According to CSG Systems International, Inc., a provider of software- and services-based business support solutions, demands and needs will change more in the cable and satellite industry over the next five years than in the last 20 years.

As a strategic partner to the majority of the cable operators in the United States, CSG needs to know how cable operators will service their subscribers in the future and provide customer care.

CSG studies the trends in the cable industry and discusses the company's predictions on the profile of the cable customer of the future during the NCTA (News - Alert) Cable Show, May 21-23 in Boston, Mass.

CSG says that in five years, the number of cable customers will grow phenomenally. The cable services are delivered, assigned to a primary account holder is responsible for paying the bill. In the next 5 years, operators will need to understand every customer within a given household.

Also, CSG predicts that cable operators will take over the digital content market, providing competitive pricing and packaging to customers leveraging the operator's network, as well as customers leveraging other networks. TV Everywhere initiatives are an important platform for providers to increase the uptake of new services -- and even premium services.

There is a demand for home intelligence offerings in the next five years. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications for utilities and home security will provide opportunities for cable operators. Cable operators offer the ability for subscribers to manage home-based devices like Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and house alarms.

CSG has introduced its Customer Communication Center (CCC) to automate personalized communication to customers through voice, text and email.

CCC provides a central hub for automating customer communications and capturing customer profiles, eliminating the need for multiple disparate systems to support various types of customer communications. This solution delivers an intelligent integration that links events such as delivering a bill, promotional offers, customer care communications, network utilization and more with the preferred way to communicate that event based on customer preferences.

CCC solution offers a single customer profile that stores important customer information in one place, used by all systems across the enterprise, with multiple m embers of the same household who have different preferences.

"CSG has developed CCC to respond to the on-going reality that if operators want to improve the overall value of their customer interactions, they need to better understand how, when and with what content customers prefer in order to get the most value out of the interaction," states Chad Dunavant, vice president of product management, CSG International.

"This solution takes the guesswork out of creating effective customer interactions by developing a cohesive view of each customer and their preferences," Dunavant added.

CCC also includes additional features such as Interaction Tracking, which can help the operator quickly assess the value of an interaction channel and tailor communications strategy accordingly. The Event Manager, built using CSG's Interactivate product line -- a multi-service activation platform designed to initiate any service on any network.

Also, CSG Advanced Convergent Platform (ACP) is a full billing and customer care suite that serves as the cornerstone of proven, pre-integrated approach to customer care and billing. It reflects more than 25 years' experience supporting the world's largest convergent cable providers. The company brings all of its solutions together in a pre-integrated platform to ensure every contact with customers is managed flawlessly, at every touchpoint.