What started as an effort to gather success stories and conduct workshops has morphed into a comprehensive service offering. The main objective of the TRG Opportunity Generator is to increase traffic and revenue growth in mobile and fixed networks.

Eric Frisk, one of the driving forces behind the development, explains: "We started by building up a database of success stories, best practices, and quick wins that have proven to drive traffic and revenue in markets around the world. Initially focused on the mobile side, we then started to focus also on the fixed broadband side. The initial engagements with Ericsson clients were successful, but there was not enough follow up on our part."

"We help operators assess their market on a global level and we identify a number of potential business opportunities. By analyzing these jointly with the commercial side of operators, we isolate priority opportunities, and then move on to analyze deployment feasibility. This brings it all down to a practical level and identifies the first steps that need to be taken in order to progress in the right direction."

The first step of the process is a global scan and local analysis, where Ericsson reviews the service portfolio, strategy, initiatives, objectives and competition of the operator. Market experiences are shared and a list is made of global traffic and growth opportunities for the operator.

In the second step, the opportunity qualification stage, the opportunity list is narrowed down from 100 to about 20 opportunities. Target market segments are chosen for each opportunity and barriers are identified.

The business opportunities workshop is the third phase of the process where the short list of opportunities is evaluated according to end-user segments, pricing, packaging, timing and barriers. This process isolates top priority opportunities.

In the final phase, business cases are made for the top prioritized opportunities. Final recommendations cover preliminary service roadmap, top priority opportunities with revenue potential and ease of implementation, as well as the proposed way forward. Typically, the way forward includes both implement-now actions and efforts to strengthen service strategy.

"The TRG Opportunity Generator is an independent service offering," Frisk says. "Our job is to use all available information and, in cooperation with the client, identify new potential sources of revenue. This required us to apply multiple Ericsson assets, including global best practices, end-user understanding, and consulting skills to understand local market conditions and competitive situation."