Sending the Right OSS Message (cont'd)

Fact #4 You Must Understand the Mindset of your Customer
In either case, the CEO or COO's first response to the mention of an OSS system will be: “Do we really need it? Why? Can we do it some cheaper way? What's wrong with what we are doing now?” At this level, the fundamental need for the system is questioned, and that fundamental need can sometimes be difficult to explain to a non-technical executive.

To make matters worse, many times the people making the case are the same ones who were responsible for the existing systems. One can imagine how unpleasant it is for a manager to go to an executive with the message that says the systems they bought four years ago are no longer good enough.

More experienced executives will ask the next logical questions: “Will these systems give me any competitive advantage? Will they provide me more reliable or better quality service? Will they allow me to provide more revenue generating services with fewer people at a lower cost?” OSS vendors must be prepared to answer these questions as they relate to a particular business case. The justifications made in response to these questions are very powerful. More and more executives understand the need to spend money for better quality services, for lower MTBF and MTTR , to reduce capital expenditures, and to reduce overall operating expense. If the case for new or updated systems is made in these terms, the value proposition becomes much clearer to an executive whose mantra is “increase revenues, decrease costs.”

The Executive Message
The difference between executives that get the message and those that don't is usually tied to how well someone has made a case for OSS using real budgets and dollars. It ' s the OSS provider ' s responsibility to educate service providers with compelling cost reduction and productivity improvement examples. Executives want to know how they can reduce staff and lower their time and cost to deliver service. If a vendor can make a case answering these questions, executives are more likely to listen and understand:

• How will this expenditure decrease costs?
• How will this expenditure increase customer perceived reliability?
• How will this expenditure decrease capital expenditures?
• How are you going to demonstrate the financial results?

The last point is one that bears some examination. This is one more element of the value proposition that needs to be addressed, and it is perhaps the most difficult one to describe, manage, and monitor. Many companies and their executives bought into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) vendor claims that these systems would provide happier customers who would buy more and cost less to service. In a few instances they were right, but in many others were wrong. The difference amounted to a simple principle – it ' s necessary to control the cost to acquire and install the systems, and to monitor and report the actual benefits received.

Over and over projects fail or are canceled due to outrageous cost overruns and the failure to account for the true cost of implementation. Even in successful projects, if the actual benefits are not measured and reported, the best part of the new story can be lost. Projects that get executive attention are ones where accurate regular reports of costs and benefits in understandable terms - preferably dollars - are regularly generated and reviewed. Properly determining and documenting all of the costs to implement, train for and maintain new systems, as well as measuring the benefits received in cost, capital savings, and network improvements that can be traced to higher revenue and lower customer churn is all critical in making the strongest case for the value of OSS.

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