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to win their business. They also have specific functional needs that require a broad range of configurable feature sets coupled with self-administration tools. For example, more local governments and campuses require emergency alert services that can warn of weather events or other immediate dangers to public safety. Hospitals have complex communications requirements that assign different devices and varying levels of access to voice and data features to different professionals based on their specialty, on-call status, and rank. These kinds of requirements emphasize the need for back office system that put web-based tools in administrators’ hands while squeezing all available functionality out of network equipment and application platforms.

Turning network and application capabilities into tailored packages that suit the range of small and medium businesses is a service fulfillment challenge. It’s not a matter of re-architecting the network or creating new, redundant business units. It’s not even about having automated service delivery, though that’s part of the equation. What telcos and cable operators should expect from their suppliers are solutions that help them bring well defined services to market quickly. These should incorporate business processes that are proven to work; packages and feature sets that are pre-defined; and technology that cuts integration and implementation time and cost to a minimum because what’s in the network and the back office is supported on day one.

In the end the onus is on technology providers, like OSS and BSS suppliers, to help cable operators and telcos attune their offerings to new market opportunities and better leverage the assets they deploy in the network. That’s the answer to coming out on the other side of this economic meltdown in a position to grow and win.