Product and Service Lifecycle Management

Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns.”
Condoleeza Rice
.

Product and Service Lifecycle Management (PSLM) can be a key differentiator* for competing CSPs. In turn, the effective management of PSLM can be a key differentiator for OSS providers, potentially even more so in a future where virtualisation has matured and service orchestration is quick and simple to implement.

One of the aspects that SDN / NFV exponents rarely mention in the service orchestration discussion is that even if the technology is so simple that it allows new telecommunication products / services to be rapidly constructed from virtual building blocks and service catalogues, this is only part of the story that allows a CSP to deliver a new product to market. In the Technology-People-Process-Contract mix, virtualised service orchestration only delivers on part of one of these four operationalisation items.

It partly delivers on the Technology stack, but still needs to integrate with other technology-based systems such as OSS (eg workflow engines, cross domain delivery, operational management, etc) and BSS (eg billing, customer care, etc).

However, the other three, People, Process and Contract would still require resolution and a new product can only be delivered to market as fast as the slowest of the four stacks. The opportunity for OSS is to help coordinate and streamline all four stacks using PSLM tools.

* Note: You may ask how PSLM can be a key differentiator. Firstly, being distinctly faster than your competitors to deliver a new product/service to market gives faster revenue turn-on, market share advantages, decreased cost-to-market and reduced risks. In theory it also provides advantages relating to better control over your product management, support and innovation processes.

If this article was helpful, subscribe to the Passionate About OSS Blog to get each new post sent directly to your inbox. 100% free of charge and free of spam.

Our Solutions

Share:

Most Recent Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.