In this blog we would like to take a historical look across the CSP (Communications Service Provider) digital transformation landscape with the aim of capturing a few of the most important lessons learned from past projects and what we might do differently today in undertaking new projects. We’ll also look at a few areas in which to temper expectations with today’s vendor offering despite the enormous strides the industry has made in enriching BSS / OSS functional capabilities. Let’s start with these 5 important considerations:
1. The Complexity of Communications Transformation Projects
Communications transformation projects are always complex undertakings, and no Vendor offering is ever going to be completely out-of-the-box. From a checklist perspective the full range of capabilities required may be covered on paper but when it comes down to the design and implementation phases there is rarely a perfect functional match. Understand that vendors face the daunting task of delivering to an extraordinarily complex set of requirements that more often than not need to be adjusted & extended for each customer engagement. The level of customization of course also depends on a number of other factors. These include the complexity and uniqueness of the offerings to be supported, as well as how flexible the CSP is in their willingness to adopt new ways of doing things. Too often legacy behaviors are simply re-implemented on the new architecture with the assumption that a modernization of the platform alone will bring large returns and optimizations can wait until later.
2. Selecting the Right Systems Integrator for Success
Choose a systems integrator with seasoned experts that have loads of transformation projects under their belts and ensure they are given a strong mandate to push for change and alignment with industry best practices. Not all industry best practices should be applied however, depending on the circumstances, and the experts you select will know when and when not to break the rules based on their past experiences. The lightweight certifications offered by software vendors are no match for the wisdom that comes from in-depth transformation experience.
3. Establishing a Strong Architectural Foundation
If an improper foundational architecture is established at the outset, the transformation can live on indefinitely. Non-standard architectures can be enormously costly and difficult to change and will ultimately lead to a high degree of customer dissatisfaction in the medium term. Some critical principles to obtain agreement on at the start are ensuring proper separation of concerns between the business and operations (implementing proper commercial level decomposition and orchestration is essential), following proper product modelling best practices (object oriented principles, linear modeling) and making sure that vendors don’t oversell and over position their capabilities. Employing an independent systems integrator that looks out for the customer’s best interest rather than that of a particular vendor is the best way to mitigate this risk.
4. Don’t Force the Old into the New
Don’t force the new ecosystem to work in an old way. Poorly performing legacy systems should be fixed or replaced rather than forcing ugly workarounds that often need to be implemented in the new ecosystem with custom code. Time and time again we see major transformation projects not achieve desired performance gains, improvements in TTM and desired reduction in system maintenance and fallout for this reason. If legacy systems need to be retained for some time, ensure an ESB is used and implement legacy behaviors in this layer in order to buffer the new Business Support Systems from expected change.
5. Streamlining BSS with the Enterprise Product Catalog
Understand that today’s ecosystems don’t work the way the old ones do for a reason. Drive BSS system behaviour directly off the enterprise product catalog to avoid replication and syncing of data throughout the stack. Generating the perfect order during order capture and forcing back office systems to trust the orders they receive (essentially eliminating the propensity to add in additional unnecessary layers of error checking in the back office). This will help streamline the fulfillment process and significantly improve performance as a result of reduced custom logic. Ensure that there is both a decomposition and orchestration function present in the front office (COM) and back office (SOM) to ensure proper separation of concerns in order to achieve rapid TTM.
Undertaking a transformation with these factors in mind will significantly reduce the risk of a never-ending transformation project and make for a showcase architecture that can readily adapt to change for the long haul.
Learn More About Partnering With Us!
EVP, Architects & Innovation
Shawn Henshall brings 25+ years of expertise in product management, software innovation, and digital transformation. He has a proven track record of delivering next-generation operational software that drives business value for clients across Telecommunications, Media, Energy, Finance, Insurance, and Automotive industries. Prior to joining Palladin, Shawn held leadership roles at Salesforce, Vlocity, and Oracle, where he played a pivotal role in shaping industry-leading BSS, OSS, and enterprise catalog-driven solutions. As a founding thought leader behind enterprise catalog-driven ecosystems, he was instrumental in bringing this vision to reality within Salesforce Industries, enabling some of the world’s largest service providers to transform their BSS and OSS architectures. At Palladin, Shawn leads Product, Technical Alliances, and Emerging Technology initiatives.
