In reality, this “gap” has existed for some time. BSS systems (typically including billing and CRM), have always been separate from OSS systems (such as service activation, provisioning, fault management, etc.), which included having separate business processes and people. For example, revenue-focused BSS was always run by the IT department, and cost-focused OSS was run by network operations. This traditional binary approach would have likely continued to be sufficient if not for the major transformation the telecommunications industry is undergoing, where service providers are becoming retailers of multimedia and entertainment services.

Now, this gap is posing a major problem for both service providers and their customers. The lack of integration across these functions can result in decreased time to market for new services, faults between ordering and activating services, and low customer satisfaction. Read More