Technology Review 2013-1-228338

no 1/2013
[16]
The Magazine of Comarch
Telecommunications
Business Unit
www.comarch.com
IN FOCUS: MONETIZE
THE ENTERPRISE
OPPORTUNITY
ARE YOU READY TO CATCH

THE M2M MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
4 KEY ELEMENTS OF CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT FOR
TELECOM OPERATORS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHATS NEW
News in Brief
IN FOCUS: ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS
mutually beneficial
6 Streamlining
partnerships between telcos and
enterprises
With operators across Europe increasingly seeing

flat lined revenue growth from residential mobile
customers, new sights currently are being set
on cultivating and enhancing relationships with
enterprise customers.
practices to improve your offering

9 5forbest
enterprise customers
Enterprises are currently one of the key customer
segments for every telecoms operator. The revenue
opportunities stemming from this area not only come
from the budgets that business customers are willing
to spend on telecom services, but are also driven by
employees who are becoming more mobile, devices
which are becoming more powerful and secure, the
increasing coverage of telecommunication services.
14 Telesperience Chief Analyst Teresa Cottam looks at

Loyalty what loyalty?
why there is little loyalty amongst European SMEs

towards their service provider, and argues this is both
a business risk and an opportunity.
outsource or not to outsource

16 ToOutsourcing
is always worth considering, especially
if coupled with the reshaping of business and
operational procedures. The execution of any tasks
outside company premises is no threat to the service
providers competiveness, as long as the main ideas,
how to attract and address customers are kept
in-house.
a perfect offer for enterprises

18 Towards
from connectivity pipes to tailored
business solutions
Enterprises will be expecting the CSPs to not only
deliver communication pipes, but a complete solution
i.e. a comprehensive platform, which enhances the
productivity of the enterprise customers employees
in their everyday work. This article will refer to it as a
productivity platform.
HOT TOPIC: M2M
you ready to catch the M2M market

22 Are
opportunities?
Whether you believe the 50 billion connected devices
forecasted by AT&T by 2020 or the 1 trillion connected
devices projected by IBM for 2015, it is safe to say that
M2M is an exploding marketplace that brings new
challenges and opportunities to companies worldwide.
of M2M and Internet of Things on

24 Impact
IT architecture
These days all Tier-1 operators have some Machine
to Machine (M2M) offer that has been available for a
couple of years and this market segment can be found
on various positions of their list of priorities, being
even sometimes placed at number 1. Because of the
development of the business, many Communication
Service Providers evaluate various options related to IT
platforms to support sophisticated business models in
the area of M2M.
HOT TOPIC: DELIVERING TRUE QUALITY

OF EXPERIENCE
Key Elements of Customer Experience

29 4Management
for Telecom Operators
Customer experience is currently all the hype for most
businesses and the telecom industry, being on top
of innovations and buzz as it usually is, has not been
left behind. But what does providing great customer
experience actually mean for a telecoms operator?
Being able to quickly deliver new services? Delivering
precisely these services that customers want?
ustomer Experience-centric Network

33 CPlanning
& Optimization
The era of voice-centric network planning and
optimization is over. Nowadays, operators have to
search for innovative services to generate new revenue
streams. However, the introduction of such services
usually entails increased traffic in the network, and
thus requires constant capacity enhancements and
quality monitoring.
Implementation of Comarch NG Service

36 Assurance
for MTS Russia
The customers perception of the service quality
becomes the key issue which operators should try
to address and assure that the various variables
which influence it are prioritized. However, this is
only possible by changing their approach to network
management. MTS decided to face this challenge with
a structured transformation.
Extreme OSS
39 Service
Quality and Customer Experience Management
systems have continued to gain attention in recent
years. Since the why and the how regarding business
levels have already been discussed many times, in
this article I would like to concentrate on the technical
aspects of such systems.
HOT TOPIC: CONNECTED ENTERTAINMENT
LNA already works in millions of home

46 Dnetworks
does it work in yours?
Shane Buchanan, Certification Administrator &

Technical Operations Support at Digital Living Network
Alliance is the first point of contact in all matters
related with DLNA certification programs. Here he
speaks about DLNAs objectives, its future and its most
recent innovations.
from Tokyo: 2013 MirrorLinkTM

48 Minessage
the consumers hands
During the second week of November 2012, I was in
Tokyo to attend the 2012 MirrorLink Summit. Let me
share a few thoughts about this event with you.
HOT TOPIC: CLOUD COMPUTING
obile Workforce Management

49 M How
to Shift Enterprise Applications into
Public Clouds for SMEs
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) generate more
than 60% of GDP in all industrialized countries. They
employ 2/3 of the available manpower. In times of
crises, SMEs try to find new ways of making profit
and to improve productivity. They outsource non-core
activities, invest in tools which reduce paperwork,
they also try e-commerce to increase sales and many
others too.
s it too late for telecoms to become Cloud

54 Iservice
providers?
We live in the advanced world of advanced
technologies, the Internet and omnipresent services
providing useful features available in the Cloud.
Every day we use but even today not everyone fully
understands what the popular industry buzzword
Cloud really means. Isnt it really just another new
word for what has already been available for quite
some time?
HOT TOPIC: TECHNOLOGICAL CORNER
is the risk worth the gamble?

56 ASTETRA
ow to Combine CRM and eTOM for Better
42 HCustomer
a wise man once said: Two things are infinite:
Experience?
Operational excellence in customer relationship
management helps companies build and sustain
positive customer experience. The way I see it, using
TM Forums set of standards is a good foundation for
designing and implementing new levels of operational
excellence in service providers day to day activities.
In particular, the eTom Process Framework can come
in handy.
ier 1 Telecom Operator Automates Service

44 TAssurance,
thus reducing CAPEX and
OPEX with Comarch NGSA
Comarch has proven to be a strong and reliable
business partner, able to not only provide high quality,
COTS software products and professional services,
but also adapt to new business requirements when
necessary.
the universe and human stupidity Unfortunately,

everything else has its limitations. So, what is the
best way to ensure constant connectivity for police
forces, fire departments, ambulance services or
military personnel when operations time can mean
the difference between life and death and cellular
networks are not available?
PREFACE
he monetization of opportunities presented by the

enterprise market has been a hot topic in the telecoms
world for quite a long time now. It has been discussed
across industry blogs, during major events, like the Mobile World
Congress and in the business strategy documents of telecom
operators. This might be due to the fact that enterprise customers
are becoming one of the most important customer segments
for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) nowadays. Business
opportunities seem to be far more worthwhile here than in the
consumer segment. Where can these opportunities be found?
CSPs must embrace new trends, such as Bring Your Own Device
(BYOD), employee mobility, broadening the range of services
offered to enterprises (from traditional telecom services to
offering office applications from a Cloud) or by striving to provide
enterprises with the highest degree of service quality by
delivering a unified experience and efficiently managing Service
Level Agreements (SLAs).
In this issue of Comarch Technology Review we focus on this

