6:20 AM -- We've been banging on about Customer Experience Management (CEM) lately, saying how it's going to become a hotter topic in 2012 and how it's likely to be a more prominent issue at this year's Barcelona-based LTE Love-In (aka Mobile World Congress 2012). (See CEM Set for Center Stage and Barcelona's New Battleground.)

Well, only days after completing its acquisition of Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) giant Telcordia, Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) is highlighting the topic on its website with a "news center" item on Service quality – managing the user experience. (See Ericsson Closes Telcordia Acquisition.)

Ericsson has taken an interesting angle, focusing on customer expectations and perceptions, especially when it comes to using over-the-top services. "Measuring users' feelings to gain an understanding of their perception of service quality is a key step for operators to manage rising consumer expectations," it states. "The effect of rising consumer expectations is a major challenge for operators when it comes to performance of the services they use, in particular over-the-top (OTT) services such as video sharing and social networking using smartphones."

As with any aspect of CEM, dealing with such issues involves a mix of technology, the way that technology is deployed and managed, and the culture/mindset of the project leaders and teams behind the CEM strategy.

That human element is critical and here at Light Reading we believe that, along with the implementation and deployment of other contemporary service provider strategies, the service providers most likely to see a positive impact from the introduction of a long-term CEM campaign are those that blend the experience of their networks and IT teams, a process we refer to as Bridging the Chasm. (See Bridging the Chasm: A Manifesto.)

We're always keen to get your feedback on these sorts of issues, so don't hesitate to get stuck in on the message boards below.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading