January is the month for resolutions.
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be more fiscally aware this year, take note: we’ve got some tips to help you reach that goal. No, it’s not heavy exercise, but rather some light reading of Neustar’s latest eBook, Cover Your Assets.
Stranded assets—defined as those assets that are underutilized, underperforming or unprofitable—can cost communications service providers (CSPs) as much as $15-$30 million per year. Those losses are growing at a rate of 5 percent each year.
What can CSPs do to stem the losses? Make sure their assets are showing where it counts—in their databases and reporting systems—by implementing an integrated asset assurance solution.
The Four Rs
Asset assurance solutions can provide much-needed transparency and a 360-degree view of network assets as they move through the asset lifecycle from purchase to activation to revenue generation to retirement. The ability to track and measure the performance, cost and utilization of assets at these key stages enable CSPs to make better decisions about what they can do to either increase revenue or minimize drags on efficiency from stranded assets. Those decisions typically take one of four routes, known collectively as the Four R’s of Asset Management:
- Recover the asset’s value by increasing its utilization;
- Retire the asset to cap costs and inefficiencies;
- Replace the asset with a more efficient/effective solution;
- Refurbish the asset for resale or re-use elsewhere in the network.
Of course, as with any business intelligence system, asset assurance solutions are most effective when they use trusted data integrated from across the entire enterprise. This includes network performance data, billing data, inventory data and more. To further ensure success, CSPs should assemble cross-functional teams to mobilize broad subject-matter expertise and deploy a centralized reporting tool that delivers flexible, reliable analysis to all stakeholders.
CSPs will often turn to a third-party when they lack the expertise or resources to build their own asset assurance solution. Neustar offers a robust asset assurance solution as part of its Communications Analytics Services. Available as a managed service, the Neustar solution is designed to help CSPs quickly integrate, analyze and disseminate asset-based information to drive better decision-making throughout the CSP’s enterprise.
Asset Assurance Benefits
Asset assurance solutions provide a host of immediate and residual benefits to service providers, including:
- More reliable insight into which assets are underperforming, unprofitable or ready for retirement;
- Earlier visibility into potential risks and new revenue opportunities;
- Higher network performance;
- Increased revenue;
- More accurate reporting for regulatory compliance;
- Superior customer service.
If the list above reads like a New Year’s resolution wish list, it’s no accident; asset assurance is the gift that keeps on giving by helping decision makers get more value from what they already have. For more information, download from the complete eBook trilogy, Turning Telecom Fraud into Revenues. It’s a quick read and a great first step to getting your assets in shape for the new year.