We Are Ending the Vendor Lock-In Era. MarTech Open-Source Challenger Goes Live at MWC26.
Ever tried to switch from an iPhone to an Android after a decade of loyalty?
It starts with a simple desire for a better device, but then reality hits. Your photos, paid apps, cloud backups, and smart home are all tied to one ecosystem. You aren’t just a customer; you’re a hostage of your own data.
That’s vendor lock-in.
Now multiply that by a thousand – and you’ll understand what it’s like to change a martech stack inside a telco. Changing a marketing tech stack is the second-biggest transformation challenge a telco faces, right behind swapping out core BSS. It connects your IT infrastructure, customer data, AI processes, and every channel you use.
Telcos have half a decade of physical lock-in with their current Marketing Technology vendor
It usually takes two years to buy a new stack, and another two-to-four to fully implement it and switch the old one off. You are looking at half a decade of physical lock-in.
And your vendor knows it. They can hike prices, let SLAs slip, and slow down service. You have to take it, because you can’t realistically leave.
EU telcos face a geopolitical risk due to dependency on US-based tech
For European telcos, it’s not just an operational headache – it’s a geopolitical risk. Over 74% of listed European companies depend on US-based tech. It’s strategic exposure: dependency, compliance pressure, and reduced control in a geopolitical climate where technology access becomes leverage
We decided it was time to break the cycle by introducing Open CVM.
The first open-source, end-to-end Customer Value Management (CVM) technology stack built specifically for a telco enterprise.
No license fees. No vendor lock-in. No giving away your customer data to a dominant third party.
Inside the Open CVM platform, you get the core building blocks a CVM team actually needs, backed by 15 years of telco experience:
- Customer Data Platform
- Next Best Action & Churn Prediction
- Campaign Management
You deploy it where you want – on-prem or in your own AWS environment. You get full access to the code to extend it to your exact needs.
The Resolved Migration Headache
Buying a marketing tech stack is the easiest part. Migration is where projects go to die.
We know this, so we built AI-powered tools specifically to muscle through the migration phase, cutting campaign transfer times from years down to just months.
The result? Unmatched agility for your marketing teams, and up to a 70% lower Total Cost of Ownership over three years.
If your current vendor just raised their fees again because they know you can’t leave… this was built for you.
We are launching Open CVM Early Access at MWC26 Barcelona, for a small cohort of just 10 telcos to start. Join the waitlist to be the first to see it and get early access at the show.
Join the waitlist here (or reply “Open CVM” in the comments and I’ll DM you the details).
Making CVM famous means helping professionals grow. Therefore, check out the CVM Career section where you can find your next opportunity. Here’s what we have this month:
- AI Customer Value Management Manager – Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Smart Axiata
- ZAIN2182 – Prepaid Customer Value Management – Kuwait, Kuwait City, ZAIN Kuwait
- Head of Customer Acquisition – Belgium, Brussels, Orange
- Customer Value Sr Analyst – Italy, Calabria, Millicom (Tigo)
- CVM Strategy Lead 2 – Portugal, Lisbon, Vodafone
- AVP-B2B CVM Campaign Design – Indonesia, Jakarta, PT. Indosat TBK
- Head of B2B Customer Value Management (CVM) – Greece, Athens, OTE Group of Companies (HTO)
- Sr. Manager, Data Analytics & CVM – BU – Egypt, Cairo, Orange Egypt
- Supervisor, Customer Value Management – Egypt, Cairo, Orange Egypt
- Specialist CVM Development and Operations (Internal/External) – Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Safaricom PLC
- Head of CVM – Kazakhstan, Almaty, Freedom Telecom Kazakhstan
- CVM Executive – Curacao, Willemstad, Digicel Group
- Prepaid CVM Specialist – Malaysia, Selangor, CelcomDigi
- Senior CVM Marketing Manager – Hungary, Pest, Yettel.Hungary
- Senior Marketing Expert CVM (Winback Squad) (m/w/d) – Germany, Düsseldorf, Vodafone
- CVM Platform Solutions Software Developer / Pega Developer – Decisioning Architect – Turkey, Istanbul, Vodafone
- Internship – Data Science & Customer Value Management – Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, U Mobile
- Customer Value Senior Analyst – Guatemala, Guatemala City, Millicom (Tigo)
- CVM Data Analyst – Puerto Rico, San German, Liberty of Puerto Rico
Are you expanding your CVM team? Let me help spread the word, or feel free to PM me for referrals.
“You’d be amazed how many telcos have their billing communications running through one person who’s been there 30 years – only they know how the system works,” says Matthew Tilling, Senior Product Manager at Exacaster.
It’s not a horror story yet, but it could become one. Transactional messages – billing, alerts, and resets – make up 80% of what you send, and customers actually open them. Yet in most telcos, these messages run on legacy systems no one fully owns. One resignation, and it all breaks.
The fix isn’t easy, but you have to start somewhere. Matthew shares a step-by-step framework for taking control in: The Hidden Power of Transactional Communication in CVM.
