Planning & Consulting
Any modern business transformation project, especially one related to a Communications Service Provider OSS/BSS, is a serious undertaking and requires the approval of a compelling business case as well as careful planning to achieve the goals and numbers outlined in the business case. This is doubly important in the current economy where credit is scarce and projects need to be vetted very carefully in terms of the cost savings and new revenues they will yield.
Building a business case, as well as an implementation roadmap for an OSS/BSS project, requires an in-depth understanding of the CSP’s business goals, a detailed assessment of the current status of operations, business processes, and systems available to support them, and industry best practices that drive operational excellence and efficiency.
While some of the skills and expertise that are needed for analysis and planning may be available in-house, it is more likely that outside expertise is needed. And for something as complex and interconnected as OSS/BSS, the natural source of such expertise is solution vendors that have vast experience planning, designing, implementing, and supporting complex OSS/BSS solutions. As well, dedicating in-house expertise to this task may not be in the best interest of the company because it is not cost-efficient and reduces time that should be spent on CSP customer needs and CSP business growth.
Finally, building a successful business case along with reasonable and effective implementation roadmaps requires an in-depth knowledge of the industry’s best practices together with successful, first-hand implementation experience that simply cannot be found in-house.
To address the challenges outlined above, CSPs need help from their solution delivery partners — such as NetCracker — who can provide planning expertise and consulting services that are specialized in the area of initial assessment, business case development, and optimization of services for modern CSPs.
NetCracker’s CMMI Level 3 certified services organization provides the full set of planning and consulting services demanded by today’s marketplace and covers solutions based on NetCracker’s own products as well as solutions based on third-party products. These services are provided in three main functional areas: Assessment, Business Case Development, and Optimization.
Assessment: Assessment is focused on achieving a quick, efficient, and thorough understanding of the CSP’s situation and needs, and on providing appropriate guidance and planning to support them. Services in this area include:
- Initial Needs Assessment
- Business Value-Driven Solution Phasing
- Roadmap Development
- Legacy Replacement Planning
- OSS/BSS Solution Architecture Definition and Design
Business Case Development: Business Case Development is focused on an in-depth analysis of the cost savings that will be realized by the proposed solution as well as a clear and detailed description of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Together, these allow for the building of a solid business case based on industry best practices and metrics, and a sound Return on Investment (ROI) model. The services NetCracker provides in this area include:
- C-Level Business Case Development
- Return On Investment Analysis
- Total Cost of Ownership Analysis
Optimization: Optimization centers on maximizing the cost-saving and efficiency effects of the proposed solutions through focusing on comprehensive Business Process Re-Engineering activities, including:
- As-is Process Analysis
- To-be Process Development
- Post-Action Success Measurement
