Why BSS Matters in the Telecom
While many brands claim that simplicity is the key to commercial success, this statement lacks context. In turn, this mindset eventually locks on two goals: gain new customers and expand the network to repeat the process. However, many brands failed to perform in the long term due to the narrow view of the disruptive impact of technologies on telecommunication products. Service providers must be attentive to upcoming challenges, where a business support system gains an instrumental role in achieving marketing objectives.
The Latest Industry Trends
It is possible to describe the current time as a golden age of telecommunication, where investors and CEOs can capitalize on related products and services. The report expects a tremendous growth of 16.3% from 2023 to 2030 regarding the digital business support system market. In this context, tech companies can design solutions to meet the needs of the changing telecom industry. New technologies continue to challenge providers in rebuilding their infrastructure or optimizing the existing components to shape the competitive edge of their services. The announced introduction of Wi-Fi 7 is one of the recent examples of how new communication standards will stress the current players.
Exploring the Connection Between Strategic Vision and BSS
At the same time, companies must fundamentally reshape their vision and how they will adapt to these changes. Revisiting the importance of a support system for business denotes an initial step in reinforcing the brand and enhancing the network performance. Indeed, operational support systems and business support systems are inseparable components of the telecommunication infrastructure, and it is important to design a balanced approach to their optimization. The focus on BSS stems from the problem of undermining the platform’s role in customer satisfaction and perception of services due to the overemphasis on the network’s technical aspects and challenges.
What is BSS? The Essentials
BSS is an embedded element in the telecom entrepreneurial model, which includes software and hardware necessary for maintaining the service delivery process. One of the examples that illustrates the application of BSS, is how customers can manage their accounts, tariff plans, and billing. Moreover, the business support system is responsible for customer support and how the client can reach the provider to resolve the issues. This simplified perspective describes how BSS impacts the service quality on the customer’s side. From personalized experience to service availability, this system has a determining role in shaping the face of the telecom provider.
Strategic Functions of BSS
On the other side, providers use BSS as an instrument for analytics, decision-making, monetization, and product management. A business support system in telecom constitutes a source of action and empowerment through the management of customer relationships and service delivery methods. From the entrepreneurial perspective, BSS makes it possible to launch innovative products by implementing new solutions and technologies. The upgraded telecom business support system will correspond to market trends and customer expectations essential for business profitability.
Four Pillars of BSS
Similarly to OSS, BSS has four pillars that constitute a foundation of managerial decision-making and marketing. Newcomers and investors must acknowledge that the BSS billing system is only one of the many functions of the platform, and it is essential to learn these integral components to develop a better understanding of BSS operations. These system aspects are instrumental in maximizing the monetization of services.
1. Revenue Management
This pillar ensures revenue accuracy, and BSS utilizes software and hardware components to bill and charge the funds for the ordered or consumed product. Additionally, integrating different payment methods is an important aspect of revenue management. An illustration of these processes can be the streaming of the video presentation, where the BSS billing system calculates the traffic in real-time and adjusts the corresponding tariff. If the client exceeds a certain threshold, the provider can apply a discount for the service.
2. Customer Management
This pillar overlaps with the previous one, and the provider analyzes customer data to design new services or fitting plans to retain the customer. By tracking the history and preferences of the telecom business support system, the company can design and offer a unique bundle for the client to meet his needs. For example, a provider sells traffic to a business company that actively sends its agents to different countries, and roaming becomes an indispensable part of this journey. Customers can receive a unique offering by purchasing international call packages for frequent travelers for a reasonable price.
3. Product Management
In contrast to customer and revenue management, the next pillar centers on the production and distribution of new innovative products and telecom solutions. This process involves engineering the service’s life cycle and implementing new technologies to create a unique brand’s market value. In the hypothetical scenario, a BSS business support system introduces a unique 6G gaming plan with low latency and high-speed internet, and this product targets gaming lounges and e-sports arenas in addition to gamers. This example can include the promotion campaign, namely discounts for signing-ups in the first month after the product launch.
4. Order Management
This pillar handles order processing and subscription management. For instance, the customer used a mobile phone app to order additional traffic and increase the connection speed for a month. This component of a support system for business automates the request and then routes it to the network configuration system. The order management function in BSS ensures that the user can see the change account without delays.
How to Craft Ultimate Telecom Solution
To build a competitive telecom brand, investors and CEOs should understand the emerging disruptive technologies and the basics of how the infrastructure operates to deliver the product. The rise of Large Language Models (LLM) already surpassed the AI capabilities of generating and processing texts. In this context, service providers must learn how to implement this technology to improve decision-making or engineer tech solutions to improve the overall network performance through LLM integration in the BSS business support system. Chatbots in customer support can significantly contribute to the quality of services and reduce the time spent on resolving financial or technical issues.
Other Important Factors to Consider
Nevertheless, a telecom solution may include the integration of streamlined operations or new customer management frameworks that correspond to the latest standards set by the digital business support system market. The interconnectedness of OSS and BSS in incorporating tools like pricing configurators, telecommunications sales software, and fault management systems requires a system approach to modernization. In addition to the network’s readiness, it is crucial to plan the adjustment of BSS to the new features, enabling the telecom brand to optimize processes from pre-sales to post-sales support.
