TM Forum Online Community

Bring back Don Quixote!

The Insider — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:32:00 GMT

Overbearing regulation has reared its ugly head once again, this time in Singapore. There the regulator (IDA) has fallen back on rules from a past monopolistic era formulated for a PTT that had a sole duty to provide service 99.999 per cent of the time as a matter of national security and to meet obligations to its customers. Today’s telecoms market in Singapore is truly over-serviced with three mobile networks catering to a population of 5 million people on an island of only 704 sq km (272...(read more)

The Emperor's New Clothes

The Insider — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:42:00 GMT

The Insider was today reminded of the tale of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes.’ You surely remember it? A vain Emperor who cares for nothing but his appearance and attire hires two tailors who are really swindlers that promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "just hopelessly stupid". The Emperor cannot see the clothes himself, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position; his ministers...(read more)

OTT Times Two

John Reilly — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:18:00 GMT

Last week I was in Calgary, Alberta, Canada doing some teaching. What a variety of food choices for a city that is not very large …and all of them were superb. Indian one night, true Neapolitan pizza another, Irish pub food, and one over the top dish at an Italian restaurant situated in an old house in the downtown area. The dish was linguine with baby clams and a fantastic red sauce. I love clams this way and it was the best version of this dish I have ever had. And a great Caesar salad with just enough anchovies…take a look at…http://www.abruzzoristorante.com/index.html.

My Abruzzo Ristorante experience got me thinking about a discussion in which I was involved a few weeks ago about OTT providers. One individual involved in the discussion commented that providers/operators (referred to as providers from this point forward) who offer internet connectivity “hated” OTT providers (referred to as OTT from this point forward). Quite a strong negative comment! He further commented that OTTs get a free ride on top of internet connectivity. Taking this view can be seen as offering very little incentive for providers to invest in enhancing their networks…lots of cost for no return…quite dismal for all of us.

This got the group talking about the fact that OTT content offered providers a number of opportunities. First, a provider could also be an OTT. But there is a lot of competition already in this arena. How can a provider compete with Amazon and other well-entrenched OTTs? We didn’t conclude that they couldn’t, but it would require something innovative on the part of providers. We rejected the opportunity to for revenue sharing with an OTT provider. An OTT could certainly state that the provider is already obtaining revenue for the internet connectivity.

We looked at other opportunities for providers to leverage their network assets. One that has been exploited is varied price plans for connectivity based on the amount of data downloaded/streamed. And other opportunities exist. What about mining the type of OTT content being viewed. For example, if a subscriber is downloading a lot of videos a video finding service could be offered by the provider.

Another opportunity has to do with a form of parental control. Some parents like to limit the sites that their children can visit. By taking this a bit further providers could offer limited (a la carte) access services to certain internet sites, such as Facebook, selected by their parents for young subscribers.

Some things to think about and there are certainly more.

Off to Management World Dublin next week. Until next time…seeya!

Build it and they will come - maybe

The Insider — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:26:00 GMT

Something strange is happening in countries leading the way with national broadband network (NBN) rollouts – very few customers seem interested in taking up the service. Shocking statistics coming out of Singapore indicate that despite more than 83 per cent of buildings being fiber-enabled there is only an 8 per cent take-up rate. In parts of Australia where the NBN has been fired up it’s even less at 1 per cent. Even the most diehard skeptics would not have forecast such pathetic numbers...(read more)

What do mobile operators and used car salesmen have in common?

The Insider — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:23:00 GMT

Why is the mobile industry, particularly in developed markets, getting such a bad rap lately? What do we have to do to get customers to love us? Aren’t we doing everything to deliver them speed, voice clarity, reliability and connectedness? What more do they want, blood? According to Sprint Nextel CEO, Dan Hesse, it’s not enough. Citing figures from the Reputation Institute Pulse Index annual survey during his keynote at the CTIA he stated that the wireless industry is one of the least...(read more)

From burning platform to sinking ship....

The Insider — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:22:00 GMT

The Nokia rumor mill is running hot again. This time Reuters is asking the same question we were all asking over year ago – will Microsoft buy out (or bail out) Nokia if things continue along their current path. When he took over the reins, CEO Stephen Elop likened Nokia’s situation to standing on a burning platform, and it appears little has changed since then. He hasn’t exactly stood still since that time but many of his decisions have been met with derision from industry pundits...(read more)

Apple on way to becoming an MVNO?

The Insider — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:05:00 GMT

“Apple will provide wireless service directly to its iPad and iPhone customers. First, Apple will sell data packages bundled with iPads. Then it will sell data and international roaming plans to iPhone customers through the iTunes Store. And in time — sooner than many think — Apple will strike wholesale deals with several mobile operators so that Apple can provide wireless service directly to its customers, as Apple Mobile.” So says Whitey Bluestein, a seasoned telecom veteran...(read more)

Data revenues are up, but at what cost?

