The OSS Evolutionary Path to Operational Business Benefits

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1 The OSS Evolutionary Path to Operational Business Benefits Tim Packer Boss Portal Dean Veverka Southern Cross Cables

2 Presenter Profile Dean Veverka has Electrical Engineering (Hons.) and Business Management (Hons.) Diplomas. With over 30 years experience in the Telecommunications industry covering numerous operational and managerial roles in OTC, Telstra and Optus in Australia. For the past 8 years, as Director & VP Operations, he is responsible for all Engineering, Operational and Regulatory aspects of the 30,000km Southern Cross Cable Network. He also serves as the Treasury of NASCA and Director on the Executive Committee of the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC). Dean Veverka Director Network and VP Operations Southern Cross Cables Ltd dean.veverka@sccn.co.nz Tel: (+61)

3 Presenter Profile 25 Years experience in the Telecom Industry working in various operational, business development and sales positions for TNZL, HP, Agilent and now Boss Portal. Over 15 years in the OSS/BSS arena working in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the America s. Currently in charge of Sales and Marketing for Boss Portal, a niche solution provider of OSS/BSS solutions for the Telecom Industry. Tim Packer General Manager Sales and Marketing Boss Portal tim.packer@boss-portal.com Tel: (+64)

4 OSS in Submarine Submarine Transmission Technologies have made great strides in recent years Yet Operational Support Systems have remained largely unchanged They have often become bottlenecks to better customer experience Outages and service level violations due to inaccurate or inaccessible information have become common place

5 OSS in Submarine Successive and frequent network upgrades have left many network operators with a plethora of NMS/EMS systems The task of maintaining the network has become more complex and resource intensive OSSs are often collections of point solutions that lack integration Operators are unable to gain a Complete Network view Operational efficiency objectives are undermined Customer service and experience is impaired

6 Standards and Frameworks Many of these challenges are well recognised and industry bodies have developed various frameworks and models to overcome them. To name a few: For enterprise wide data modeling TM Forum s Shared Information and Data Model (SID) For business process management TM Forum s Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (etom) and UK Government s Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) For bringing data and functions together as systems TM Forum s Telecom Applications Map (TAM)

7 The Problems with Standards and Frameworks Almost invariably describe the end game only But offer no strategy on how to achieve the end game Network operators are faced with the task of bridging the gap between theoretical ideals and business realities Costly mistakes are often made

8 Two Mistakes are Widespread 1. Many operators attempt to run before being able to walk Tempted by the systems that would deliver the most visible benefit, operators fail to consider the readiness of other supporting systems This can lead to a patchwork of solutions that may not align with the larger strategy

9 Two Mistakes are Widespread 2. The Big Bang approach - Many operators are tempted to deliver everything in a single project The projects become so large that by the time they are delivered, assuming they are delivered successfully, the business may have moved on and requirements for the OSS have changed

10 The OSS Maturity Model Created by Boss Portal, the OSS Maturity Model was developed as a practical means to help manage OSS transformation It is a Strategic Planning Tool that facilitates OSS Roadmap development It is complimentary to all of the established frameworks and models described Like other models, it divides the OSS system landscape into functional areas. But a new dimension in capability maturity is added System prioritisation can now be considered in the same methodological manner as business processes and system functions

11 Why introduce yet another Model? Business Cases for OSS initiatives have always been a struggle! Foundation systems are especially hard to business case as the financial returns can be difficult to justify The two common mistakes mentioned earlier are often consciously made in a bid to get the business case off the ground What is naturally intuitive to those in Network Operations and OSS Planning may be perceived quite differently by their colleagues in business or finance. The OSS Maturity Model functions: as a medium to communicate and bridge the gap between the technical and business groups as a reference model to validate strategic roadmap decisions

12 Why Introduce yet another Model? The OSS Maturity Model can be used to: Test Communicate Engage Agree Validate It is divided into three tiers with increasing maturity of system capabilities towards the top

13 The OSS Maturity Model Tier 1 Core Operations Components in this tier are often referred to as Foundation systems They are primarily concerned with delivering service to customers and keeping the network up and running

14 The OSS Maturity Model Tier 2 Managed Business Operation Components in this tier are primarily focused on Operational Excellence They involve business process standardisation, automation and performance assurance

