OSS Transformations Accelerating with 70 Percent of Service Providers Trying to Capture Operational Benefits, Faster Time to Market and Better Customer Experience, New Amdocs Survey Finds

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Amdocs, the leading provider of customer experience systems, today released the results of a global survey that highlights the factors driving OSS (operational support systems) transformation, the different transformation approaches undertaken and the progress made to date. Amdocs commissioned the survey of service providers around the world to provide a "state of the industry" assessment designed to help service providers analyze the status of their OSS transformation initiatives against those of their peers.

Key findings include:

• Seventy percent of service providers started OSS transformations from 2009 to 2011: In this year alone, one-quarter of the market began transforming their OSS. Service providers who described themselves as early adopters, report having already completed 75 percent of their transformation process, while late adopters are still at an early stage, typically with less than 25 percent of the process complete.
• Operational factors are still the number one priority: Operational drivers such as improved OSS efficiencies and reduced operating expenses are still the strongest immediate drivers for OSS transformation.  However, the survey found that as IT becomes increasingly aligned to the business, transformation projects are increasingly being driven by the service provider's customer experience and commercial goals.  
• Thirty-three percent of service providers are already gaining quantifiable benefits from OSS transformation: Despite the fact that most service providers are only 25 percent or less through their transformation process, 33 percent of those polled said they are already seeing the benefits of their OSS optimization.  These rewards include faster time to market for new products, ability to roll out niche products, faster order-to-cash cycle, lower operational costs, ability to support more customers and new low-margin services such as machine-to-machine (M2M), fewer customer complaints, and lower churn rates.
• Different regions are taking different approaches to OSS transformation: The survey revealed differing viewpoints on OSS transformation between global regions. In Europe, for example, service providers are focused on cost control and using OSS transformation to create a more agile infrastructure and support new service enablement. North American service providers, who are beginning to move towards new service rollouts, are concerned with OSS efficiency and see transformation as enabling a more flexible infrastructure. In the Caribbean and Latin America, service providers are most interested in speeding business processes and supporting the rollout of new products and enabling convergence across their lines of businesses. In Asia, service providers identified modernization, new service enablement, and lowering costs as key parts of OSS transformation.

"This global survey identified three main types of service providers: operationally focused (driven by achieving greater efficiencies), commercially focused (intent on creating new revenue streams and diversified products) and customer focused (driven by customer-centricity and personalization)," said Teresa Cottam, research and publications director at Telesperience "Regardless of service providers' identified type, all have a strong need to transform -- now."

"Although operational cost savings remain paramount, stronger IT and OSS alignment with service providers' top-level business and customer experience goals is a trend we've been noticing for some time," said Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs. "With Amdocs' breadth and depth of experience in OSS transformation, we enable service providers to tie their OSS transformation to specific business goals and to quantify return on investment at each step of the process."

Amdocs OSS is proven in production with more than 140 deployments globally in large, small and emerging operators, including transformation-led initiatives at Telstra (Australia), Telenor Serbia, TIM Brasil, ICE (Costa Rica), and Kyivstar (Ukraine) and was recently ranked the number one vendor in revenues for global sales of OSS, billing systems and related services in IDC's "Worldwide OSS and Billing 2010–2015 Forecast and 2009 Vendor Shares" report.

Amdocs' OSS transformation survey was conducted in April-May 2011 by the UK-based Telesperience analyst firm, and polled service providers in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Europe and Asia including Oceania. The full report can be downloaded at http://www.osstransformation.com/Consolidation.aspx.

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About Amdocs

Amdocs is the market leader in customer experience systems innovation. The company combines business and operational support systems, service delivery platforms, proven services and deep industry expertise to enable service providers and their customers to do more in the connected world. Amdocs' offerings help service providers explore new business models, differentiate through personalized customer experiences and streamline operations. A global company with revenue of approximately $3.0 billion in fiscal 2010, Amdocs has over 19,000 employees and serves customers in more than 60 countries worldwide. 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 segments it serves, 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, 2010, filed on December 7, 2010 and our quarterly 6-K filed forms furnished on February 8 and May 11, 2011.

SOURCE Amdocs