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MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
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Report author:
Tim Kridel
Independent analyst and writer
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Page 4 Executive Summary
Page 5 Section 1
Existing order management systems struggle
in a new world
Page 9 Section 2
The evolution of mobile order management
Page 12 Section 3
How to choose a next-generation order
management system
Page 16 Sponsored feature
Etiya
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
inform innovate accelerate optimize
INFORM

We bring together thought-leaders to deliver
thought-changing analysis, intelligence
and revolutionary approaches to address
industry issues, from macro-market trends
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4 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
To understand why mobile order management
is so challenging, look no further than how
mobile services have evolved over the past
two decades. Until the mid-1990s, orders were
almost exclusively for voice service, with the
only variables being the number of minutes
and roaming.
Then text messaging was added to the
menu, followed by data access and eventually
individual data apps/services such as
navigation. The latest twist is data services
that are partly or completely subsidized by a
business partner, such as a streaming-video
provider.
And those are just services sold by mobile
operators under their brands. Many also have
to facilitate orders placed by third parties,
such as mobile virtual network operators and
machine-to-machine/Internet of Things service
providers.
To support third-party orders, mobile
operators have to decide how much of their
order management systems to expose to
outsiders. Then they have to create the
application program interfaces (APIs) and other
mechanisms necessary to facilitate those
interactions.
With all the variables and complexity, its no
surprise that orders dont always go through.
This report explores many of the underlying
reasons for fallout and other problems, as
well as what operators, their suppliers and TM
Forum are doing to minimize them. The work
directly affects mobile operators bottom lines
in multiple ways.
For example, customers who abandon new
products and services because they dont work
properly or at all are lost revenue. When those
customers require the operators support to
get their new services up and running, profit
margins suffer.
Next-generation order management systems
also enable mobile operators to offer a wider
range of services, bundles and promotions, all
of which further benefit their bottom lines and
competitive positions.
Section 1 of this report looks at the
top reasons why traditional mobile order
management systems are no longer viable.
The growing need for flexibility to support
many kinds of devices and to deal with orders
in a digital ecosystem of partners is the
biggest issue operators are facing.
Section 2 discusses how order management
and other business and operational support
systems (BSS/OSS) are evolving to meet
todays requirements. Adding capability that
allows order management systems to interact
with other BSS/OSS is at the top of
the list.
Finally, Section 3 provides pragmatic
guidance for mobile operators in terms of
features and capabilities to consider when
evaluating next-generation order management
systems, and offers some conclusions and
recommendations.
Executive summary
Next-generation order management systems also enable
mobile operators to offer a wider range of services, bundles and
promotions, all of which further benefit their bottom lines.
www.tmforum.org 5 QUICK INSIGHTS
Existing order management systems struggle in a new world
Section 1
There are several reasons why legacy order
management systems are losing their
effectiveness as the mobile market evolves.
Sometimes the result is that the operator is at
a competitive disadvantage, because it cant
support bundles, products and other offerings
that its competitors can. Other times, systems
limitations cause orders to fall out, which
irritates customers and results in costs to
figure out the reason and resolve it manually.
In some cases, the culprit is the order
management systems lack of awareness
about a critical factor. For example, at the point
of sale, the system needs real-time access
to credit-validation services to avoid wasting
both the salespersons and customers time.
Another example is immediate access to
inventory to ensure that a customer isnt about
to be sold a device thats out of stock.
The first months are critical
Most problems are seen in the first few
months after launch of a new system, says
Ian Roy, Vice President, Product Management
and Marketing, Comverse. The most common
cause then and afterwards is bad data. Its
very critical to thoroughly cleanse data during
migrations, plus [there needs to be] an ongoing
requirement to validate new data during
order capture.
Where there are multiple mobile order
management systems or separate components
(for example, activation and provisioning), a
common issue causing order fallout is mismatch
in product catalog configurations between
systems. The optimal solution is, of course, for
systems to be catalog-driven so they align, Roy
says. Similarly, a mismatch with other catalogs
in the ecosystem such as whether billing is
prepaid or postpaid can cause problems. A
unified product and service catalog is the best
way to sync things end to end, he adds.
Legacy order management systems are losing their
effectiveness as the mobile market evolves
Product diversity
The selection of devices, services and other
products keeps growing, but the order process
isnt limited to the hardware itself. A single
smartphone, for example, frequently has
multiple apps and services that the operator
has to enable during the order process. Those
drive additional revenue for the operator and/
or its business partners. Every one of those
apps/services that falls out during the order
process is at risk of becoming a lost revenue
opportunity. The contact center, tech support
and other resources used to ferret out and
resolve problems also cut into profits.
Order management systems also have to
support a growing installed base of unlocked
smartphones and other devices, which
sometimes support services that arent in
the operators order management system.
But in the hypercompetitive mobile market,
operators cant simply refuse to accept those
devices onto their network as a way to reduce
complexity. Supporting unlocked devices is
a particular challenge for operators migrating
to Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks
from Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
networks, where switching phones from one
operator to another is much less common.
Wearables such as fitness trackers and
small and medium business services are
two more examples of how product diversity
creates ordering complexity. Its usually
siloed: a separate ordering system, says
Yossi Zohar, Head of Product and Partner
Marketing, Customer Management Division,
Amdocs. The marketing teams want to sell
services, but theyre not able to have one
catalog where they can see and define all of
the products. Thats why a central catalog that
all departments, as well as third-party partners,
can tap into is so important. This is discussed
further in Section 3 (see page 12).
