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The CRM imperative

"Operators need to take a new approach to customer relationship management (CRM), whereby all customer interactions are performed in the context of the customer’s end-to-end experience. To adopt this approach, operators must maximize the use of all the customer-experience data within their network OSS, BSS and CRM domains in order to form a three-dimensional view of the customer. This approach will enable operators to ensure positive…

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16/09/2013 No Comments

From little things, big things grow

"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things." Bruce Barton. Having built multi-domain OSS from the ground up I know how daunting a green-fields OSS can be. So many things to get done. So many inter-dependencies. So many facts and figures to uncover. So many interfaces to develop. So much data to collect.…

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15/09/2013 2 Comments

Automagically

"These are calculated automagically" Darryl Harvey. OSS automations like flow-through provisioning are the holy grail of CSPs as they seek to offer self-service models for their customers. As Darryl mentions above, CSPs often expect OSS vendors to get these automations working automagically. Perhaps you're more familiar with the other mythical term, "out-of-the-box." But behind the scenes these automations are usually a complex combination of processes, data…

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14/09/2013 No Comments

Support: After-sales = after-thought

"Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business." Zig Ziglar. So, you've sold a new OSS and then handed over the keys to the customer. Are they ready to take over at the wheel yet? Have you given them enough of an apprenticeship? Okay, let's say that all…

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13/09/2013 No Comments

Ericsson deploys world’s largest CDN

Ericsson deploys world's largest operator CDN for Rostelecom Rostelecom, Russia's largest telecoms operator and leader in the country's broadband and pay TV markets, has deployed the world's largest operator content delivery network (CDN) - thanks to a solution developed and integrated by Ericsson

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13/09/2013 No Comments

Small companies

Small companies "are uncluttered, simple informal. They thrive on passion and ridicule bureaucracy. Small companies grow on good ideas – regardless of their source. They need everyone, involve everyone, and reward or remove people based on their contribution to winning. Small companies dream big dreams and set the bar high – increments and fractions don’t interest them." Jack Welch. This is the last quote of Welch-week,…

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12/09/2013 No Comments

Robi Axiata selects NetCracker to provide new BSS

Robi Axiata Selects NetCracker to Provide New Billing Solution for Growing Customer Base NetCracker Technology and Robi Axiata announced today that Robi has selected NetCracker’s Revenue Management solution, integrating billing, interconnect billing, and credit control, to enable new service innovation and superior responsiveness to changing customer demands. Robi Axiata is one of the three largest mobile operators in Bangladesh and supports more than 22 million subscribers.…

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12/09/2013 No Comments

Zain and Ericsson launch BSS

Zain and Ericsson launch innovative billing solution in Jordan Zain Jordan recently announced that it has selected the Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Charging & Billing in One (CBIO) solution as part of the operator's ongoing efforts to provide subscribers with additional billing flexibility

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12/09/2013 No Comments

Ericsson acquires TeleOSS Consulting Ltd. in Thailand

Ericsson closes acquisition of TeleOSS business in Thailand Ericsson announces the completion of its acquisition of the entire business of TeleOSS Consulting Ltd. in Thailand through a business transfer agreement. "The acquired capabilities, especially in the areas of traffic and inventory management, together with Ericsson’s extensive offering in the OSS area, complement our wide range of solutions. This enables us to offer high-quality service delivery to…

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11/09/2013 No Comments

Shun the incremental

"You have just got to constantly focus on innovation. And more competitors. You’ve got to constantly produce more for less through intellectual capital. Shun the incremental, and look for the quantum leap." Jack Welch. In the second last day of Welch-week, this quote has an interesting contradiction to the Six Sigma approach to incremental improvements that Jack Welch brought to General Electric. This program at GE certainly…

