Amdocs Survey: Service Providers Seek End-to-End Order-to-Activation Management to Increase Revenues, Reduce Costs and Improve Customer Satisfaction

Majority admit their systems and processes are fragmented and are seeking management of all aspects of O2A activities

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Amdocs

Jun 20, 2013, 06:00 ET

ST. LOUIS, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Amdocs, the leading provider of customer experience systems and services, today announced the findings of a global survey that exposes high rates of blocked orders and order fallouts, caused by the increasing complexity of orders and the lack of streamlined order-to-activation (O2A) solutions.

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The survey revealed that although more than half (59 percent) of the service providers polled agreed that the O2A process was critical to their success, only nine percent were "very satisfied" with their O2A processes. The majority (59 percent) had fragmented O2A processes, siloed across product lines or customer types, leading to errors, inaccuracies and delays in service fulfillment with lost or stalled orders still too common. The survey was conducted by leading analyst firm, Heavy Reading.

"Service providers highlighted efficiency issues with order-to-activation processes which result in order fallout and an increase in support costs due to the complexity of business orders and a lack of automation," said Ari Banerjee, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "An end-to-end solution, covering all IT and operational aspects of O2A, was clearly identified as the most attractive solution. Increased automation and improved order-to-cash processes would increase revenues, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction."

Key research findings reveal that:

  • Current O2A systems and processes remain fragmented: Just nine percent of service providers were "very satisfied" with their O2A operations and 48 percent currently have little or no automation. More than half of service providers (59 percent) have separate systems and processes across lines of business and the majority (61 percent) rely upon multiple vendors to support their O2A-related systems, solutions and services. This is despite an industry focus on simplifying business models and embracing a 360-degree approach to customer experience management.
  • Blocked orders and fallouts are common, leading to a lack of customer satisfaction: 56 percent of service providers have fallout rates of up to one in ten, with 20 percent experiencing fallouts of up to one in five. Inaccurate order entry (50 percent), lack of business process consistency and integration (52 percent) and too many manual steps in the process (52 percent) were identified as the most common reasons for failure to deliver an order to a customer successfully.
  • Service providers seek to improve O2A with end-to-end managed solutions: 64 percent want to implement end-to-end management of all aspects of O2A activities, 65 percent wish to automate order flow-through for complex IP services, and 64 percent want automated service orchestration.

"Service providers are increasingly focused on the business sector to grow revenues, leading to a huge increase in the number and complexity of orders, and a rising order fallout rate," said Rebecca Prudhomme, Amdocs vice president for product and solutions marketing. "They are turning to Amdocs for our O2A offering, a Value Process Operation (VPO) combining services, technology and operation capabilities, to improve key performance indicators and increase revenues while reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction through streamlined processes and automation."

The research was conducted in April and May 2013, with decision-makers from 55 service providers with multiple lines of business. Service providers interviewed included tier-1 and tier-2 companies based in Europe, Middle East and Africa (23), North America (16), Asia Pacific (12) and Latin America (4).

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About Amdocs
For more than 30 years, Amdocs has ensured service providers' success and embraced their biggest challenges. To win in the connected world, service providers rely on Amdocs to simplify the customer experience, harness the data explosion, stay ahead with new services and improve operational efficiency. The global company uniquely combines a market-leading BSS, OSS and network control product portfolio with value-driven professional services and managed services operations. With revenue of $3.2 billion in fiscal 2012, Amdocs and its 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 60 countries.

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For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com

Amdocs' Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs' growth and business results in future quarters. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic conditions, Amdocs' ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs' ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company's products and services obsolete, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 filed on December 11, 2012 and our quarterly 6-K filed forms furnished on February 12 and May 16, 2013.

SOURCE Amdocs