Monetisation platforms: a new class of ‘all-in-one’ single-vendor BSS products is emerging

Telecoms operators’ unique demands and requirements have forced the operators to develop proprietary business support systems (BSS) and operations support systems (OSS) in nearly every case. These solutions have proved to be difficult to change or automate, and expensive to adapt to new requirements. Solutions that have been built using ‘best-of-breed’ commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications, even when not heavily customised, have nonetheless become proprietary when integrated to other COTS solutions with non-standard APIs or adapters, again limiting their adaptability. 

To address this, larger vendors built suites of software, often by buying the different BSS or OSS solutions and integrating them. This approach has been successful but it does not always support some of today’s business requirements. These new requirements demand a different approach, one that can be taken by new smaller vendors, particularly in the BSS market.