight into their customers than any other industry in terms of usage, lifestyle and user preferences. They have an incredible opportunity to tap this information to increase profitability and retain their customers – in short, to create an intentional customer experience.”

mobilkom austria standardizes on Amdocs Billing across its Austrian and Slovenian operations for time-to-market advantages, strengthening the provider’s brand value

ST. LOUIS, MO—February 1, 2007—Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experienceTM, today announced that Si.mobil-Vodafone, mobilkom austria’s wholly-owned mobile subsidiary in Slovenia, has successfully deployed Amdocs Billing. Amdocs is providing Si.mobil-Vodafone with convergent voice and data billing and rating for current and emerging services, across multiple lines of business. With Amdocs Billing, Si.mobil-Vodafone will be able to accelerate introduction of new services, offer bundles and price plan options, maximizing revenues from next generation offerings, while creating a customer experience that sets the provider apart from its competitors.

Amdocs has been supporting billing and rating at mobilkom austria, Austria’s largest mobile provider, for the past eight years. During this period, the mobilkom austria group has implemented the Amdocs Billing platform to support its operations in Liechtenstein, and is now implementing it in Slovenia as well. A successful collaboration between teams from mobilkom-austria, Si.mobil-Vodafone and Amdocs lead to the completion of the current project in record time and to a simultaneous — or “flash-cut” — conversion of Si.mobil-Vodafone’s subscribers onto the Amdocs platform.

“Amdocs Billing enables us to offer our customers better service and better targeted retention plans,” said Andreas Maierhofer, chief executive officer at Si.mobil-Vodafone. “By leveraging our membership with the mobilkom group of companies and Amdocs’ excellent delivery capabilities and superior technology, we are building a consistent customer experience across the mobilkom austria group.” Amdocs Billing offers a single customer view across different offerings, including next generation multimedia messaging services (MMS), video streaming and mobile commerce transactions. It also provides Si.mobil with advanced support for corporate customers.

“The inherent modularity of Amdocs Billing has enabled us to leverage our past investments in Amdocs Billing to now benefit from IT synergies across our different markets,” said Walter Goldenits, IT Director, mobilkom austria. “This allows us to introduce standard billing practices and a single rater that can support data, voice and content services. It also helps us execute an organizational-wide integrated customer management strategy”.
B”We are happy to extend our previous success with the mobilkom austria group to help Si.mobil bring to market the best and most useful services to its customers,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer at Amdocs. “The proven modularity of Amdocs Billing supports customer-driven upgrades based on evolving business needs and will ensure Si.mobil has a platform that can accommodate future growth in subscribers as well as services.”

Amdocs’ Qpass Digital Commerce Solution to Help Offer Alltel Customers Premium Content and Services

ST. LOUIS, MO – January 15, 2007 – Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience â„¢, today announced a multi-year contract extension to provide premium content services to Alltel’s more than 11 million wireless subscribers. Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network, will continue to use Amdocs’ Qpass Digital Commerce solution to deliver premium content services to its customers and manage the customer experience.

“Our relationship with Qpass enhances the overall customer experience we deliver to our subscribers,” said Craig Kirkland, Director of Messaging Services of Alltel. “The Qpass platform gives Alltel customers the continued flexibility and convenience to customize content and make digital commerce purchases directly from their handset.”

Amdocs’ Qpass Digital Commerce solution helps support and manage Alltel’s premium content offerings such as ringtones, games and messaging. The Qpass platform also provides Alltel with better customer care tools and allows the service provider to manage relationships with its multiple content partners more effectively and increase its operational efficiency in areas such as transaction processing and billing.

“Amdocs continues to play a significant and integral role helping Alltel grow its portfolio of innovative offerings and deliver a superior experience to its customers,” said Michael Matthews, chief marketing officer of Amdocs. “Digital commerce is a relationship-oriented business that has tremendous growth potential. We remain committed to developing solutions that provide both scale and flexibility for this evolving marketplace.”