Technology Review is a periodical publication of Comarch that presents current industry trends and addresses hot topics regarding the telecommunications market. Featured articles: - Case Study: Grupo TVCable have obtained new flexible back office systems assuring smooth order-to-bill process support - Transformation… what does this mean??? - How to avoid embarrassing challenges in projects – a vendor view - Service Quality and Customer Experience – where customers meet the network - How to transform your BSS to achieve the perfect customer experience - Telework – an unexploited niche for telecom operators?

1. no 1/2011
[13]
The Magazine of Comarch
Telecommunications
Business Unit
www.comarch.com
IN THIS ISSUE:
Customer Spotlight
Multimedia Polska, a multi-service operator,
has a new consolidated BSS
In focus: BSS/OSS Transformation
Transformation… what do you mean?
How to avoid embarrassing challenges in
projects – a vendor view
Hot topic: Aiming for Perfect Customer Experience
Service Quality and Customer Experience – where customers meet
the network

2. COMARCH OSS SUITE
Strategy, Operational, Fulfillment Assurance
Infrastructure & Support & Readiness
Product
OSS Process Management
Management
Customer
SLA Monitoring
Customer Experience Management
Management
Service
Service
Service Inventory Service Quality
Fulfillment Service Monitoring
Management Management
Inventory
Planning
Service
Management
Activation
Network Inventory
Resource
Management
Performance
Fault Management
Management
Auto-discovery & Configuration
Reconciliation Management
OSS Mediation
Field Service Management
COMARCH BSS SUITE
Market/Sales
Self Care Point of Sale Web Portal Corporate Self Care
CRM
Business Process Management & Workflow
Product Management
Central Product Manager
Operational, Support & Fulfillment Assurance Billing
B2B Gateway
Readiness
Application Integration Infrastructure
Customer Management Corporate Self Care
Customer Order
Management Self Care
Convergent Billing
ESB / Integration Bus
CRM
Service Management Voucher & Top-Up Management
Billing Mediation
Active Mediation
Resource Management
Billing Mediation
Master Resource Management
Active Mediation
Supplier/Partner
B2BGW
BPM
PRM InterPartner Billing
Service Control
Policy Management
AAA

3. PREFACE 3
“One company - one service” approach?
ransformation seems to be a permanent state of business-driven payment models and commitment to agile
T business development. During the last decade,
telecom business has been transformed by
development and support in specific countries.
technologies like mobile communication, internet, next There are many things that drive transformation, one
generation networks and by global economic changes like of them are the ever changing demands and needs of end
the digital revolution, the internet bubble, globalization or customers. Currently Customer Experience seems to be
economic downturn. Now, after the phase of geographical what everybody in the telecom industry is talking about.
expansion of global telecom groups, we can observe I was asked by an industry analysts, what I think Customer
a consolidation of valuable assets around strong brands Experience Management really is. Is it only a new expression
and service innovation centers. for gathering more and more data about the customer’s
behavior, service usage patterns, and the correlation of
As a software vendor and integrator we see significant such information with more efficient computers to create
changes in the requirements for BSS and OSS solutions new variants of tariff plans or marketing campaigns? Is
defined by communication service providers. there a BSS or OSS product behind it? We at Comarch see
Customer Experience Management as a part of each mature
Currently, besides requests for specific products we receive business. Telecom and cable operators in Europe and US PIOTR MACHNIK
inquiries for specific OSS architectures, congestion-driven are transforming their IT environments and organizations Comarch SA
customer experience management or consolidation of in order for them to be capable of delivering services Vice President, Product
business processes around central product management cheaper and faster while caring for saving their customers’ Management & Marketing
and around a “one company - one service” approach. time and money, securing their needs for comfort and Telecommunications
professional or personal lifestyles. So from this viewpoint Business Unit
Apart from standard requirements related to functionality, Customer Experience Management is not just a single
performance, compliance with technology and industry product and is far from being merely a buzzword, but it is
standards, we get many requirements for multi-tenancy, rather a way of thinking and a change in business focus that
white labeling, support for daughter companies within can potentially bring huge profits in the long run.
the whole group, centralized management of resources
(like customer premises equipment (CPE) and SIM cards) In this issue we talk about simple and clear metrics like
and processes such as service creation and service rollout. business efficiency measured in dollars and market share,
Additionally for traditional “license + setup + integration” and time to market measured in days, hours and minutes.
delivery models CSPs request long term partnership options, We will also take a look at customer experience from various
points of view. Enjoy the magazine!
Comarch’s offices in Poland: Krakow
Comarch Technology Review is a publication created by Comarch experts and specialists. It is created (HQ), Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan,
to assist our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information about market trends and Katowice, Lodz, Lublin
developments, and the technological possibilities of addressing the most important issues.
Worldwide Offices:
Americas
Panama | Panamá
Editor-in-Chief: Katarzyna Gajewska Technology Review is a free publication available United States of America | Chicago
Europe
katarzyna.gajewska@comarch.com by subscription. The articles published here can be Austria | Vienna
Layout & DTP: Jakub Malicki copied and reproduced only with the knowledge and Belgium | Brussels
Photos: www.fotolia.com Finland | Espoo
consent of the editors. The names of products and France | Lille, Grenoble
Proofreader: Katherine Meus companies mentioned are trade marks and trade Lithuania | Vilnius
Publisher: Comarch SA Germany | Dresden, Frankfurt/Main,
names of their producers. Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Muenster,
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4. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHAT’S NEW
16 The advantages of product catalog-centric strengthened by the dropping prices of mobile
5 News in Brief BSS devices. All of this is pushing traffic in access
In the old times, before barcodes and readers were network to its limits.
