OSS Transformation is all about managing change – organisationally, functionally and operationally during in-flight projects. This is the most commonly overlooked factor when planning OSS projects
The first step of simplification (exiting legacy), be it systems, processes, products, is to know who/what is still using the old thing. Are the users internal (eg admins), external (eg customers) or are the transactions M2M (machine-to-machine)? If M2M, which machines and what are the transactions? This information becomes important for change management (eg transition […]
Blogs from the last two days have covered the dilemma of dynamic operating procedures and why the standard operating procedures of the past are perhaps too idealistic a concept. Despite this, I still try to build repeatability into the various aspects of OSS delivery – initial installation, documentation, demonstrations, training, testing (and regression testing), etc. […]
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) have been pivotal in codifying and standardising the use cases of service providers for many years. The theory goes that if you can standardise a process, then you can produce repeatably high quality and streamline it in a cycle of continual improvement. The repeatability objective is one* of two primary recollections […]
In two recent posts, we’ve discussed the changing world order of OSS with NFV as a catalyst, and highlighted the challenges posed by maintaining legacy product offerings (the pyramid of OSS pain). These two paradigms (and others such as the touchpoint explosion) are dragging traditional service providers closer to a significant crossroad. Network virtualisation will […]
“operators that seek to implement NFV without preparing their OSS to support it are unlikely to be successful in capturing the new revenue-generating and cost-saving opportunities. OSS should not be an afterthought; it will continue to be central to the operational efficiency and agility of the service provider.” James Crawshaw in “Next-Gen OSS for Hybrid […]
“If I hear something where I want to put a gun in my mouth, it’s that boring, I smell money. You wanna open a restaurant? You wanna open a fashion brand? You wanna start a jewelry line? You wanna produce movies? You better have a steady income, because you’re not going to make a lot […]
The diagram below is a crass over-simplification of where the source of OSS pain (ie complexity) tends to originate from. If an organisation has complexity in the upper-most layer (ie products), then this is bound to flow downstream, amplifying along the way and culminating in increased complexity at support systems like OSS/BSS. If there are […]
One of the things that I’ve noticed when organisations are looking to select a new OSS is that there is a tendency to focus on the functionality. That’s one way and it can be a successful way of identifying the requirements that you need to benchmark against. I’ve also helped organisations with their vendor selection […]
“Now if at the start of the 20th century you had seen what the auto [industry] was going to do to this country, the impact it would have on the lives of then your children and grandchildren and so on. It just, it transformed the American landscape. But of those 2000 companies, three basically survive. And […]
“McDonald’s hit a peak moment of productivity by getting to a mythical scale, with a limited menu and little in they way of customization. They could deliver a burger for a fraction of what it might take a diner to do it on demand. McDonald’s now challenges the idea that custom has to cost more, […]
I hold a somewhat philosophical view of where OSS (and IT in general) fits within its overall timeline. It’s all pretty nascent in the grand scheme of things. Whilst communitications technology is the common thread, I’ve worked in many industries including construction, mining, engineering, government, utilities, emergency services, healthcare, farming and more. Most of these […]
Have you noticed that TM Forum’s eTOM seems to be used in common vernacular when people talk about mapping and/or comparing products. eTOM and TAM are both quite closely linked (you’ll notice the similarities in colour-banding between the two). However, eTOM is more of a standardized mapping of workflows, whereas TAM is more of a mapping of […]
“So, I asked myself, why? Why aren’t businesses taking the opportunity to digitize and improve at the same time? The answer I suspect is because many digitizing programmes sit on a hot-bed of over-engineering. Oftentimes this means adopting”strategic” business platforms which require companies to adapt their processes to fit them rather than the other way […]
In recent times, I did some work at a tier-1 telco where an adjacent project was implementing a major changeover of an essential OSS / BSS platform. The old suite is acknowledged as having lots of legacy data, processes, etc. And when I say legacy, I mean stuff that hasn’t been used for years, just […]
It Took Sheryl Sandberg exactly 2 sentences to give the best career advice you’ll hear today. I want you to ponder the following question for a moment, because it’s one of the most important questions you’ll ever answer… The question was posed to Sheryl Sandberg: “What’s the number one thing you look for in someone […]
On face-value, you’d think that NASA’s Mission Control (MC) would have quite a lot in common with the typical service provider’s Network Operations Centre (NOC), apart from the fact that NASA probably IS largely run by rocket scientists. Both MC and NOCs exist to operate and coordinate a multitude of different, complex systems as well as providing event […]
There’s a myriad of important metrics used across the world of telco, ranging from technical to marketing, to financial to executive. As discussed yesterday, OSS / BSS has an influence on many of these key metrics. Not only that, but the volumes of data collected by most OSS / BSS give scope to slice and […]
“Some simple principles: – Software can change faster than hardware, which means that in changing markets, bet on software. – It’s tempting to treat the user interface as a piece of fashion, some bling, a sort of jewelry. It’s not. It’s the way your user controls the tool you build. Change it when it stops […]
Do you know what the word ossify means? If not, can you guess? No, it’s not another of my made-up words to describe OSS in an obscure way. For those of you who didn’t already know that it’s a real word and what it means, wait for it… it means to cease developing; to stagnate. […]
We’ve recently talked about the two service provider business model extremes – OTT / DSP (Over the Top or DSP) versus REIT / TaaU (Telco as a Utility) are affecting OSS. The fast-twitch OSS that services the OTT / DSP model is bringing about some fascinating changes in the way service providers procure “assets.” They’re […]