very topic the opportunities offered by enterprise customers. You have in your hands the valuable thoughts of some of
my esteemed colleagues who have chosen to share some of
their knowledge and experience they have gained from various projects in this area. In the article written by Krzysztof Kwiatkowski you will learn about best practices which could help
you succeed in the enterprise market. Lukasz Mendyk shares
his thoughts on the necessary shift that CSPs need to make
when building products for their enterprise customers, the importance of really understanding the needs of enterprise employees and the ability to translate business language into
technology language. We could not have released a new issue without discussing one of this years hottest topics Cloud
services. In his article, Szymon Uczciwek shows how Mobile
Workforce Management can be used to shift enterprise applications into public clouds for Small & Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) and Adam Gowin ponders on whether or not it is too
late for telecom operators to enter the Cloud market.
Staying in the area of innovative services, you will also find interesting articles on the Machine to Machine (M2M) sector in
this issue. Thierry Geraci of BuzzinBees talks about the many
M2M market opportunities and Krzysztof Kwiatkowski writes
about the impact of M2M and the Internet of Things on the IT
infrastructure of communication service providers. And, to provide a bit of a different perspective on the Internet of Things,
Grzegorz Kafel talks to Shane Buchanan from Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) about the organizations objectives, its future and its most recent innovations in the area of connectivity.
Comarch SA
Editor-in-Chief
And what about service quality? Jakub Zaluski-Kapusta elaborates on the key elements that telecom operators need to remember when embarking on a Customer Experience Management (CEM) transformation program. Andrzej W-Ambroewicz
provides insight into the topic of customer experience-centric
network planning & optimization, while Pawel Lamik offers some
advice on how to combine CRM and eTOM for better customer experience. In another article, Pawel Sabina raises the subject of Extreme OSS. And, moving from words to deeds, we
also present a case study concerning the implementation of
Comarch NG Service Assurance for MTS Russia, to show you
our vision in action.
In the technical section, Jakub Stalmirski focuses on taking a
risk so check if he thinks Tetra is worth taking a gamble on.
So, sit back and relax with your favorite hot drink and enjoy
the latest issue of Comarch Technology Review.
Comarch Technology Review is apublication created by Comarch experts and specialists.

It is created to assist our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information about
market trends and developments, and the technological possibilities of addressing the most
important issues.
Editor-in-Chief: Alina Wietrzny
Alina.Wietrzny@comarch.com
Copy Editor: Magorzata Siwiec-Polikowska
Malgorzata.Siwiec@comarch.com
Layout & DTP: A
dam Dbrowski,
Dominik Pietruszka
Photos: www.fotolia.com
Publisher: Comarch SA
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Circulation: 1500
Technology Review is afree publication available
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consent oftheeditors. The names of products and
companies mentioned are trade marks and trade
names of their producers.
To receive your subscription to the electronic
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Comarchs offices in Poland: Krakow (HQ), Warsaw,

Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan, Katowice, Lodz, Lublin
Worldwide Offices:
Americas
Panama | Panam
United States of America | Chicago
Europe
Albania | Tirana
Austria | Vienna, Innsbruck, Kirchbichl
Belgium | Brussels
Finland | Espoo
France | Montbonnot Saint-Martin, Lezennes
Germany | Dresden, Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Hamburg,
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Middle East
United Arab Emirates | Dubai
Asia
China | Shanghai
Vietnam | Ho Chi Minh City
NEWS IN BRIEF
News in Brief
Comarch helps E-Plus Group increase

network efficiency with
NG Performance Management
Gartners Magic Quadrants for IRCM

and OSS place Comarch in the
Challenger quadrant
Comarch helps E-Plus Group transform their network performance management landscape, leading to improved customer experience and lower operational costs.
Comarch, a global provider of end-to-end BSS/OSS solutions, announced

that it has been positioned in the Challenger quadrant in Gartners Magic
Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management (IRCM), with a
positive evaluation of its BSS portfolio completeness, modularity and standard-based architecture.
Comarch Deploys a Connected Cars Solution for

Application and Device Testing
Comarch, a global software house and systems integrator, today announced
a partnership with the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), an organization
driving global technologies for phone-centric car connectivity solutions, to
host the MirrorLink Application Certification Management System (ACMS).
Comarch Partners with Telecom Operators in

Deploying Cloud for Business
Comarch, a global software house and system integrator, has just extended
its Cloud Service Management platform with the brand new Cloud Marketplace Management module, as well as a set of pre-defined business applications and vertical services from Comarchs Cloud portfolio.
Kabel Deutschland Upgrades

its OSS Capabilities with Comarch
Comarch helps Kabel Deutschland build a consolidated OSS landscape embedded into a next practice approach to network plan, build and run to support its growing network infrastructure and a developing service portfolio.
Gartners report on Customer Experience names

Comarch as a vendor to watch
Comarch, an end-to-end OSS/BSS software vendor was named as one of
the vendors to watch in a report on bridging the customer experience gap,
recently published by a renowned analyst company, Gartner.
Comarch M2M Platform recognized among leading

connectivity solutions in Gartners report
Comarch, a global provider of IT business solutions and system integrator
has been evaluated in a recent report issued by a renowned analyst company, Gartner. Comarch M2M Platform was assessed aside three other leading vendors of connectivity platforms.
Comarch supports Turkcell

Europe in ofering
MVNO services in Germany
A comprehensive BSS platform delivered by Comarch enables Turkcell Europe to run innovative and unique MVNO operations on the German market.
Comarch Technology Review 02/2012
Streamlining mutually
beneficial partnerships
between telcos
and enterprises
ith operators across Europe increasingly seeing

flat lined revenue growth from residential mobile
customers, new sights currently are being set on
cultivating and enhancing relationships with enterprise
customers.
port for ordering systems and devices in different countries,

a single point of contact [where enterprises can] place their
orders, higher quality billing etc. In enterprise markets, there
are a number of additional things that can enhance the customer experience with telcos.
And while the transition towards offering comprehensive

service bundles to enterprise customers can involve a lot
of legwork on the telco side, companies like Comarch offer
software systems and solutions helping telcos better support enterprises.
According to Machnik, the level of customer experience that

telcos can offer enterprise customers is becoming a more
important differentiating factor in todays very competitive
market.
The customer experience from the enterprise standpoint

is a little different than the customer experience from the
residential market side, says Piotr Machnik, EVP of product
management and marketing at Comarch a global supplier
of innovative software and IT services for telecommunications and a number of other industry verticals.
When you have a fleet of connected devices, you expect not
only quality from voice and data services you expect sup-
The customer experience is very important on both a system and service level enterprises expect more than just
invoices, he says. A significant value-added service that a
telco can offer to enterprise customers is the opportunity to
merge different devices, applications, tablets, smartphones
personal computers and more onto one cloud platform.
Comarchs Cloud Service Management solution, for instance,
supports next-generation telecom operators in offering cloudbased services in multiple business scenarios, such as cus-
ple, it is very important to keep this data in their respective

countries telco operators can meet this requirement offering local data centres and local connectivity.
Being based in Europe, Comarch can make that happen for
service providers in the region. Machnik adds that there are
many other value-added services that telcos can offer to help
streamline the everyday business operations infrastructure as a service (IaaS); communications with a guaranteed
quality of services ie, enhanced video conferencing; and
content delivery networks, to name just a few.
PIOTR MACHNIK

