Value Added Services (Ultimate Guide)

For many in the telecommunications sector, Value Added Services are driving revenue and profitability. These services add more value to the customer base and, in return, enhance customer loyalty, reduce churn and create new revenue streams. In this competitive and saturated market, Value Added Services is the dividing factor between business growth,  success, and falling behind competitors. We unpack these services in the guide below. 

Unpacking Value Added Services 

To understand the importance of Value Added Services we first need to understand what they are. In simple terms, Value Added telecommunications services, or VAS as they are often referred to, are add-on services over and above your core competencies, products, and services. These add-on services often: 

• Enhance user experience and functionality 
• Function on a stand-alone basis, product or service
• Are marketed as add-on premium features over and above your basic services
• Used to stimulate demand for core services 
• May provide administrative and operational synergy among or between other services

In a competitive market like the telecommunications industry, these auxiliary services provide an opportunity to offer customers more, which is essential when considering that customers’ needs continue to evolve and change. Over the last decade, there have been dynamic developments in terms of digitisation and technology. This has led to customers requiring more differentiated services and offerings to meet their changing requirements. Value Added Services, which are usually fast to deploy, offer Telcos a quick and efficient way to answer to these changing needs and in doing so build customer satisfaction, improve customer experience and upsell products and services to customers. This ultimately provides you with a competitive edge and new opportunities to provide customers with the services they require, thereby positioning yourself as the strategic partner of choice within the industry.  

Customers are generally more attracted to telecommunications companies who offer more Value Added Services because they get more out of the business exchange. These strategic initiatives enable you, as a Telco, to retain customers, create additional revenue streams, boost margins, differentiate your business and drive competitiveness within the industry. 

Opportunities of VAS and omni channel 

When examining Value Added Services within the Telecommunications space, it is essential to look at customer needs in terms of the channels customers are using. Today, more and more customers are utilising multiple channels. For your Value Added Services to hit the mark, they need to be accessible across several different channels. This is where omnichannel messaging technology comes into play. 

This technology innovation allows you, as a Telco, to provide a range of Value Added Services that you can sell as new products to your customer base across multiple channels. These channels include, but are not limited to, USSD, SMSC, SMS, Mobile Apps, WhatsApp Channels, Social media platforms, Website portals and more. The beauty of this kind of technology is that all of these services can be managed from one integrated framework. In this way, there is one integration channel doing the work for all of the different applications, therefore simplifying the complexity and the functionality of deploying and managing these applications and services.

This adds value to your customer base by providing customers with the functionality and availability of all channels they may be using. From a Telco perspective, this allows you to increase your revenue streams by creating more services, over and above your core products, that answer your customers needs for more services across different channels.

Exploring NextGen v.Services – The Future of Value Added Services 

For Telecom providers to maximise the potential of providing Value Added Services across omni channels, they need to have the right technology infrastructure and solution in place. This is where Adapt IT NextGen v.Services solution comes in. This innovative solution was designed for Telcos to differentiate themselves in the market by providing customers with Value Added Services that can be implemented and rolled out to market quickly and efficiently across various channels.

This framework is an Application Enablement Platform (AEP) that will help you, as the Telco, to build innovative solutions and construct user-friendly services. The aim is to connect you directly with your users by providing your customers with a service and experience they cannot get elsewhere. This solution is deployed in the mobile core telecommunication networks and is used for authentication, authorisation, and accounting services. It also establishes a flexible framework that provides other capabilities such as policy control, USSD, voicemail, charging services, location services, and other VAS applications. Omnichannel Messaging technology makes it possible for customers to utilise all of these services and applications. 

This solution: 

• Allows you to consolidate all services and applications on the same platform.
• Offers superior scalability by enabling the addition of focused capacity when required.
• Utilises a single platform for multiple applications, which allows you, as an end user, to add additional elements and applications to your network, expanding the platform’s usage.
• Is a full-stack network-integrated platform that allows you to build innovative product solutions and your own set of unique products and services. 
• Allows you to choose to partner with strategic businesses outside of your industry, dabble in mobile advertising or look at ways to facilitate chat and social networking and other third party applications. 
• Allows for the customisation of mobile features according to the user’s requirements.
• Enables you, as the operator, to plan new or upgraded services and send the relevant settings directly to the user’s device. 

The benefits of the above capabilities include adding value to your customer base by answering their needs for more value added components and services. This drives the creation of new revenue streams which enhance customer experience, loyalty, retention, profitability, and business growth. 

Conclusion

Value added solutions play a significant role in the profitability of a Telco and its position within the market. To remain competitive, increase total revenue, and ensure long term growth, Telcos need to ensure that they have the technology capabilities in place to quickly and efficiently roll out these Value Added Services when customers require them. Adapt IT Telecoms NextGen v.Services solution provides Telcos with this functionality and the capabilities to roll out these Value Added Services efficiently and effectively.