Compuware Corporation has launched an initiative to increase the profitability of mobile data service providers by empowering them to improve and manage the customer data experience. Compuware notes that the exponential increase in data-rich applications on mobile devices makes the optimization of the subscriber experience more difficult to achieve and more important to revenue, customer satisfaction and service provider loyalty.
Compuware Vantage for Mobile provides a real-time view of a customers mobile data services experience by starting with an individual subscribers experience and linking it back to key business functions. Customer benefits, says Compuware, include increased subscriber retention, higher data average revenue per unit (ARPU), optimization of network investments, reduction in customer support costs, and improved customer experience.
Data-centric mobile devices continue to pave the way for a massive growth in network traffic, said Elisabeth Rainge, Program Director for Network Software at analyst, IDC. Network performance metrics are indeed important to validate the huge investments currently being made in mobile broadband networks to ensure data services are fast and reliable. But unless the network performance is combined with an understanding of the customer experience, the provider risks discouraging the now-nascent usage of mobile data services, as well as undermining the profitability and trust that come with a long term customer relationship.
Compuware says that Vantage for Mobile effectively addresses the new challenges that require operators to understand individual subscriber experiences on mobile data services. The solution enables network operations teams to identify areas for network expansion; customer support teams to quickly resolve issues; sales and marketing teams to make informed business decisions; and customer retention teams to better understand customer renewal decisions.
Mobile operators have traditionally been focused on the network; as the demand for mobile broadband data services grows, they need to extend their focus to include quality of experience, says Compuware Global Director of Telecoms Strategy, Ian Clarke. The quality of the customer data experience will differentiate one operator from another. In this new world, the price of having no real-time visibility into a subscribers experience of mobile data services is an unsustainable combination of decreasing profit and escalating subscriber churn. With the popularity of mobile applications on devices such as Apples iPhone, the customer data experience has to be flawless. This business-wide issue impacts a broad range of departments, and must be addressed if operators are to reduce retention risks and increase profitability.
Compuware has also released the findings of a market research study of 22 operators worldwide. Compuware says the study confirmed that the root cause of reduced customer satisfaction, increased churn and increased management costs is a lack of visibility into the subscriber experience of mobile data services. Moreover, the study identified how the growing demand for mobile data has brought operators a new dimension of  management challenges that include  higher than expected network traffic; reduced profitability of IP data revenue; rising support costs; rising complexity of new devices and services; and increased pressure on call centre staff. These challenges combined with intensified competition and price wars are eroding operator profitability, the study finds.