Comarch SA
In an economic climate where a huge amount of turnover

happens with smaller, or start-up vendors, a telcos long
track record can also be reassuring to enterprises looking
for services and solutions, says Machnik.
EVP of product management

and marketing
Telecommunications
Business Unit
You can expect these telcos wont disappear from the market in three months time.
Comarchs work with Dutch operator KPN is one example of
how its solutions have helped an operator and its business
customers create mutually beneficial relationships.
Comarch is currently delivering a comprehensive set of business support systems (BSS) models to help KPN lower operational costs, improve customer satisfaction and launch
new services faster.
KRZYSZTOF
KWIATKOWSKI

Comarch SA
Having discovered a market opportunity for managed mobile

services, KPN began delivering mobile communications to
European multinational companies, which, as a result, saw
end customers benefitting from the significant reduction in
overall costs of mobile communications within the company.
tomer support/billing for partner-branded applications and
authorisation, authentication and accounting in real-time.
While the idea of storing important or sensitive data on a
cloud platform has long been a security or privacy concern
for companies, Machnik says that having a telco as the cloud
provider should actually soothe enterprise executives.
Telco operators could actually play the role of guarantor of
security and privacy, he says, adding that while many of
the bigger cloud platforms are often based abroad largely, in the US telco cloud solutions would often be based
closer to home.
Cloud solutions often cause big problem for larger enterprises, where their regulations, policies, etc... say that data
should be stored in the country where it is being processed,
he continues.
Big OTT players are often from the US, and have hosting services there but for German or French companies, for exam-
The real benefits come from the fact that, instead of having
several providers from different countries, enterprises are
provided with one contract which means a unified service
in every country along with advanced self-service and mobile telephony cost reporting functionalities.
Several modules of the Comarch BSS Suite were implemented at KPN, including convergent billing; customer management and data analysis and reporting.
Another plus for KPN is the proximity of some Comarch offices (ie, Belgium and Poland), as the whole solution is hosted in Cracow and Warsaw, at the Comarch Data Centre, and
provided as a managed service.
Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, head of BSS product management
at Comarch, said that through this partnership, everything
is automated and integrated into a single platform: There
is less manual work, everything is organised by consistent
Head of BSS
product management,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
The customer
experience very
important on both
a system and
service level
Unified service
inevery country
Challenges
inimplementing
BYOD at the
enterprises
Instead of having
several providers from
different countries,
enterprises are
provided with one
contract - which
means a unified
service in every
country - along with
advanced self-service
and mobile telephony
cost reporting
functionalities.
workflow management, a consistent dashboard, and unified

communications, he explains.
Also, financial and corporate enterprises are not the only potential beneficiaries of such services.
This plays into not only gaining customers, but maintaining

customers. According to Machnik, at a time where the mobilisation of enterprises is also growing quickly, one of the
biggest solutions that companies are currently looking for in
the face of demand for increased connectivity has to do with
the way in which the mobile workforce is shifting.
In the healthcare sector, for instance, says Machnik, telemedicine (the use of telecommunications and IT to provide
remote clinical health care) could benefit: At the moment,
Isee companies offering professional telemedicine connecting professional devices to central monitoring systems,
adding that he expects this segment to grow strongly given
European doctor shortages.
With this, enterprises are currently trying to cope with the

bring your own device (BYOD) trend, where employees bring
personally-owned mobile devices to work, and use them for
business and personal needs.
Telcos can use the capacity of the BYOD market and offer
workforce management in the cloud, says Machnik.
There are of course, challenges in implementing BYOD, he said,
such as certifying and testing process of mobile devices to
ensure compatibility with an organisations work standards.
Another obstacle is privacy concerns over whether private
accounts would remain inaccessible by employers, and important business documents would not spill into personal accounts.
BYOD needs to be thought of like the managing of containers where the containers within these devices would be
secured by the telecom operator or another vendor, says
Machnik, explaining that a users business container and
personal container would remain two separate entities, from
folder access to billing.
He predicts systems accommodating BYOD could become
so advanced a mobile device would switch automatically
from personal mode to business mode as an employee enters their office building.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications in the automobile industry is also posing significant potential, from broadband connected devices in personal vehicles, to remote management of fuel consumption for fleets.
With this, Comarchs M2M platform, for example, can help
support mobile operators enter the M2M market, providing
functions such as an efficient billing and rating module that
can process vast amounts of data; an efficient CRM that enables managing all relationships with business partners; and
a built-in resource and SIM management functionality that
increases control over the M2M equipment.
Overall, a lot of enterprises are, at the moment, feeling big
pressures in terms of cost cutting and on the other hand,
telcos need to improve their revenues, says Machnik, explaining that both sides have much to gain from enhanced
partnerships and streamlining of operations.
Operators in the past focused on transforming organisations
from B2C, and transforming systems and almost forgot about
the enterprise customer segment, concludes Kwiatkowski.
Now, because of declining revenues from B2C, they are seeing that business customers generate a lot of revenue especially if you deliver a good service.
The above article was published by: European Communications

www.eurocomms.com
To watch the video with the presentation on the above issue visit:
http://www.eurocomms.com/video/8878-video-the-enterprise-opportunity-for-telcos-
5 best practices
to improve your offering
for enterprise customers
How Communication Service Providers can increase the role of B2B segment
nterprises are currently one of the key customer segments for every telecoms operator. The revenue opportunities stemming from this area not only come
from the budgets that business customers are willing to spend
on telecom services, but are also driven by employees who
are becoming more mobile, devices which are becoming more

powerful and secure, the increasing coverage of telecommunication services and the need for more comprehensive solutions such as Information & Communications Technology (ICM),
Machine to Machine (M2M) and Cloud services.
10
This is why delivering a superior customer experience to business customers is on every Communications Service Providers (CSP) list of priorities. But how easy is it to achieve?
Providing the right level of traditional telecommunications services, as well as entering new areas such as integrating IT
systems or offering applications from the Cloud can be very
challenging for CSPs, who are often faced with the challenges that go hand in hand with silo organizations and architectures. This is why transforming their approach to enterprise
customers often requires substantial changes in organizational structures, as well as redesigning the IT architectures
that support areas of business. New ways of thinking require
new ways of working.
Ask yourself 3 basic questions related

to your enterprise customers
Services
Who is the final user of the service you deliver?

