VIRTUAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME™

Prior to entering the MVNO or wholesale market it’s important to understand the business strategy, including the business model, the go-to-market approach, likely value propositions, possible partners and importantly the investment requirements.

One of the key reasons potential MVNOs often fail to secure wholesale partnerships is through the lack of preparation: operators see tens of prospects every year and can quickly dismiss even the best of ideas. And for mobile operators, and MVNAs and MVNEs, launching and sustaining MVNO partners is hard.

Our Business Strategy module allows senior executives to take informed strategic decisions: whether to launch a new MVNO, or as an operator to enter the wholesale market, or to take an existing business in a new direction. This strategy then becomes the blueprint for action.

For Lebara we developed and negotiated the partnership with Vodafone. We communicated Lebara’s proposition to the network operators, managed competitive offers, negotiated the heads of terms and negotiated the final contract on Lebara’s behalf. Within 12 months this had become the most successful MVNO partnership for Vodafone in the UK.

Piran Partners also provided Vodafone, T-Mobile International, Telefonica and Zain with strategic insight into specific vertical markets as well as enabling them to develop their wholesale commercial, contractual and operating strategies.

 

 

Business and economic modelling is a key strength – we always approach consultancy engagements from a commercial perspective, with the aim of adding significant value to our clients’ businesses.

The profitability of any wholesale deal is ‘all in the mix’. To assist our clients evaluate the differing commercial terms offered to them, Piran Partners created the PPL Interconnect Model (ICM). The model allows the profitability of customer propositions to be understood: using real or representative customer usage profiles, retail pricing derived from market insight or proposition development activities, together with the wholesale costs.

We have used the ICM in all of our 40-plus wholesale negotiations on behalf of clients to help drive the best commercial agreement. The combination of the ICM together with bespoke business models provides real insight into the dynamics of any telecoms business, and permits sensitivity, retail tariff and what-if scenario analysis.

Example projects include developing economic models with detailed scenario analysis to help a retailer understand the cash flow implications of mobile commission-based payments and revenue recognition implications. And for an existing MVNO whether a new wholesale offer represented a good deal over the remaining term of their agreement.

Or for a Middle Eastern operator building a price-elasticity model to understand the implications of a radical change in roaming tariffs and whether demand would compensate for the proposed price reductions.

For Piran Partners, solution creation is about ensuring all the technical, operational, commercial and contractual elements have been identified and are available so as to deliver the go-to-market proposition.

Proposition development is an iterative process, but the outcome must be a product and service offering where the service, quality, pricing, branding, customer care, supporting technology and contractual elements are coherent and reinforce one another throughout the customer lifecycle. Too many propositions are ‘me-to’ and do not manage the customer touchpoints and are let down by poor in-life customer experience.

Piran Partners’ proposition wheel framework helps develop compelling propositions focusing on the customer engagement with the service throughout their journey. The framework was developed by the founders of Piran Partners and has been used extensively, and successfully, with clients across many different industries.

The Solution Creation process also includes formal engagement with third-parties, such as customer care or payment service providers or billing system vendors, plus development of the technical architecture to support the proposition and customer lifecycle and touchpoints. At the end of this process the client should be ready to sign definitive contracts with network partner(s) and vendors so as to deliver the agreed business strategy.

As an example, for a pan-European fixed line carrier we developed their new mobility proposition, extending their existing product and service portfolio to enable them to reposition their offers as a full service fixed, mobile and data supplier to Europe’s enterprises. This included defining the required architecture and operating models, identifying and selecting key suppliers and negotiating the supply contracts.

The key to successful programme delivery is strong executive sponsorship of a clearly defined scope of work, clearly articulated benefits and a robust implementation plan that considers impact across the business.

We focus on the entire lifecycle of the programme and the overall benefits realisation, not just the individual milestones. Our approach ensures each programme starts on a solid basis with technology and commercial risks identified and either mitigated or actively managed to reduce their potential impact.

We can supply project managers and subject matter experts to help deliver the programme working alongside your team and chosen partners.

The objective is to deliver the programme on time and within budget against the agreed strategy. Robust process design, and testing and verification ensures the end-to-end customer experience lives up to client’s expectations.

Piran Partners successfully turned around a major programme on behalf a leading European public sector mobile operator, and established the Programme Management Office for Truphone – an innovative low-cost roaming MVNO. And for multiple MVNOs worldwide we have been, and continue to be, instrumental in launching their services.

The launch of your MVNO or wholesale offering goes not signify the end of a process, rather just the beginning of growing and evolving your services to meet customer needs.

Our Business Improvement module – closely aligned with the Optimisation & Insight activities – is designed to help deliver new services, improve operating margins, seek operational improvements and optimise business processes, backed by robust programme delivery. The aim is to ensure your business achieves increased customer and stakeholder value.

Working with the UK’s largest business-focused MVNO, Piran Partners liaised closely with key customers to better understand their mobile needs. In conjunction with our own extensive knowledge of this sector, feedback from customers and a close liaison with the product and sales teams, Piran Partners were able to challenge and build on our client’s own existing propositions. Our approach enabled us to improve those propositions, launch a new outbound channel and add 19,000 new post-paid customers in 3 months.