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11/09/2013 No Comments

Self-confidence

"Self-confident people don’t need to wrap themselves in complexity and all that clutter that passes for sophistication in business. Self-confident leaders produce simple plans, speak simply, and propose big clear targets." Jack Welch. In any line of business, have you ever noticed how the most knowledgeable exponents are also able to break concepts down into simple messages? And have you also noticed that the "almost gurus"…

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10/09/2013 No Comments

Someone, somewhere, has a better idea

“The operative assumption today is that someone, somewhere, has a better idea; and the operative compulsion is to find out who has that better idea, learn it, and put it into action – fast.” Jack Welch (again). The message in today's blog is that OSS has so much scope to learn better ideas from other people, other industries, other processes, etc. The "not invented here" syndrome…

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09/09/2013 2 Comments

Growing others

"When you become a leader success is all about growing others." Jack Welch. Another Welch quote today... perhaps this is Jack Welch week here on Passionate About OSS. Loud and clear, being a successful leader in OSS comes through learning, teaching and ultimately growing others. The OctopOSS has too many tentacles for a lone genius person to do it all. Looking back, virtually everyone I've encountered…

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08/09/2013 No Comments

OSS Leadership

Two quotes, one orator, one message today. 1. "Managers muddle – leaders inspire. Leaders inspire with clear vision of how things can be done better." 2. To empower your people is “to turn them loose, and get the management layers off their backs, the bureaucratic shackles off their feet and the functional barriers out of their way.” Jack Welch. Just like yesterday, today's blog is led…

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07/09/2013 No Comments

Long term – Short term

"You can't grow long-term if you can't eat short-term. Anybody can manage short. Anybody can manage long. Balancing those two things is what management is." Jack Welch. When it comes to developing an OSS product, the balance of these two mindsets is always a challenge. Does a particular customer requirement today make sense for the long-term product evolution of tomorrow? Managing short is easy but the…

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06/09/2013 No Comments

Ericsson acquires Telcocell

Ericsson acquires Telcocell Ericsson welcomes approximately 200 skilled consulting and systems integration professionals who will be integrated into Ericsson in North America over the coming months and will work under the Ericsson brand as of September 3, 2013

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06/09/2013 No Comments

The patchwork quilt

"The principles of modularity, simplicity, or orthogonality, insofar as they contribute to overall simplicity, are an excellent means to an end; but as a substitute for simplicity they are very questionable" C.A.R. Hoare. There are now hundreds of vendors offering COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) OSS tools, many of which are listed on our vendors/products page. There are many niche products in this list. It also…

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05/09/2013 No Comments

Using gamification in OSS

"Gamification enables you to drive, measure, and reward high-value behaviors by customers or employees. Game mechanics leverage design and behavioral psychology principles inherent in today’s social games to drive and reward specific user behaviors in business environments. Smart gamification elements—such as points, achievements, levels, leaderboards, missions, and contests—can be employed to drive desired behaviors on virtually any website or enterprise application" Kris Duggan and Kate Shoup…

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04/09/2013 No Comments

Amdocs buys Actix

Amdocs buys Actix for $120M. With the acquisition of Actix, the leading independent software provider of mobile network optimization solutions, Amdocs will be expanding its CES (Customer Experience Systems) portfolio with geo-located network data that will drive a variety of optimization use cases.

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03/09/2013 No Comments

“Get this over with” vs. …

"Get this over with" vs. ... "Get something started." Seth Godin. Another enlightening blog entry from Seth Godin above. Once again the blog has got nothing to do with OSS, but in my (our?) world it has everything to do with the implementation of an OSS. He uses the analogy of a fast food store getting a transaction over as fast and as cheap as possible.…

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03/09/2013 No Comments

The new B/OSS differentiators

"The marriage of high-speed IP-based network infrastructure and the new generation of IT support systems will ultimately lead to a greater focus on areas such as customer experience, business intelligence and innovative ways of dealing with network congestion." Peter Dykes. Peter has hit the nail on the head in his quote above, from a post on telecoms.com. We're in a period of major change in the…

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02/09/2013 No Comments