Standards: The International Language of Commerce and Love
By: Becky Bracken
Standards are the OSS/BSS international language of love. And the more the industry collectively loves standards, the more it's going to get back. Standards help communications service
providers (CSPs) make better procurement decisions and actually encourage more spending. Standards alleviate the anxiety of interoperability even in the face of the old mousetrap,
silos-but-converged-with-bailing-wire-and-duct-tape legacy networks. Standardized systems are like a big, warm hug and a cup of cocoa for IT managers across industries and continents because
standards make their jobs easier, and more secure.
Standards Shift Business Focus Toward New Revenues
As CSPs across the globe increasingly look toward OSS/BSS and other communications technology solutions to drive down costs and boost revenues, the demand for standardization is growing.
Convergence and the commoditization of data are putting enormous pressure on service providers to develop new value-added services. CSPs need systems that offer the agility to roll out new
services at lightning speed, and standardized systems can provide that. CSPs also need systems that are automated, scalable, reliable, and enable the business focus to shift from service
delivery to innovation.
In fact Amdocs, which puts its significant weight behind the TM Forum, published a report titled "Leading With Standards and Best Practices" that details, in their view, the benefits for both service providers and
vendors of developing standardized OSS/BSS systems.
"Standards and best practices go beyond helping providers achieve reduced costs and increased agility without undermining their ability to innovate," the report says. "In fact, standardization
enables the focus to shift away from commodities to new service creation, revenue opportunities, effective business models and improved customer experiences."
Standards Reduce Risk
More than half of the 100 CSP IT managers across EMEA, the Americas and the Asia Pacific region who were surveyed by Oracle in 2011 estimated they would free up more than 10 percent of their
annual IT budgets if existing industry standards for OSS/BSS business processes were widely adopted. In fact the average percentage of IT respondents who said they would free up with more
widespread standardization was almost 16 percent.
