The past few years have demonstrated just how much we depend on our mobile phones – for services, connection and convenience. As a result, digital transformation is gaining significant momentum, and identity verification is becoming more critical than ever. Businesses need to have trust in knowing who their customers are and consumers need to trust that the company that is calling or texting them is indeed who they say they are.
In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, iconectiv Senior Vice President George Cray provided insights on how the industry is working to re-establish trust in the global communications ecosystem and the role that iconectiv plays in pushing digital transformation forward while ensuring service providers comply with regulations.
In this day and age, where so many in-person interactions have been replaced with remote engagements, digital transformation has become fundamental. As a result, businesses and consumers are relying on their mobile devices more than ever – utilizing voice and text communications to navigate their personal and professional lives. But with more than 85 billion spam phone calls being placed globally each year – costing trillions of dollars in lost business and productivity – keeping both the voice and messaging ecosystem safe for consumers and attractive to business is critical.
In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, iconectiv CTO Chris Drake answered these questions, and discussed how to further build trust in communications, insights on new solutions to better identify legitimate businesses and more.
Each year, communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide lose over US$39 billion to fraud such as illegal robocalls, SMS phishing (“smishing”) and “wangiri” callback schemes, according to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) and analyst firms.
During the panel session, “Protect Your Customers from One-Ring Scams: Trusted Tools to Fight Fraud,” iconectiv telecom fraud expert David Estes will discuss how CSPs are upgrading their existing call-blocking analytics to identify calls from high-risk and unallocated number ranges and suspicious premium-rate numbers.
Years of illegal robocalls, SMS spam and fraud have undermined consumer trust in voice calls and text messages, including those from toll-free numbers. Restoring trust is critical for service providers and all the retailers, schools, healthcare providers and other organizations that depend on toll-free numbers to inform and engage consumers.
As a new co-chair of the ATIS SMS/800 Number Administration Committee (SNAC), iconectiv Senior Account Director Mike Gilbert will oversee key toll-free number industry initiatives such as ensuring consumer trust in voice calls and text messaging.
In an effort to stave off the more than 85 billion illegal robocalls placed each year, as well as SMS phishing (“smishing”) and other fraud, industry players have banded together to keep the voice and messaging ecosystem safe for consumers and attractive to businesses.
Abe Nejad, publisher of The Network Media Group, recently sat down with iconectiv Senior Vice President George Cray during Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona to discuss the latest on STIR/SHAKEN, Registered Caller™ and industry trends.
This year, consumers will lose $40 billion to fraudulent robocalls. The deluge of illegal robocalls also has conditioned 58 percent of consumers to answer calls only from numbers they recognize. This makes it difficult, expensive and sometimes impossible for hospitals, schools and other legitimate organizations to reach consumers.
At a SIPNOC 2022 panel, Rich Call Data (RCD) Best Practices: Building Trust for Future Success, John Haraburda, Principal Solutions Engineer at iconectiv, will explore how RCD is poised to help increase call-answer rates by providing an enhanced caller ID display that includes a company’s name, logo and call intent.
With more than 85 billion spam phone calls placed globally each year costing trillions in lost business and productivity, keeping the voice ecosystem safe for consumers and attractive to business is an objective we all share. In the U.S., service providers and industry players have been focused on implementing solutions designed to ensure the integrity of communications networks and mitigate any call-answering hesitation.
During the SIPNOC 2022 panel session, SHAKEN Goes Global: Opportunities and Challenges for Service Providers and Regulators Worldwide, George Cray, Senior Vice President at iconectiv, will outline a set of shared, technological best practices to extend this trust-restoring framework across country borders.
In the latest Help Net Security article, Chris Drake discusses how illegal robocalls are making it difficult for COVID-19 contact tracers to reach people who typically ignore calls from numbers they don’t recognize. Consumers are inundated with so many illegal robocalls that when they see a call from an unfamiliar or unidentified number, they let it drop into voice mail 76 percent of the time. Chris explores how legitimate businesses can leverage STIR/SHAKEN to get their calls authenticated and protect their brands and bottom line.
The team of experts from the Revenue Enablement Institute have identified growth leaders – CXOs – who are at the forefront of defining, enabling, and leading the execution of the 21st Century Commercial Model. Peter Ford, iconectiv’s Executive Vice President of Global Sales, is a veteran sales leader with a reputation for taking a highly disciplined, customer-focused, and results-driven approach to sales. He joined iconectiv in 2018 to accelerate the company’s international strategy and since that time has transformed the sales organization. In this article, Ford shares his transformation journey to drive scalable growth by changing the culture and improving the go to market process.
