The emergence and adoption of e-business has created a host of opportunities for the telemanagement community. New challenges are arising in areas such as networks, services and customer management.
Richard Askham, senior technical consultant of BSW Telecoms, says key international players at the recent TeleManagement World conference in Las Vegas emphasised the important role of telecommunications as a business enabler for e-business.
"Compared to a similar conference about six months ago, where e-business was mentioned once or twice, this event contained several presentations focusing on e-business," Askham says. "It`s clear that e-business is one of the factors that is shaping the future of telecommunications."
One of the opportunities for telecommunications service providers is to become instrumental in rolling out e-business to their customers. Because e-business centres on conducting transactions electronically, whether it is via the Internet or between two systems connected on a wide area network (WAN), players in the telecommunications industry are involved. They provide the infrastructure, systems and capability which enable organisations to manage their e-business activities.
Although rapid growth is predicted for the adoption of e-business technologies, organisations which have attempted to offer their customers only Web access have experienced a marked loss of business. Askham believes it will be necessary to have both an electronic and a physical presence, even in the long term.
"Although the mix will change, with Web access becoming more prevalent and bricks-and-mortar operations downsizing, organisations will always need both," he says. "E-business is great, but most people still want the option of face-to-face contact."
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BSW Telecoms
Since its inception in 1984, BSW Telecoms has maintained an impeccable track record of completing large complex projects in the areas of fulfillment, assurance, billing and customer interface management. By achieving its objective of minimising deployment time while simultaneously offering maximum flexibility, BSW Telecoms delivers tangible business benefits to its blue-chip client base.
A member of the BSW Group, BSW Telecoms` partnerships with global leaders enable it to deliver world-class solutions, both in South Africa and internationally. True vendor independence positions BSW Telecoms to perform objective systems integration work for its clients.