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT introduced, product offering and sales processes in
8 Case Study: small grocery stores were quite simple. You would 36 Thriving as Web platform enabler – “beyond
Grupo TVCable have obtained new flexible just stick a price tag to the product and put it on the dumb” pipes
back office systems assuring smooth order- shelf. The customer would then come in, take the The advent of the mobile internet has been
to-bill process support product, and get charged by the person managing a great success, but it also appears to have
Being a market leader comes with specific the cash register. Despite the fact that entering opened Pandora’s box. The tension is even greater
responsibilities. Early on, Grupo TVCable realized prices manually was more time-consuming, at least because the real beneficiaries are over-the top-
that adding VoIP services would address the product offer definition was simple and the offer players like Google, whilst CSPs seem to have been
a growing market need and also entice new was completed in short time. cast the role of “dumb pipe” providers.
customers to sign up for an attractive product
bundle: TV, internet, and telephony (triple-play), but 21 Increase efficiency of order-to-cash 39 How to transform your BSS to achieve the
the introduction of triple-play required new, flexible processes with optimal field service perfect customer experience
back office systems to assure smooth order-to-bill management We live in a world where communications go far
process support while guaranteeing high levels of If you ask telecommunication executives, which beyond voice and SMS. A mobile phone serves for
customer satisfaction. process is crucial for their company’s operations, video streaming, navigation, playing music and
probably most of them will answer that it is the e-mail, and the traditional use of voice and SMS
10 Case Study: order-to-cash or order-to-cash-related process. can account for just a small portion of the total
Multimedia Polska, a multi-service operator, Moreover, if you ask, which one is the most time that a handset is in use. The expansion of
has a new consolidated BSS complex and was recently or is currently planned operators’ service offerings into data services has
Multimedia Polska is a multi-service operator, to be optimized or transformed, the answer would a huge impact on the underlying platform.
established via the consolidation of several be almost always the same.
regional cable TV providers. Prior to the merger, BEYOND BSS/OSS
each company concentrated on its own area of 26 How will you benefit from BSS transformation 44 A new era of tagging
interest, (cable TV, telephony and broadband) How can the strategic goal of any communication Since the very beginning of human civilization
acting independently and within its home region. service provider – increasing the market share people have always had a tendency to mark and
As a result of these acquisitions, MMP has – be achieved practically in mature, saturated label things, which at first was motivated purely
transformed into a nationwide corporation, offering markets with significant competition from by the desire to express ownership but later it
triple-play services throughout Poland with the established players and new entrants? evolved into a way to maintain order and facilitate
need of BSS Consolidation. the management of belongings.
HOT TOPIC: AIMING FOR PERFECT
IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
46 Telework – an unexploited niche for telecom
12 Transformation… what does this mean??? 31 Service Quality and Customer Experience operators?
Throughout the years of designing and delivering – where customers meet the network With the constant progress of communication
IT solutions for telecom operators I have witnessed Customer Experience Management (CEM) may technologies - mobile telephony, Internet, and
many transformations. Telcos were created seem to be a broad term but in practical terms consumer devices like PCs, laptops, netbooks,
as startups, then formed their own business within the area of telecommunications, it refers to tablets, smartphones - it is becoming more and
model and constructed their IT to support their monitoring the stream of transaction records from more possible for people to work from home or other
business yet in the end (after a few years) they a subscriber’s perspective. Is the call setup time locations outside their central office, distribution
accumulated a backlog of unsolvable problems at an acceptable level? Are there places where or production sites. Telework has the potential to
proving unbearable - so they transformed. setting up a GPRS session takes too long? Was transform working patterns and to positively impact
MMS transferring successful? health, safety and the wellbeing of the people
14 How to avoid embarrassing challenges in involved. Telework has the potential to become an
projects – a vendor view 34 Managing network congestion problems with interesting part of any telecom operator’s portfolio.
Without any doubt, embarrassing challenges automated Configuration Management and
happen in projects, especially in IT. In this article SQM TELCOSPHERE BLOG
I will elaborate on the most common and most Communications service providers have created 48 Six issues about the role of BSS in the M2M
important challenges of this kind. a new customer demand for faster, more reliable business model
services and increased network capacity for
their subscribers with the use of smartphone’s 50 Renewal of a mobile subscription – is it
and tablets. This trend has been additionally simple?
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

5. NEWS IN BRIEF 5
News in Brief
Vectra selects Comarch Field
Comarch to shorten Service Management
time-to-market – Product of the Year
Polish multi-play operator, Vectra has selected 2011
Comarch BSS for its core billing, customer
management and self-service platform as well as On the 23rd of March 2011, Comarch received
for field force automation software. the Golden Antenna (“Zlota Antena”) Award
for its Field Service Management system,
Currently, the major challenges facing cable which was acknowledged as “Product of the
operators regarding BSS is the result of the huge Year 2011” in the category Telecom Operator
number of products that have to be managed. As Solutions.
most cable operators are now operating in a multi-
play model, they need to handle various types Comarch Field Service Management has
of services (cable, Internet, voice and mobile) in already been implemented by a number of
a consistent way and with the possibility to create operators including WildBlue Communications
bundles of multiple products. – a satellite internet provider from the US, and
many cable & multi service operators. In 2010,
In addition, multi-channel customer service Comarch started the FSM project for Vectra,
requires a consistent product catalog that needs a Multi-Service Operator based in Poland.
to be exposed to all sales channels, including CSR,
self care and e-shop. The product has also been recognized in
a recent Stratecast (Frost & Sullivan) Report
– “Competition between telecom operators has “OSS/BSS Global Competitive Strategies”
forced us to introduce new products increasingly dedicated to Workforce Management
faster. From a technical perspective we were (WFM) Strategies for Changing Markets
looking for a next generation BSS platform which and Challenging Economics. Comarch FSM
would support us in pursuing a strategy of product is designed to support various types of operators was assessed as a solution that efficiently
innovation, streamlining and facilitating the – including fixed, cable and mobile – and is the optimized skilled resources and schedules
creation of new offers. We were also looking for answer to the requirements of modern multi-play using modifiable and adjustable ratings based
a solution to enable easy creation of personalized, operators. on appropriate business needs.
