The ATG Monetization Ecosystem™ provides a comprehensive view of the technology components that are relevant to managing customers and revenue in the rapidly evolving service provider industries. For a given company, the areas of focus will be different and will likely include focus on different components of the ecosystem. For example, a company that provides products and services to the consumer market through the e-commerce channel will require a different set of technologies than a business-to-business company that sells to customers via a negotiated selling model with quotes and rigorous contracts.

We've created the Monetization Ecosystem in several formats. The first is a simplified format that describes the categories of technology that are likely familiar to most organizations in a service provider environment.

Click or tap on one of the domain boxes in the graphic below to see an in-depth look at the people, processes, technologies, and vendors that are a part of that domain.

Today, most executives are familiar with the concept of CRM-SFA, eCommerce, Partner Relationship Management, Payment Processing, etc. This format is useful for identifying high-level categories of functionality that are necessary for a particular customer. The diagram can be used for a variety of purposes, for example to highlight areas where investment is necessary to meet corporate objectives.

Many of these components are familiar to our clients and are mature functions with many proven technology choices. Payment Processing is an example of a mature segment, with a variety of proven, low-risk options. Areas such as Configure | Price | Quote, and Billing & Collections Engines are a bit more amorphous in their composition and maturity. Companies need to be very careful with their technology choices in these areas.

Some domains, such as Marketing Automation, were mere blips on the radar a few years back while others – such as Usage Processing – have been around forever, but have been repositioned based on the emergence of industry trends such as Internet of Things and expansion of recurring revenue models.

The diagram above depicts an architectural view of the ATG Monetization Ecosystem™. In this diagram the 18 components are decomposed to more than 140 sub-domains that represent functionality typically resident within the domain. This is a crucial level of detail to ‘double click’ on a particular capability to ensure the right level of detail is being evaluated. For example, if you are a company operating in a recurring revenue model, with pre-paid usage plan for select markets, you would need to further evaluate the ‘Billing & Collections’ area function to ensure you know the high-level capabilities needed to support your business requirements. Upon scrutiny with this level of detail, gaps in capability to support desired business process often become evident.

Effective management of the ATG Monetization Ecosystem™ means a targeted focus in three areas - People, Process, and Technology.

For a service provider, there is no meaningful business process that does not require efficient balancing of People, Process, and Technology. This has always been the case, and savvy CIOs have found ways to balance technology investments with supporting people and process initiatives in conjunction with their business counterparts.

As the pace of technology quickens, the need for finding appropriate balance has never been more important. We live in an era where anything as a service has replaced fixed, capital investments in products, which means customers have never had more flexibility to move to an alternate, competing service provider.

In addition, social media has created the opportunity to win, or lose, customers at an unprecedented pace. One embarrassing interaction with a customer can lead to significantly more than just one lost customer.

The organizations within an enterprise ecosystem that touch the different Monetization systems.

There are 79 processes in the Monetization Ecosystem that support enterprise customers and revenues. While most of these processes span multiple domains of a company’s ecosystem, the monetization processes are shown with the organization that owns the process.

Below are those key processes grouped by the enterprise organization that typically owns the process.

We also feature the ecosystem by software category breakdown across the individual domains of the Monetization Ecosystem.

For IT leaders, the following diagram is provided to show the Monetization Ecosystem divided into typical classes of software. This is a bit more fine-grained view that is loosely associated with the best of breed categories of software that are prevalent in the service provider technology space. For example, a CRM tool is no longer a clear term. In technology there are now specific providers that work in Customer Success, vs. Call Center Operations vs. E-Commerce vs. Trouble Ticketing/Case Management. All of these could be considered components of CRM, but the savvy technology buyer needs to understand options on how to acquire that capability in an integrated or best of breed manner.

The Technology Monetization Ecosystem is rapidly changing – if you are a vendor building solutions in the service provider space, we’d love to hear from you. The ATG Ecosystem is a growing, evolving model and feedback and debate are welcomed. Inquiries can be made at sales@atginfo.com.

Key vendors within the software categories of the Monetization Ecosystem.

Every presentation needs a NASCAR logo slide, right?

Here is ATG’s view of the key vendors in the Monetization Ecosystem. This is a blend of tried and true providers with up and coming start-ups. The pace of evolution within this ecosystem, even within individual categories, is dizzying. New start-ups are popping up all over the landscape, and we are beginning to see significant consolidation in the space. The past two decades have seen massive custom systems, early development of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) solutions, to massive integrated suites, to best of breed, to the emergence of multi-tenancy, to where we are today – which is a mix of old and new. Today’s CIO is faced with myriad technology options and must have a solid overall technology plan, underpinned by strong vendor solutions that work well together.