6 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
M2M and the Internet of Things
Internet of Things is a misnomer its really
the Internet of Everything. The myriad
use cases create challenges with order
management systems designed for a one-
account, one-device paradigm. A single Internet
of Things account can have thousands or
tens of thousands of devices. And even when
theyre all part of a single order, some of the
devices can have different requirements. The
order management system must be able to
accommodate those kinds of variables.
In the machine-to-machine [M2M] or
Internet of Things world, operators need
to work with group-level requests, says
Ed Finegold, Director, Strategy, NetCracker
Technology. They need to manage a group of
devices, for example, as belonging to a single
entity. They need to deal with rollbacks, to
track usage thresholds and other limits and
entitlements.
For example, if a usage limit is reached or
exceeded, a large group of devices may need
to be cut off from the network. Traditional
order management approaches which are
not centralized and are embedded in, and
distributed across, network elements are
designed to deal with single subscribers. So
they struggle to, or simply cannot, handle this
kind of one-to-many relationship that needs
support in the M2M world, where an entity,
consisting of many devices on the network,
can be addressed en masse: cut off, changed,
provisioned, limited, etc. This requires a very
different type of order decomposition and
provisioning flow, which is very difficult if not
impossible to introduce in a traditional mobile
order management environment.
Pre-provisioning is one way to ensure that all
a customers or resellers M2M devices dont
run into problems with the order management
system. For example, a device vendor could
pre-purchase a range of MAC addresses and
apply those at the factory. The BSS has to
be smart enough to know that those MAC
addresses are associated with that account,
when they hit the network, says John Brooks,
Vice President of Product Management, Subex.
Sales channels
For mobile operators, success in M2M/Internet
of Things often means partnerships with value-
added resellers and other specialists in target
verticals, such as trucking or utilities. The
way enterprises conduct business is not in a
sequential chain, says John Reilly, Subject
Matter Expert and Distinguished Fellow, TM
Forum. Its a mesh of collaborating parties,
and one thing theyre doing is orders.
Those parties need access to their partners
order management systems, including their
product catalogs, to ensure that each customer
gets all of the devices and services it needs.
They need to be able to accept orders that
arent coming from their own channel,
Zohar explains. But that access is difficult or
impossible if the order management system
lacks the capability in the form of APIs to
communicate with third-party systems. TM
Forum has made some significant contributions
on developing such APIs, which are discussed
in the next section (see page 9).
An order management system available
to partners further helps minimize fallout
and other problems. The customer whos
in collections, [the mobile operator] may not
want to sell them a connected car even though
BMW is selling the car, Zohar says. All of
these checks need to happen.
Promotions
Mobile operators increasingly are offering
try-it-before-you-buy-it promos to woo
people who are interested in switching but
hesitate because theyre not sure about
coverage. Others offer sponsored data plans,
where customers data buckets arent debited
when they use certain services because
the over-the-top (OTT) providers behind the
services pay for them.
Yet another example is plans that connect
to a limited number of services. Sprint, for
www.tmforum.org 7 QUICK INSIGHTS
To meet consumer expectations, order management systems
have to support a wide range of capabilities
instance, recently launched Virgin Mobile plans
that work only with Facebook, Instagram,
Pintrest or Twitter.
Not all legacy order management systems
can support these and other nontraditional
plans, putting those operators at a competitive
disadvantage or requiring them to spend a lot
of resources recoding their platform to make
it work. Recoding also takes time weeks to
months which delays the operators ability to
respond to a change in market conditions.
Customers expectations
Wearable exercise trackers, eldercare monitors
and e-readers are just three examples of
the myriad types of cellular-enabled devices
available to consumers today. The common
denominator is that consumers and business
users want them to work as soon as theyre
out of the box.
They expect it to be instantaneous, says
Michelle Nowak, Vice President of Product
Management, CSG International. Thats
where the biggest challenges are going to
come with order management systems.
To meet consumer expectations, the
order management system has to support
capabilities such as enabling customers to
order service from a Web portal, from the
device itself or from an IVR. Or the system has
to support pre-provisioning at the factory so
that when the devices arrive they have service
as soon as theyre powered on and find the
network. The latter example shows the value
of an order management system that can
handle orders in bulk, including the ability to
scale up rapidly if a new product turns out to
be a bigger hit than expected.
BYOD
Businesses are increasingly moving away
from buying smartphones for their employees
in favor of bring-your-own-device (BYOD)
policies. AT&Ts Toggle product is an example
of how complex BYOD can become from an
order management perspective: It creates
containers within a device to separate
personal and work applications and services,
with the ability to split the bill across employer
and employee.
As a result, a single device now can have
multiple accounts and thus be subject to
multiple orders throughout its lifecycle. That
takes order complexity to another level, says
Laura Merling, Vice President of Business
Digital Experience, AT&T.
Mergers and acquisitions
Many mobile operators businesses have
been built through mergers and acquisitions,
which typically result in a rats nest of order
management systems from different vendors
with different capabilities. Its not uncommon
for a merger or acquisition to trigger a major
BSS overhaul, where multiple legacy order
management systems are phased out in favor
of a single, new platform. But as discussed
later in this report, that process often takes
time quarters or even years because a
legacy order management system might be the
only way to monetize 2.5G or 3G infrastructure,
which is destined to be around for a long time
to come.
Bundling
Wireless often is bundled with wireline
to minimize churn and maximize average
revenue per user (ARPU). Even when all
those services come from the same company,
theyre frequently tied to multiple business
units order management systems. Each
of those ordering systems touches different
end systems and has different workflows,
but youre bundling them to create a single
value, Merling says. Managing the order
flow and the workflow and the service
delivery on the back end becomes quite
challenging.
