NSN's CEM Strategy For Growth

The telecom equipment giant Nokia Siemens Networks is banking heavily on Customer Experience Management (CEM), which it believes enables operators to differentiate themselves in the tough Indian market, for growth.

Indian operators are slowly warming up to this concept with many of them evaluating the new technology or conducting a pilot. NSN deployed a CEM solution at Bharti Airtel Ltd. last year. (See Bharti's New Experience and .)

"CEM is our key focus area. We have done a number of trials for the operators. We are growing in this area," Amit Dhingra, Head of Global Services of India Region at NSN told Light Reading India.

NSN, which restructured its operations recently, believes that the key performance indicators (KPIs) with the operators are getting more and more linked to the customer experience. "We believe that it is now time for operators to move from NOC (Network Operations Center) to SOC (Services Operations Center) and then eventually to CEM. We have created a proof of concept on this at our Noida Center and we are in the process of discussing it with some of our customers," elaborates Dhingra.

Vendors are facing tough situations in the Indian market in the wake of the cancellation of 122 licenses and the subsequent uncertainty surrounding the forthcoming auctions. Another contributing factor to the market slowdown is the slow uptake of 3G services. However, even a drop in the 3G tariff by various operators will lead to a surge in the 3G uptake. (See The 3G Tariff Turnaround, and Himanshu Kapania: Managing Director, Idea Cellular.)

"The market is likely to be flattish this year. There will be some impact of the cancellation of 122 licenses. Then the operators are much more conscious of where they are going to spend money. At the same time, we see growth happening with our existing customers in both 2G and 3G," says Dhingra.

NSN will have to compete with a number of companies such as NICE Systems , Amdocs Ltd., Ericsson AB, beside others for CEM deals in the Indian subcontinent. (See Customer Experience Momentum.)

Gagandeep Kaur, Editor, Light Reading India