What does success in interconnect voice look like?
As a provider of interconnect voice solutions, we often engage existing customers in a variety of tactical and strategic discussions. One of the more interesting discussions of late that we have been having, center around the idea of defining success for a voice services provider in the interconnect marketplace. Is success the same for all, or different depending on the type of carrier (Retail vs. Wholesale, OTT, Mobile, next gen, etc.)?
Our team spent some time thinking through this and we thought it might be interesting and, hopefully, helpful to share their reflections on the topic. In general, our team does believe that the definition of success is going to be highly dependent on the specific carrier. However, not just the type of carrier they are, but also what they are trying to accomplish both tactically and strategically as it relates to voice. That said, our team does believe that there is a lot of commonality that would apply across all different types of voice carriers regardless of their goals or tactical & strategic plans.
Here's a summary of what the team thinks are must-haves in any definition of success for interconnect voice:
Minimized TCO
Speed & Scale
Eliminated restrictions on traffic management
The team believes that due to the state of voice, the technological revolutions that have disrupted the industry since the late 1990s, and the still ubiquitous need and desire for voice services, that carriers: a) need to define their interconnect voice success in such a way that includes lowering their operating costs of their voice (minimized TCO), b) allow for dynamic speed and scale based on market conditions, and c) eliminate the technological, administrative, and operational burdens that impede carriers from managing their voice traffic how the business dictates.
It’s an interesting discussion and there is a lot more there that the team will be sharing in a white paper soon, but we wanted to get that out there and start the conversation because only good can come from it for carriers and solution providers.
What do you think? How do you define success? Is it just on traditional KPIs like ARPM, AMPM? What about network yield or ROA or ROI?
Let us know what you think.