One example is when the customer has to
wait longer for certain parts of the bundle to
activate or arrive, such as days for DSL versus
minutes for cellular. These challenges become
8 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
even more daunting when the bundle spans
multiple companies that arent under the same
ownership. An example is a mobile operator
partnering with a cable provider and a Wi-Fi
aggregator to offer a quintuple play of mobile,
Wi-Fi hotspots, wired broadband, TV and
home phone. If those partners cant exchange
information in a timely manner or at all
they will struggle to provide customers with
the bundle.
Supply chain
Even something as seemingly straightforward
as delivery can require extensive, expensive
manual tinkering under an order management
systems hood. Take the hypothetical example
of FedEx ordering a few thousand devices
for employees across the US. Those cant
be delivered by UPS or DHL. That doesnt
sound difficult, but those small pieces make it
complex, Merling says.
There are parallels outside the
telecommunications industry. For example,
some merchants try to use B2C e-commerce
systems for B2B applications because the
B2C platform is less expensive or because
they already own it. That strategy can
be problematic when the B2C platform
cant handle an order purchased by a
single customer that needs to be shipped
to multiple addresses, such as a retailer
ordering for its entire chain. Those merchants
eventually realize that they need to invest in
an e-commerce system designed for their
new market opportunities. Mobile operators
eventually come to the same realization about
their order management systems.
Network evolution
Change isnt easy or cheap or fast. One
reason is because just as M&A leads to a mess
of BSS, so does the evolution from 2G to 3G to
4G and beyond.
The issue is that the mobile order
management environment is usually embedded
in and distributed across the network and
network elements themselves, says
NetCrackers Finegold. When operators have
then introduced LTE networks and services on
top of 2G and 3G, and on top of the network-
dependent order management approach,
theyve had to create workarounds and other
shortcuts that ultimately do not support the 4G/
LTE service model.
Also, as operators have moved into OTT
types of services application-driven services
theyve needed to bring in PCRF [policy and
charging rules function] components, which
is not part of the GSM infrastructure. Without
a distinct, centralized order management
capability, it quickly becomes very difficult to
provision and execute the kinds of application-
driven and real-time service models that 4G/
LTE is supposed to enable.
Without a centralized order management capability, it becomes
very difficult to provision and execute the application-driven and
real-time service models that 4G/LTE is supposed to enable.
www.tmforum.org 9 QUICK INSIGHTS
Why do so many mobile operators still make do
with legacy order management systems?
The evolution of mobile order management
Section 2
Mobile operators understand the bottom-line
and competitive benefits of next-gen order
management systems that enable them to
avoid the challenges and limitations discussed
in Section 1. So why do so many still make do
with legacy order management systems?
Sometimes the hold-up is the core and radio
infrastructure, which significantly influences
BSS decisions. An example is an operator
deciding not to decommission a BSS platform
until it deploys LTE or retires GSM.
Until all of that happens, the BSS side
is held hostage and cant go anywhere,
says John Brooks, Vice President of Product
Management, Subex. Theyre between a
rock and a hard place. Theyre expensive to
maintain, but you cant get rid of them because
theyre the only ones that understand how to
deal with that network.
Interoperability and flexibility
When mobile operators are asked what kinds
of order management capabilities theyd like to
have, interoperability often tops the list.
With order management, billing, all of the
piece parts, vendors are still not building their
products as platforms with APIs, says Laura
Merling, Vice President of Business Digital
Experience, AT&T. In this day and age, if
youre not doing that, youre probably not a
vendor we should be using.
When vendors dont provide those
interfaces, operators have to spend a lot of
time and money building API sets. That time
also can cut into revenue if it means the launch
of a product, service or bundle gets delayed for
weeks or months.
Some operators interviewed for this report
say they want to see standards to bring web
services to sales channels and mobile virtual
network operators (MVNOs). One cited a
decades-old Bellcore long distance standard as
an example of the kind of transactional layouts
and records that mobile ordering needs.
In the mobile world, those kind of standards
havent been established, so each organization
has to come up with its own web services
definition language that its then passing back
and forth, says Kathy Eichholz, Director of
IT Enterprise Architecture, Sprint. Inside of
Sprint, weve established our own standard
set of web services. Weve offered front ends
to our MVNOs so they can choose which
transaction sets they want to automate through
their order management systems.
Operators also say theyd like to see more
flexibility in the order management systems so
other systems and processes dont have to be
bent and stretched to accommodate.
At Sprint, were exploring a more holistic
approach using business process modeling,
because order management has tentacles
everywhere, Eichholz says. So when we
introduce order management as This is
how you manage an order, then in all of our
processes, weve got to morph whatever
activity [such as] receiving devices at a
warehouse into a model that looks like an
order. Youre stuck in, Everything has to be a
request, and The request has to look like an
order, and thats the only way you can use the
software. If we just do order management as
an implementation, then the adjacent business
processes must either construct their own
When mobile operators are asked what kinds of order
management capabilities theyd like to have, interoperability
often tops the list.
10 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
process management or use another package
that has to be integrated to accomplish that.
Prepaid illustrates of some of the
challenges. The operator can construct an
order that lets a consumer buy a prepaid device
and activate service. Once the balance has
expired due to usage or time, subsequent top-
up payments are an adjacent process to order
management.
But the order management software
doesnt understand accepting a payment
beyond the initial fulfillment, Eichholz says.
So we said, Dont provide us with just order
management software because not everything
is an order. Ive got to turn this payment into
something that looks like an order. It gets
difficult and confusing.
So were looking for business process
software that models any process regardless
of whether its an order or a payment or a
warehouse fulfillment. Ultimately they all start
to interrelate, and its building the integration
between these functions and platforms that
gets to be complicated and expensive.