A company or its employees?
The way you think about this will influence the way you sell
a service and will help shape what you ultimately deliver. It
is quite common for telecoms to sell services to businesses and thus design their offer for companies, however the
services are then actually used by individual people the
various types of employees who work for them. And these
employees need proper support from the operator, just like
any enterprise would.
It means that various tools, such as business analysis, selfmanagement and cost control should not only be available
for managers but also for other types of employees and they
should be given the possibility to manage the services they
use on their own. This includes split billing management for
telecommunication services or using tools related to applications delivered in the Cloud.
Cloud offering
Voice mobile
Voice fixed
What exactly is the product you are going to

sell? Whats the best way to providing a single
service experience?
Broadband
Offerings
Experience
For many enterprises security and cost are the main criteria for selecting a telecom service provider. But they are not
the only ones. High flexibility, simplicity and speed are often
just as important and may in fact be significant differentiators to gaining a competitive advantage over other providers. These three criteria are not only related to a technological approach (such as enabling Fixed-Mobile Convergence),
but also to the way services are sold and how entities interact with customers. To meet customer expectations, your
company should be able to answer a few basic questions:
Services for enterprises are often delivered using separate

silos for fixed broadband, fixed voice, mobile, Cloud and others. Unfortunately, these services are also sold in the same
silos, and as a result they are perceived by customers as
if they were delivered by many different telecom operators.
Even if the customer gets a single invoice for all these services, this misconception still remains.
Telecom operators need to be able to answer the question
of how important it is for their customers to get a simplified,
single service experience. This means having a single point
of contact, a single bill, and a single self-care and analytical
tool for all types of telecom and non-telecom services used
by the enterprise. Sales departments may need to shift from
a traditional selling model to consultative selling, where the
CSP acts as an expert and is able to educate the enterprise
on their requirements and the most suitable service package. For example, an enterprise should not need to go into
the details of broadband technology restrictions (should we
use copper of fiber wires?) or the quality of service needed
by various types of employees. An enterprise needs tools
to run a business and it is the telecom operator, who must
know what should be delivered and what the optimal con-
figuration of providing services is to a secretary or an international sales manager or technical employees.
What elements are the most important for your

customers? Prepare a priority list
Enterprise customers do not always expect the full bells and
whistles treatment. What they do expect however, is to be
able to run their businesses in an optimized way and therefore they need tools to facilitate this. Business support systems (BSS) and operations support systems (OSS) platforms
are two examples of such tools. We may think that the bringyour-own-device (BYOD) trend, i.e. managing employee-owned
devices is a top priority that enterprises want to address right
now, but this may not necessarily be true. It is security, together with simple cost management and mobility that really matters to them. While BYOD is an interesting opportunity and definitely a market differentiator, it doesnt have to
hold the top position on a telecom operators list of priorities.
Experience
Another example? Lets look at acquiring new customers in

the enterprise segment. The companies which telecoms are
Choose a partner willing to get involved

Once your company decides to redefine its approach to the
needs of enterprise customers, changes in the IT architecture
will be necessary. You will then need to find a partner for the
project, typically an IT software vendor or system integrator.
Finding a partner
for the project
willing to get
involved
Heres a piece of sound advice that should be heeded; forget about a typical vendor-customer relationship, where you
simply tell a vendor what you need and they supply it without
asking any questions. Find a real partner that understands
your position, your restrictions and preferences regarding the
desired changes, and one
that comprehends exactly the best way forward for
your business.
Managing
transformations
in the context
of end-to-end
processes
ICT, ...
Cloud offering
Voice mobile
Voice fixed
Broadband
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
Delivering
superior customer
experience
to business
customers
define a good
strategy to
achieve it
Single experience
Offerings
Services
targeting here are not greenfield companies, they are already

using many telecom services. This is why acquiring new enterprise customers means that new providers must migrate
them from one or multiple telecom operators. For enterprises all that matters is that the process is carried out smoothly and this can be the main differentiating factor that will
make some telecoms companies broaden their market share
in the enterprise segment, while others will lose business.
11
Make sure the vendor gets

involved in the change
management processes just as much as you
do, and that the selected company has a perfect understanding of all
the business and technical levels of the organization involved in the project.
Cooperation with such a
business partner should
start long before the IT
project launches. Make
sure you partner with a
company that is able to
react quickly when something goes wrong (and
make sure they will tell
you, when it does) and
that escalation paths for
such situations are predefined. Whats more, give
them the chance to simply
say no. Such cooperation
will most likely result in the
success of your transformation project.
KRZYSZTOF
KWIATKOWSKI

Comarch SA
Head of BSS
product management,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
12
Think twice while deciding on your

desired IT architecture and choose the
correct elements
In most cases a new, redefined strategy for selling services to enterprises requires a set of new tools on the IT side.
This leads to substantial transformation projects, related to
changes in the organization, processes and IT systems. The
selected partner, described in the previous paragraph, should
be able to help you manage these changes, making strategic decisions, as well as preventing unnecessary changes
in the existing IT architecture.
Once you embark on a transformation you should make sure
the selected IT platform includes the following areas: Service
level agreement (SLA) management and monitoring, Contracts, Customer relationship management (CRM), Billing, Selfservice, Product and service catalog, Automated fulfillment.
Use the systems you already have

When you decide on what areas you want to include in your
solution, it is best to check if your existing tools can become
part of the desired IT architecture. For example, in some cases
it may not be necessary to introduce a new Enterprise Product. Sometimes your existing product catalog, used as part
of a powerful billing system will be enough. A similar situation may happen in the case of service factories your existing fulfillment logic, spread across various silos, doesnt
always have to be completely replaced. In some cases it is
enough to treat existing systems as black boxes and move
them to a higher level in a central fulfillment solution.
The partner described in the previous paragraph should be
able to help you with these difficult decisions and prevent
too much unnecessary changes in existing IT architecture.
Focus on end-to-end processes

One of the most important lessons learned from transformation projects is that it is crucial to manage transformations
in the context of end-to-end processes.
Ready-made products delivered by some vendors are, for
the most part, just elements of such processes. This poses a risk that there may be many specifications for you to
prepare regarding specific requirements and processes.
And once the organizational changes start, you may not
be able to go into too much detail regarding your requirements. You cannot be 100% sure that your system vendor
will be able to fill all the gaps with standard processes and
elements of processes. The result of such a potential project is then easy to foresee.
This is why it is better to manage the project (the analysis,

the delivery, the tests etc.) in the context of well-defined endto-end processes such as Order-to-Payment, Request-toAnswer, Complaint-to-Solution and others (TMForum Frameworx lends a helping hand by defining such processes). By
following this rule during the transformation, you will not be
forced to face an unfortunate situation where all the systems
work and pass all the required tests, but somehow the endto-end processes dont work properly.
When it comes to your project methodology, think twice. Agility is trendy but its probably not the best methodology for a
large transformation project.
Prepare operations and delivery

