Plug-and-Play Business APIs Transform Dynamic Services Landscape
lifecycle of a typical service. MEF LSO APIs build upon and enhance TM Forum Open APIs and cover the following:
- Automated business functions: address validation, site query, product catalog, product offering qualification, product-offering availability discovery, quote, price discovery, product order, product inventory, trouble ticketing and incidents, appointment, work order, and billing and settlement.
- Automated operational functions: service provisioning and control, service inventory, service function testing, performance monitoring profiles, passive real-time and historical statistics, threshold crossing alert profile and alerts, streaming management, and fault management.
MEF also is committed to supporting nearly 20 product and service payloads tied to LSO API envelopes (functions), including subscriber and operator Ethernet, Internet Access, SD-WAN, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Secure Service Edge (SSE), satellite connectivity, 5G fixed wireless access, wavelength, edge compute, and other services.
Automated ecosystem transformation is starting with global adoption of MEF LSO business APIs. The industry has now reached a critical milestone on the migration path to efficiently building out a standards-based automated networking ecosystem with growing adoption of LSO APIs used to automate business functions between service providers. These APIs are collectively known as LSO Sonata APIs. MEF also has standardized a similar set of LSO business APIs, known as LSO Cantata APIs, for use between SPs and enterprise customers.
At the time we published our report in mid-May, we had identified 122+ SPs in various stages of the LSO Sonata adoption lifecycle—from interest through to production. At the time of this publication, we are now tracking more than 135 SPs in the adoption lifecycle. This includes Tier 1, 2, and 3 service providers based in every geographic region of the world.
The number of companies in production with LSO Sonata APIs is expected to increase rapidly from 30 today to 69+ by the end of 2024 and surge ahead in the following year.
Many of the service providers in production or committed to production are listed in the report.
MEF LSO business APIs are delivering real-world benefits for implementers. The report offers extensive discussion of the benefits realized when companies shift from manual
processes to scalable, plug-and-play LSO Sonata business APIs. Among key benefits, the APIs enable service providers to:
- Improve service delivery, with an average 25% reduction in order cycle times
- Accelerate time-to-revenue on every LSO API-enabled order
- Boost revenue opportunities by becoming a preferred provider
- Enhance customer experience
- Migrate toward more competitive, dynamic services
Many resources are available to help service providers on their automation journey. Now is a great time to engage with the MEF community to learn more about LSO business and operational APIs and start your implementation journey. A large volume of LSO resources, mature software development kits (SDKs), growing experience of LSO community professionals, and an expanding list of LSO solution providers are helping accelerate development, test, and implementation times for LSO business APIs.
As an example, it would not be uncommon for a typical Tier 2 service provider to be able to implement a set of LSO Sonata APIs for address validation, product offering qualification, quote, and
order in 3 to 5 months with the help of an LSO solution provider.
The bottom line is companies who implement standardized LSO APIs as sellers and/or buyers are poised to enjoy growing benefits as the LSO-enabled community expands. Those who fall outside of this group are likely to be at a growing disadvantage as more competitors in their regions become LSO-enabled. The market is on track to have LSO Sonata-based quoting and ordering available in at least 50 countries by the end of 2023.
To learn more, access the report here.
