A Reality Check: Take this Self-Assessment Survey to Identify the Maturity of Your OSS/BSS

Earlier this week, I sat down with the intention of writing another blog article, this time about the burning platform that is faced by many within the telco industry. But as I was writing it, it morphed a few times and eventually turned into an automated self-assessment report of all things (you can complete the survey at the bottom of this page if interested – it will generate you a report indicating the maturity of your OSS/BSS stack).

It started out as just another blog article, but then quickly pivoted into a list of questions. But the questions then led to further questions, with a few thought-bubbles attached for context. At first this seemed suited to presentation as an Infographic, but that still wasn’t enough. It had briefly turned into an evaluation checklist, but then finally landed as a self-assessment report. I just had to figure out how to actually create a “choose-your-own-adventure” style of scorecard. That ended up taking quite a lot longer than a typical blog article!!

But let’s go back to the seed ideas that led to this journey.

Revolution tends to scare the masses unless extinction is staring them in the face. That’s the burning platform scenario.
Telco services have never been more in demand but telco business models have never been more broken. A revolution is required.

Against this backdrop, OSS/BSS are the implementation arm of telco business models. Part of the reason telco business models aren’t evolving is because OSS/BSS constrain them from doing so.

OSS/BSS are both enablers and inhibitors of change!

This left me with five potential themes / goals for the article:

1. Highlight the OSS/BSS paradox – how these systems both support and limit telco innovation

2. Draw analogies from other complex systems – illustrating how nature, economics, or engineering disciplines manage change

3. Make the case for urgent transformation – showing why waiting is no longer an option for telcos

4. Identify root causes of inertia – particularly how legacy OSS/BSS architectures trap telcos in outdated business models

5. Suggest pathways for evolution – offering strategic or technical ideas for decoupling OSS/BSS constraints

Rather than write out the article in this manner, I started to wonder whether it could be more effective if written as a series of prompting questions to ask yourself, the audience. Hmmm….

As the list of questions started to flow off the page, with at least 20 questions and still climbing quickly, I knew this couldn’t just be a standard article.

Here’s an example of how the first question on the list became something much more personal for each member of the audience to pose to yourselves.

And with these self-assessed scores, it became clear that a report was needed to present the information back to any respondents who wished to fill it in… A bit more interactive than my typical articles!!

So, after all that pre-amble, if you’d like to take the survey, you can fill out the form below and a fully customised report will be sent through to your nominated email address shortly after you submit it.

The results are anonymised. The survey should take only 5-10 minutes to respond to…. but hopefully the questions will spark a lot more internal dialogue for you along the way.