New OSS functionality or speed and scale?

We all know that revenue per bit (of data transferred across comms networks) is trending lower. How could we not? It’s posited as one of the reasons for declining profitability of the industry. The challenge for telcos is how to engineer an environment of low revenue per bit but still be cost viable.

I’m sure there are differentiated comms products out there in the global market. However, for the many products that aren’t differentiated, there’s a risk of commoditisation. Customers of our OSS are increasingly moving into a paradigm of commoditisation, which in turn impacts the form our OSS must mould themselves to.

The OSS we deliver can either be the bane or the saviour. They can be a differentiator where otherwise there is none. For example, getting each customer’s order ready for service (RFS) faster than competitors. Or by processing orders at scale, yet at a lower cost-base through efficiencies / repeatability such as streamlined products, processes and automations.

OSS exist to improve efficiency at scale of course, but I wonder whether we lose sight of that sometimes? I’ve noticed that we have a tendency to focus on functionality (ie delivering new features) rather than scale.

This isn’t just the OSS vendors or implementation teams either by the way. It’s often apparent in customer requirements too. If you’ve been lucky enough to be involved with any OSS procurement processes, which side of the continuum was the focus – on introducing a raft of features, or narrowing the field of view down to doing the few really important things at scale and speed?

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