APIs in Action: Using Standardization to Move Beyond Connectivity
In an increasingly competitive market, telcos must adapt quickly to meet changing demands. Implementing APIs and automation into the business life cycle can help operators capitalize on potential growth.
With new technology and its potential capabilities continuously evolving, integration between different platforms and systems is becoming more complex than ever. In order to ensure operators are able to capitalize on new opportunities as they upgrade their systems, tools that automate and standardize processes throughout the business lifecycle can provide a better chance for staying ahead of the competition.
At MEF’s Global NaaS Event, Ari Banerjee, Chief Strategy Officer at Netcracker stressed the importance of offering services beyond connectivity. During a panel titled “Business Cases for Automating With LSO APIs and LSO Products and Services,” Banerjee explained that standardization bodies like MEF, which offers sets of standardized business APIs and operational APIs, ease the process of integration and provision of value added services.
“I think the most important thing is cross-industry collaboration,” he said. “I think that’s very important and we don’t talk about it enough. Because there is more than one standard body, right? MEF is doing a great job. There’s TM Forum, there’s others, and you’ve got to make sure that we don’t duplicate efforts and that there’s a complete alignment between the different bodies.”
The panel also expanded on how the view of APIs has shifted over the years, with operators now realizing that the benefits of making this change to their businesses will far outweigh the process of implementing them. As more and more partners and vendors require connections to a company’s larger network, LSO APIs can help bring these factions together while ensuring there is no lapse in communication.
On another panel held during MEF, Susan White, Senior Director, Marketing Strategy, discussed NaaS use cases and how Netcracker provides an automation layer that helps unify the ecosystem to a common way of viewing, whether it’s through a portal or by bringing APIs directly into business processes.
“The NaaS offering should be completely flexible and modular. It’s not about being specific to any industry and I think that’s what a lot of service providers that [Netcracker works] with need” White said. “[Service providers] want something where the majority of it is similar, the automation, the processes – you want to be able to onboard and bring in different kinds of specific services that might be very applicable to that vertical.”
White added that having a unified product catalog and bringing in automation can simplify the process and guide customers through, providing a more efficient system and superior customer experience.
For more information, watch the full panel recordings:
GNE 2024 | 28 October | Business Cases for Automating with LSO APIs and LSO Products and Services
GNE 2024 | 30 October | Prominent NaaS Use Cases & Service Bundling Trends