Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Spurred by the need to modernize and even transform their internal systems to meet growing demand for voice and data services, providers across Latin America are beginning to recognize the strategic advantage of turning to a managed services model (outsourcing) to provide greater efficiencies and allow them to focus on their core business. In Brazil, service providers need to ensure that they’re ready to handle the surge in voice and (especially) data services for the 2014 World Cup Games and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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Managed services are already widely accepted as a highly effective way for service providers to run their business support systems (BSS) such as real-time billing, charging and partner settlements. But until now, service providers have resisted outsourcing their operational support systems (OSS) and business processes because they were considered too strategic to entrust to a third party. But that mindset is rapidly changing as new services, applications and technologies reach the market and service providers face massive demands for network capacity. But there’s a catch: Most OSS infrastructures are in-house legacy systems, built piece by piece over time that can’t keep up and are often incompatible with commercial off-the-shelf OSS products.
OSS is the outsourcing model to watch
With outsourcing already accepted for BSS it’s now finally being recognized as an attractive workable model for OSS too – providing, of course, that you have an experienced partner. “Choose a provider that can outsource, as well as transform the operational capability,” the industry association TM Forum states in “Inside Leadership” (January 2011).
As unique as a fingerprint
When you look at the combination of different processes, strategies, services and systems that make up an operator’s business, each one has requirements as unique as a fingerprint. So which of the following outsourcing approaches fits best?
–Outsourcing OSS as part of broader network outsourcing: The most common form of telecom outsourcing, this is usually carried out by network equipment providers and includes outsourcing the network itself, network and field maintenance, network operations center, as well as some BSS/OSS systems and processes. The pros: it ties all services under one managed services agreement. The cons: it can be very expensive: typically in excess of $1 billion over 5 years for a tier-one operator, and some of the network providers do not have the right expertise on BSS/OSS systems operation.
–Standalone OSS managed services: This approach suits operators wishing to outsource their operational systems and processes to a specialized OSS managed services provider with core expertise in operational systems.
–Managed services for both BSS and OSS: This focuses on all the relevant systems and processes and may include customer care, ordering, billing, service management, inventory, service fulfillment and assurance, as well as full hosting of all communication services such as voice over IP for business. The complete end-to-end management of all BSS/OSS systems enables better control over operational functions – and allows the managed services vendor to provide greater economies of scale.
Choose well …
Whatever the approach, a successful relationship comes down to choosing the right managed services partner. And when it involves OSS, go for a partner who can offer comprehensive benchmarking services to measure current OSS status to identify where there’s room to improve each area and who is able to show projected added value and return on investment.
