SunTec entered Monday into an alliance with Freestyle Technology to enable service providers to deliver digital propositions that harness the Internet of Things (IoT). The two companies are now deploying integrated solutions in Asia that will transform the way energy providers interact and transact with their customers, while engaging with services providers in other sectors in Europe and around the world.
By combining Freestyle’s smart edge and cloud IoT technologies with SunTec’s flexible and Middle Office solutions, the partnership enables service providers to open up two-way real-time communications channels with their customers. That means an energy service provider, for example, can adapt its proposition to the needs of customers in response to real-time feedback or external events, such as changes in weather conditions, a fire or a flood.
The integrated solution can also support complementary services, automatically turning off the gas supply in the event of a fire alarm, notifying householders and enabling them to remotely control locks or security cameras, for example.
As they can run applications locally, Freestyle’s smart edge devices can act as a platform for a range of different services from multiple providers that can be managed, billed and settled using SunTec’s Xelerate Digital Services suite. The integrated solution from SunTec and Freestyle can, for example, support revenue-sharing partnerships between telecom companies, utilities, banks and insurance firms that make use of behavioral data to provide consumers with multi-faceted and highly tailored service propositions.
Interlinking between traditional industries, content sources and technological capabilities drive new revenue streams, as technological convergence faces new challenges with the advent of digitalisation and the predominance of digital devices and content sources. It is opening up new revenue streams for communications service providers (CSP) and other industries. In case of the ‘connected car’ ecosystem, where each car is connected through wireless network provided by the CSP to the maintenance system of the car manufacturer. A user who wishes to check the car’s health can request a report through his connected car or mobile phone, which will get delivered to the latter. The same information is shared with the insurance provider, who fixes the insurance premium based on the car’s performance and health.
Hence, partnerships with other industries have become essential to CSPs for adding new revenue streams. Moreover, they are faced with the opportunity for creating a competitive advantage and driving Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) by becoming a customer-centric converged player.
“Our ground-breaking partnership with Freestyle will enable utilities and other service companies to take a major step forward, replacing sporadic analogue customer interaction with a highly-responsive and flexible digital platform that can be used to deliver many different services from multiple providers,” said Nanda Kumar, president and CEO of SunTec Business Solutions. “Together SunTec and Freestyle will enable service providers to really deliver on the IoT promise through smart energy, building and city solutions that delight their customers.”
“Working with SunTec, our smart and agile edge technology is already enabling service providers in Asia to develop rich ecosystems and tap multiple market opportunities,” added Mohan C. Jesudason, CEO of Freestyle. “As a result of this partnership, our customers will be able to manage a broad portfolio of services in a dynamic and flexible way, deploying compelling new applications quickly and easily without having to send out an engineer or deploy new hardware.”