That integration is absolutely key,
says Ergun Mercan, Solution and Project
Manager, Etiya. Driving the change
shouldnt result in relocating existing
complexity but rather focus on eliminating
it, he says. Order management
transformation demands perfect alignment
between technology and business.
Transformation is inevitable for any
communications service provider that
wants to remain in the market as a player,
and embracing the idea of continuous
transformation might be the sole distinguisher
among the competitors.
Open Digital Program
TM Forum has a variety of programs and
initiatives aimed at tackling those problems
and that benefit mobile order management
specifically. One of them is the Open Digital
Program, which features work on a set of open
interfaces, including for enabling business
partners to communicate and collaborate on
orders, which are based on Frameworx, the
Forums flagship suite of standards-based
tools and best practices (see panel on page
11). The work also includes an application
program interface (API) for exchanging
catalog information (see panel on page 11),
and best practices for B2B2X commerce
and management of end-to-end service level
agreements.
A procurement application would include
an order component for use with business
partners, with all the information in the same
format to minimize fallout. If theyre different,
youre going to have a problem exchanging
information, says John Reilly, Subject Matter
Expert and Distinguished Fellow, TM Forum.
So at a minimum, these applications should
be communicating the same information.
That leads to: Why do I need two separate
applications? Why not have one generalized
application that deals with orders that I receive
from customers and orders I send to other
partners? You may see that come out in some
of the work that were doing in Frameworx
[with] this concept we call Engaged Party, that
weve added to the Information Framework
and Business Process Framework. Were
working on doing outreach to other industries
to demonstrate that the frameworks can be
used by many types of industries.
www.tmforum.org 11 QUICK INSIGHTS
TM Forum has a variety of programs and initiatives that
benefit mobile order management specifically
In the API Zone
In 2013 TM Forum brought together some of the worlds
largest service providers and suppliers, including Accenture,
Amdocs, AsiaInfo Linkage, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei,
Infonova, Orange and Telefonica O2 to create and launch
the API Zone, which is part of the Open Digital Program. The
API Zone contains a suite of REST-based APIs developed for
end-to-end digital services management, which were defined
and developed during a three-month cycle using agile
development techniques.
The API Zone features the Catalog Management,
Trouble Ticketing, Product Ordering, Performance
Management, SLA Management and Simple Management
APIs. They facilitate sharing of management information
and enable the execution of management functions
between partners.
All of the APIs were the focus of a Hackathon, held
in October 2013, to allow developers to experience the
benefits of using management APIs to simplify the addition
of management capabilities to an application. Approximately
150 developers proved out the APIs, creating more than 25
unique apps in 36 hours. Since then TM Forum has also held
spec jams in Paris, Vienna and Madrid (with more planned),
to evolve the original APIs and define new ones that cover
the whole digital services fulfillment cycle.
Version 2 of the original six APIs are already published
on GitHub for anyone to download, experiment with and
implement. TM Forums own developer portal will be
launched in September, with all APIs running on reference
implementations to support real-time interaction.
By early December, in time for Digital Disruption 2014,
the Forum will have a cloud-based sandbox for developers,
in addition to the portal. The APIs will all also be running on
Apigees Console and Proxy, so TM Forum members can
run and test them. Access will be through single sign-on
federated ID management.
The Forum is also working on APIs as part of its Zero-
touch Orchestration, Operations and Maintenance (ZOOM)
program and has committed to delivering a program of work
by the end of the year that includes best practice for YANG
models so that they can support end-to-end management
views across multiple network technologies and vendor
implementations.
Finally, the Forum will be working on over-the-top APIs to
support sharing of customer information and onboarding,
Engaged Party (and what John Reilly refers to in his new
book, Frameworx: Mastering the digital world, as the value
fabric), federated ID management, plus complete service and
resource ordering.
For more information about the Forums API work, see
APIs: How to avoid getting stuck in the glue. To find out
how you can get involved in the work, please contact John
Wilmes, Director, Open Digital Ecosystem Project, via
jwilmes@tmforum.org.
12 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
Operators have plenty of features and
capabilities to consider when choosing a
next-generation order management system.
Scalability belongs on the shortlist because
although mobile penetration is above 100
percent in many countries, theres still
enormous upside. The iPad is an example of
how a product can appear and create a new
category of devices that use cellular service
and are sometimes sold by operators sales
channels. What will be the next iPad? Nobody
knows, but operators have to be ready to
support it and the tens or hundreds of millions
of orders it will generate. Business-oriented
machine to machine (M2M)/Internet of
Things devices and applications, such as fleet
management and utility meters, are another
example of potential growth areas, meaning
even more work for order management
systems.
Unifying mobile order management
Support for fixed-mobile convergence,
including bundles, also belongs on the
shortlist. The new normal requires a single
consolidated stack that processes orders
regardless of device, service or network, says
an executive from Comverse. This requires
a unified mobile order management [system]
that operates in near real time. It must also be:
1.) catalog-driven, 2.) capable of abstracting
or otherwise handling multiple networks and
interfacing with policy management systems,
3.) open and standards-based to enable OTT
[over-the-top]/third-party bundling, and 4.) ready
for postpaid, prepaid and hybrid services.
Order management systems that support
service-level agreements (SLAs) are a way to
minimize fallout. You can set an SLA across
the whole workflow, such as, this workflow
should complete in 20 minutes, says Richard
Doughty, Senior Consultant, Cerillion. You
also can put individual SLAs on specific events.
A very common one is around provisioning,
which should be complete in seconds. If it
isnt, the SLAs automatically pop up on the
dashboard of staff, such as the provisioning
team or the billing team.
Central catalogs are key
Once it captures an order, the management
system has to provide a route map for that
order to get to the right systems and network
functions to handle provisioning, device
dispatch, activation and so on. Flexibility here is
key because, as discussed earlier, there are so
many variables in todays mobile market.
At a platform level, order management
shouldnt be a bunch of hard-coded logic
paths, says Catherine Michel, Chief Strategy
Officer, Sigma Systems. It should be pretty
lightweight in terms of the code and much
more dependent on configurable routes based
on the information that comes in on the order.
If its catalog-driven meaning data-object-
oriented then its very simple to have a much
more standardized set of workflows based on
product/service type rather than instances,
she says. So when youre getting information
in at the order level and youre trying to
determine what the underlying technical
service and resource provision orders have
How to choose a next-generation order management system
Section 3
What will be the next iPad? Nobody knows, but operators have
to be ready to support it and the tens or hundreds of millions of
orders it will generate.
www.tmforum.org 13 QUICK INSIGHTS
Reporting capabilities need to be strong in order to guide
the relationships among partners
to be, thats not following certain hard-coded
paths. Its just assembling different workflows
based on the content of the order driven off
of the catalog. If you dont have that level of
policy control over what youre trying to fulfill,
youll continue to have a pretty messy order
management layer all around.
Other vendors agree that a central catalog
is a must-have when evaluating a new order
management system.
The order management solution or
architecture should not be embedded and
distributed in network elements, says Ed
Finegold, Director, Strategy, NetCracker. It
should be separate, centralized and should
allow partners to interface to it.
It is very important for order management
to be related closely to a centralized product
catalog, he adds. The centralized product
catalog becomes critical because it allows
you to introduce many new types of services
more flexibly and to introduce rapidly these
third-party services that are really combinations
of the operators services and the third
partys. So the product catalog integrated
with order management makes it easier to
onboard partners, to settle and bill, to audit
and reconcile, and to negotiate pricing/
discounts/credits going forward. That being
said, reporting capabilities therefore need to
very strong in order to guide or govern the
relationships among partners.
For a more detailed look at the product
catalog and product lifecycle management,
see our Quick Insights report, Product lifecycle
management: Using virtualization to increase
agility, which was published in June 2014.
MVNOs and other outsiders
Some mobile virtual network operators
(MVNOs) rely on their host operators order
management system rather than having their
own. In those cases, the host operators
order management system directly affects
its MVNOs revenue opportunities and
competitive position.
Were seeing a trend where the MVNOs are
looking to stand up their own systems, says
Michelle Nowak, Vice President of Product
Management, CSG International. Doing so
gives the MVNO more control over its destiny,
but it still needs some level of connectivity to
its host operator.
As long as the ordering system has the
OSS/J-compliant APIs, it should be able to
easily talk to the facilities-based operators
system, Nowak says. Thats key. OSS/J is a
standardized TM Forum interface that provides
the foundation for unifying legacy systems and
new applications quickly at low cost.
For both MVNOs and operators partners,
such as streaming-video providers, such
interfaces are increasingly important for all
parties.
In an ideal world, there would be a library
of APIs that all vendors adhere to enable that
kind of interoperability. Those dont exist,
says Sigma Systems Michel. Thats one of
the initiatives that TM Forum has been trying
to undertake. Its the Open Digital initiative,
which is establishing a common set of APIs.
Security issues
Security is one concern when exposing an
order management system to a third party,
whether thats an MVNO, telematics integrator
or some other kind of partner. Thats why
operators legal and other departments
all determine which information, such as
customer data, can be shared.
Part of the reason is historical. A decade
ago when operators began offering premium
Short Message Services (SMS), they didnt
do an effective job vetting companies that
14 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
MOBILE ORDER MANAGEMENT:
DIGITAL SERVICES DEMAND A NEW APPROACH
wanted to use their infrastructure to send,
receive and charge for text messages. As a
result, operators inadvertently facilitated scams
and spam, which damaged their brands and
increased customer support costs.
As operators work with a larger number
of partners to deliver and source content
and connectivity, their order management
systems have to evolve on multiple fronts:
They need to be open but secure, facilitate
catalog-driven ordering and fulfillment, scale
to accept a diversity of orders from partners,
MVNOs and the broader ecosystem, and be
flexible enough to manage new services and
offerings. Finegold says. To do this in a safe,
secure manner is critical, keeping in mind the
challenges of the past.
Hosted and other cloud solutions
Mobile operators have outsourced lots of
functions over the years, such as network
operations centers. Many are now considering
having data center providers host their core
and/or radio access networks. So its not a
stretch to envision some operators replacing
their legacy, on-premises order management
systems with next-gen platforms hosted by
a vendor in either a public or private cloud.
Potential benefits include earlier access to
new features than on-premise customers get,
greater scalability and not having to find and
retain specialized support staff.
Operator interest varies based on factors
such as company size and strategy. Smaller,
multi-country operators are very open to hosted
solutions using a multi-tenancy approach,
says Ian Roy, Vice President of Product
Management and Marketing, Comverse.
Medium-sized operators prefer to keep mobile
order management on-premises, though they
may outsource operations and support through
managed services.
Tier 1 operators typically want on-premises
with or without managed services, Roy
adds. Some are willing to go with horizontal
outsourcing (not just a discrete mobile order
management system, but rather entire IT
functions) where operations and support are
relocated to low cost geography.
Many of the suppliers interviewed for this
report say theyre seeing operator interest in
hosted order management.
