Telecom CRM, e-Commerce & Analytics Market to Reach $1.3 Billion in 2010

"If we've learned anything from the telecom industry's last recession, it's that investing in the latest network innovations is no guarantee of business success", says Dan Baker, director of Dittberner's OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase. "That's why, in today's competitive world, investments in customer-keeping and customer-monetizing technology are as vital as a telco's investments in network infrastructure."

While the report sees CRM on the climb again, it cautions that the character of the CRM market has fundamentally changed. Most telecoms already own the desktop tools they need to efficiently capture and integrate customer behavioral and demographic data. Where Dittberner sees future growth is in the analysis of these data. In effect, telecoms have merely "scratched the surface of knowledge" that can be leveraged from their daily interaction with customers, operations, services, networks, and salespeople.

Thus the report points to the opportunity -- not for analytics software alone -- but for a combination of: 1) analytics software; 2) industry consulting; and 3) analytics experts who know how to build customized analytic apps.

Case studies of such analytics achievements in the report include:

● A U.S. wireless operator's customer retention program that lowered churn from 3.5% to 1.6% a month while still maintaining the highest ARPU and margins in the industry for two years.

● A broadband provider used forensic data analysis techniques to trace a DSL churn problem back to trouble with a particular handset.

● A South American triple play operator who implemented a successful "events-driven loyalty" and "real-time marketing" program.