on-demand offers for specific customers. From
a business point of view, we expected radical Piotr Piatosa, Vice President of the Management Comarch was awarded its first “Antenna” in
improvement of customer service quality and Board and Head of the Telecommunications 1999 for the Tytan Billing System (currently
after the first stage of this project I’m sure that Business Unit, Comarch S.A., claims:- “One of the Comarch BSS Suite). In 2009, a award
Comarchs’ solutions will help us meet our goals. the most advanced elements of our solution for was presented for Comarch Next Generation
Together with Comarch BSS tools we can really Vectra is Comarch Central Product Manager which Service Management, part of the Comarch
become an important player in quad-play services simplifies configuration of offerings associated OSS Suite portfolio, which enables managing
on the Polish market” – Tomasz Żurański, President with particular sales channels and regions. With services and resources in cutting-edge
of the Management Board, Vectra S.A. offers being configured in one place, it is possible telecommunications networks – Next
to radically reduce time-to-market and costs on Generation Networks (NGN). In 2010, Comarch’s
Comarch products being implemented at Vectra the operator’s side. For demanding customers like Service Quality Management System was also
include Convergent Billing, Customer Management, Vectra it is also very important to have Business awarded a Golden Antenna in the category
Self Care, Central Product Manager, Billing Process Management as a part of the solution of Product of the Year / Telecom Operator
Mediation and Field Service Management. All these to allow flexible process configuration and Solutions.
products are a part of Comarch BSS Suite which a possibility of reconfiguration in the future”.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

6. 6 NEWS IN BRIEF
Comarch Rebuilds OXYCOM, a new systems aggregator on
its BSS around the polish market, chooses Comarch’s
Central Product solutions
Manager
In answering the crucial requirements of OXYCOM, the start-up company has decided Bogumil Butryn, Technical Department Director
modern communication service providers, to build a BSS Platform based on Comarch’s at OXYCOM S.A.: - “The experience and skills of
Comarch has rebuilt the architecture of products. According to the agreement, the Comarch’s professionals enabled us to create a
its flagship product suite – Comarch BSS following modules will be implemented: Comarch customized system configuration that allowed
– to support operators in optimizing IT Convergent Billing, Comarch Service Activation, to run optimally with our new services. Thanks to
architectures and cost savings, unlimited Comarch Billing Mediation and Comarch ESB the training at Comarch’s Headquarters, our BSS
innovation, acceleration of business and (Enterprise Service Bus). systems’ administrators can react dynamically on
shortening of time-to-market. the business needs that are evaluated and we can
The project has been up and running since the expand OXYCOM’s offer. The flexibility of Comarch’s
Products within the Comarch BSS Suite have ending of the first phase of the implementation. portfolio allows us to build new rate models, which
been designed and developed in-house, During this stage, main functionalities and are later made available to our customers online.
meaning that CSPs can count on shorter integrations were deployed, which are perceived by The Software on Demand (SoD) or Software as a
delivery times, as well as better quality and OXYCOM as crucial in order to deliver all its services Service (SaaS) market is growing very fast and
more secure deployment, as compared such as VoIP, Software on Demand (SoD), Software so bearing an updated offer in this area has a
to suites from large vendors that arose as a Service (SaaS) and eCommerce platform. substantial meaning.”
as a result of mergers and acquisitions. Currently, the project is in its second stage, during
All BSS products are based on a unified which further functionalities are developed, mainly Piotr Piatosa, Vice President of the Management
data model for reference data and product focused on automation processes and system Board and Head of the Telecommunications
catalog. This provides a short time to market, integration, which will enable OXYCOM to activate Business Unit, Comarch S.A., claims:- “Thanks to
while facilitating system management and its next advanced services. our products from the BSS Suite, OXYCOM has
configuration. Mass and real-time, rule-based a coherent, well-integrated system that allows
data processing is the core of Comarch’s The key component of the implemented solution them to maintain operational and finance areas
competences. This includes service-agnostic is Comarch Convergent Billing, a modern high of their business. The product catalog for all
and multi-industry rating, charging and billing. capacity and scalable billing system which service platforms is worth mentioning, as also the
contains a Central Product Manager with all integration with existing platforms such as eBOK,
Business process orientation based on the products and rates of OXYCOM’s services. CRM or eCommerce.”
TMForum eTOM means that there are no limits The solution also supports partner data
to workflows and business processes, as they management and inter-partner settlements, Scheduled project completion is planned at the
are delivered out-of-the-box or configured customer relationship management, account data end of September 2011.
during the implementation process. It is management along with a full integration with the
always possible to reconfigure business existing CRM system, thanks to Enterprise Service About OXYCOM
processes and workflows to suit particular Bus - Comarch ESB. OXYCOM S.A. is one of the most innovative
needs of the customer. companies from the news technologies and
Comarch Billing Mediation is a fully scalable communications sector in Poland. Its main
Comarch BSS Suite is already implemented at platform, responsible for data collection advantages are: a rich portfolio of modern IT
KPN - Netherlands, Auchan SA - France, Bite distribution, processing and system distribution. services, a well-trained team and flexibility, through
Latvia and Lithuania, OnePhone - Germany, It monitors the elements to which it is connected which OXYCOM is able to adapt to customer needs.
DTMS - Germany, Belize Telemedia Limited - and generates predefined alarms and notifications. Among OXYCOM’s products can be found solutions
Belize, Cable Onda - Panama and many others. Comarch Service Provisioning is responsible for based on the cloud model, voice communications,
In 2010 the following operators also decided fast and reliable service activation along with as well as systems allowing for savings and IT
to use Comarch BSS Suite: GTS Poland, Fring, complete integration with the existing platforms outsourcing. Thanks to a group of experts, OXYCOM
OXYCOM and five others including Tier-1. which provide services. S.A. is able to meet the challenges posed by the
IT market and suggest a solution tailored to his
needs of any client.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

7. NEWS IN BRIEF 7
Comarch Self Care version 6.6 has been launched
Comarch has introduced the new version of its Key improvements introduced in Comarch Self Care Pawel Lamik, CRM and Self Care product manager,
Self Care product, with additional functionalities. 6.6 include: at Comarch’s telecommunications business unit,
Comarch Self Care is a web self-service portal said: – “We are devoted to constantly improving
enabling communication service providers to Ability to define additional user relationships and developing our products based on both
reduce customer service costs and increase in residential and SME segments – customer demand and the innovative ideas of
customer satisfaction. It answers the needs of the e.g. household, family our employees. Our customers – communication
consumer and SME markets, while the Corporate service providers - can now implement a state
Self Care product provides advanced features for User profile advanced management (making of the art self-service portal for end-users
enterprises. it easy for customers to grant suitable rights significantly faster. The new features now
to others) offer even more value to the users in terms of
Comarch Self Care enables consumers and small convenience and flexibility in using the portal.”
