2020 has been a wake-up call for telcos across the globe. They can no longer put off digital transformation projects that will help them to pivot, adapt and grow. They have to build a foundation for continual transformation that starts with automation, integration of existing systems, and a new approach to business support systems and operational support systems (BSS/OSS).
The BSS/OSS market size exceeded $35 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at over 13% CAGR between 2020 and 2026 according to Global Market Insights. Pre-pandemic estimates will surely be revised up, especially as a growing number of telcos recognise the value that new BSS/OSS investments can deliver.
They need greater visibility into inventory, rapid quoting for services, standardised sales processes, and the ability to move with new speed to serve changing customer demands. That is the starting point that will enable telcos to continually adopt new technologies, applications and business models.
It is about building a foundation for continual transformation that will enable telcos to weather future storms and pivot to serve changing demands. BSS/OSS automation goes beyond cost savings and enables the creation of telcos that are ready to adapt and grow in the future.
The barriers to effective transformation
Transformation isn’t just about moving applications to the cloud or deploying digital platforms. It is about recognising existing challenges within the organisation, finding solutions that match business outcomes and solving issues that enable the long-term evolution of the business. Otherwise, telcos are solving one challenge or finding a single cost-efficiency without looking at the big picture.
If they get the starting point correct, they’ll be ready to tackle bigger and bigger transformation projects with the confidence that the underlying systems are ready to support them. All network-centric businesses are facing growing complexities but that shouldn’t stop them from moving forward. They just need to recognise the challenges and face pain points like:
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Gap Between BSS and OSS: A gap between BSS and OSS influences far more business aspects than just an IT system. It spans to the mindset of the organisation and creates a silo effect. There are two separate teams: customer-facing business departments and network-facing engineering departments, which do not communicate effectively with each other, and their productivity suffers.
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Commercial Service Catalogue Intertwined with Technology Catalogue: The constantly changing market requires product offerings to be adjusted frequently. Marketing should communicate mainly the customer-facing aspects of a product, and technical or operational departments should focus just on the network-facing aspects. These two sides are often confused in the catalogues, which later introduces interdependencies between marketing and operations and may have a negative impact on the flexibility in launching new products.
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Customer Services Not Mapped to Network Resources: Telcos often find it challenging to determine which underlying network resources are supporting particular customer services. This makes it difficult, time-consuming, and costly to perform root cause analysis in the event of a network outage.
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Insufficient Operational Visibility: The gap between BSS and OSS worlds can result in poor data quality or a lack of integration. This can make it nearly impossible to answer even the most basic business questions. For example: What is the forecasted value of the installation pipeline for the next 3 months?
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IT Projects Fatigue: This can often happen when organisations are tired of endless IT projects aiming to revolutionise their operations yet failing to deliver tangible results. Starting new projects that are organised using a traditional approach are very difficult due to inefficiencies limiting success.
Unlocking continual transformation
These challenges all point to the need for a new approach. If the underlying systems remain the same, then the business will not be able to fundamentally change. By focusing on a new approach to BSS/OSS, telcos can get the basics right and become the agile businesses they’ve always talked about. If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that change is no longer a choice.
BSS/OSS automation can provide new operational capabilities and simplify and accelerate how a telco functions. It removes manual processes and enables the business to see available inventory, rapidly provide customers with quotes and deliver seamless end-to-end experiences. Here are the six capabilities that telcos need to deploy:
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CRM with Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ): Make it simple to produce accurate and highly configured quotes with a centralised model and in real-time. Otherwise, disparate systems will be operating without consistency.
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Unified Product Catalogue: Create, modify and launch new products from a single platform and at the click of a button. Adapt rapidly to changing demand and offer new bundles to meet changing customer needs.
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Order Management and Service Provisioning: Automate provisioning workflows to move faster to deliver services to customers. Receive, validate and execute orders, then measure the process against KPIs to improve overall performance.
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Service Assurance: Reduce fault resolution time thanks to the automatic creation of cases by incidents affecting the network and equipment, so-called network trouble tickets.
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Self-Service: Empower customers and give them control over their own services with self-service capabilities. This enables telcos to rapidly scale while delivering a consistent and enhanced customer experience.
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Analytics: Easily connect data from BSS/OSS stacks and create automated dashboards. This data-driven reporting helps businesses to make better and faster decisions.
A flexible foundation
The outcome is automated processes that support customers with a digitally enabled experience. The telco is able to operate with greater agility and rapidly adapt to changing demands. It has a starting point for its transformation with systems and processes that can support them throughout their digital journey.
By utilising a comprehensive BSS/OSS solution, telcos can close more deals in a faster time with a 360-degree view to improve customer service and efficiency. They gain the tools and insights needed to make smarter decisions and continuously transform their business now and in the future.
