Sending the Right OSS Message to Business Executives

By Tom Wiencko

OSS valuation is a complex subject. There is no argument against the fact that OSSs are a valuable part of running a telecom business. However, there appears to be significant difficulty in quantifying the value of OSS systems and effectively communicating that value to service provider executives. This difficulty appears to be the result of the technical complexity of OSS functionality and the apparent lack of a standard model to track relevant data before and after implementation. While this model is being developed by some service providers, OSS providers will need to embrace and even further develop this model to communicate the actual value their system presents.

Missing the Mark
OSS providers often miss the basic principles service providers use to evaluate any new business system. This evaluation is based upon the cost to acquire and maintain the system, and the benefit received from it. Understanding these fundamentals is the first step in understanding how the service provider executive evaluates OSS.

The cost to acquire and maintain an OSS system is well understood and relatively easy to determine. The benefit received can be difficult to ascertain, though it happens to be the most important factor in valuing a new OSS system from the service provider ' s perspective. Documenting, reporting and tracking these benefits in ways that executives can easily digest goes a long way toward justifying new projects.

To get a better clearer understanding of how a service provider executive perceives any OSS discussion, there are a few fundamentals to understand. If one reflects on the last year ' s worth of OSS wins, a strong case could be made that every major deal won in the United States was a result of observing of these basic understandings:

Fact #1: OSS Software Does Not Generate Revenue
Other than billing systems, OSS systems rarely generate revenue or appear in the direct path between the use of a service and the collection of revenue for that service. Because of this, many service provider executives put OSS in the same “cost of doing business” bucket as notepads and paper clips.

In the case of billing systems, the value of the system is relatively easy to calculate and can be reported in meaningful numbers – cost per bill, total revenue billed, total revenue collected, and so on. OSS systems such as trouble ticket management, inventory, performance management, and element management are much more difficult to quantify, though they represent multi-million dollar investments and control tens to thousands of millions in costs. Being able to quantify these specific costs and benefits and communicate them effectively is one of the most important missions for both OSS providers and managers responsible for implementing and maintaining these systems for service providers.

If youre not a billing system, here are some ways you may be able to begin to formulate your value in terms relevant to the service provider executive.

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