Nice, 24 May 2007

The first TeleManagement Forum Excellence Awards, held at the Palais de la Méditerranée on the Cote d’Azur on the evening of 21 May, saw the category of ‘Best New OSS / BSS Product’ won by Arantech, (TMW, Nice, Hall 1, Stand 173), for its groundbreaking touchpoint™ Customer Experience Management (CEM) solution, which has had a major impact within the communications industry since its recent launch into the market.

The Best New OSS / BSS Award recognises the products developed by OSS or BSS-related solution providers aimed at reducing the operating costs and increasing the profitability of service providers, by ensuring that a high standard of service quality is maintained as new services are rolled out. In winning the award, Arantech has been recognised as the supplier who has developed the most important new, leading edge OSS / BSS product.

The independent panel of judges, who selected touchpoint by Arantech as the winner in this category, comprised leading industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics, and was headed up by Mick Reeve, former Group Technology Officer of UK telecoms giant, BT. Together they looked for technical excellence and products that would provide service providers with a more efficient means of delivering, operating or maintaining services. Arantech led a category field that included leading companies across all domains in BSS/OSS. Arantech was also a finalist in ‘The Most Innovative Supplier’ category.

In a TM announcement prior to the event, Keith Willetts, Chairman, TeleManagement Forum, said, “We’ve established this awards programme to recognise companies who are making great contributions in the field of delivering service excellence.”

Brendan McDonagh, Chief Executive Officer, Arantech, “We are delighted and very proud to have been selected for this prestigious TeleManagement Forum Excellence Award. Our transformational CEM proposition is changing how communications providers are running their businesses and this change is now becoming a standard in our industry.”

“CEM puts the end customer at the centre of business and technology management. It does so by enabling communications providers to differentiate themselves in the market, by proactively managing their customers. It also enables providers to discover significant new revenues through identifying and closing the gaps between the customer experience and what is visible through traditional network and service management systems. Customer experience gaps exist on every single communications network across the globe and without understanding clearly the experience of end customers, poor service usage and churn will occur.

Through the use of touchpoint, the experience of end customers and customer groups can be determined, in real time, all the time. We are extremely excited that the TeleManagement Forum has recognised our vision and the importance of CEM with this award for touchpoint,”

McDonagh concluded.