The Insider — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:59:00 GMT

Could this be a sign that data is actually starting to pay for itself? Sprint Nextel, the third largest mobile operator in the USA, has reported that its customers are spending more on data plans than they did a year ago. In fact, the average monthly customer bill was up 6.6 per cent to $59.98. The rise, it seems, came from smartphone data plans. Of course, it is probably too early to start shouting from the rooftops, but the trend is positive and it seems customers are willing to pay a fair price...(read more)

Dreaming of eTOM L2s

John Reilly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:55:00 GMT

Last week I was in China again. Had a new food experience along with some infamous Chinese white wine. I believe this is a misnomer because this variety of wine has 42% alcohol! I also had a new food adventure, sampling chicken leg joints. It’s the joint between the chicken’s lower leg and upper leg. Tiny but flavorful. I couldn’t find a recipe, so maybe one of you can help me out.

Sometimes when I eat a new and exotic form of food strange dreams follow that night…or maybe it was the “white wine”. Whatever, that night as I slept, visions of eTOM Level 2 (L2) process elements were rolling around in my dreams.

I saw multiple levels of L2s, similar to other process models with which I have worked in the past as opposed to the single level that exists in the eTOM today. The multiple levels of L2s were a bit vague for me to remember exactly, but on the trip home I started thinking about them. When I say multiple levels of L2s, I mean mulitple levels of core processes. Is there only one level of them, or can there be more? So, I started looking at the eTOM descriptions, and found quite a few examples of possible multiple levels.

On that came to mind first was based on an eTOM discussion from a few weeks ago about the L3 (actually) Manage Logistics process element in the Operations process area. Here is the link to the discussion… http://www.tmforum.org/community/groups/information_framework_sid/forum/t/171857.aspx.

Part of the description states “The responsibility of the Manage Logistics processes is twofold - manage and control warehousing, stock management, physical distribution and transport of purchased resources and consumable goods…” Later on the description states “These processes are responsible for the internal operational processes associated with managing a warehouse including aspects such as yard management, dock management, pick management, etc. These processes track all goods stored in the warehouse from the time of inward delivery to outwards dispatch….”.

To most enterprises, Logistics, or Resource Logistics, is a core process, not a task-level process as implied by its name. So are the implied lower level processes which includes warehousing. Going further in the description warehousing appears to decompose into another level of core processes: yard management, dock management, pick management, and others implied by the “etc.” in the description.

It seems that Manage Logistics could be promoted to a L2 core process, decomposed into another level of core processes, and at least one of them decomposed into another level of core processes.

Here is a visual of the decomposition:

Now some people may say “it’s just a naming issue”. But, it’s not. A core process achieves a significant business goal by managing the life cycle of a key business entity, typically a L1 ABE. A task-level process manages a small number of life cycle states of entities into which the ABE decomposes. I can see life cycles of a lot of key entities in Logistics, many of which should be added to the Information Framework (SID).

That takes us to the SID and into Strategy, Infrastructure, and Product. The Product Offering L1 ABE decomposes into a number of L2 ABEs, including a few that deal with Product Offering Prices. So perhaps the L2 process Product & Offer Development & Retirement decomposes into at least two core processes, one that manages the life cycle of the offering itself and one that manages the life cycle of prices.

On to Operations Support & Readiness processes. This category of processes does not have to be present in an adaptation of the eTOM. We teach that the processes can be re-categorized to one of the other applicable verticals. For example, and I won’t include entire excerpts from its description, but part of the description of Support Selling implies the management of sales channels, often referred to as Sales Force Administration, and managing leads, often referred to as Lead Management. It seems these are two core processes into which Selling would decompose in addition to its existing decomposition. Perhaps these should be promoted to first level core processes themselves. And, Sales Force Administration, if a current eTOM change request would be implemented, could be decomposed further into core process elements such as the management of the sales force, of sales territories, of sales quotas, of sales commission/bonus plans, of sales commissions/bonuses, and of sales contests. Each of these are candidate L2 ABEs decompositions of the Sales Channel L1 SID ABE.

The implication of multiple levels of core processes means that core processes can appear at level 2 and below and task-level processes do not always begin to appear in the decomposition at level 3 (L3).

The dream continues into many other areas of the eTOM…

Something to think about as the eTOM evolves!

Off to San Diego next week...staying “in country”. Until next time…seeya!

Wi-Fi invented in Australia - and that's not all!

The Insider — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:41:00 GMT

Australia has claimed many firsts in its relatively short history. Some you have probably never heard of, many you wouldn’t care about such as the invention of the world’s first rotating, height-adjustable outdoor clothes drying device called a Hills Hoist or the delectable culinary and gastronomic delight essential at every Aussie breakfast table and sandwich bar – Vegemite! Big deal, I hear you say? OK then, Australia invented Wi-Fi and I bet you didn’t know that. It is...(read more)