iconectiv's blog, the Pulse, features thought leadership pieces and articles about telecommunications industry trends, including fraud prevention, digital identity verification and efficient call routing,providing insights into industry challenges and solutions.
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.
By the end of June all U.S. voice providers are required to implement STIR/SHAKEN technology, to fight against robocallers by authenticating caller ID to help ensure a phone number isn’t being spoofed. To date, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon have protected millions of customers from billions of robocalls. In this Fierce Wireless article, iconectiv’s CTO Chris Drake discusses iconectiv’s role as industry and policy administrator for SHAKEN and the upcoming deadline to implement this technology. iconectiv has processed over 100 carriers to be enabled for SHAKEN certificates and there are still between 50 and 100 carriers still in the queue.
Wangiri is a global scourge that costs service providers $1.82 billion annually, making it one of the top five fraud types. In this Vanilla Plus article, iconectiv’s principal solutions engineer director John Haraburda discusses how iconectiv is taking steps to help service providers protect their customers and their bottom lines against one-ring fraud.
The telephone changed the way people communicate all over the world, and then email and text messaging took it to the next level. In the latest Thrive Global article, iconectiv’s Chief Product Officer Michael O’Brien explores the future of communication, his career and what led iconectiv to create their cutting-edge and innovative communication technologies.
To help telecommunications technologies work better together while maintaining security, the Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) provides global industry specifications—guided by industry leaders—to help the ecosystem navigate these challenges. Last November, GSMA launched the Industry Specifications Approving Group (ISAG) as the oversight and approval body for all Industry Specification work. Chief Technology Officer for iconectiv, Chris Drake, has been appointed as one of a limited number of non-service provider members of the group. The ISAG is made up of senior representatives in the industry and includes service provider and non-service provider GSMA members.
Digital transformation, cloud services, networking, and messaging are some of the ways that retailers are reinventing their stores. With 96% of American’s owning a mobile phone and the average U.S. citizen increasing their time spent on their phone by an additional 23 minutes per day, retailers must become increasingly savvy to successfully engage with new customers. In this recent iFour Technolab article, iconectiv’s senior director of product management Cliff Holsenbeck discusses short codes as an emerging technology trend that will benefit the retail industry.
In this recent Authority Magazine article, iconectiv’s Chief Product Officer Michael O’Brien discusses the next generation of communication technology and how iconectiv works to re-establish trust in communications platforms. He dives into what led iconectiv to build their innovative technologies and how they plan to impact the world of communication.
Today, roughly 20% of American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users, meaning they own a smartphone but don’t have home broadband service. In this RIS article, iconectiv’s Cliff Holsenbeck explores how retailers and other businesses use text message short codes as a powerful tool to engage customers. Short codes are ideal for engaging consumers who use a smartphone as their primary or only connection to the internet. Businesses that embrace short codes text messaging make it easy for consumers to act on a retailer’s advertising and marketing.
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.