Most of our customers that we talk to like
the idea of hosting, says Amdocs Zohar.
More and more, theyre open to hosting.
Note that hosting isnt the same as a multi-
tenant SaaS. What we see is that they prefer
to have a partner to host their systems, but
the systems will be dedicated to them, like
a private cloud, Zohar says. The biggest
operators at least are not yet inclined to go
with the multi-tenant SaaS model.
NetCracker also is seeing interest in order
management on a private-cloud basis. It will
be a transition, Finegold says. As operators
move a range of applications to the cloud, and
deliver hosted services, the ordering process
is also beginning to transition into the virtual
domain.
Hosted or not, a cloud-centric design
provides flexibility.
Its got to be a capability that can run in the
cloud, says Sigma Systems Michel. The
reason is that capabilities that run in the cloud
As operators move a range of applications to the cloud, and
deliver hosted services, the ordering process is also beginning
to transition into the virtual domain.
www.tmforum.org 15 QUICK INSIGHTS
Order management systems have to be nimble to meet
changing market conditions
exist as functional applications. Capabilities
that cant are platforms that require lots of
customization. Nobody should be investing in
customization in this day and age unless they
have a truly unique situation.
Retaining flexibility
In a sense, some MVNOs already use hosted
order management systems by relying on their
host operators BSS/OSS.
We have an MVNO in a box [solution],
where we provide the front-end mechanisms
and order-management capabilities end to
end, says Kathy Eichholz, Director of IT
Enterprise Architecture, Sprint. Theyre just
collecting the revenue on their side and paying
us for that service.
Operator-hosted order management
solutions also can be attractive to companies
outside the telecommunications industry. For
example, an automaker or insurance company
that wants to offer a telematics service could
rely on its host operators BSS instead of
bearing the cost of buying and supporting an
in-house order management system. But the
reverse also can be true, such as a company
that already has an order management system
to support its other products and just wants
to connect that to the mobile operators
BSS. That scenario is another example of the
value of being able to expose a mobile order
management system to third parties via open
interfaces.
For more about how network operators are
adopting hosted and outsourced solutions as a
business strategy, see our Insights Research
report, Managed services: Assuring customer
experience from end-to-end, and our Quick
Insights report, Managed services: Strategic
choices, big business impact.
Ultimately, order management is both a
challenge and an opportunity not just for
operators, but also for suppliers. Like the rest
of mobile, order management systems have
to be nimble in order to provide operators
with the flexibility necessary to meet changing
market conditions. Without that flexibility, it
simply wont be possible to operate in a multi-
partner digital ecosystem.
Capabilities that run in the cloud exist as functional applications.
Capabilities that cant are platforms that require lots of customization.
Nobody should be investing in customization in this day and age.
Sponsored feature
16 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
Create. Sell. Monetize. Now!
This article discusses the evolution
of order management (OM) systems
by comparing the traditional order
management applications and the new
order management approach of the new
digitalized era. The demands on mobile
services have been increasing in the last
decade, yet the traditional OM system
is inadequate in terms of meeting this
demand. It is necessary to consider the
role of partnerships among different
CSPs during the delivery of new mobile
services, from order capture to order
fulfillment and settlement. What impact
do recent customer behaviors and
expectations have on OM systems? What
are the benefits of having a centralized
product catalog in order to implement
end-to-end provisioning of new services
through different partners? How are the
operators coping with changes in OM? Is
it necessary to employ a new approach
for transforming OM processes into a
more convergent structure?
The traditional OM environment
Besides the choice of which type of small
Mobile data usage is rapidly increasing on
a global scale. Fast speed mobile internet
access has ceased to amaze people
and has become a typical everyday
experience. Research by Cisco states
that mobile data usage in 2013 alone
exceeded the entire internet traffic usage
in the year 2000. As 4G LTE penetration
has already become the industry service
norm for many countries, mobile data
usage is expected to continue to boom at
exponential rates.
For CSPs, the days of one-size-fits-all
offerings and constant flow of revenues
are long gone. Although voice plans are
still generating an important part of their
revenue, the market share coming from
mobile services and products is growing
each year. In order to create new revenue
divisions, CSPs are coming up with new
and innovative services by partnering up
with other CSPs and seeking collaborative
opportunities across industries: mobile
banking, mobile health, mobile media and
entertainment, to name a few.
As the competitive markets expose
complex bundle offerings with third
party services, CSPs traditional OM
environment has begun to fall short
on orchestration capabilities. Poor
orchestration leads to inefficient service
activation times, faulty settings compared
to actual customer preferences and non-
traceable operation; this is costly since it
could translate into customer churn.
A fragmented product definition
process, where the specifications and
business rules are separated, increases
order fallouts. Manual processes and
last resort workaround solutions are
being applied for the continuity of
order fulfillment on complex bundles.
Ineffective and outdated product catalog
management systems slow down
operators advancement in the market,
considering the high demand in digital
services.
The shortcomings of the product
catalog can be noted as:
n inability to create bundle offerings
served by multiple parties (revenue
loss);
n need to repeat definition data on
multiple systems (data inconsistency,
fraud risk, revenue leakage, high-cost
maintenance);
n lack of displaying proper offerings with
the best price plan for the targeted
customer (dissatisfied customers).
Also, gaps among OSS components
reduce the operational visibility and
traceability, which leads to high
resolution time for customer complaints
and increases OPEX, while achieving
competitive prices depends mostly on
efficient operations.
