On December 2nd, the conference ‘Development trends of VAS 3.0’ was held at Lotte Hotel Hanoi, showing a positive outlook from developers of value added service in 2017.

Value added service (VAS) 3.0 is a relatively new concept in Vietnam’s VAS market. In this forum held by Value-added Services Development Company - VNPT Media Corporation, many leading speakers and experts in the VAS industry have reviewed 10 years of development of VAS and defined VAS 3.0 as the ultimate goal of network providers and VAS companies.

The conference ‘Development trends of VAS 3.0’ with the theme ‘Generate ideas – Create future’ has been attended by numerous major enterprises in Vietnam VAS industry.

In  2006, VAS 1.0 was established with the foundation and growth of short code SMS services, logos, wallpapers, GIFs, monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, ringback tones, digital music and video clips, etc. Looking back to this development at the smartphone era, it could be seen that VAS 1.0 was such a simple service. However, the service usage rate was extremely high – at nearly 100%.

From 2010 to present, VAS 2.0 is an impressive service thanks to the existence of hundred VAS services offered by each network provider. Nevertheless, these services are similar from their contents, utilities, etc. to brand names. Thus, customers can have difficulties in finding an outstanding service and utility that truly meet their demand. At the end of 2016, in the context of sharp fluctuations in the VAS 2.0 market, VAS development companies have decided to gather to share experience and discuss the future of the industry.

Leaders and business directors of many VAS development companies regarded the conference ‘Development trends of VAS 3.0’ as a promptly held one that provided lots of useful information. Especially, the conference was successful in revitalizing companies in the industry since VAS has recently achieved its peak and still suffered from crisis. The industry was subjected to negative attitude from customers, service boycott and pressure from the media, management agencies, etc. Network providers and VAS development companies admitted that the  growth of VAS had been unstable and VAS 2.0 had declined, leading to many consequences for the VAS industry.

VNPT-Media – a major company of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group in the field of VAS, shared its experience of VAS 3.0 as an ‘insider’ and underlined an open and practical outlook on the industry. VAS 3.0 will continue to grow from the foundation of VAS 1.0 and VAS 2.0. Besides the pressure from VAS 2.0, other elements that contribute to the formation of VAS 3.0 are:

-  S.M.A.C (Social, Mobility, Analytic, Cloud)  is the basis foundation in terms of social and technological perspectives. All components in S.M.A.C are closely connected to form an ecosystem. S.M.A.C includes concepts of new products and services that companies are deploying to provide effective and flexible solutions for customers. User experience is emphasized and analyzed  based on complex algorithm and modern tools. Data is uploaded from cloud system; hence, users can access data on a wide range of devices such as TV, tablets, mobile phones, etc. and share contents easily, creating a large connected network.

- 4G has now become a reality and is widely used by network providers. The development of 4G is a vital advance in the era of IoT – Internet of Things. Network providers and VAS companies expect 4G to meet customers’ connectivity demand anytime and anywhere with its high speed, online and real-time features. In the age of 4G and IoT, multimedia, big data and customizable services are the center development goals of any telecommunication businesses.

- Digital world is growing rapidly, and it is calculated that 90% of the world data is created in the last 2 years. Traditional applications and technologies have failed to undertake the drastically increasing amount of data. Big Data was created based on cloud platforms, and it will be a potential strength for service developers and providers.

- MNP - Mobile Number Portability is both an opportunity and a challenge for network providers and their partners since it offers portability for not only users but also for the service itself and providers; thus, ensuring customer retention. Telecommunications – Information Technology operators are preparing for Mobile Number Portability policies in 2017, particularly focusing on service quality and customer service improvement.

 

How to formulate an effective VAS 3.0 strategy was a considerable concern for many companies, and this issue was answered by experts at the conference.

 

What is VAS 3.0?

VAS 3.0 is an integration of these following elements:

- User Centric: VAS 3.0 is aimed at its users. It is expected that VAS 3.0 will achieve the service usage rate as high as that of VAS 1.0, but it will ‘behave’ differently towards its users. Two concepts will influence the success of  User Centric are UX (User experience) and UI (User Interface). VAS 3.0 services that have excellent UX and UI, especially with convenient utilities, interactive and user-friendly interfaces, will enhance the satisfaction of customers.

- Content Driven: Content Driven ensures 3 requirements: meeting customers’ demand, following social and technological trends, and guiding users towards copyright and high-quality VAS 3.0 contents.

- IoT- Internet of Things: Today, users and their devices are able to receive and transmit multichannel information. Thus, besides Content Drive, which aims at content services, it is essential to design VAS 3.0 services that are more intelligent and interactive.

- OPT-IN Marketing: VAS 3.0 will provide marketing and advertising that have clear and defined orientation and are based on service context and recipients’ behaviors. When developing a marketing campaign, it is important to propose and answer the 5W + 1H questions (Who-What-When-Where-Why-How).

- Idea As A Service: VAS 3.0 is a phase in which any one can propose ideas to develop VAS, from content supply to system solutions. Therefore, everything is possible in the transition from VAS 2.0 to VAS 3.0.

To be ready for VAS 3.0, VNPT-Media has continuously developed and invested in foundation systems such  as Tapping Gateway, SDP, USSD Gateway, LBS, SMS Marketing, VNPT Payment, VNPT Ads, VMP, etc. In addition, to keep up with the integration of VAS, VNPT-Media has researched and deployed a VAS Cloud system to connect all VAS services available on VinaPhone network as well as other networks outside VNPT.

 

Mr. Nguyen Van Tan – Deputy Director General of VNPT-Media said that VAS Cloud and Big Data from the company will enable large businesses, retail providers and even individuals to easily implement and  provide VAS services. The two systems also offer multiple flexible business models, quick service deployment and diverse service segments such as digital services (Non-telco Services: OTT, education, health, enterprises, government, etc.), VNPT infrastructure –related services, non-VNPT infrastructure –related services (Telco Services: utilities, entertainment, infor search, businesses and other services).

 

Mr. Nguyen Van Tan also shared his thoughts on the development orientation in the age of VAS 3.0. What VAS companies will do and what products they will introduce are the key issues in this matter. Customers’ payment for VAS 3.0 means success for businesses in this industry, and they will eventually gain more benefits, besides basic policies between network providers and  VNPT-Media.

While the VAS market has reached its bottom in the development cycle, the conference ‘Development trends of VAS 3.0’ has been a great opportunity to gather the ideas and opinions from VAS service providers. The transition from VAS 2.0 to VAS 3.0 will not be an immediate process, but VAS 3.0 will definitely grow to the next level. Technology and policy mechanism are the foundation to foster the development of new, high-quality and use-centered VAS 3.0 services. The progress for VAS companies to change their minds and actions in the VAS 3.0 ‘play field’ has truly started.