It is becoming progressively more difficult for contact centers to connect and engage with consumers because of the decline of consumer trust in voice communications—particularly as consumers increasing ignore calls from unknown callers. As an authoritative partner of the global communications industry connecting more than two billion people every day, iconectiv seeks to be a collaborative partner in solving a problem that is impacting PACE members’ businesses, as well as today’s consumers.
In the latest podcast by Telecom Reseller, iconectiv’s Director of Product Management, Sharon Dileo, is joined by Chris Bain, Director, Common Language Services at iconectiv to discuss the recent whitepaper findings and how a common naming strategy improves the effectiveness of real-time network operations and key business management functions while also bringing increased awareness when launching and managing new network-based services.
In the latest IDC white paper, “Common Language Drives Customer Value for All Network Technology: 5G/MEC and Virtualized Networking,” iconectiv’s Karl Whitelock points out that while Common Language has been used by communications service providers for over 40 years, iconectiv’s TruOps Common Language was established to facilitate the service design and asset tracking needs of the operations and business management processes for prevailing and emerging network connectivity architectures. Additionally, Common Language is expected to play a major role in the evolution and deployment of new facilities-based networks.
Communication service providers face the major challenge of keeping up with the latest technology advancements, such as 5G, that support the rollout of new revenue-generating services in a way that is both profitable and scaleable. Industry analyst firm IDC has released a new whitepaper that addresses this challenge. The whitepaper explains how service providers can achieve business value by maximizing use of a standardized nomenclature and how iconectiv’s TruOps Common Language will play a larger role in the evolution of networks.
As we move toward nationwide vaccine eligibility, the logistics of helping people schedule and confirm appointments through a process they trust will be crucial. In this Healthcare Business Today article, iconectiv’s Cliff Holsenbeck explores how short codes are an ideal option for providing necessary communications and navigating the logistics of vaccine distribution. Across the country, text messaging has already been implemented as a tool by healthcare and other facilities throughout the pandemic for services like telehealth, virtual care, contact tracing, pre-screening questionnaires and sending updates to loved ones and caretakers.
iconectiv will join international carriers and messaging providers at ITW 2023 in National Harbor, MD from May 9-12, 2023. iconectiv experts will be on-site to talk about the benefits of iconectiv’s TruReach Toll-Free 8MS solution in ensuring communications connectivity.
With 50+ sessions, 7 industry-specific tracks, an interactive exhibit hall and numerous networking opportunities, attendees at Connect X will explore next-generation technologies, connect with new partners and learn about the future of connectivity. iconectiv is a Silver Sponsor of Connect X and will be exhibiting.
iconectiv will join the WICT Network to honor women in the cable telecom industry with a banquet dinner in Denver, CO on May 5, 2023. Walk of Fame is an inspiring celebration of influential leaders in cable, who go above and beyond, push for success and change that brings immeasurable impact to our industry. Each year, 500+ gather to honor veteran leaders, up-and-coming talent, and game-changing industry contributors who exemplify WICT’s Touchstones of Leadership. This evening event attracts industry attendance from all levels, including national C-suite executives. Honorees embody WICT’s vision to create women leaders who transform our industry. iconectiv will be sponsoring this event at the Strategic Partner level and will be sitting at table #17.
iconectiv will host the second quarter Common Interest Group on Routing and Rating (CIGRR) work group session on April 18th – 20th, 2023. This three-day meeting provides an interactive forum for CIGRR to recommend advanced direction to the TruOps Telecom Routing Administration (TRA). TRA is the primary source of numbering, routing, and rating data in support of an intercompany information exchange process for the telecommunications industry. TRA provides data and services for the industry to…
Conecta Mexico is a specialist in creating industry leading meetings in Latin America. They are passionate about Latin America and their purpose is facilitating knowledge and networking for executives in the whole region. Conecta works with a customer-focused strategy to deliver high-quality summits, facilitating networking and experiences and bringing together senior executives from the Telecom and ICT industry under the same roof. Board level attendees gather from telecom global mobile, fixed, cable operators, service providers, regulators and government bodies. They understand technology and telecommunications are the main motors for societies transformation and contribute for an increasingly connected and digital territory. Keynote speakers will include AT&T Mexico, Telefonica Movistar, MCM Telecom and Omdia. iconectiv will be a Gold Sponsor of this event and will be exhibiting with a booth. Don’t miss Bob Grant, iconectiv’s Director of Product Management, presenting on Global Shaken.
Capacity Middle East is the largest carrier meeting for the Middle Eastern region, uniting the region’s key ICT players representing the carrier, cloud, hyperscaler, content, digital infrastructure, edge, software, data center and technology industries. The iconectiv sales team will be in attendance.