Podcast 11 is dedicated to the topic of managed services – services which might have been performed in-house but are instead delivered by an external supplier. It is a topic that gets considered from time to time by telcos wanting to improve their revenue assurance and fraud management, although it is not so common to see initial conversations progress to completing an actual deal. Indian firm Subex is a market leader in supplying revenue assurance and fraud management software, and also earns a significant chunk of its revenues through managed services for those functions and others. I asked them to talk with me about the current status and future potential for managed services. Vinod Kumar, Subex’s Group President, joined me from India, and Des Rehinsi, their Director of Sales for Managed Services, joined me from the UK. We talked about the reasons why telcos opt for managed services, the factors that drive competitive advantage in this market, and their expectations for future sales from managed services. You can listen to the full podcast at talkRA.com, or by subscribing through the iTunes store.
Growth in Managed Services

Hi Eric, that was a good advertisement. How much do you charge for such advertisements. Others, like us, may need such space.
SM, I’m sorry you feel that the podcast didn’t live up to your expectations. Of course, if you want to use talkRA to advertise your business, it would help if you told me who you are – telling people who you are is a cornerstone of advertising after all. I can see your IP address but that isn’t enough to pinpoint your business. But given that you’re disappointed I can only suggest you go read that other much more balanced and impartial website about RA… you know, that other site that doesn’t make a penny from advertising and where you are as likely to hear a vendor being criticized or lampooned as you are to hear them being praised… what’s the URL of that website again?
Separate point to the above – we all know that fraud and RA losses will occur and that some will be missed. I am curious to understand how Subex manages the expectations of its managed services clients specifically in respect to this as it could cause a lot of headaches. This is essentially a sub question of how does the client know, objectively, that it is getting the best outcome by managing its fraud or RA (or part of these) in this way.