If it's not the secret sauce, it's probably the pot it's cooked in.
Each of these impact areas can have a profound effect on a CSP's business, but the real value is harnessing innovation. By providing a consolidated and collaborative modeling platform
for product development, CSPs can more easily capture, develop and collaborate on new ideas from the onset and take them to market faster. This can be an incredible competitive advantage and, if
it's not the secret sauce, it's probably the pot it's cooked in.
In a recent Tribold case study, Donald Toland, director of program operations at CenturyLink was quoted saying, "We were looking at an evolution on the same scale as manufacturing several decades
ago when the industry transformed from designing with a pencil to full blown CAD modeling. We wanted to model products, but hadn’t the tools to model.”
The Microsoft Mash
As
previously reported by
Pipeline, Microsoft has been making significant headway into the operational and business support systems (OSS and BSS) arena by way of their "Mashable Ecosystem."
As recently as this issue, Microsoft is being featured in the
Breaking Benchmarks article which
highlights their recent accomplishment with ecosystem partner Redknee in reaching 250 million subscribers. This benchmark put Microsoft, and it's ecosystem partners, in the Tier-1
scalability category from the start.
"We've had tremendous success working with communications service providers and our ecosystem partners," said Johan Norvik, managing director for
telecommunications for Microsoft. "Each day we are combining Microsoft technology with our partners' products to provide real solutions that support the heart of telecom operations."
Also an avid Microsoft partner, Tribold announced their support for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 last month. ISVs, like Tribold, are teaming up with Microsoft so that they can focus on their core
product expertise, expand their footprint, and leverage the collective expertise of the ecosystem at the same time:
“We’re a big (Microsoft) advocate. Having built our entire suite on Microsoft from the outset enables us to focus heavily on the user experience and functionality rather than underlying platform
technology,” continues Margitta. “That's the biggest differentiator we have in the marketplace against companies like Oracle and Amdocs. It allows us to remain user-focused versus
technology focused.”
While enabling ISVs to focus on their core competency is a considerable advantage, the former should not go without notice. Vendors like Tribold and Redknee are slowly chipping away at the
foothold of industry titans by leveraging a titan of their own, Microsoft. "It takes the platform discussion off the table," as Margitta puts it.
Through the ecosystem, Microsoft's partners are able to openly leverage Microsoft, their relationships, and other ecosystem partners to offer carrier-grade
scalability, cloud-based solutions, and lower cost of ownership based upon pre-integrated solutions that are delivered on a common platform. The result is a more cost effective
solution that is easier to deploy, which may keep competitors like Oracle on their toes, if not their heels.