Why BSS/OSS Delivered Over the Cloud is a Perfect Fit for the Small to Medium Telco?

By Matt Wilkinson
Subex Limited

BSS/OSS (Business and Operations Support System) services delivered over the cloud can provide small to medium telcos the right combination of technology and flexibility to achieve business optimization at a fraction of the cost of traditional licensed software. On-demand cloud services can provide small and medium telcos the same level of business maturity as large telcos, achieved through low monthly costs, reduced operational expenses and less financial risk. Here is how the on-demand, cloud-based approach addresses the revenue and cost management needs for the small and medium telcos.

First of all, the operational problems for the small telco are similar to those of the larger provider. However, there are some key differences in how the small telco operates. Specifically, the small telco requires the same level of complexity in service delivery but has less people and resources available to manage systems. There is normally a very small IT team available (if any) for systems support. Systems need to be intuitive and require minimal training investment. More automation to achieve “best practice” results is needed. The small telco must still address market demands and have the ability to deliver new services faster. Specifically, as an example, they have the BSS requirement to be able to identify originating carrier and/or HLR in the wireless environment in order to bill properly, and also must have the ability to evolve a new customer to new services, such as DSL or legacy wireline to a triple-play IP bundle. The small telco must be able to monitor enterprise customers usage and demands, but do so with smaller teams and constrained budgets. Clearly, the challenges in the smaller markets are significantly different from a large Tier 1 provider.

For OSS and BSS functions, the issue is that license-based solutions for small telcos are simply too expensive. Fees for product license, implementation services, hardware and network infrastructure, and software maintenance for patches and upgrades are too expensive for the small telco to address fully. In addition, people and domain skills to operate complex, license-based BSS tools are very hard to find and retain. There is also pressure on managing with the available resources on what are considered the core priorities of the business. BSS solutions, often times, are not the core priority for the small telco as they are considered secondary to network operations, engineering, and sales of telco products and services. So, absorbing these new BSS solutions with the existing organization becomes very difficult and is not an easy problem to solve.

Using a cloud delivery model, the goal is to provide the smaller telco with a very easy-to-use, pre-configured, software solution that is based on their data and is fully web-enabled and secure. A cloud-based BSS platform, for fraud management as an example, requires minimal capital outlay, low subscription fees, no need for a dedicated infrastructure, and no ongoing maintenance for patches and upgrades. Software upgrades are built into the cloud service as part of the hosted platform. Overall, on-demand cloud services provide the small telco with real-time data processing for fraud management, an intuitive user interface, built-in tutorials, online community support, and robust alarm management, workflow, and reporting. The on-demand cloud services model enables a small telco with no BSS domain expertise to immediately shore up operations through revenue assurance and fraud management best practices. These cloud services enable quick return on investment through a future-proofed application that is always up-to-date with the latest capabilities.

ROCcloud from Subex addresses the operational needs of the small telco. ROCcloud can provide a fully enabled cloud services platform for the small to medium telco, and can support managed services across all OSS/BSS functions. ROCcloud is pre-configured for quick deployment, fully web-enabled and secure, requires no setup fees and minimal installation effort, and is very easy to engage and disengage. To ensure that you achieve BSS solution best practices – just remember – it is much easier to hold a solution provider accountable to their service levels, than it is to manage internal staff that may have conflicting priorities.

About the author

Matt Wilkinson
VP of Global On-Demand Solutions at Subex

Mr. Wilkinson brings more than 18 years of experience in the development, sales, deployment and operations of communications services. At Subex, his focus is on software delivery, managed services, and customer support. Prior to joining Subex, he served as the Vice President of Worldwide Services for Stratavia, where he was responsible for customer and revenue growth while building a scalable business model for managed database services. Earlier, Mr. Wilkinson held numerous management positions at Level 3 Communications. He holds an MBA from the University of Denver and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado. For any queries or more information on this article, please send a mail to Mr. Wilkinson at matt.wilkinson@subexworld.com.

About Subex

Subex Limited is a leading global provider of Business and Operations Support Systems (BSS / OSS) that empowers communications service providers to achieve competitive advantage and deliver new service experiences to subscribers. The company pioneered the strategic concept of the Revenue Operations Center (ROC) – a centralized framework for end-to-end control of a service provider’s revenue and costs, fostering operational dexterity for sustained profitability. Subex’s software portfolio powers the ROC and its best-in-class solutions enable new service creation, operational transformation, subscriber-centric fulfillment, provisioning automation, revenue assurance, cost management, data integrity management, fraud management and interconnect / interparty settlement.

Subex understands that the challenges of small and medium sized service providers are very different than those of larger ones and hence offers solutions tailor-made for the former. It offers an on-demand ROC, delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS) to suit the needs of small and medium telcos in the form of ROCcloud. Subex has over 300 application installations worldwide and Subex’s customers include many of the world’s largest telcos. For more information on Subex please visit www.subexworld.com and to know more about ROCcloud please visit www.roccloud.com or simply mail us at sales@subexworld.com.