Forumville Sets Strategy for Success at TM Forum’s Management World 2009

TM Forum Innovation Zone to spotlight six key strategies to drive business solutions for today and prepare the industry for the future

MORRISTOWN, NJ, March 26, 2009 –TM Forum, the world’s premier industry group focused on business effectiveness for the communications and media sectors, revealed today six key strategies to combat the economic downturn and prepare the industry for the future. The set of practical strategies and tactics will be unveiled at the Forum’s flagship Management World conference (4-8 May 2009, Nice, France), showcased within the exclusive Forumville innovation zone.

In a world where communications service providers face the continual challenge of maintaining profitability for increasingly competitive and diverse services, TM Forum is leading the way in improving business effectiveness. Through leadership and collaboration, the Forum is delivering the standards and best practices that underpin automation, reduce OpEx and customer churn, and allow service providers to adapt to new business models.

According to Martin Creaner, President and CTO, TM Forum, "Forumville brings together leading industry experts in a series of live Technology Catalyst and Content Encounter demos, providing examples of the innovation and rapid solution development only possible through collaboration. Together with business and technical presentations focused on implementation of TM Forum standards, Forumville will offer conference delegates a one stop shop for essential transformation tools.”  

The six key strategy areas will cover:
• Business Transformation -- Tuning business for the road ahead
Looking at the big picture of how the TM Forum best practices, business programs and executive communities can help with business strategies for becoming ever more efficient, automated, agile, and customer-centric;
• Software Development -- Reducing development cost and risk
IT solutions are the backbone of any business transformation.  Attendees will learn how TM Forum standards and best practices are enabling a wide range of service providers and their suppliers to save millions of dollars through standards-based implementation;
• Service Innovation -- Getting new services to market faster
Three live Technology Catalyst demonstrations will showcase multi-vendor solutions that enable new services to be created quickly and cost effectively across service provider and business partner environments;
• Revenue Management -- Ensuring profitability in a complex service environment
Billing, Charging and Revenue Assurance all have direct impact on the bottom line.  Revenue management systems need to be able to handle the demands of the ever increasing service loads and payment choices. Attendees will learn how TM Forum is focusing on business process and proven revenue assurance techniques to make a difference in this straight-to-the-bottom line area;
• Customer Experience -- Proactively managing customer loyalty
Keeping customers is generally more cost effective than acquiring new customers – so focus on customer experience paramount. Forum members are leading the way in reducing customer churn by enabling integrated customer care systems;
• Digital Media Value Chain -- Enabling business models for the new digital marketplace
Now is the time to prepare for new business models which will rely new services and partnerships. Attendees will see how TM Forum is driving the creation of end-to-end management solutions in the multi-player extended value chain that includes content owners, advertisers, and service providers of all kinds;

Forumville will include two theaters, offering in-depth technology demonstrations, case studies of real-world implementations and educational presentations. Attendees will also receive free registration to the Forum’s new online community, where members can connect to their peers and gain access to the latest industry topics and thought leadership.

The strategies and tactics unveiled in Forumville will be mirrored throughout the Management World 2009 conference, which opens with an impressive keynote lineup on Wednesday, May 6. “Forumville, along with the entire Management World conference this year, focuses on the strategies and tactics service providers need to embrace to survive. The current economic situation presents an opportunity for service providers to transform themselves to support the new business models that will prove to be essential to future growth and profitability for service providers,” added Creaner.

The full conference agenda, keynote and speaker details as well as information surrounding certified training courses available in Nice are available now at http://www.tmforum.org/ManagementWorld2009/

Press and analysts are invited to contact Geoff Devlin, gdevlin@tmforum.org, to apply for press access to the conference.

About TM Forum
With more than 700 member companies in 75 countries, TM Forum is the world’s leading industry association focused on improving business effectiveness for service providers and their suppliers. Serving the information, communications and entertainment industries, the Forum provides practical solutions, guidance and leadership to transform the way that digital services are created, delivered and charged. Members include the world’s largest service providers, cable and network operators, software suppliers, equipment suppliers and systems integrators.

TM Forum provides a wide range of information and support to help its members reduce the costs and risks associated with creating and delivering profitable services.  These include industry research and benchmarks, technology roadmaps, best practice guidebooks, software standards and interfaces, as well as certified training, conferences and publications.  The Forum also provides its member community with extensive marketing and networking opportunities, enabling business with new customers and partners.
To learn more please visit www.tmforum.org.

Global TM Forum Media Contact
Geoff  Devlin
gdevlin@tmforum.org
+44 (0)7894 300 280

United States Media Contact
Nate Hubbell
March Communications
tmforum@marchpr.com
+1 617 960 9875