15 The OSS Maturity Model Tier 3 Intelligent System Operations Components in this tier are about furthering business values Through service differentiation And improved competitiveness

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17 The Southern Cross Cables Case Study The impetus for SCCL to perform a complete review of our OSS strategy came at a time when a number of systems had reached end of life Leveraging Boss Portal s experience in OSS Strategy, an evolutionary path for OSS was devised that saw many of our legacy systems replaced by components within a better integrated overall platform

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19 The Southern Cross Cables Case Study We are well on our way with the implementation of our OSS Roadmap, and have achieved the following thus far: Automated Inventory Management to maintain an always accurate asbuilt view of the network Consolidated Fault Management across all network domains with realtime impact analysis A ubiquitous platform for Incident Management, providing ready access to all key OSS information Integrated Task Management to coordinate and manage the operation of the entire field team

20 The Southern Cross Cables Case Study Today the OSS is playing a vital role as the single control and communication medium for all our Network Operations activities, including our Landing Parties. With the OSS rolled out across all sites of our network, we have been able to effect new standard business processes on the OSS itself. Double Handling is reduced. Operational Accountability and Efficiency have improved. These all contribute to improved customer services.

21 OSS Maturity Model in Action Challenge: Resource Planning Optimisation or Business Process Standardisation / Automation Which one to tackle first? Which one provides more benefits and is more aligned with our overall business objectives? Initial Plan: Resource Planning Optimisation first Resource Planning has always been a priority for the business for obvious reasons. Infrastructure investments and the lead time involved are significant. It is important to get Resource Planning right for the long term success of the business. There are no system dependencies of Resource Planning on Process Automation

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23 Summary Working with Boss Portal and its OSS Maturity Model, we have developed an OSS Roadmap that is closely aligned with our evolving operational and business needs The benefits of this progressive approach to OSS implementation include Lower risks and avoids the Big Bang approach Better alignment between Operations and other Business groups Accelerate and maximise return on investment Minimise operational disruptions Encourage your Network Provider and OSS Supplier to work closely together Lower integration risks Enhance competitive edge

24 2010 conference & convention The 7th International Conference & Convention on Undersea Telecommunications Pacifico Convention Plaza Yokohama & InterContinental The Grand Yokohama 11 ~ 14 May

25 Additional Resources Slides

26 OSS Maturity Model in Action Challenge: Resource Planning Optimisation or Business Process Standardisation / Automation Which one to tackle first? Which one provides more benefits and is more aligned with our overall business objectives? Initial Plan: Resource Planning Optimisation first Resource Planning has always been a priority for the business for obvious reasons. Infrastructure investments and the lead time involved are significant. It is important to get Resource Planning right for the long term success of the business. There are no system dependencies of Resource Planning on Process Automation

27 The OSS Maturity Model The business objectives of these three tiers are closely correlated to the characteristics of market forces: Tier 1 In a nascent market, time to market is more important than process or system efficiency. The focus is on basic and reliable operation Tier 2 As the market evolves, competition intensifies. Operational focus turns to optimising operational costs and maximising profitability Tier 3 In a mature market where profit margins decline, it is essential to have the ability to maintain profits through service differentiation, better cost control and resource utilisation It facilitates the development of an OSS Roadmap that is in alignment with the priorities of the business It serves as a sanity check to ensure all necessary business questions are asked and answered satisfactorily

28 Insights Revealed by the Maturity Model But Resource Planning depends on our ability to maintain Service Level Agreements (SLAs) SLA Management in turn benefits from Process Standardisation / Automation While we can implement Resource Planning right away We are effectively just systemising the existing manual and ad-hoc planning process. Ad-hoc because the underlying business processes have yet to be standardised across all sites. As underlying processes remain to be manual, no improvement in accuracy of the underlying data is expected Incremental improvement over the current state may be limited

29 Insights Revealed by the Maturity Model The alternative to first implement Process Standardisation / Automation makes more business sense. Its immediate benefits are more significant: Our customers will benefit from improved services SCCL will benefit from improved customer satisfaction and reduced penalties for SLA violations It also better prepares us to tackle the challenge with Resource Planning