Change in OM systems to support this
new mobile digital ecosystem
In this new digitalized era, OM systems
need to constantly evolve to keep up
with the mobile markets ever-changing
dynamics. There are key features to look
for, starting with a centralized product
catalog, followed by the unified order
handling on each channel, transparent
and automated order orchestration, and
real-time provisioning. A centralized and
flexible product catalog is prerequisite
for complete and consistent OM which
ensures the validity of business rules
and process flow for each customer
order. A successful product catalog
needs to:
n have the capability to serve all lines
of business as retail, wholesale,
enterprise, B2B and B2C with the
proper configuration of prices, and with
dynamic and reusable rule templates;
n act as both technical and commercial
product catalog, with the ability of
product lifecycle management from
concept to retirement;
n present product and offer template
structure for rapid time to market;
n cater for diverse markets and services,
and enable third party offerings and
bundles with re-usable elements.
Unified order handling capabilities secure
a consistent order entry process across
channels with the ability to manage
orders with complex bundles. Decoupling
product catalog and OM systems form
customer management and billing
systems facilitates order and exception
handling agility.
Sponsored feature
By Ergun Mercan, Solution Manager; Erkan Bugdayci, Consultant; Hakk Oktay, Solution Team Leader
www.tmforum.org 17 QUICK INSIGHTS
A successful OM system should:
n deliver single order capture experience
through omni-channels, presenting
real-time personalized offering
suggestions with cross-sell and upsell
capabilities;
n support advance jeopardy management
for increasing order fulfillment success
ratio;
n have user-friendly workflow
management tools, enabling users to
create and configure new task-flows,
business processes, order capture
screens and business logic easily;
n be scalable and extendable for
optimization;
n use standards-based order
orchestration processes;
n BPEL (Business Process
Execution Language) that is easy
to read and implement,
n support standard technology integration
adapters (e.g. Web Service, JMS, AQ,
Database etc.);
n integrate the supply chain processes
end to end.
Over the years almost all CSPs have
come to a point of over-complexity and
have had nothing but one goal: to stay
competitive while being agile. However,
product divisions, technology, regulations
and organization have continuously
lead complex processes, policies and
products/services.
The main challenges faced by CSPs
are high development costs followed by
missed due dates because of application-
information complexity. Custom, in-house
applications that lack standardization and
interoperability are a major cause of this
problem. Operators rely on workaround
solutions that usually work but render
operation units helpless when a new
business requirement arrives, because
they lack the power of configuration.
CSPs cannot continue to confuse
customers with multiple product offers,
Sponsored feature
18 www.tmforum.org QUICK INSIGHTS
unacceptable business interaction
durations and incorrect bills; tackling
these problems comes down to the
efficiency of the OM systems.
Catching up with the next generation
CSPs that are to revamp their OM
system will need to endure short-term
pain for the greater good. Change will
be overwhelming and slow, unifying
the business processes on multiple
legacy systems, eliminating outdated
applications, combining scattered business
rules, correcting erroneous customer and
product data. Extra burden will be placed
on the BSS applications that are already
operational in the environment, which
will be forced to comply with the new
standards. In most cases, the process will
take at least 1.5 years.
The renewal of OM should be planned
to address all pain points of the legacy
and fill any operational and business
gaps which tend to degrade financial
results. These could be low performance
transactions and manual tasks requiring
human intervention.
To standardize business processes,
data models and interfaces, TM Forum
Frameworx provides a common platform
for operators and vendors, as well as a
vision for new trends and internationally
accepted industry standards. Following
TM Forums Business Process Framework
(eTOM) process structure, it is easier to
find gaps and redundancies in the legacy
implementations and standardize business
flows. Legacy OM could have caused
incorrect assignment of responsibilities of
applications, so the Application Framework
(TAM) should be checked against the
legacy BSS environment to ensure
business processes are implemented in
deployable components and to increase
automation with standards. Applying
standardized and modified processes over
the right BSS elements with the right
orchestration will boost efficiency and
lower operational costs.
Personal sales channels are still
indispensable, although automated self-
service channels are becoming more and
more accountable. Therefore, companies
should integrate the OM system with all of
their touch points without any exceptions,
and business interactions should be
configured for each of these channels.
The chosen OM system should be able to
differentiate the provisioning flow of the
same business interaction according to the
channel it is executed from.
There is a tremendous amount of
information generated on OM systems,
and being able to create an inventory
of data should never be overlooked.
Aggregating the data and using business
intelligence methods would reveal hidden
opportunities for the company. Data
quality should continuously be observed
as it may cause faulty outcomes on
perfectly designed processes and
systems.
Driving change shouldnt result in
relocating existing complexity, but
rather focus on eliminating it. OM
transformation demands perfect
alignment between technology and
business. Transformation is inevitable
for any CSP that wants to remain in
the market as a player, and embracing
the idea of continuous transformation
might be the sole distinguisher
among competitors. Both business
and technology departments should
embrace this idea to achieve a successful
transformation. The waves of change will
be felt by all, and the eventual objective
should be to reach common grounds
and to create win-win conditions for all
departments.
Order management transformation
demands perfect alignment
between technology and business.
Create. Sell. Monetize. Now!
www.tmforum.org 19 QUICK INSIGHTS
Whats new in Frameworx 14 and how can it help you?
Frameworx 14 centers around the crucial issues facing
service providers of all kinds in an open digital economy.
These are reflected in TM Forums three Strategic Programs:
n Agile Business and IT Program focuses on improving
operational agility while reducing cost and risk;
n Open Digital Program is designed to drive new digital
services revenue growth;
n Customer Engagement Program targets better market
share retention and greater growth.
Frameworx was created by TM Forums members and is
constantly evolving to meet their changing business needs.
Members, including every type of service provider, software
suppliers, integrators, universities and enterprises, establish
project priorities and lead collaborative project groups to
implement the work and create updates to the standards and
best practices.