for anew way of working
Depending on the strategy defined in the first paragraph,
you should adjust the roles of your operations and delivery
teams accordingly. Traditionally, some of these new roles
may have been played by your business partners in the past.
Your operations and delivery processes must be transformed
to Managed Services (both in the context of telecom and
non-telecom services), instead of just Delivering Services
like in the past.
This means that you dont just provide fiber links to a few locations of your customers offices and sell a hundred mobile
subscriptions as an addition. Instead, you start delivering a
comprehensive service for several business consultants and
technical employees of the enterprise located in a few locations. Your enterprise customer shouldnt care about the details. Everything must work as it should, and it is up to you
how you achieve this and how you care about it. A Managed
Service may refer to much more than traditional telecommunication services Cloud or M2M applications may be provided in this model.
To get a clearer picture, you can always refer to industry
standards. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library
(ITIL) is crucial in relation to your customers, as it covers
such elements as End-to-End Incident Management and
Performance Management. Some other standards may
also be useful e.g. TMF Frameworx, with its business metrics for Revenue & Margin, Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency.
Summary
The main goal of redefining your strategy for the enterprise
segment is of course to increase the number of enterprise
customers and boost revenues earned from services sold
to enterprises. How much these numbers can increase depends on the decisions made when defining a strategy, as
well as on churn rates directly related to your operations
and delivery teams.
Finding the right partner for the project and planning the desired IT architecture carefully, based on your companys requirements and the vendors expertise, will get you a step
closer to improving the offer for your enterprise customers.
However, in order to achieve your ultimate goal of complete
satisfaction for enterprise customers, you have to analyze
and understand the needs of your clients, find out what really matters to them and who the final user of your service
is. By possessing that knowledge, you can perfectly tailor
your products and services to fit the needs of your enterprise customers and deliver an offer that will push your success in that segment.
The metrics related to the success of your transformation

project indicate that it is always a good idea to redesign the
strategy and, as a result, really improve customer experience and achieve a competitive position on the market. It is
enough to take a look at some figures for telecom transformations: average time-to-market for new product offerings
can be decreased from months to weeks or even days. Mean
Time Order-To-Activation can even fall by up to 90%. Many other indicators can also be improved, depending on the areas
of IT architecture that are part of the transformation process.
To sell differently and operate in a new way, you not only
need to have the right IT tools, but they also need to be delivered without any problems and the success of such a
project directly depends on successful cooperation with the
vendor or system integrator that you select, as well as on
the methodology of introducing the changes in your architecture and organization.
13
Enterprise customers
do not always expect
the full bells and
whistles treatment.
What they do expect
however, is to be
able to run their
businesses in an
optimized way and
therefore they need
tools to facilitate this.
14
Loyalty
what loyalty?
elesperience Chief Analyst Teresa Cottam looks

at why there is little loyalty amongst European
SMEs towards their service provider, and argues
this is both a business risk and an opportunity.
The small and medium sized enterprise (SME) market is the

new hot target for many European communications service
providers (CSPs). Hyper competition in the consumer market,
and thinning margins in the enterprise market, mean that
many embattled CSPs are now turning the spotlight on the
long underserved SME market.
There are sound reasons for this strategy: the market potential is enormous and the timing is right. Over 99% of European businesses are SMEs, and they employ 67.1% of the
European workforce. Whats more, Gartner said in October
that it is forecasting European ICT spending will move back
into growth in 2013, reaching $1.247 trillion by 2016.
The problem is though that, CSPs are starting from a weak
position. Telesperience research reveals a very low level of
loyalty in the SME sector 80% of SMEs we talked to during our recent programme said they are planning to churn
or are open to churn.
Its true that low levels of loyalty are a business risk and do
not provide a firm foundation for creating a SME business.
However, rather than see this as a problem, the most strategic CSPs will see this as an opportunity. It means there
are few entrenched incumbents in this market, and that
customers are willing to be persuaded to churn to a better
service. In other words, the sector is wide open for product
and service innovation backed up by high levels of operational efficiency.
15
What does this mean in practice? Well, creating loyalty isnt

easy. Transforming SMEs into loyal and engaged customers will require CSPs to have competitive and differentiated offers in place, be able to deliver against their promises, and be able to resolve problems quickly and efficiently.
This means being able to create dedicated SME portals that
encourage self-service in a manner that decreases the cost
of supporting SMEs but also provides a better customer
experience for them by giving them the tools to order new
products, change tariff plans or adjust service or spending
controls. By providing services that appeal to SMEs, CSPs
can create stickiness attracting and retaining the most
lucrative SMEs.
Some services though are perceived as being more valuable to SMEs than others. To find out which these are download our Research Paper which is free thanks to sponsorship from Comarch. The paper reveals the findings from a
study of 298 European SMEs, and explains which services
SMEs value most, what frustrates them, and the differences between countries. With this invaluable insight you can
start honing your SME strategy today and position yourself
to be one of the big winners in this sector.
To find out for yourself what SMEs want and value, go to
our website and read the free report: (You will be required
to register.)
Telesperience Strategy Insight: How European CSPs can create new revenue streams by meeting the needs of SMEs
http://www.comarch.com/telecommunications/resources/white-papers/contact-form-telesperience/
Teresa Cottam is the Chief

Analyst and Founder Telesperience, an independent
telecoms IT analyst company. She has more than
18 years industry experience and was previously
an Associate Principal Analyst with UK-based telecoms consultancy Analysys Mason, covering the
billing, CRM and service
delivery sectors. Before
that she was Research
and Publications Director at Chorleywood Consulting, a specialist BSS/
OSS consultancy which
was acquired by Informa
Telecoms and Media. Prior to this she was Managing Editor at industry analysts Ovum.
16
To outsource
or not to
outsource.
Is someone else
able to solve
your problems?
odays economic circumstances call for efficiency on all stages of business activities. This
is particularly important for BSS/OSS vendors
and telecom operators struggling with falling average revenue per user (ARPU), the cost of introducing new tech-
nologies and monetizing the surge in data traffic. Faced

with these challenges, operators are looking for ways to
transform their IT environments, to shorten time-to-market, improve customer experience and reduce operational costs.
But this article is not just about monetary issues. Leave these
to your accountants, while well examine other aspects far
more fundamental to business operations.
Mobile Network providers run numerous procedures related
to network design and operations, as well as business and
administrative activities. Examples of such activities range
from network planning and optimisation, through to maintenance and operations, up to service assurance and billing.
These processes have never been simple nor easy to manage, and the future will only exacerbate problems, as more
technological platforms come into play.
17
Outsourcing is not magical remedy prerequisites of the effectiveness

Regardless of the selected delivery model, outsourcing operations or resolving all issues in-house cannot be done quickly
and effectively without an efficient, information-centric IT architecture. Breaking the existing information silos and correlating data coming from multiple sources is a key factor influencing the effectiveness and speed of problem solving. On top of
that, such an architecture provides complete visibility regarding the context of issues and allows businesses to proactively design customized solutions to the most important issues
affecting clients.
ANDRZEJ
W-AMBROEWICZ

