Have you been browsing and scrolling through our website? Then you might have wondered how much time this solution can really take to be fully deployed and operational inside a new ecosystem. So, to make your life easier before taking any decision, here you have some possible answers.
As you may already imagine by the length of this article, the answer is complex and may vary. The only possibility to make time estimations would be by picturing a specific case or scenario. That way, we would be able to estimate the time needed for its implementation and offer a realistic time estimation. In the following section, we will provide you with common scenarios to support this point.
The common assumption is that, regardless of the company goals, the first step is to harmonise the company’s OSS. The second premise is that the CSP is interested in either acquiring a catalog or providing products under the company’s footprint. Either case, the common goal stays the same: achieving real agility to deliver now.
One possible scenario is the need of our customers to have all their products in a Unified Catalog. Once these products are defined in this catalog, Alvatross offers seamless integration of the product catalog with the service catalog. The next step would be to adapt the existing products available to the CSP’s current customers. This way we can prevent several products falling under the same services with different brand names that ultimately require a common provisioning flow.
Although unlikely, this is a relatively fast scenario. We would work on the mapping between product catalog and service catalog. Following this, the new services would be provisioned in the same way as the ones previously offered by the company.
Another slightly different scenario can occur when the provision needs to continue to use the same network activation that it previously had. If a company, for example, buys another company, the OSS systems of that new carrier will also be acquired. Consequently, these systems will very likely operate and work with their own network enabler or their own Order Management system.
The fastest way to have a functioning integrated system would be by focusing on the catalog. A system that will subsequently conduct an escalated consolidation to unify procedures. An example of this happens when a second operator is already provisioning certain services. Here, the current products may be maintained and associated with their CFS or RFS. From our side, we will directly integrate with the OM that our customer already uses.
Alvatross provisioning flows can be easily tailored and adapted. Therefore, we can easily create new tasks for our primary flow. In this specific case, we could add the task “provisioning in system B” (in the current carrier’s system). From this moment on, the order will make Alvatross’ API work as a bridge between the OM and system “B”.
Another option occurs if the CSP decides to continue with its own orchestration. In this scenario, the only delegated part would be the activation. Accordingly, we would define the new connector in the Activation Engine. This connector could therefore communicate with the activator that the company has already defined within its ecosystem. As a result, the CSP’s provisioning will continue to work the same way it did before, reducing efforts and therefore time.
A third case would be defined by a step-by-step integration, a relatively longer scenario. This scenario could also respect and follow the integrations with existing legacy third-party systems. The CSP’s goal is to try to achieve homogeneous and standardised solutions to provide all services seamlessly. However, it will not be necessary to wait for the full consolidation. Consequently, we will streamline the process and the company will be able to start offering new products to customers (directly provisioned from our platform) sooner than it did before..
In short
How long does it actually take to implement and deploy this solution? The answer is rather vague, and it depends on the characteristics of all parties involved. But one thing is for sure, integrating is easier, faster and cheaper than rebuilding.
Our implementation times are considerably reduced when our customers implement standard integrations within their systems. To this end, alvatross’ solutions are certified by TM Forum with the aim of following the best market practices and thus reducing implementation times and costs for our customers. Also, since our solution is modular and flexible, we can simplify rollouts.
Therefore, the real answer to the question is: it depends. There are so many variables that may make the process more costly and longer than others. Yet, in any of the previous cases, this solution is more agile and faster than starting everything from scratch. This is because Alvatross’ business philosophy supports reusing the previous OSS systems of our clients to manage their inventory, OM, or activation. This way, no previous efforts will be spared, and your company will surely be able to enjoy a new upgraded system faster than it seems.
If you want a clearer answer, please, do not hesitate to contact us. Help us understand what your issues and goals are. We can schedule a demo and provide you with more accurate information.
