Do you know what it is that people like / love about your OSS/BSS?Why they buy it? Why they use it? What problem it solves? How it makes their life easier? If you do, how do you know?Do you speak with its users? Do you survey them? Do you spend time with them observing how they use your product? Is it just the "vibe" you get?…
Read More »When it comes to OSS/BSS vendor selections, a typical customer might say they're evaluating vendors on criteria that are a mix of technical and commercial (and other) factors. However, there's more likely a much bigger and often hidden factor that drives a purchasing event. We'll explore what that is shortly. I'm currently reading the book, Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense. It…
Read More »Wireless or radio technologies are making waves (sorry for the awful pun) at the moment. The telco world is abuzz with the changes being brought about by 5G, IoT, LEO satellite and other related tech. They all rely on radio frequency (RF) to carry their all-important communications information. This article provides an example of preparing RF coverage maps by using the inventory module of our Personal OSS Sandpit…
Read More »Back in the days when I first started using OSS/BSS software tools, there was no way any respectable telco was going to use open-source software (the other oss, for which I'll use lower-case in this article) in their OSS/BSS stacks. The arguments were plenty, and if we're being honest, probably had a strong element of truth in many cases back then. These arguments included: Security -…
Read More »Last week we created an article that described how to use your OSS/BSS log data to generate reliable / quantifiable process flow diagrams. We've expanded upon this research to identify a reliable calculation of jeopardy metrics. Jeopardy Management is the method for notifying operators when an in-flight workflow (eg customer order, etc) is likely to breach targets such as RFS date (ie when the customer's service…
Read More »Have you been tasked with: Capturing as-is process flows (eg swim-lane charts or BPMN [Business Process Model and Notation] diagrams) Starting a new project where understanding the current state is important Finding ways to optimise day-to-day activities performed by your team Creating a baseline process to identify automation opportunities Comparing your current processes with recommendations such as eTOM or ITIL Identifying which tasks are leading to…
Read More »
Digital transformation is a term that's entered the modern vernacular, but here in the world of OSS/BSS it's just what we've been doing for decades. Whether aimed at delivering digital services, collecting data from all points of an organisation's compass, increasing the internal efficiencies of operational teams or improving user experiences externally, this is just what our OSS/BSS tools and projects do. Our guest on today's…
Read More »The first OSS/BSS I used, back in 2000, was built around an Oracle relational database and the GUI was built using Oracle Forms (as well as some C++ apps). The developers had implemented a concept they referred to as a boilerplate. It basically allowed the customers to modify any label they wished on the forms. When I say labels, I mean any of the default text…
Read More »OSS/BSS stacks can be incredibly complex and cumbersome beasts, especially in large carriers with many different product, process and network variants. We don't make that task any easier by creating many unique product offerings to take to market. And this time to market can be a significant competitive advantage, or be a serious impediment to it. NaaS, or Network as a Service, is a novel approach…
Read More »The world of OSS/BSS is changing rapidly. There's so much to learn. New forms of information, approaches and technologies are proliferating. Are you wrestling with the challenge of trying to determine what OSS/BSS training you and/or your team requires? We've just revised and re-launched our core OSS/BSS training offerings. Click on the image below to open the OSS/BSS Training Plan, which includes details about each course…
Read More »Our OSS and BSS are highly complex by nature. However, we seem to do a great job of making them more complex, more challenging, less repeatable and hence, more difficult to change. Perhaps that caters to our deeper desires - so many of us in this industry love to prove our worth by solving complex problems. Our guest on this episode, George Glass, has spent a…
Read More »We just launched a new video series describing the Fundamentals of OSS/BSS yesterday. One of the videos in the series describes Network Operations Centres (or NOCs) for telcos or network operators. It also provides examples of the OSS/BSS tools and data sets that help to power them. Whilst creating this video, it dawned on me that we've done over 2,500 posts, but none specifically about Network…
Read More »We’ve just launched a multi-part video series to provide an introduction to OSS and BSS. It answers these fundamental questions and more: Part 1 - What is an OSS? What is a BSS? Why are OSS and BSS even a thing? Part 2 - Who uses an OSS and/or BSS? Part 3 - What Functions do OSS and BSS Perform? Part 4 - What Business Benefits do OSS/BSS Generate? Part…
Read More »If the network is ultimately the product for any network operator, then OSS/BSS are the great connectors, connecting customers to that product. Both for initial activation, but also ongoing utilisation of network resources. Whilst everyone has a different perspective on the relevance / importance of OSS/BSS, there tend to be even broader divergences of opinion across networks, operations and executive teams. Our guest on this episode,…
Read More »The video below, starring Martin Pittard, the Principal IT Architect at Vocus Group, provides a number of important OSS/BSS Transformation call-outs that we'll dive into in this article. Vocus has embarked on a journey to significantly overhaul its OSS/BSS stack and has heavily leveraged TM Forum's Open API suite to do so. One of the primary objectives of the overhaul was to provide Vocus with business agility…
Read More »When it comes to OSS/BSS implementations (and products), Time to Market (TTM) is one of our most important metrics. Not just for the network operator to deliver new offerings to market, but also in getting solutions up and running quickly. Faster TTM provides the benefits of cost reduction and faster turn-on of revenue, but potentially allows the operator beat competitors to the acquisition of new customers.…
Read More »There are three distinct categories of organisations that interact with OSS/BSS - those who create them, those who use them and those who implement them. But no matter how good the first two are (ie the products / creators and the users), if the implementation isn't done well, then the OSS/BSS is almost pre-destined to fail. There are many, many challenges and pitfalls that await implementation…
Read More »Have you noticed the rise in trust, but also the rise in sophistication in Open Source OSS/BSS in recent years? There are many open-source OSS/BSS tools out there. Some have been built as side-projects by communities that have day jobs, whilst others have many employed developers / contributors. Generally speaking, the latter are able to employ developers because they have a reliable revenue stream to support…
Read More »Jim Collins' book, "Good to Great," has achieved iconic status in the world of corporate strategy. One of the ideas he shares in this book is The Hedgehog Concept. I'd encourage you to take a look at the link above. It provides excerpts from the book, outlining why the "great" companies in his study acted like hedgehogs, whereas his "comparison" companies (ie the lesser competitors) acted…
Read More »While it's the tier-1 telco OSS/BSS that get all the attention, it's actually the mid-market that makes up the largest number of OSS/BSS by customer count (in most deregulated telco markets). The mid-market consists of Tier 2/3 telcos and ISPs with subscriber counts measured in the thousands rather than hundreds of thousands or millions. However, the OSS/BSS of this mid-market still has to cover the same…
Read More »A question came in from a reader this morning, "What is the role(inputs) of the service providers in the research (technology modernization) compared to the equipment vendors and standard bodies (3GPP, TMForum, IETF, etc.)? Do operators have any influence in the research and how the coordination happens (except being the members) between the vendors, operators, and standard bodies?" Brilliant question/s! I bet you have some thoughts…
Read More »