ODA Unboxed: Cerillion’s ODA alignment is key to unlocking RFP success with CSP customers

Cerillion is a leading provider of billing, charging, and customer management systems, serving industries such as telecommunications, finance, utilities, and healthcare. Founded in 1999, the company has over 20 years of experience delivering comprehensive solutions that enable clients to manage revenue streams effectively, streamline operations, and adapt to the evolving digital landscape

What is the functional scope of your product(s) that have achieved Ready for ODA status?

Cerillion has recently achieved 'Ready for ODA' certification for our CRM Plus and Enterprise Product Catalogue products, marking a significant milestone in our continuous product suite modernisation. These two modules were the first to emerge from a comprehensive transformation programme launched several years ago, addressing CSPs’ needs to unify all customer engagement through a single digital CRM solution, as well as accelerating time-to-market for new products and services. By aligning with TM Forum’s industry-leading standards, we are ensuring our products are not only future-ready but also capable of delivering seamless integration, enhanced interoperability, and greater agility for our customers.

Why was it important for you to align these product(s) to ODA?

In recent years, we’ve noticed a growing shift in market demand, with CSPs increasingly asking for greater flexibility in BSS/OSS architectures and component-based solution delivery. This trend highlights the industry’s move towards composable architectures, making TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) an ideal, future-proof foundation for our modernisation programme, particularly for these two key Cerillion products. Now more than 50% of RFPs ask for Open API compliance, including real-world certifications, and a growing proportion of these also want alignment with the ODA.

Building on this market direction we have also invested in the development of our new composable self-service module as part of the launch of Cerillion 24.2, further leveraging the advantages of our TM Forum certified Open APIs and the ODA. Delivering a composable digital experience through configuration rather than customisation, this module exemplifies our commitment to meeting customer needs while ensuring adaptability and scalability.

What tangible benefits did it bring to you and your customers?

Following on from the successful implementation and certification of 27 Open APIs, including real-world certifications on multiple different customer sites, adopting the ODA has been a natural and strategic progression to enhance our sales offerings and meet the growing demand for composable digital BSS/OSS solutions. For our customers, leveraging open standards has allowed us to deliver more competitive solutions, both in terms of cost and time-to-market, and also increased our market reach – in the last year we have seen a 40% uplift in sales opportunities for component-based solutions.

This approach has been particularly impactful in projects like our collaboration with a European triple-play provider, where our BSS/OSS suite is being implemented as a “headless” solution to simplify and automate their operations while accelerating the rollout of new services. Our TM Forum standards-based approach and API-first architecture was crucial in winning this project, allowing seamless integration into their existing customer-facing systems. This modern architectural approach enables improved efficiency and flexibility while supporting the company’s transformation goals.

What challenges did you face in adopting ODA as your reference architecture, and how did you tackle these?

During our modernisation journey, we made the strategic decision to place Open APIs at the core of our solution. This decision came with several challenges, including refactoring code, redefining business logic, and adjusting data models to align with TM Forum’s standards and frameworks. As a supplier offering a very broad and feature-rich suite of BSS/OSS products, this was a complex but ultimately rewarding step towards adopting the ODA.

The comprehensive documentation and training provided by TM Forum, along with the support of its community and partners, has proved invaluable throughout this process. Today, we are reaping the benefits of offering a pre-integrated BSS/OSS suite, built on open standards, that supports both component-based and end-to-end solution delivery, providing our customers with greater flexibility, composability and interoperability.

How did your staff gain expertise with ODA and learn how to use it effectively?

As a TM Forum member since 2007, the company has consistently aligned with TM Forum frameworks and standards, beginning with the Business Process Framework and Application Framework, supported by flexible, organisation-wide training programmes. Our knowledge and expertise have continued to grow as we fully embraced Open APIs and the ODA over the last five years, leveraging a combination of targeted training and practical hands-on experience. Furthermore, collaboration with other members in TM Forum events such as DTW, Accelerate, Spec Jams and Catalyst programs has played a vital role in expanding our knowledge and strengthening our engagement with TM Forum initiatives.

We are firmly committed to delivering standards-based BSS/OSS solutions and are currently engaged in the work to define the conformance testing CTKs for ODA components..

Find out more about Ready for ODA here.