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Do you really need customisation?

"I think doing variations on a classical theme is a dangerous thing to do." Tori Amos. Many organisations select a COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) OSS tool and immediately start thinking about customisations to make it do exactly what they want. That's one way... but not necessarily the best long-term solution. Customisations are intoxicating for both CSPs and OSS vendors alike because of the feeling that comes from…

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12/11/2013 No Comments

The OSS inertia principle

"Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its motion (including a change in direction)." Wikipedia. According to classical physics, Force equals Mass x Acceleration (F = ma). In other words, the greater the mass, the more force must be applied to reach a given acceleration (ie to effect a change). Just as this works with physical objects, it also works with…

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11/11/2013 No Comments

NFV – an IT resolution

"So with NFV it was important to avoid building virtual versions of the same thing we already had.. so we needed to get people who weren't threatened by the transformation that NFV demands." Tom Nolle, on TelecomTV. In the interview by TelecomTV, Tom Nolle highlights a number of points that have significant ramifications to the OSS industry, not least the one mentioned above. Others include:  "The…

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10/11/2013 No Comments

Transformational Change

"A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past." Fidel Castro. In yesterday's blog, we discussed the air-traffic controller analogy for incremental change to your OSS via the use of projects. Today we talk of transformational change. Transformation has appeared in the Telco vernacular as a guiding vision of a future business state that is remarkably different from the current state…

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09/11/2013 No Comments

The air-traffic controller analogy

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." Alan Watts. A colleague and friend suggested the following as a topic to write about - "...describing OSS projects would be the constant ongoing change to the business environment supported and technology base enabling that." Frank has a great point. When it comes to operating…

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08/11/2013 No Comments

Crnogorski Telekom signs with Amdocs

Montenegro’s Crnogorski Telekom Selects Amdocs Software and Services for Business Support Systems Consolidation  Amdocs announced that Crnogorski Telekom a.d. has selected Amdocs software and services for a strategic business support systems (BSS) consolidation project across fixed, wireless, Internet and IPTV operations. By replacing multiple third-party systems with Amdocs software, Crnogorski Telekom will be able to gain operational efficiencies with fewer systems to manage and a single…

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07/11/2013 No Comments

True Corporation extends with Amdocs

Amdocs and Thailand’s True Corporation Extend Engagement for Five Years to Support Convergent Billing  Amdocs announced a five-year extension of its relationship with True Corporation (True), the only quad-play provider in Thailand, for ongoing support and development of True’s convergent billing platform. The extension follows Amdocs’ successful deployment of convergent billing at True for the support of innovative, personalized bundled offerings designed to enhance the customer…

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07/11/2013 No Comments

Elisa extends with Amdocs.

Finland’s Elisa Expands and Extends Amdocs’ Managed Services Contract Amdocs and Elisa, Finland’s leading provider of wireless, wireline, broadband Internet and cable TV services have signed an agreement expanding and extending the existing managed services relationship between the companies through 2018. Under the new agreement, referenced in Elisa’s recent fiscal 2013 third-quarter results report, Amdocs will be managing Elisa’s IT systems across multiple lines of business,…

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07/11/2013 No Comments

Amdocs to acquire Celcite.

Amdocs Has Signed a Definitive Agreement to Acquire Celcite, a Leading Provider of Network Management and Self Optimizing Network (SON) Solutions Amdocs announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of Celcite Management Solutions LLC for approximately $129 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions. Additional consideration may be paid later based on the achievement of certain performance metrics.…

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07/11/2013 No Comments

Via The Telco (VTT) saves the telco?

