“An organisation buys an OSS, not because it wants an Operational Support System, but because it wants Operational Support.”
So if our customers are not investing in our OSS, what are they actually investing in? Easy! They’re investing in the ability to solve their own problems and opportunities in future.
If we don’t actually understand operations, what chance do we have to deliver operational support? We keep hearing the term, “customer experience this,” “CX that,” so it must be important right? Operational support staff might be a few steps removed from us (intentionally or unintentionally) but they are our “real” customers and the only way we can develop a solution that empathises with them is by spending time with them and listening (not always easy for us know-it-all OSS builder-types).
And just because we have a history in ops doesn’t mean we can assume to know this time. Operations are different at each organisation.
So, are we sure we understand the nature, extent and context of the unique problem/s that this customer needs to solve (not wants to solve)?