Automation and OSS enabling new networks, new journeys
Survey results highlight communications service providers’ (CSPs’) priorities for driving automation in the era of 5G and cloud networks according to Menachem Konorty, Head of Solutions, Amdocs Open Network.
Automation and OSS enabling new networks, new journeys
Survey results highlight communications service providers’ (CSPs’) priorities for driving automation in the era of 5G and cloud networks according to Menachem Konorty, Head of Solutions, Amdocs Open Network.
CSPs are investing in 5G, SDN/NFV, cloud, IoT and AI, including communications networks powered by machine learning. Their investments are to deliver better experiences, launch innovative services and drive business growth through infrastructure that will be much more dynamic than today’s largely static networks.
At the same time, these changes are driving new complexity in operations. To unleash the new networks’ potential and drive growth, CSPs understand the imperative to transform key systems and process areas, while viewing network-facing operations support systems (OSS) as a top priority for modernization.
To gain deeper insights into management priorities for operations and how organizations are improving automation to help accelerate growth, Amdocs recently surveyed executives at 50 of the world’s Tier 0 and Tier 1 CSPs. In their responses, 42% of the execs said that automation of service operations would be critical in reducing service delivery inaccuracies and order fallout, as well as improving service performance – a key foundation for growth.
Meanwhile, 36% highlighted the importance of improving the experience of enterprise customers, an attractive growth segment for CSPs worldwide. Some 32% viewed automation as critical to rapidly innovating, launching and scaling new services.
Over 90% said they would invest in new operations automation capabilities in the next two years (if they are not doing so already) to overcome the limitations of their existing OSS.
The top issue identified by 72% of respondents was the lack of real-time contextual information for orchestration and assurance. This was closely followed by the prevalence of closed and monolithic systems, cited by over 70% of the execs. Over 50% said their OSS solutions are not capable of handling the proliferation of multiple network technologies and domains.
The survey revealed a strong willingness by CSPs to embrace new OSS solutions and technologies to automate their operations and highlighted several key areas for investment. The top priority, pointed out by 62% of respondents, was closed-loop operations and ‘zero-touch’ lifecycle automation. Additionally, 40% viewed federated inventory and 5G network management solutions as important. This reflects the desire to capture growth opportunities provided by deployment of the latest network technologies.
OSS investment priorities by functionality
Interestingly, 76% of respondents highlighted tighter integration of BSS and OSS as a key priority, indicating strong demand from decision-makers for flow-through service management and monetization capabilities to automate and integrate operations from the user-engagement layer all the way to the network.
The survey results make it clear that in the era of 5G and cloud networks, CSP executives have high and diversified expectations for automation of their service operations and OSS. Next-gen OSS, such as the Amdocs NEO Service & Network Automation Platform, can help CSPs transform these expectations into reality.
Its key capabilities include:
- Business-driven service design, integrated with the commercial catalog for end-to-end service and offer definitions.
- Contextual cross-domain orchestration, integrated with charging for flow-through monetization.
- Real-time, active and federated inventory connected to relevant source systems for an accurate view of all network resources and services across all domains.
- Closed-loop assurance, leveraging rich data sources and using design-time policies and AI including machine learning to support uninterrupted service experiences.
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