Cramer: U.K. OSS Startup Overtakes Market Incumbent

When Cramer hired Crawford to launch them in the U.S., the U.K.-based provider of operations support systems (OSS) solutions had more in mind than an office opening. The longer term agenda: Help them set the stage to be acquired or go public.

The hitch: Entering the U.S., Cramer would go head-to-head with a dominant vendor 70 times its size in revenue, and long entrenched as the OSS provider of choice for all leading telecom operators in the nation.

Cramer had a great product: an intelligent back office solution that mapped all network assets and ensured fast, accurate service provisioning and fulfillment, regardless of service complexity. Of equal importance, Cramer had several high profile customers globally, with more in the pipeline. Together we decided that the PR campaign would focus on the voice of the customer at every opportunity — winning credibility with prospects by letting customers sing Cramer’s praises.

In announcements, case studies, joint presentations and interviews, Bell Canada, BT, Cablecom, Fastweb, Japan Telecom, KPN, Slovak Telecom, Telefónica de España, Telmex, T-Mobile Vodafone, VSNL and others hailed Cramer’s positive impact in their businesses:

• Bell Canada credited Cramer’s inventory management platform as a key driver of over $1 billion in savings as the carrier switched to an all-IP network.
• The Netherlands’ KPN eliminated a 50 percent error rate in its international network by switching from a legacy operations system to Cramer.
• Using Cramer, Mexico’s Telmex boosted its market share in the corporate enterprise market through the ability to provide better service level agreements, quality of service guarantees, faster provisioning, and an expanding array of services.

Then came the first U.S. win: AT&T. In just the first six months, Cramer helped AT&T recover more than $20 million worth of unused plug-ins in the SONET network.

As more customers signed up, every new rendition of the story triggered a domino effect in media coverage and new sales. Crawford helped add luster by writing winning awards nominations for Cramer: Best OSS Company, Best New Product and Best Customer Deployment. Cramer grew in stature to become the story  in the industry, bumping competitors — including the incumbent — out of the press.

Crawford’s model worked so well that Cramer expanded our role, naming us agency of record in the U.K. Once again we racked up trade, national and local coverage, and a slew of industry awards recognizing the company’s leadership in OSS.

Reaching over $100 million in revenue, Cramer caught the eye of leading IT companies that saw the value of adding Cramer’s unique solution to their portfolio. Ultimately Amdocs won, buying Cramer for $370 million.

When the deal closed, Connected Planet credited Cramer’s PR machine for “a very healthy acquisition price.”