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Albert Einstein. The OTT-T (Over The Top Threat) is ringing "destructive innovation" alarm bells in the ears of most global telcos. The OTT (Over The Top) play threatens to take the cream off the top, relegating CSPs to commoditised bandwidth providers whilst remaining capital intensive (it's expensive to build and maintain far-reaching data networks). CSPs need to…

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07/11/2013 No Comments

Mapping OSS, BSS and GIS

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." Sun Tzu. This triumvirate of tools (OSS, BSS and GIS) can provide a CSP with incredibly powerful and flexible information. There are a few considerations to take into account: These tools are often operated by different business units and have different objectives for the data sets Connecting two entities requires a single interface. Connecting three entities (ie OSS, BSS and GIS)…

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06/11/2013 No Comments

Where should OSS be managed

"Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone." Mary Astor. Another cracker of a question from the same subscriber from the Philippines - "should OSS be managed under IT or Networks?" This is an age-old question that has caused many fights over the years. It's a really tough question to answer because it's dependent on many factors. These include personnel, personalities, politics, business objectives, OSS technology…

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05/11/2013 No Comments

Synchronicity and OSS data integrity

"Trust is built with consistency." Lincoln Chafee. A subscriber to this blog, a talented and insightful Engineer from the Philippines, asked the following question, "how to sync network information and oss inventory, how to sustain the data integrity through KPIs?" This is a brilliant question and highly complex to resolve due to the nuances of live networks. Every network is different, but here's the approach that I take…

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04/11/2013 3 Comments

Data death spiral

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." Ken Blanchard. Data synchronisation comes at an OSS from so many different angles. If any of them get out of control it can quickly send your OSS into a death spiral. By that, I mean that an OSS is only as good as the data it stores. If the data gets out of synch with reality, momentum builds and it…

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03/11/2013 No Comments

Minimalistic

“Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours.” Swedish proverb. Today's post is minimalistic. Please take a few moments to consider what the proverb means to you in relation to OSS projects. To me it covers the same ground as an earlier post titled Thinking, Talking, Documenting, Doing; but…

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02/11/2013 No Comments

Analytics – 20 revenue generating ideas

"A person who is gifted sees the essential point and leaves the rest as surplus." Thomas Carlyle. In recent times, I've spoken of the benefits of using analytics on OSS data. Afterall, OSS exist to store data and make some connections between data. However, there are many other valuable connections just waiting to be made from data inside and outside your OSS. For something a bit…

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01/11/2013 No Comments

A vendor selection scenario for you

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Let me portray a scenario for you. I'd love to get your predictions on the likely outcome. A massive tier-one Telco was running an OSS vendor selection process a few years ago. The Telco ran an initial Proof-of-Concept session, giving various vendors the opportunity to show their wares. The Telco was in the market for a full-service OSS…

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31/10/2013 2 Comments

Clarity Announces Restructuring

Clarity Announces Restructuring of Australian Operations Clarity OSS Limited announced that as part of its previously announced strategic review the Clarity Board has resolved to restructure its Australian operations to substantially reduce costs and thereby increase the potential profitability of the Company. It is proposed to implement the restructure by voluntarily winding up its Australian resources subsidiary. The restructuring will result in a reduction in headcount…

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31/10/2013 No Comments

Keys to the vault

"Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning.." Donald Rumsfeld. When it comes to collecting data for making strategic decisions, your OSS and BSS hold the keys to the advanced planning vault: Number of customers and recent change Customer behaviours (at a macro level) Service usage trends Segments and share of market Service levels Capacity projections Depreciation on assets and related capital refresh plus any…

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30/10/2013 No Comments

The more you know

"The more you know, the further you go." 50 cent on the Pranksta Rap episode of The Simpsons. A family member was watching The Simpsons recently and the aforementioned quote came up. Simple and profound. Not sure if it's attributable to 50 cent or a screenwriter for the show though. As we know, an organisation's B/OSS can touch almost all of their business units. Yet how…

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29/10/2013 No Comments

You-niversal

"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Lewis Carol. There is an almost you-niversal truth in business. It's not about you. One of my young mentees was surprised during a recent discussion about a job interview he was due to have. My message was that most interviewees make a fundamental mistake -…

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28/10/2013 No Comments