businesses to browse their bills and usage, Notifications/escalations – specific alerts can
manage their services, and modify personal be created on the basis of rules or events, e.g. Comarch Corporate Self Care provides online
information without the assistance a call center when a new invoice is created ordering, data management and reporting
agent. It helps service providers get closer to their for corporate customers. It is also a telecom
customers and deliver non-interfering, relevant More automated configuration (added generic expense management solution, increasing the
messages. Comarch Self Care has already overview display and generic contracting, value of a service provider’s offer. Managers of
been implemented at: Bite Latvia and Lithuania, which allows implementation of the system in an enterprise customer can set spending limits
OnePhone, Germany, KPN, The Netherlands, Auchan less than 10 weeks) for their employees and receive notifications
Telecom, France or 6GMOBILE, The Netherlands. when the limit is exceeded. By making use of
Case management and order basket virtual hierarchies, the company can delegate
improvements – possibility of painless responsibility for the management and control
integration with external workflow engine of costs and services to middle and lower
through ESB management.
Comarch successfully delivers its billing cloud to fring,
a global mobile VoIP leader
Comarch signs an agreement with fring, a leader services, in addition to monitoring and reporting real-time AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and
in global mobile VoIP and Video communications, them. The project also involved business partners Accounting), CRM functionalities and services
for a high availability Billing Cloud service. such as G2S and PayPal, as providers of the monitoring.
payment services.
Thanks to the Comarch Billing Cloud, fring has About fring
been able to add fringOut to its services portfolio. – “This is another very important step for Comarch, fring (www.fring.com) is a mobile communication
fringOut lets fringsters call any landline or mobile especially as it concerns our services in the service that gives users internet-rich
in the world from their mobile phone at very cloud model, for such a prestigious customer. It communication from their mobile phones. fring
attractive prices, starting from 1¢/minute. As the proves that our portfolio is both highly rated and members make free video calls, voice calls and
billing service is provided from the Comarch Cloud, trustworthy among players on the telecom market. live chat to friends on the fring network and
the project was completed within a very short We know that real-time billing must be more to other social networks. Users can also make
time. The billing service is provided to multiple fring open to operators, and we are going to meet this almost-free calls to friends and family worldwide
datacenters around the globe. challenge” – highlights Piotr Piatosa, Vice President to any landline or mobile phone from 1c/minute
of the Management Board and Head of the via fringOut. fring leverages the mobile phone’s
The delivered solution covers the entire process Telecommunications Business Unit, Comarch S.A. internet connection to create these communication
of product preparation, allowing defining details experiences. fring is available on all major
of the services offered to customers, providing Comarch Billing SaaS ensures delivering Smartphones (including iPhone, iPod, Android and
and reselling such services over available sales the highest quality services to an operator’s Symbian) on any mobile operator, and any mobile
channels, activating, controlling and billing for such customers. It offers prepaid and postpaid billing, internet connection (3G/4G, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE).
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

8. 8 CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
Grupo TVCable have obtained new
flexible back office systems assuring
smooth order-to-bill process support
Being a market leader comes with specific a subscriber with a unified bill for all services. This would also
T responsibilities. Early on, Grupo TVCable realized
that adding VoIP services would address a growing
simplify the payment handling process. In addition, having
to manage only one billing and customer care platform
COMARCH market need and also entice new customers to sign up for would lower OPEX for Grupo TVCable, while at the same
PRODUCTS an attractive product bundle: TV, internet, and telephony time allowing it to offer specially priced product bundles
& SERVICES: (triple-play). VoIP telephony provided a viable alternative (packages) to its subscriber base. One final challenge was
to traditional fixed telephony for tens of thousands of the transformation of the BSS domain towards process-
Comarch households. But the introduction of triple-play required new, driven and centralized product management, while still
Convergent Billing flexible back office systems to assure smooth order-to-bill being flexible enough to allow for regional offer and pricing
process support while guaranteeing high levels of customer variations to better suit individual local market conditions.
Comarch Cash satisfaction. Moreover, historically Grupo TVCable’s billing
Desk and customer care systems were decentralized, with each
geographical region managing its own local customer base Why Comarch?
Comarch and billing operations. As the company grew, this setup was
Customer becoming very inefficient and difficult to manage. A new “Prior to implementing the Comarch solution, Grupo TVCable
Management system was needed to bring it all under one roof. operated multiple regional back office instances, with
products, pricing, and billing managed locally in separate
Comarch databases and no centralized control. Early on, we realized
Business Process The challenge – multiple systems that if we wished to maintain the rapid growth of our
Management instead of one customer base, the back office systems must be centralized
in order to achieve transparency, consistency, and data
Comarch With the introduction of VoIP telephony, the concept of and process unification across the entire corporation. Yet
InterPartner usage-based billing became a critical issue for Grupo these systems must continue to allow us to stay attentive
Billing (including TVCable. The company had two options: purchase a to regional customer needs. And this is exactly why we
Reconciliation) dedicated standalone VoIP billing system, or a convergent partnered with Comarch. It allowed us to introduce the level
billing system that would support not only VoIP but also of management control which is necessary to streamline
Comarch Billing all its existing services (CATV and internet) as well as new customer acquisition, billing, and support structure. The
Mediation innovative offerings in the future. Although migration to resulting 25% reduction in operating costs allowed us to
a single convergent billing system initially seemed like a offer more attractive pricing while improving our bottom
Comarch Service grueling task, there were obvious long-term benefits of such line.” – acknowledges Fernando Carrillo, VP of Information
Provisioning an approach. The main advantage was the ability to present Technology at Grupo TVCable.
