Order management at the heart of modern service operations

A mature IT application, order management (OM) spent a decade away from the spotlight with communication service providers' (CSPs) internal attention focused mainly on fixing bugs. This changed during the initial rollouts of network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN), which created new service orchestration possibilities, raising the question of how the next generation of OM functions will support them. Conversations with communications service providers (CSPs) in 2021 indicate that their key requirements include: Linear OM is giving way to dynamically orchestrated OM Network operations for the 5G and cloud era will soon require real-time, dynamic service-level operations to support features such as network slicing. As a result, service-level operations systems must be able to adapt in the same dynamic manner to variable network and service contexts. To achieve this CSPs need to do away with traditional linear OM processes. Linear process automation is still typical in B2C service fulfillment has been steadily transforming into a more dynamic discipline on the B2B side. The use of AI in service orchestration workflow management is catalyzing service management platforms’ ability to be more intelligent, contextual and responsive. OM today vs. OM tomorrow CSPs have been shifting their focus to B2B lines of business. However, they have not excelled across the board in transforming revenues into opportunities. Our conversations with operators indicate several reasons for this: The refocus on OM systems and their place in the wider operational architecture has two distinct sets of drivers: The evolution of 5G illustrates the need for an overarching roadmap for OM. So far CSPs have been able to get away with taking much the same approach to 5G’s first, non-standalone form as they did to 4G LTE. In both cases clunky processes in legacy OM functions are impossible to fully automate. Lots of specialist knowledge is required by systems users, and there are high levels of order fallout. However, standalone 5G will make it essential to modernize and refine the supporting software stacks for 5G B2B services if CSPs are to maximize their ability to monetize services. CSPs’ history of rolling out new generations of network technology reveals a tendency to build a silo for the new, but this does not have to be the case for standalone 5G. OM’s potential to deliver customer experience excellence For our recent Digital Transformation Tracker 5 report, we surveyed CSPs and their suppliers about the key drivers of digital transformation. Stronger customer relationships came out on top, followed by operational efficiency/cost reduction. These industry macro trends are key drivers for OM transformation: CSPs have decided that customer satisfaction is the No. 1 differentiator for the coming decade and are investing to improve their capabilities accordingly. However, the injection of modern IT intelligence into the telecoms OM space has been a slow process, and while it may seem like an obvious place to start when overhauling service operations there are some valid reasons why CSPs have not done so: Download the report to find out more.

• Centralized product/service/asset catalogs – limiting the storage of mission-critical service fulfillment data to single instances in a catalog data store has many benefits for data quality, process streamlining, service definition and ecosystem interoperability.
• Service orchestration centric – an OM that cannot expose data to an orchestrator in a standardized fashion isolates itself from the rest of a CSP’s service operations architecture and leads to breaks in process automation. This ultimately means more manual intervention, increased OpEx and lost processing time.
• Based on standards – CSPs are adopting common information models, DevOps methodologies, modular microservice architectures, open APIs and digital operations frameworks.
• Contextually aware as part of an ecosystem – much of the "intelligence" that we talk about in modern OSS/BSS is really an understanding of service context. An orchestrated OM system that can understand the type of service being fulfilled can make better process decisions in that service fulfillment process.
• Employee friendly – new OM systems need to adhere to the "single pane of glass" model, with intuitive graphical user interfaces. It is also hugely beneficial to the organization if the systems can eliminate the need for staff to have vast amounts of specialized knowledge to process orders.
• Aggressive competitive pricing is driving down overall profitability.
• Over-the-top specialist service providers are faster, cheaper and web-based.
• Enterprises are increasingly using private networks for which CSPs are the primary contractor around only 20% of the time.
• Lack of new service innovation within CSPs.
• Inability to compete on time-to-market for new services, especially against hyperscale cloud providers.
• Disconnection between what is being sold and what operations can actually deliver.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has radically altered enterprises’ service demands.

1. What will instantly improve CSPs’ IT operations for today’s varied service portfolio and satisfy current customers?
2. What developments on the near and medium horizon will help telcos diversify their core business model?

• If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it - older service lines were set up with all the OSS/BSS architecture they needed at the time, often in a silo. They may still be generating lots of business and working fine for the needs of a specific line of business. CSPs have historically been disinclined to upset the apple cart, only instigating change as part of some larger cross-business transformation project.
• Entrenched custom code – as OM sits at the top of the flow through service fulfillment, more mature systems will have custom code interfaces developed by vendors, systems integrators, outsourced IT consultants, and CSPs during the decades before the widespread uptake of standardized open APIs. As a result, the links between the OSS/BSS architecture will contain much impenetrable code. Attempts at replacement in live working systems have in the past affected service, making CSPs wary of change.
• Customer expectation has only recently shifted – the cloud era has changed enterprise customers' expectations of CSP service fulfillment. Whereas before business customers accepted that a connectivity package would take months to install, their experiences with over-the-top IT service providers mean this is no longer the case.
• Business has been ticking along – we read a great many stories of dwindling revenues and average revenue per user (ARPU) in the telecoms industry, but even though there is pressure, CPS’ revenues are relatively stable and ARPU is not in sharp decline.