Operational support systems: the tie that binds

Don Gibson, CTO of vendor Cramer Systems is chairing an IEC panel at SUPERCOMM titled "Global Services and Network Strategies" on Monday, June 21. Sue O'Keefe caught up with Gibson to discuss what role OSSs will play in this arena.

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Q: The panel you're chairing has a diverse group of international service providers. What's the common thread among them?

A: The common thread is a desire to make money! What's new is the recognition that this doesn't necessarily mean spending less, but rather spending differently. In particular, to spend less on network, you also need to invest in software systems that can plan and track how you use existing resources optimally. To improve quality of service to customers, it's not just CRM, it's also investment in back office systems to automate more of the "heavy lifting" required to actually fulfill service requests.

We are seeing a more mature approach to telecom operations that acknowledges the necessity of enterprise-wide back office platforms to automate the processes that actually manage the network and how it is used.

The telecom business can and should be far more automated than it is today, and increased automation will open up a host of new pricing and revenue opportunities--such as paying a premium for guaranteed faster service delivery.

I guess what we are seeing is a wider recognition of the three major components of the telco--networks, operations and services--needing to work better together for the telco to really be successful.

Q: What are the major challenges facing service providers now in terms of deploying new services?

A: The single biggest challenge is that of "operationalizing" new network technology. That is, even if you can deploy the technology in the field, can you actually generate revenue from it economically? Are you able to fulfill service requests in large numbers? Can you see the impact of new technology on existing network capacity and resources? And to what extent will the introduction of new technologies and services be able to make use of existing systems infrastructure such as fulfillment or assurance?

Telecom has a history of supporting new services with a service-specific "stack" of IT systems. This not only increases costs in terms of development, integration and maintenance, but it also makes it much harder to maintain a network-wide view of processes and the network itself. As telcos worry again about network utilization, they have come to realize that they do not have what they need--a business-wide view of what is happening across the network.

Q: How can vendors help solve these problems?

A: Vendors are just as much on the front lines of telecom as service providers. Vendors have the added benefit of insight into the challenges, objectives and operations of many service providers.

Vendors can help by investing to turn all that experience into reuseable products that are standards compliant, scalable, flexible, easy to use and maintainable, with a low total cost of ownership.

As monolithic, custom-built systems are replaced with state-of-the-art, commercially available solutions, service providers will be able to deliver all their services faster and more cost-effectively than ever before, and they will be positioned to adjust their service offerings and delivery partnerships without overhauling their operational environments. Everyone wins, and the economics of telecom will indeed have been changed.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Horizon House Publications, Inc.
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