'Real-time service offering is still an issue with LBS'

What according to you are the current trends in location based services market worldwide and in India?

Location based services are rapidly gaining ground in multiple areas. Service providers can be greatly benefited from LBS, as it is a part of their strategy to enhance customer loyalty, offer a better level of service, focus on long-term retention, and drive the churn rates down.

In India, there has been significant uptake of LBS but obviously many more avenues exist. According to PwC, LBS revenues currently account for 38% of the overall VAS revenues. However multiple other opportunities such as LBS for fleet management, emergency services, advertising, rural information exist.

What are the new products for the Indian market?

LBS is a new phenomenon in India. However Progress Software has been working closely with global service providers to demonstrate the power of LBS. For example, we have successfully worked with the service providers such as Turkcell in Turkey and demonstrated visible benefits of LBS through the progress situation based marketing solution which is all about providing the right offer at the right time.

What are the challenges that you are encountering in the Indian market?

One of the most significant challenges of LBS adoption has been technology that can enable operators to respond in real-time based on the customer's profile and location data. Progress Software provides an advanced and easy-to-deploy-and-use platform that will allow operators to rapidly respond to millions of customer touch points in real-time in an automated fashion to optimize and enhance their communication and campaigns.

The users need to opt-in to use this service and they need to see value. It is important that the providers deliver a non-intrusive and valuable service to customers.

Even though the operator is ready with LBS platforms, it is still waiting for exciting content. What are your thoughts in this regard?

We do not see many LBS platforms ready. They offer some of the functionalities but not the end-to-end solutions from real-time events processing to campaign management that Progress Software provides.

Some of the applications that can help communication service providers or operators in terms of exciting content may include localized promotions, information and offers, benefits when they are near a mall, provide information when they are near a store, provide advertisements, provide know-how and background information based on the location.

But the real benefits would only be felt when these applications are relevant to the subscribers and are instantly provided to them. This could allow communication service providers to absolutely drive an array of new business and consumer applications in the telecommunications industry.