1. Zero Touch – By its very nature, every human interaction is a delay and a chance for error. We simply can’t aggregate the massive scale of data and analyze it as fast as today’s systems; and systems always do as they are programmed to do.  Delay and error poison the experience of The Now Consumer and are the antithesis of the Now Experience.

2. Self-serve, Self-healing and Self-managed – While every interaction has the possibility to be a positive one, it also has the probability it will be negative to some degree. Even the very best customer service experience, if and when a courteous and professional customer service representative (CSR) has access to all systems and the ability to solve a customer’s problem, still requires effort and time on the part of the customer. The Now Consumer does not want to dial through automated or voice systems, pass security checkpoints, or wait. Moreover, they don’t want to have to deal with service issues in the first place. The less they have to interact with their service provider, the better.

3. System Reliance vs. People Reliant – Innovation relies on the systems that make it possible. Human interactions can be clogged with miscommunication, conflicting priorities and politics. In the Age of Now, there is no room for error, delay, or missteps.  There is no place for the swivel chair. Systems must rely on and interact with other systems by design to share data and automate decisioning.

4. Real Time – All this must happen in The Now to achieve fulfillment in minutes and meet the expectations of The Now Consumer. Services must be designed so they are fulfilled as they are ordered, by way of the most efficient, optimal, and accurate path.

5. Portal for all Stakeholders – Customers, technicians, CSRs, and business stake holders need the tools to make end-to-end service management effortless. New systems must be designed with this in mind so that everyone involved with services are empowered to easily order, deliver, and manage them.

6. Metrics – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be a byproduct of every operation.  It’s essential to quantifying quality, identifying issues, and allowing other systems to react to changes. It’s also an important source of data that can be turned into information that can be used to capitalize on new opportunities and continually improve the customer experience.

7. Indisputable Source of Truth – There must be a single, centralized source of indisputable truth. Inaccurate data creates a cascading effect of errors.  New systems must recognize where this data lies and significant effort needs to be put on ensuring its accuracy. Without it, systems fail. System-to-system automation is required to keep the centralized, trusted data source consistently accurate.

These principles can enable service providers to transform and ensure they safely cross the technology chasm. Service providers can apply them to every new service, system, and implementation as we usher in this new era and prepare to serve The Now Consumer.

Application at work

Intraway has applied these principles to its leading orchestration solution, Symphonica as it has watched the technology evolve. They have helped service providers rapidly transform to offer new, innovative service offerings such as Fiber Access, Metro Ethernet, Internet of Things (IoT), Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), Multi-screen TV, Software-defined Networking (SDN), and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). It has also followed these principles in the architecture of their product.

Symphonica is a standards-based fulfillment platform that uses a single interface for northbound systems such as Business Support Systems (BSS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Self-care applications. It contains connectors to commonly used network elements and a design studio for adding, building or modifying them – and sits in the center to facilitate communication from systems to other systems. It processes orders in real-time, using a centralized, BPM-based workflow engine. It features a stateful design to remain aware of services, network elements and changes to them; and automatically applies updates to inventory to provide better agile control and service design.

Solutions, like Symphonica help service providers transform by providing a bridge between the old and the new. They enable them to leverage their legacy, while capitalizing on new technology and are architected on the principles of transformation. They can be rapidly implemented to capitalize on new revenue and service opportunities, making them profitable in days.

The time is now

The Age of Now is upon us and consumer expectations have changed. Companies are embracing new technology, agile systems, and new technology to bridge the technology chasm. The days of days or weeks to deliver a service are gone. The expectations of The Now Consumer are high. How we harness technology will be directly equivalent to how well we succeed and the time to prepare is now.