Mediation
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

9. CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT 9
An added benefit of having a unified data model and The ability to manage a unified order-to-bill cycle from
a centralized database is management reporting. The a central location provided Grupo TVCable with the level
solution implemented at Grupo TVCable comes with its own of management control that was previously impossible.
flexible reporting engine which makes it possible to configure Migration and switchover to the new system was performed
and execute periodic and ad hoc reports on the activities gradually, by region, thus unifying all customer account,
of the enterprise, both on a regional as well as a global contract, and financial data across the country and across CUSTOMER
scale. It is now possible to quickly track and report on the the enterprise. Thanks to the underlying Business Process Grupo TVCable,
level of incoming orders, resources needed and consumed Management tool, approximately 40 different workflow Ecuador
during customer installations, technician visits and their processes were configured to simplify tasks and capture
performance, amounts billed, and amounts still outstanding. information which previously was only noted on paper or INDUSTRY
Historical data gathered in the system provides an sometimes not recorded at all, such as information related Communications
important source of information for top management about to technician visits at customer sites. These business
the performance of the company, and helps make better processes range from basic account and contract Grupo TVCable is the
business decisions that will ensure Grupo TVCable’s leading management, adds, moves, changes, equipment swaps, and largest MSO (multi
market position and allow it to offer new innovative products service visits, through more complex resolutions of trouble service operator) in
and services in the future. tickets, and advanced dunning scenarios. Moreover, Grupo Ecuador. The company
TVCable gained a competitive edge as the solution’s flexible was founded in 1986
configuration enabled it to launch new national and regional when the construction
The result – increased operational offers and product bundles with discounted pricing in a of a hybrid fiber co-ax
efficiency thanks to a centralized BSS matter of hours rather than days and weeks. In addition, the cable network linking
solution time needed to connect and begin billing a new subscriber various major cities in
was halved, while the time spent by technicians at customer the country began. In
Preceded by an in-depth requirement analysis, the resulting sites was reduced by nearly 30%. Significant cost reductions 1987, the first subscribers
Comarch BSS Suite implementation provided Grupo TVCable were also achieved by centralizing the IT staff needed to took advantage of Grupo
with a centralized TV, internet, and IP telephony billing and maintain the new BSS solution. Finally, top management can TVCable’s comprehensive
customer care system that was still capable of supporting now obtain accurate, consolidated customer care and billing programming which
regional product offers for the various geographical markets reports in minutes, not days, as was the case in the past. included cultural, family,
in which the company operates. sports, news, movie,
music, and children’s
channels from all over
Billing System Call Center the world. Since then,
the subscriber base
Printhouse Customer Management & has been constantly
Accounting & Taxation Business Process Management
growing as the network
coverage has expanded
Rating & Account Order Trouble
Billing Mgmt Mgmt Ticketing
to reach other parts of
Banks/ Invoices, CDR s, Products/
payments
Services, Prices, the country, and as the
Discounts, Customer
Overdue Bill Callcula- Contracts, CustomerBase product portfolio has
tions & Dunning Data broadened to include
internet access and
Point of Sale InterPartner Billing
Carrier Settlements &
Cash Desk Reconciliation telephony services.
Today, Grupo TVCable’s
delivers high quality
communication,
Mediation Platform
entertainment and
Billing Mediation Service Provisioning Mediation
educational offerings
to its subscribers
nationwide.
Safari C3 soft Intraway AURIS DAC6000 ACC Microwave E-mail
switch Provisioning (pin codes) Digital TV Analog TV controller Controller
Gateway controller controller
cable Legend:
EMTA modems Comarch
solution
Figure 1. Comarch BSS Suite at Grupo TVCable
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

10. 10 CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
Multimedia Polska, a multi-service
operator, has a new consolidated BSS
ultimedia Polska S.A. (MMP) is a multi-service The challenge: a tool for winning price
M operator, established via the consolidation of
several regional cable TV providers. Prior to the
wars
merger, each company concentrated on its own area Multi-service operators face rigorous competition, with
of interest, (cable TV, telephony and broadband) acting diversified geographical intensity. For instance, in some
independently and within its home region. As a result of major cities (or even, in particular streets) multiple operators
these acquisitions, Multimedia Polska S.A. has transformed are present, whilst at other locations, there are none at all.
CUSTOMER into a nationwide corporation, offering triple-play services In order to compete effectively within these areas, operators
Multimedia Polska throughout Poland. aim to vary their pricing and adjust it to local market
S.A. conditions.
INDUSTRY The business need: BSS consolidation Multimedia Polska S.A. was capable of pursuing such
Communications a demanding sales policy, thanks to the Comarch Billing
Consolidation resulted in the requirement for a wave of data System, which grants an operator the ability to define
Multimedia Polska migration efforts from legacy Business Support Systems various “regions”, with independent pricing schemes offered
S.A. is the third largest used by particular daughter-companies, to a single, central to subscribers. Even the smallest of areas can receive its
nationwide cable system capable of handling all regions and services under own tailor-made offer (e.g. a single street perimeter), in this
operator and provider MMP’s jurisdiction. A flexible and complete billing solution way allowing an operator to fine-tune its pricing, and attain
of digital television, was needed to perform the migration seamlessly, and the a competitive advantage over the competition.
with video on demand, Comarch Billing System proved to be the ideal choice.
broadband and mobile This built-in mechanism enables MMP to effortlessly win
data, and fixed-line and Multimedia Polska S.A. decided to perform the migration from regional price wars so typical of the multi-service industry:
mobile voice (mobilFON). the specific systems autonomously, in order to maintain areas penetrated by intense competition can have a lower
We were the first control and confidentiality of the migrated data. Such an price-tag attached with numerous discounts, whereas higher
operator in the country operation would have been unfeasible without the in-depth margins can be enjoyed in “virgin” geographical regions.
to offer High Definition technical knowledge possessed by MMP’s IT personnel,
Television (HDTV) with and thus Comarch delivered this know-how through profound Multimedia Polska S.A. offers triple-play services including:
numerous add-on product training, delivered as part of its solution. This
modalities, such as video approach proved to be highly fruitful, and the customer’s Cable TV
on demand (VoD) and IT department succeeded in migrating a group of regional
personal video recorder operators into the new, centralized system. Tariff plan set-up Broadband Access
(PVR) etc. and overall configuration were performed by MMP, leveraging
for this purpose, a pre-defined API delivered by Comarch. Video On Demand
The company has been
listed on the Warsaw Telephony
Stock Exchange since
2006.