Comarch SA
Outsourcing benefits
Outsourcing these routine procedures in a Managed Services model may free up resources and allow operators to focus on core business processes establishing and maintaining relationships with clients. An outsourcing partner may be
more effective, thanks to using a larger pool of IT expertise
and resources. Scale effects may also be leveraged, as one
Managed Service provider can offer the same kind of service to multiple operators (albeit with different KPIs specified for each one). As a result, routine engineering and administrative procedures can be executed in a better, cheaper
and faster way.
The abovementioned facts can justify Managed Services
models as a serious alternative to executing in-house activities. However, the real gains from outsourcing are located elsewhere.
Telecom operators often discover inefficiencies on various
stages of their engineering, operational and administrative
procedures. Historical reasons and the silo structures of telecom companies, as well as the necessity to continuously adhere to existing procedures, are usually the causes of these
inefficiencies. It is worth remembering that the professional
experience of telecom operators staff is usually limited to
single project involvement, resulting in a lack of a broader
view of the organization of engineering and administrative
efforts. An experienced Managed Services partner can help
a telecom service provider accumulate knowledge gained
through involvement in numerous projects over time. Thus,
commissioning a Managed Services deal to such a company enables a telecom operator to learn fromany mistakes
that have been made by others in the past.
In other words, superior performance is only possible when

supported by a superior IT infrastructure. A properly crafted IT
solution can help cut costs, speed up services and technology
delivery times and create standardized, open and integrated IT
ecosystems. Some business functions of such an ecosystem
constitute a strategic asset of every telecom provider, therefore outsourcing options need to be considered with great care.
Customer Experience is a good example of an area that should
be carefully considered before outsourcing as it constitutes an
important market differentiator. A critical business function, such
as Customer Experience Management should be controlled by
the operator itself. However, the underlying IT infrastructure supporting this function can be delivered in a Managed Services
model. An experienced outsourcing partner can offer a far more
advanced solution than any other telecom operator can design
and operate on its own, but business logic should be developed
and controlled by the service provider. In other words, a data
processing platform can be delivered by an outsourcing partner, while the business logic should remain a proprietary one.
and the winner is

Outsourcing is always worth considering, especially if coupled
with the reshaping of business and operational procedures.
The execution of any tasks outside company premises is no
threat to the service providers competiveness, as long as the
main ideas, how to attract and address customers are kept inhouse. A cost/benefit analysis, the current IT landscape and
the efficiency and limitations of the existing systems and procedures should all be taken into consideration when weighing various delivery options. Managed Services coupled with
business transformations can be particularly attractive, especially if delivered by a reputable and experienced partner.
Radio Networks & Managed

Services Product Manager,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
Outsourcing routine
procedures
in a Managed
Services model
An experienced
outsourcing partner
offering advanced
solutions
Superior
performance
only possible
when supported
by a superior
ITinfrastructure
18
Towards a perfect
offer for enterprises
from connectivity
pipes to tailored
business solutions
19
A new era of CSP-Enterprise relationship

It was not long ago that many enterprise customers, especially the ones with multiple locations, used to have their
own infrastructure departments; managing all of the office
communication infrastructure. This kind of enterprise customer had network expertise, as well as exact expectations
as to what services were necessary to be delivered by their
CSP (communications service provider). Those services were
usually only raw communication pipes. Such customers
also used to define precisely what connectivity service they
needed e.g. the bandwidth required to have their location
connected but also VPNs, traffic classes and their prioritization. In other words, it was the customers responsibility
to translate their own business requirements into low-level
communication services and technology.
The economy slowdown has changed the situation significantly. Cost pressure has forced even big enterprise customers to consider outsourcing their existing infrastructure
and IT departments. CSPs on the other hand, need to look
for new sources of revenues, as those from traditional telecom services have gone flat or down.
All of this means that there is room for both CSPs and enterprises to enter new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. Enterprise customers need to delegate designing the
connectivity and office infrastructure to CSPs. CSPs can thus
generate new revenues through providing additional value
for enterprises by taking the responsibility for matching
their business requirements with the underlying telecomIT infrastructure. This means CSPs can enrich their portfolio
with hype services such as managed LAN or Cloud services.
Enterprises, however, will be expecting the CSPs to not only
deliver communication pipes, but a complete solution i.e.
a comprehensive platform, which enhances the productivity of the enterprise customers employees in their everyday
work. This article will refer to it as a productivity platform.
From connectivity pipes to a complete

productivity platform
Individual employees of an enterprise do not directly use the
communication pipes, but rather the services that those
pipes deliver. The communication-based services used by
those employees may range from traditional voice services (including fixed and mobile phones), through access to
collaboration suites (including a corporate e-mail system),
to videoconferencing, Cloud-based office applications and
business-specific IT systems (available from any office location as well as on-the-go).
The business needs of an enterprise do not define what
bandwidth is needed to connect individual office locations,
UKASZ MENDYK

Comarch SA
OSS Product Manager,

Telecommunications
Business Unit
20
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
How you can
move from
being a raw
pipes provider to
becoming a true
business partner
for your enterprise
customers
How to translate
what the necessary VPNs topology are, traffic classes and

QoS. This is why they need to be translated into specifications of raw communications services, needed to support high-level business-related expectations. Traditionally,
translating business requirements into raw communication services was done by the enterprises internal IT and
infrastructure departments, today a CSP can take over this
role and benefit from additional revenues. At the same
time, from an enterprises perspective, being able to outsource this costly activity creates an opportunity for significant budget savings.
technology into
business for your
customers
Building a true partnership by better

understanding your enterprise
customers
How to transform
In order for CSPs to fully embrace this new role, better understanding of enterprise customers business is essential. It
does not mean that CSPs need to become experts in banking, car selling, fashion retailing or any other industry, but it
may mean that CSPs need to get a deeper understanding
of what the business specifics of a given customer are and
what requirements they create for a productivity platform;
while also taking into account the necessary ICT (Information and Communications Technology) services.
your product
portfolio to
better fit the
current needs of
enterprises
How to
orchestrate
existing IT silos
for providing
enterprise
services in a new
way
How to use
product and
service catalogs
to help the
transformation
process
A good starting point is to understand what employees of an

enterprise need for their everyday work. In order to achieve
this, CSPs need to closely collaborate with their enterprise
customers to establish a real partnership relation. It is important that the language used by CSPs to communicate with
enterprises is more concentrated on value of the underlying
technology, rather than on the technology itself. It is also crucial that CSPs identify the number of enterprise employees
and their types, to take their individual requirements into account when designing the productivity platform. For example,
a sales representative may need to access the enterprise
selling platform or stay in touch with his / her customers,
and do these things when both working from the office and
on-the-go. A back-office employee, on the other hand, may
not need such a high level of remote access, but may need
to have an extended access to all back-office systems, located in the companys data center or in the public Cloud.
Having defined the types of employees, who will be supported by the productivity platform, a CSP can more confidently speak the business language about a given
enterprise.
Speaking the business language

