ATS and WeDo Agree Global Pact

What should two revenue assurance vendors do when one is popular in the North American market but struggles to get out, and the other is popular elsewhere but struggles to get into North America? They should do a deal. That is what ATS and WeDo have just done. You can read the (slightly rearranged) press releases from WeDo here and from ATS here.

Without knowing the details, the deal should be a straightforward win-win which gives both vendors many opportunities to introduce their respective offerings to new customers. The match of WeDo and ATS product offerings is good although not perfect. ATS is a niche provider nearing saturation of the US market, whilst WeDo tries to offer a full RA product suite. SimCall, used to automatically validate switch logic, is the most popular product from ATS and should complement WeDo’s product offerings. On the other hand, ATS also sells Amadeus, a CDR analysis tool, which appears to compete with WeDo’s portfolio. SimCall is an undersold tool in global terms, partly because the market for it has not been grown through effective competition, meaning not many telcos have identified the benefit to be gained by an automated audit of switch translation. The deal should also help ATS to adapt SimCall to the different switch implementations found outside of the North America. WeDo, in contrast, is one of several full-suite vendors fighting to make headway in North America, which has historically been a difficult market for RA software. Headquartered in Portugal, WeDo used to underperform in English-speaking markets. WeDo’s 2007 purchases of Irish vendor Cape, and of British consultancy Praesidium was partly intended to address this, although there are more barriers to the North American market than simply speaking English. Some of WeDo’s rivals are currently paying a premium to establish their North American presence. It makes good sense to form a partnership with ATS, a business which has grown organically since it was founded in 1995 and has built a solid reputation in its domestic market.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalns