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11. CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT 11
The result: “multi-service” product any changes to the contractual terms, allowing MMP to
bundling dodge potential problems related to financial liquidity or COMARCH
customer dissatisfaction. PRODUCTS
Subscribers can select between single and multiple services & SERVICES:
from the portfolio. Since all services are managed by one
central billing system, discount schemes attached to Why Comarch: many technologies, one Comarch
customer orders can be introduced by MMP. Such discounts billing system Convergent Billing
would apply to either single services, or service bundles
offered at more preferable prices in order to encourage Multimedia Polska S.A. is a dynamic and highly flexible Comarch
subscribers to order more. Even complex formulas are operator. Possessing the relevant technical background, Customer
possible, such as discount thresholds for one service MMP uses various technologies to offer its services: e.g. Management
dependant on the consumption level of another service DSL, HFC, WiFi, etc. Most importantly, independently of the
(Cross Discount). Employing this method, the Comarch Billing technologies in use, all services are now managed by one Comarch Billing
System allows MMP to concentrate purely on the needs of its billing system. This helps to reduce costs and improve daily Mediation
subscribers. operations significantly.
Comarch
The Comarch Billing System, used by MMP as a replacement “We value the Comarch Billing System, due to its Business Process
for the various legacy systems of its daughter-companies, simultaneous comprehensiveness and flexibility. This Management
avoided additional business obstacles deriving from platform has seamlessly replaced various legacy systems,
diversification of payment days for particular subscribers, and is currently used to bill all our services. In addition, we Comarch Cash
which had been introduced by previous architecture. Some enjoy the benefits of the new functionality it has provided us Desk
subscribers would pay in advance, while others had down- with, enabling the initiation of successful product bundling
payment plans defined within previous systems. MMP and pricing policy.” – states Mr. Krzysztof Jaskolski, CTO of
needed to maintain this configuration within the new system, Multimedia Polska S.A.
in light of the fact that attempting to unify payment schemes
for all subscribers may have led to customer churn or cash- Moreover, the nationwide scale of MMP’s business requires
flow disadvantages for the operator. Comarch tackled this the operator to maintain adequate technical support
issue by featuring the individual configuration of payment resources (i.e. to perform on-site installation services).
plans – whereby the payment day can be customized for In this way, MMP employs the Comarch WorkFlow task
each subscriber, separately. management system, which is integrated with the billing
platform, also automating the majority of task management
In this manner, data migration was performed transparently efforts, improving daily performance even further.
for the subscribers, and there was no requirement to force
General Ledger Billing System Call Center
Printhouse Overdue Bill Customer Management
Commissions & Business Process
Calculations &
Calculating Dunning Management
Debt Collection
Agency
Accounting & Customer Contacts,
Data warehouse Invoices, CDR s, Products/ Prospects, Workflows
Taxation Services, Prices,
Discounts, Customer
Bank Contracts, Customer Base
Rating & Data
Others
Billing
ESB
Resource
Management NOC /
provisioning
Billing Mediation
Voice Exchanges VoIP Gateways VoD Sources Others
Legend:
Comarch
solution
Figure 1. Comarch solution in MM environment
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12. 12 IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
Transformation…
what does this mean???
hroughout the years of designing and delivering platforms, employees of different group members will still
T IT solutions for telecom operators I have witnessed
many transformations. Telcos were created
be organized differently and they will use these platforms in
their unique ways.
as startups, then formed their own business model and
constructed their IT to support their business yet in the end
(after a few years) they accumulated a backlog of unsolvable So what is this “Business
problems proving unbearable - so they transformed. Transformation”?
A question comes to mind… they went through Business Transformation, i.e. changing the way of doing
a transformation, but what does this mean? Usually they business. Thus, Business Transformation is about changing
would have transformed their aging IT, having it replaced with organization, changing business processes, changing
a new more powerful and flexible package. patterns of interactions and somewhere at the bottom of
TOMASZ OMIECINSKI the whole process, adjusting IT in order for it to match new
Comarch SA And so a second question springs to mind: did that solve realities (where “adjusting” is most often just an euphemism
Senior Manager, the accumulated backlog problem? Well, typically it would for “replacing”).
Convergent BSS/OSS Solutions, have solved IT- related problems, but… problems which
Telecommunications Business were caused outside of IT still remained, regardless of how Business Transformation is much more than just changing IT.
Unit many times IT itself was transformed. Furthermore, if IT was However, changing IT may be the best known and controlled
transformed but business was not changed, then soon element of all transformation aspects. After all, IT has been
enough the old patterns of doing business would start to changed, modified or transformed many times in the lifetime
IDEAS IN BRIEF: imprint old problems onto new IT. of any mature CSP, so they know how to avoid typical
mistakes.
Not all problems So is there a way of solving the unsolvable through
can be solved by transformation? Yes there is. Business Transformation is the Business Transformation is difficult as it requires changing
changing IT correct answer. an employees’ way of working, changing their habits,
re-distributing responsibilities, changing organization
All problems The right time for Business Transformation comes naturally charts (and in turn –titles and positions). This means that
can be solved with the maturity of the telecommunications industry. Telcos the first and most important thing that is needed for such
by transforming were formed years ago, through the course of this time a transformation is the commitment of the executives, i.e.
business they grew, acquired other telcos or were acquired (some the effective decision makers. When an organization is being
even many times over) to finally end up in multi-technology changed, vigorous disputes are held (“I want my team left
Changing business groups. Nowadays, large telcos are often organized intact”), generating endless e-mail chains that are bound
business affects as multiple companies doing more or less the same things, to occur and could well impact the transformation. Unless
an organization’s but using different means and bravely solving problems that Management is prepared to use all of their executive powers
structure, end to they uniquely and unpredictably bring upon themselves. to firmly tell their employees “We are transforming and that
end processes It is worth noting that even if a group itself standardizes IT means that you are transforming too”.
and IT
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13. IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION 13
OK, let’s get started…but how? A second opinion should also be taken into How will the transformation
account, and rather than going for a theoretical efforts pay off?