of enterprise customers
For a business-oriented manager, representing an enterprise
customer, it may be challenging to justify paying a CSP for
VPNs, support for high-quality traffic classes or other technology-oriented services, because of the difficulty in matching
them with the high-level business needs. This is why CSPs
need to learn to speak the business language that nontechnical managers can easily understand.
Equipped with this new capability, CSPs will be able to offer
products that are much more than communication pipes. For
example, if a CSP can offer a productivity platform, which can
support X sales representatives, Y back office employees and
Z customers of the given enterprise, then a business-oriented manager can easily map the costs of the CSPs products
with their value for the business. Moreover, in this model an
enterprises managers do not have to choose the underlying communication technology, leaving this decision to the
CSP, who chooses the appropriate technology so as to provide a service that will bring the commonly agreed extra value to the given enterprise.
Once more CSPs embrace this approach, enterprises will
be able to freely choose between the offerings delivered
by various telecom service providers. This will create a
new dimension in the competition between telecoms
whoever will have the competence to best transform the
underlying communication technology into real business
value, will win.
As enterprises will be able to better understand the communication offers and the extra value that they bring to
the business metrics, they will be more inclined to bare
the extra costs. This creates a world of new possibilities
for revenue from the enterprise segment for the whole
CSP community.
A new approach to services for

enterprises where to start?
Transformation from selling communication pipes to selling complete productivity platforms to enterprises entails
a need to introduce new products. The old products may
thus be degraded to technical services that will not be sold
directly to enterprise customers, but will still be needed to
support the new offers. Trying to look at it from the TMF SID
models perspective, it means that old products and the related Customer Facing Services (CFS) are degraded to play
the role of Resource Facing Services (RFS). This relates to
the concept of modeling business and technical aspect of
telecom products, which is further elaborated in a separate
whitepaper: How to align the business and technical side of
products and shorten time to market.
The best way to introduce the new products is to apply a stepby-step approach, where the existing products and the systems that support them dont need to be replaced. Instead,
these old products and systems, quite often located in sep-
arate silos in a CSPs BSS/OSS ecosystem, can be orchestrated to deliver new value to the customer.
21
To better understand this concept, please refer to the product modeling depicted on Figure 1.
Product catalog
Product
EnterpriseWorkspace
Product
CloudServiceBundle
Product
Employee profile
Product
Fixed&Mobile
Product
Cloud Based
Office Suite
Service catalog
CFS
Employee profile
CFS
VPN
CFS
MobileVoice
CFS
FixedVoice VoIP
CFS
BroadBandAcces
CFS
Cloud Based
Office Suite
CFS
PC
RFS
Cloud Based
Office Suite
RFS
PC
CFS
InternetAcces
RFS
VPN
RFS
FixedVoice VoIP
RFS
MobileVoice
RFS
BroadBandAcces
RFS
InternetAcces
Fixed&Mobile Silo
Data silo
Cloud Services #1
Product
Fixed&Mobile
CFS
MobileVoice
CFS
VPN
CFS
FixedVoice
CFS
BroadBandAcces
RFS
Cloud Based
Office Suite
CFS
InternetAcces
Figure 1. New products spanning across multiple silos
The picture presents a situation, where a new product called

Enterprise Workspace is decomposed into many Employee
Profiles, which play the role of enterprise products. These new
products are mapped onto the old products, such as fixed and
mobile phone services, VPNs and the related IT applications,
which a given employee need to access to be productive. Even
if an enterprise wont order these old products directly, but will

instead, for example, define how many sales representatives
will be using the product (modeled as an Employee Profile),
the system should be able to translate it to orders composed
of existing products and then issue orders for VPNs, broadband accesses, fixed, mobile voice services etc.
This article is an abstract of a more detailed white paper that will be available soon for downloading at Comarch website.
Managed LAN
RFS
PC
RFS
Router
22
HOT TOPIC: M2M
Are you ready to catch

the M2M market opportunities?
HOT TOPIC: M2M
hether you believe the 50 billion connected devices forecasted by AT&T by 2020 or the 1 trillion
connected devices projected by IBM for 2015, it
is safe to say that M2M is an exploding marketplace that
brings new challenges and opportunities to companies
worldwide. (Kontron)
Revenue does not scale with cost

Machine to machine (M2M) communication exacts as much
toll on network resources as person to person (P2P) or person to machine (P2M) communication, in terms of attachment or location update capacity, paging requests or opened
sessions. In fact, operators must add a new radio access
network (RAN) access channel for each new 1000 devices. At the same time, M2M communication often generates
very little traffic, hence commanding very low average revenue per unit (ARPU).
Charging must be flexible and real-time

To support the diverse world of M2M applications, subscription models must be highly flexible and allow basic composition: flat for life, flat per year, per connection, per message,
In particular, M2M subscriptions must easily blend with prepaid models, sometimes in a very dynamic manner. For instance, consumers must be able to rent short lived M2M services and charge their prepaid account for these.
Pre-provisioning is no longer an option

Keeping expensive resources tied up to inactive M2M devices is simply not an option for operators. Routing entries in
network databases must be provisioned at the time a device is first activated and used, not when the device is manufactured or registered with the operator.
23
Furthermore, when devices roam to other networks, the inbound

and outbound operators must have the option to re-home the
device from home to visited network in a secure way, without exchanging highly confidential information such as encryption keys.
Fortunately, in these issues lie

opportunities to differentiate
These challenges entice operators to think about how M2M
affects network utilization and how to revisit the core infrastructure so that the cost of the RAN scales only at a tiny fraction of the M2M device growth curve. This is all about controlling network device attachments (priority and time control,
number of M2M devices connected to the network, etc), as
well as pooling network addresses (MSISDN) among devices, along with real-time provisioning of network resources
when devices get switched on for the first time.
In addition to this, proper handling of M2M requires adequate
billing with flexible and scalable M2M service commercialization. This can be achieved by integrating charging control in
the core of the network, in a way that is fully compatible with
existing online charging systems (e.g. prepaid).
Last but not the least, enhanced security can also become
a key differentiator: the ability of re-homing devices between
partner networks, without compromising sensitive information such as encryption keys for example, or that of preventing invalid or misused devices from registering to the network can allay the fears of partner operators and thus make
it practical to strike global alliances.
Comarch partners with Buzzinbees who has developed patented technology allowing to deploy M2M solutions to address these opportunities.
Do you agree that now is a good time to consider a M2M
project ?
You can discuss the ideas expressed in this article on our blog:
telcosphere.comarch.com or Facebook www.facebook.com/comarch.telecoms
THIERRY GERACI
Buzzinbees