Current Challenges and Tech Issues
Ignoring the optimization of a business support system will fail to access new revenue streams and possibilities of capitalizing on the introduction of disruptive technologies. This problem is relatable to the case of AI hype. Brands tend to misunderstand the complexity of technology while neglecting how to integrate and configure AI-based tools to contribute to their business. Moreover, the integration of innovative tech solutions is only the initial step in getting close to success, and the business support system in telecom companies is instrumental in making informed decisions.
Why a BSS Is a Game-Changer for Telecom Business
With the rise of new technologies and communication standards, telecom brands can diversify the traditional ways of utilizing a business support system to fulfill their goals. With the rise of AI-powered tools, a company can automate invoicing, use advanced analytics with forecasting, and develop autonomous pricing models that will adjust tariffs or offer new bundles by predicting consumption patterns. These utilizations allow the provider to lower costs on managerial operations by optimizing the workload. A business support system in telecom maintains regulatory compliance and security to safeguard customer’s rights and interests.
Must-Have Features of a Cutting-Edge BSS
Automated billing and payment processing, customer and product management, and technical infrastructure monitoring have become a requirement to match the competition and the increasing pace of technological advancement. A modern BSS business support system must include the mentioned capabilities to revitalize sales and brand performance. Moreover, network readiness stems from the comprehensive analytics supported by BSS. With the spread of 5G, a digital business support system market highlights an urgent need to revise a telecom network management system, mediation systems, and APIs to ensure efficient integration with existing platforms.
OSS vs. BSS: Reviewing the Key Differences
An OSS/BSS system in a telecom network represents a fully functional framework, where OSS is responsible for the technical aspects of the operations. In turn, OSS keeps the network healthy and deals with the problems related solely to infrastructure and maintenance operations. Thus, OSS ensures the smooth performance of telecom networks by delivering the marketed products without interruptions and delays. In contrast, a business support system performs activities that reflect marketing and sales operations by handling customer-facing activities such as billing, order management, and customer service.
OSS/BSS in Telecom: The Dynamic Duo Driving Innovation
OSS and BSS solutions must maintain the integrity of the telecom infrastructure to ensure the best outcomes. Their functions can be summarized as follows:
- BSS boosts customer engagement and revenue management.
- OSS is a tool for executing service agreements.
- OSS embeds the new network architecture and handles speed optimization regarding innovations like 5G.
- A BSS provisioning system manages pricing strategy and service activation with OSS platforms.
- BSS and OSS create a synergy, which comprises a telecom organization’s ability to deliver cutting-edge products.
Therefore, the OSS/BSS system should offer solutions to achieve an organic transition to the new standards without compromising the business goals.
Is There a Perfect BSS?
The BSS upgrading issue stems from the traditional view of technology as a universal solution to all entrepreneurial challenges. In turn, BSS will not handle the marketing and sales operations without the necessary resources and system configuration. Developing a business support system in telecom may require the help of a tech company that will lend its expertise to overcome these challenges. Such solutions will make integrating the latest tools with legacy OSS/BSS systems possible while supporting modern requirements like cloud operation and API connectivity.
Do Not Believe the Hype: Understanding Technology’s Limitations
The global transformations in economy and business are a lasting process, which still requires years to come into effect. The Google company invested $1 billion in a new UK data center to maintain its cloud infrastructure with the latest AI-driven tools, including LLM. Some of these innovations will require sufficient resources and infrastructure to make them fully operational, which is affordable to a few corporations. This case is comparable to the expectation that a new BSS provisioning system will automatically generate revenues without additional efforts and risks.
Digital Transformation and Its Impact on BSS
Entrepreneurs should perceive these fluctuations and transformations as a part of an everlasting process that will continue to change. The fully functioning SMART city, for example, must have unprecedented levels of connectivity, and have power plants to supply this complex and large architecture. Setting achievable and realistic goals is an essential step in the successful update of a BSS business support system. Some innovative technologies will become available to providers, though these software and hardware products will stress the infrastructure readiness.
Additional Recommendations
Collaboration with tech companies is a sound solution for overcoming potential hardships while configuring the upgrades to make them operational at a reasonable cost. Whether the telecom brand manages FTTH deployments or ensures cloud migration, BSS solutions empower telecom businesses to outperform competitors. A BSS provisioning system, streamlined customer interactions, and AI-driven analytics comprise a few of many examples of how BSS ensures that the telecom brand delivers excellent service and retains customer trust. Timely investment in this system will modernize the telecom enterprise to improve its performance.
Summing Up the BSS Overview
Despite the hype, telecom organizations will embrace innovations like 5G network coverage, IoT services, and automated cloud-based solutions due to the aggressive competition and interconnectedness of industries. The reason why the digital business support system market will flourish in the next few years is the high expectations and increasing number of players who want to seize the share from niche markets. However, only those companies who focus on ROI and wisely embed OSS/BSS solutions coupled with AI and ML technologies will succeed. The future perspective, however, will expect the utilization of these tools since the leading players will set the industry standard necessary for entry and maintaining competitiveness.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is BSS in telecom?
A: These systems encompass applications and processes that telecom companies use to manage customer-facing activities, including customer relationship management, billing, and revenue assurance.
Q: How can BSS be summarized in the context of their importance for service providers?
A: BSS architecture enhances customer satisfaction and drives digital transformation. It supports data management, billing, service order management, product development, and cost optimization.
Q: How can modern BSS solutions benefit telecom companies regarding innovative technologies?
A: By enabling cloud-native and scalable capabilities, modern BSS solutions allow telecom providers to monetize 5G, implement flexible pricing models, and enhance operational agility through AI and automation.