Gaining commitment will not be possible if there consulting view, it would be better to choose an
is no concrete transformation plan, which must experienced IT partner who would share their 1. It is THE way to free the CSP from the backlog
clearly define to what and how the business will experiences in this area. What we mean is an of problems accumulated throughout the
transform. As it is often easier to setup a new IT partner that has already delivered complete years.
business than to transform a mature organization, business support suites on its own to a number
the creation of such a plan must not be taken of CSPs. An IT partner who has built up its own 2. It is THE way to re-compose business,
lightly. The difficulty is in defining transformation portfolio of best practices and standardized preparing it for new challenges.
plans which grow with the size of the business systems in real-life projects. This is one of
undergoing the transformation. In this context, circumstances where multi-vendor solutions 3. It is THE most comprehensive way to
transforming multi-market & multi-country delivered by multiple integrators truly fail. Multi- effectively invigorate a mature organization
businesses into a single “pan-geographical party deliveries do not allow a party to build to make it competitive and ready to race
business unit” elevates the challenge to yet up practice in running end-to-end business head-to-head with those who have not been
another level. processes, navigating them through various burdened with years of bad experiences.
organizations and effectively supporting them in
So how does one climb such a mountain? Well, different IT systems.
one way is to hire a leading consulting company, Why am I telling you all this?
which would provide thousands of hours of
services. As a result, a detailed report would be What does it take to execute the I am currently taking part in a transformation
filed that would summarize all of the existing transformation? program – a multi-market and multi-country
problems and would hold a list of means to Business Transformation. Comarch is supporting
address them. The report would leave the decision 1. The management’s commitment and it not only with BSS/OSS Suite components, but
to the operator and each of the possible “ways out” readiness to defend the program against provides CSPs with access to experience gathered
would be accompanied with tens (if not hundreds) people who are prepared to go all the way to in previous projects.
of pros and cons to make the decision process a derail the transformation in order to protect
little bit “easier”. After drawing up such a report CSP their old ways. The transformation is tiresome, the amount of work
will not differ from where it started, apart from the is phenomenal (as I said, complexity grows quickly
fact that now it would have a “summary problem 2. Strength and dedication, never minding the with the size of the business undergoing the
report” – which could make it easier to explain to sleepless nights when forming and then transformation), yet I am personally proud that we
people that the problems exists and have to be executing transformation plan. A plan that are the IT partner supporting the transformation,
addressed. has to be sound and robust if it is to result in and it is my privilege to work with people who have
the management’s “GO” call. the right attitude and show admirable commitment
Is there another way? Well, the operator could to actually making things happen. People who
go back to the good old TMF eTOM to decompose 3. Exquisite program/project management skills have prepared the plan and took their executives
its Frameworx (especially the Business Process in order to execute the plan in a controlled message seriously. People who have organized
Framework – in its brand new Release 9 of course) manner, knowing that the transformation will themselves in multiple streams and work tirelessly
taking it apart in order to reconstruct the CSP’s span across multiple levels, and will happen on “seemingly unrelated” paths, all of which lead to
own business like a jigsaw puzzle. One should also in multiple parallel streams that will affect the one common goal. People who have embarked on
bear in mind all of the past experiences in order whole organization. a climb of the “transformation mountain”, no matter
to avoid missing some aspects that have been what it takes.
inadequately dealt with before. Surprisingly as it 4. And last but not least – an IT partner. Yes,
may sound, although multi-market transformations “IT partner” and not “IT vendor”. Business Perhaps in one of the next issues of this magazine
present additional challenges, they also bring Transformation requires an IT partner who will I will be able to present how this transformation
big advantages as they allow to combine multi- be prepared to be there with the CSP in the was actually carried out and how it transformed
party and multi-country experiences into a single long run. A partner who is ready to support the businesses involved. As of now I can only say
business setup. the transformation planning process a long that if you are tired of old problems that reoccur
time before IT delivery starts. A partner with over and over again, regardless of the times IT has
goals that reach far beyond selling licenses or been changed – don’t be scared and go all the
man days of work. way, follow the Business Transformation path.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

14. 14 IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
How to avoid embarrassing challenges in
projects – a vendor view
ithout any doubt, embarrassing challenges the users to switch to the new solution which would enable
W happen in projects, especially in IT. In this article
I will elaborate on the most common and most
them to work more efficiently.
important challenges of this kind. What was the root cause for all these issues? It was only
after a few months that we found out that a project owner
The conclusions, which can generally be drawn from this was not defined on the customer side. This is definitely
article, are based on the completion of five large OSS projects the most difficult kind of challenge, as the vendor cannot
for the largest players on the telecom market. These projects really change it. In this case, management was obviously
have consumed a combined total of more than 18 years in not supporting our project, limiting resources as much as
their collective completion. Thousands of man days have possible and handing over the overall responsibility to us.
been invested, with circa two hundred team members, just So, we just presented our expectations concerning project
by Comarch alone. management and put a lot of effort to contact users: Webex
MAREK CIENKIEWICZ sessions were organized to demonstrate system capabilities
Comarch SA and they convinced some users but still, Comarch was
Implementation A lack of a project owner on the the one taking the risk of making technical decisions,
Department Manager, OSS customer’s side influencing system acceptance in a negative way.
Core, Telecommunications
Business Unit Let’s take a look at the first case. After the initial
implementation was finished, the first worrying signs Imprecise definition of project
started to appear during prototyping sessions: future users requirements and scope
complained about a number of functionalities. They said,
IDEAS IN BRIEF: that the system was not designed in a way that would suite The next challenge is, in my opinion, very common and
their current work, and that they would prefer to stick with has been present in a greater or lesser extent in almost all
Defining project their current solutions. This tendency was becoming stronger projects. Project scope is usually based upon the customer’s
owner is the clue and stronger. Nevertheless, as a result of the management’s request for proposal (RFP), the vendor’s offer and results
decision, the next project phases were already defined. of an analysis. Some project assumptions were taken
Precise definition of Unfortunately, the customer had not yet assigned a project from the offer and due to several reasons (lying on both
requirements and manager or a technical manager able to make a binding sides) analysis was not detailed enough. This resulted in
scope decision on the project scope. The project team existed, but misunderstandings regarding the scope of the work and
no clear responsibilities were assigned to customer’s team revealed its full effect during acceptance tests. Questions
Correct project members. As a result, nobody really encouraged the end appeared: is this particular feature “in scope” vs. “not in
organization users to take advantage of our system – and consequently, scope”? Such doubts may seriously endanger system
they did not show interest either. Management didn’t push acceptance.
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15. IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION 15
The reason was simple: imprecise definition of requirements One of the key means to overcome this is to set up a project
and scope – a difficult challenge to deal with. First, you communication plan specifying who can communicate with
must convince the customer to define his requirements whom, when and by what means. Being introduced by a pro-
precisely (which is already a challenge when dealing with big active project manager, the plan guarantees success – at
enterprises): either by doing so in advance, before the project least in project organization.
starts (even more challenging), or by participating in the
creation of the work scope during analysis. Precise wording A project without challenges is not exciting. Therefore it is
in offers is self-evident. not the challenges that we should focus on, but rather the
way to deal with them. Having right means in place and time
A very interesting solution for this problem has a commercial is what we should concentrate on. This is the reason why
nature: the analysis may be ordered separately to the project management methodologies have been developed.
implementation. This offers advantages for both sides. The The Project Management Institute (PMI), PRINCE 2 and
customer gets exactly what it wants for a reasonable price, Scrum are the most common in the IT world. There should
because the vendor does not have to assume a higher be no struggle to introduce changes in the strict approach.
implementation budget for risk coverage – as the scope In one of our projects we achieved very interesting effects
is known. Unfortunately, customers resist to accept this by setting up the base of project management on a formal
proposal, especially at the project start. They prefer to have methodology, like PMI or PRINCE 2, and use Agile/Scrum
a fixed price for the entire scope and not risk – as they think – elements to a required extent in chosen project phases
wasting money on analysis which could lead to “nowhere”. such as analysis and specific configuration of software
(which were combined into one phase). Such an approach
enables to create a product in a flexible way, fulfilling
Incorrect project organization customer requirements much faster in comparison to
a strict waterfall-like management style. The project team
The last embarrassing challenge, which is wide spread, can reacts quicker to changes and the customer observes the
sometimes be seen in the tiniest elements. Team members progress of product development in regular, relatively short
are not prepared for workshops or testing, the training intervals, of a maximum of two-three weeks. During this
environment is not prepared or firewall rules are not set. time, organizational, reporting and commercial framework of
Questions are answered after a significant amount of time, the project remains according to traditional methodologies,
due to lack of interest or communication issues. Such signs which is beneficial for the customer and us.
can be easily neglected by project managers because they
might think they belong to “normal” issues or depend on
the customer and as such are the vendor’s concern. This
is not always the case. The issue here is incorrect project
organization.
A project without challenges is not exciting. Therefore it is not the challenges that we
should focus on, but rather the way to deal with them.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011

16. 16 IN FOCUS: BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
BSS/OSS TRANSFORMATION
The advantages of product
catalog-centric BSS
n the old times, before barcodes and readers were Challenge 1 – difficulties in managing
I introduced, product offering and sales processes
in small grocery stores were quite simple. You
multiple systems
would just stick a price tag to the product and put it on the The operators that have existed on the market for many
shelf. The customer would then come in, take the product, years may have products defined and maintained in multiple
IDEAS IN BRIEF: and get charged by the person managing the cash register. systems from different vendors. One billing system handles
Despite the fact that entering prices manually was more mobile services, another deals with fixed line telephony
The disadvantages time-consuming, at least the product offer definition was services, and yet another is for cable TV services. All these
of having multiple simple and the offer was completed in short time. systems need to support sales-related applications such
product catalogs as CRM, a self care portal and a point of sale system.
In the telecom business, the situation also used to be much A customer service agent should use the same CRM
How Comarch simpler then it is today. Nowadays, product offers and applications for mobile, fixed and cable TV services, so the
approaches BSS definitions consist of many different elements including sales-related applications need to be able to use all the
transformation in price, target group, distribution channel and offer validity product data that has been scattered across many systems,
terms of a product time. And since an operator often has thousands of products and present this data in a unified format.
catalog-centric created, managed and offered by multiple departments,
architecture managing the product portfolio may become very complex Developing a telecom operator’s business (adding new
and ineffective. This drawback grows even greater, as business models, entering new regions, involving in mergers
What impact can product lifetimes get shorter (e.g. promotions / personalized & acquisitions) calls for the addition of new systems,
a product catalog prices) and the number of product variations keeps growing. databases, terminologies, data structures and new levels
have on customer of information quality. As a result, the operator has multiple
experience The situation can be better pictured from the end-customer’s data models for products managed in various systems. The
perspective. A customer notices an offer about a new old BSS system that handles fixed line services may not be
smartphone with attractive, low monthly fees. He goes to as flexible as the new system that handles mobile service
a point of sale and wants to purchase the smartphone with offerings.
a mobile broadband service. The dealer enters the order
into the system and tells the customer the estimated time If the old and new systems are using different terminologies
when the service will become active. The estimated time to describe the same things, systems cease to “speak the
comes, but the service doesn’t become active. As a result, same language”. In turn, the people working with product
the customer gets frustrated and returns the smartphone to data (e.g. product managers and call center agents), who
the point of sale. Then he goes to another operator’s point need to get an overview of product status, face difficulties
of sale, where he buys a similar smartphone and gets the in obtaining the information they want. This increases the
service activated in one hour. What went wrong? amount of time-consuming manual work, entailing more
costs and errors in the service delivery process. Bringing new
services into the market using a platform with no common
Comarch Technology Review 01/2011