While Frameworx major releases are published every six
months, some features of Frameworx 14 were developed in
short-term, agile-style projects and have been made available
to the broader membership in advance.
Frameworx releases cover the full suite of TM Forums
best practices and standards, including our core Frameworks
Business Process, Information, Application and Integration
as well as our Business Metrics and application program
interfaces (API) libraries, and our broad range of best
practices and implementation guidance. Frameworx 14 is
no exception, with 53 new items introduced across the
architecture.
Frameworx 14 facts:
n 13 projects were chartered to create this release;
n 160 companies participated in creating the deliverables;
n About 483 individuals joined projects in the community
approximately 40 percent of them were active contributors,
while the rest had the opportunity to observe and review,
comment or ask questions.
New REST APIs to accelerate members integration
strategies
TM Forum has defined a comprehensive set of Accelerators
to speed up members partner and integration strategies for
the implementation of digital services through comprehensive
new best practices and REST APIs for performance and
service level management.
Big Data Analytics Guidebook
Unleash the power of big data using the new reference
model and best fit implementation methodology. The
document defines a crucial linkage between business value
that big data analytics can unlock and the technologies and
information sources in the documents Big Data Reference
Model. The document contains 13 new use cases for big data
applications such as real-time personalized offers, proactive
care and churn prediction.
Security: Innovative new privacy score
New innovative privacy score methodology to better
understand the status of where member companies focus
on privacy and their readiness, with a specific focus from the
customers perspective.
NFV exploratory reports and use cases
Network functions virtualization (NFV) use cases and exploratory
reports are helping shape the future of Frameworx. Three new
NFV exploratory reports focus on API mapping, GAP analysis
and MANO business drivers. Member-led NFV projects are
getting underway.
Extensions to product lifecycle management processes
and mappings for cable companies
Tactical solutions using the Business Process Frameworx,
Information Framework and Frameworx Metrics for real-world
problems in rolling out new cable services.
Enhancements to core Frameworks
There are new additions to all four Frameworks to extend
their member value for costs and risk reduction.
For more information about how they apply to you and your
business, please see www.tmforum.org/Frameworx14
Visit www.tmforum.org/researchpublications to find out more
Have you seen our other recent TM Forum publications?
TM Forums research reports are free for all employees of our member companies to download by
registering on our website. The reports are also available for non-members to purchase online.
John P. Reilly
Frameworx:
Mastering the digital world
Frameworx: Mastering the digital world
Keith Willetts grounding-breaking book, Unzipping the Digital World, described how businesses
can thrive and survive in the digital economy. Now guru John P. Reilly looks at the next steps in
his seventh book, Frameworx: Mastering the Digital World.
He explains how TM Forums Frameworx best practices and standards can support the delivery,
monitoring and monetization of digital services today by providing detailed examples. Beyond
this, Reilly has radical ideas about conducting business in the digital ecosystem and introduces a
concept called the value fabric, which replaces the traditional value chain, and shows how all the
players (engaged parties) collaborate within it.
Reillys value fabric concept provides a standard way to simply describe and visualize how
business is conducted. Plus his proposed enhancements to Frameworx could support many
different business models in which a variety of engaged parties are involved in providing value to
customers.
Mastering the digital world is available to download now for $29.99 from
www.tmforum.org/frameworxbook
2 0 1 4 | www. t mf or um. or g
PRODUCT
USING VIRTUALIZATION
TO INCREASE AGILITY
$245 USD / free to TM Forum members
QUICK INSIGHTS
Sponsored by:
LIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT
Product lifecycle management: Using virtualization to increase agility
That service providers need to be able to define products and services quickly to create new
services is well understood. Here author Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading, argues it is
equally important that services can be retired rapidly and easily too something that has proven
to be a challenge in the past.
Properly implemented, virtualization enables the agile delivery of services to strengthen the
competitive position of network operators. The key is product lifecycle management (PLM)
processes and procedures. The report examines how PLM has been used so far and how its
features and implementation needs to change as network virtualization takes hold.
The shifting competitive environment, where services are typically delivered via partnerships,
has big implications for PLM, and how services and standards are developed. We consider
real-world efforts to transform the PLM process, including some of TM Forums latest Catalyst
projects. We conclude with specific recommendations for a better product-delivery strategy.
All employees of TM Forums member companies can download the report free by registering
on our website from www.tmforum.org/plmvirtualization
Social media: Strategies for maximizing revenue
Analyst Tim Kridel explores how, in a fast-paced digital economy, all companies are looking for
ways to attract new customers and prevent churn. Social media represents a huge opportunity
to do both. Communications service providers are leaders in using social media to interact with
customers, but they still havent figured out how to use all of the big data theyre gathering
or how to make it part of a more holistic view of the customers interaction with the company
across the entire lifecycle of the relationship.
This report includes a wealth of first-hand information from interviews with service providers
from the communications industry and other sectors whose social media strategies provide
food for thought. We look at how social media influences customers purchasing decisions,
the types of content customers find compelling, and how companies strategies vary, based on
factors such as target demographics. We examine how companies are calculating the reach,
effectiveness and return on investment of their social media campaigns. Finally, we offer
strategies for increasing their effectiveness and maximizing revenue.
All employees of TM Forums member companies can download the report free by registering
on our website from www.tmforum.org/socialmediastrategies
2 0 1 4 | www. t mf or um. or g
SOCIAL
STRATEGIES FOR
MAXIMIZING REVENUE
$245 USD / free to TM Forum members
QUICK INSIGHTS
Sponsored by:
MEDIA