Consolidation of telecoms attracts Convergys
Valor Econômico 10/04/10
The Brazilian market of telecommunications is in the heart of the global strategies of Convergys, an American manufacturer of billing software (accounts generated by clients), which plans to increase its businesses in the country. The national base of nearly 190 million cell phones and still growing, the sale of new licenses of mobile services by the regulating agency expected for this year, favoring the increased of the traffic of data, and the consolidation of the great telephone operators integrate the scenario that attracts suppliers like Convergys.A restructuring started by Convergys in 2010 included Latin America as a promising region for the company, after the verification of saturation of other markets. "The operators will have to be more aggressive to seek the results, and we want to place Convergys as a key partner for them to reach such success", says Bob Lento, International President of the Business Line of Management of Information of the company.
The consolidation of the telecoms, for example, generally requires the replacement of legacy systems. Not only because it will be necessary to integrate the programs internally created by each operator, but also because, many times, those systems have some limitations to keep up with the new needs of the segment.
Best known in the sector as billing, the billing systems are responsible for accurately charging all services used by the consumers and summarize them in an account. According to Lento, the relevance of those systems for the deals of the telecommunication companies has grown to the same extent the companies improve their service packages with fixed and mobile telephony, internet and Pay-TV. The management of Convergys intends to increase the relationship with their clients, providing support for the development of processes.
Present in the country since 1999, the Brazilian subsidiary of Convergys has 125 employees and it caters to Vivo, Telefônica Oi and UNE, from Colombia. The Brazilian subsidiary aligns to the strategy of global service to large-size customers, such as Telefônica. In such group are also teams of Convergys in Spain and England, among other countries. The regional service is led by Felipe Fernandes, Director of the company in Latin America, headquartered in Spain.
With global revenues of US$ 2.9 billion in 2009, Convergys does not disclose the investments planed for Latin America and Brazil. The company strengthens, however, that the resources will be allocated specially in research and development. "All operators go through similar challenges. We want to offer a flexible and scalable alternative", says Fernandes.