By Horacio Miranda de Oliveira

Introduction

There’s a profound transformation underway in the telecommunications landscape.  A new wave of “smart” devices – iPhones, BlackBerries, Android (Google) phones and netbooks – is redefining how people communicate.  Compelling new applications like Facebook, YouTube and Flickr are redefining the meaning of service and injecting new players into the competitive mix. In this evolving telecom environment, getting service offerings to market quickly at a competitive cost is a major concern, but it’s just half of the battle. The other half is ensuring service consistency once a new service is launched.

The shift from delivering low-bandwidth voice services to advanced data applications dramatically heightens the complexity of network management. The task of determining which subscribers are using the network and what services they are accessing is infinitely more complicated than simply tracking a voice call in the circuit-switched world. Customers have many more device choices and an abundance of service options; creating a seamless experience can be a daunting task. It requires the interworking of a staggering array of personal devices, access technologies and network resources. 

Assuring network connectivity - from the moment the handset is turned on until the service is successfully engaged – is an essential function of good network management. Yet, with third-party partners and suppliers in the mix, many services fall outside of the operator’s direct control. It’s only when the customer accesses the application that all of the disparate pieces come together. Understanding service from the subscriber perspective, therefore, is essential to service quality and effective business strategy. Without the ability to understand how a service works each time a customer accesses it, operators can only hope that customers are getting what they expect.

accessing voice and data have the same experience they do in their home network; is the subscriber’s device configured properly; can customers reach the Web quickly and easily; are all of the service level agreements (SLAs) being met? Tools traditionally used to monitor network operations can’t provide the answers to these questions. As a result, operators are looking for new tools that increase their ability to understand how customers perceive the level of service they receive every time they engage the network.