“Service providers must recognise the changing needs for OSS/BSS in next-generation networks to stay competitive.”
Next-generation networks (NGNs) are placing greater demands upon operational and business support systems (OSS/BSS) as there is greater service diversity, which presents a much bigger challenge than simple voice and data services. NGNs demand more: in the past, systems primarily provided a degree of automation that lowered operating costs and improved service for customers; next-generation OSS/BSS go further by directly supporting the strategic goals of the organisation.
The introduction of IP as a common transport mechanism does not just simplify service roll-out, it dramatically reduces the barriers to entry in a particular part of the market. New entrants are therefore taking this opportunity, while incumbents, having invested heavily in end-to-end transport infrastructures, are seeing their traditional revenues eroded. New entrants can launch innovative services without building the underlying infrastructure and they have all the advantages of an established and highly competitive market, low costs and no barriers to innovation when introducing their new services. Established operators, on the other hand, have significant costs and inflexibility, which limit the types of service they can provide.
Incumbents need to embrace this difference and ensure that it is reflected in their own wholesale and retail divisions. The types of business run by new entrants and by incumbents are fundamentally different and need different OSS/BSS. In legacy networks there has been a tendency to think of OSS/BSS as a business overhead. This was acceptable when variants of a voice product were being sold, but NGNs are different. OSS/BSS are a strategic business function that must be relied upon to deliver competitive advantage. They must be designed and built to support a particular business strategy without too much redundant functionality. There must be sufficient flexibility to quickly adapt to a changing environment but without the need for lengthy test cycles associated with bespoke software systems.
Operators also need to recognise that wholesale and retail divisions are different types of business. They have different needs from systems and organisational structures. Wholesale divisions provide simple but robust products, which form the building blocks of retail products. Retail divisions need to be free to innovate in a highly competitive market: it must be possible to launch complex products quickly and to very small market segments. OSS need to support the wholesale side of the business as a stand-alone entity and it needs to be recognised that BSS form part of the proposition.
Unless service providers recognise the changing needs for OSS/BSS in NGNs, they will be unable to compete fully in this increasingly competitive market.
Analysys Mason has extensive experience of advising major organisations across the world on operational issues. We have recently reviewed and recommended changes to a major European transmission company’s OSS ahead of a major transformation in the business; we have also designed and delivered the OSS/BSS platforms for a North African new-entrant mobile operator, allowing the company to scale up to over a million users within four months.
For more information, please contact Steve Lewis, Lead Consultant, Analysys Mason at steve.lewis@analysysmason.com.