Global Sales and Business

Development Director
Thierry Geraci is in charge

of Global Sales and Business Development at
Buzzinbees since the company creation in 2009.Previously, he worked for the
HP telecom division and
was in charge of business
development for large accounts -network equipment providers and software vendors- and product
marketing. Prior to holding this position,he subsequently worked in R&D
and sales, first as a project manager for naval
communication systems
and then as sales manager in the telecommunication domain.
24
HOT TOPIC: M2M
Impact of M2M and Internet

of Things on IT architecture
hese days all Tier-1 operators have some Machine

to Machine (M2M) offer that has been available
for a couple of years and this market segment can
be found on various positions of their list of priorities, being even sometimes placed at number 1. Because of the development of the business, many Communication Service
Providers evaluate various options related to IT platforms
to support sophisticated business models in the area of
M2M. Depending on the selected options of the M2M platform and business models, it can have varying impacts on
the entire ITarchitecture.
KRZYSZTOF
KWIATKOWSKI

tions have already been discussed in my article How Telecom Operators Stay Independent in the Strategic M2M Business published in Technology Review no. 2/2012 [15] and in
Pipeline, Volume 8, Issue 10.
M2M impact on EAI architecture

As presented in Figure 1, an M2M Platform must be integrated with the many existing systems that operators already
use. The most important ones include:
Comarch SA
Head of BSS
product management,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
There are various options regarding the implementation of

an M2M platform in-house (build by own IT department),
software as a service (e.g. Jasper Wireless), partnership (e.g.
with Vodafone) or licensed (e.g. from Comarch). These op-
Provisioning System in most cases M2M

platforms will not have direct access to equipment
such as existing HLR. The existing provisioning
system can be used however, and the M2M
HOT TOPIC: M2M
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
Verticals
IT Systems of
M2M Partners
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
M2M Platform
must be
integrated with
existing systems
that operators
already use
CRM
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
M2M Application
Subscriber Database
Monitoring
M2M Application
Interface
Interface
Interface
M2M Platform
Sample Existing Systems

Retail Billing System
CSP
Interface
Provisioning
Generic
M2M
platform
Billing &
Revenue Sharing
CRM - Partner
Management
Order
Management
M2M
Dashboards
Provisioning
Monitoring
Product
catalog
B2B Gateway Web Services
Partner Billing System
M2M
application
enablement
platform
M2M connectivity
and applications
as a part of more
comprehensive
offering
M2M
connectivity
platform
Billing must
be capable
of handling
connectivity level
services
Application Enablement
Service Provisioning
Data Collection
Triggers &
Actions
Device Software
Deployment
Service & Network Inventory
Integrated
with existing
systems
25
Intelligent Conectivity
Service Monitoring
AAA
Policy
Management
SIM
Management
connectivity
Network
M2M Devices
Figure 1. Typical M2M Platform for managing connectivity and application level
Platform should have access to business APIs

exposed by the operators Enterprise Service Bus.
Sales Support an M2M Platform must provide
many features but sometimes sales departments
already have the tools for campaign and lead
management at their disposal and an M2M
Platform will not replace this functionality. It
must integrate with existing platforms to provide
necessary information and also provide the
possibility to easily convert leads into contracts.
Billing an M2M Platform can have its own
charging and billing capabilities. But operators may
want to use existing billing systems for their M2M
services, which in some cases makes sense. In
that case, the M2M Platform must integrate with
the existing external billing system and provide
billing data for it. Integration with external invoice
printing may also be necessary.
Logistics system logistics processes in M2M are
very specific and must by partially covered by an
M2M platform, however it is usually a sub process
of corporate logistic processes, e.g. related to
ordering M2M SIM cards.
There can be various sources regarding service

usage data on the connectivity and application
levels. On the connectivity level it means that
the M2M Platform must be integrated with GGSN
or obtain data from existing mediation systems.
On the application level, the integration will be
managed by Application Enablement platform.
Integration with existing Data Warehouse systems

may be necessary in order to gather reports for
Business Analysis.
An external Credit Check module must be integrated

for Order Management purposes.
A crucial area related to the integration concerns

API exposure. This includes a set of interfaces
for partners or ones that will need to be used by
the Application Enablement platform. These APIs
are important because partners in M2M tend
to use APIs rather than GUIs. When it comes to
technologies used the most important is REST,
however SOAP must also be supported as well as
the exchange of files. Providing different interfaces
for partners brings additional challenges related to
security and capacity control, these must be very
carefully addressed as part of the EAI architecture.
Integration with existing G/L systems may be

needed if billing processes are in the M2M platform.
HOT TOPIC: M2M
AE
AE
Open
Telematics
...
AE
Security &
Surveillance
Automotive
Dynamic
Utilities
Specialized
M2M Application
Enablement
as a Service
M2M Application Enablement Platform

M2M Connectivity Platform
CSP
Figure 2. Application Enablement platform in the context of sample verticals
an SMS alarm to the administrator but many more complex

specifics can also be added here.
Application Enablement in the area of M2M refers to the part

of the M2M platform where developers can build the business logic of the applications. The part related to collecting
events from various types of devices and high level trigger
& action engines is fully covered by the Application Enablement. Thanks to this developers may only focus on business
logic. That logic may be, for example, a simple if the temperature in a monitored device reaches 100 degrees then send
Application Enablement hosted by the operator or available

in the cloud from other platform providers (e.g. AXEDA) can
be used to create applications for various verticals such as
Security or Telematics or can even be provided by the CSP
as a service to external developers. For more specialized
verticals such as Utilities, Automotive or e.g. mHealth it can
be more difficult because the data processed in these verticals is more sensitive (security, reliability) and cloud solu-
IT Systems of
M2M Partners
IT Systems of
M2M Partners
CRM
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
M2M Application
Subscriber Database
Verticals
Cloud
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
Monitoring
M2M Application
Provisioning
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
CRM
Vehicle
of Logistics
Company
M2M Application
Subscriber Database
Monitoring
M2M Application
Device Software
Deployment
M2M Platform
Billing &
Revenue Sharing
Provisioning
Order
Management
M2M
Dashboards
Monitoring
Product
Catalog
M2M Platform
Billing &
Revenue Sharing
Provisioning
CRM - Partner
Management
connectivity
CSP
Interface
Triggers &
Actions
Interface
Data collection
Interface
Interface
Interface
Interface
Interface
Interface
Provisioning
CSP
26
CRM - Partner
Management
Order
Management
M2M
Dashboards
Monitoring
Product
Catalog
Data collection
Triggers &
Actions
Device Software
Deployment

Service Monitoring
AAA
Policy
Management
SIM
Management
Service Monitoring
AAA
Policy
Management
SIM
Management
connectivity
Network
connectivity
Network
M2M Devices
Figure 3. Application Enablement in the cloud or integrated?
M2M Devices
Nevertheless, both options will have a significant impact

on the entire IT architecture. The Application Enablement
platform in the cloud cannot be well integrated with all
other systems of the CSP, this can result in less synergy
between data stored on the connectivity and application
levels. But the most important problem is that in such an
approach the cloud Application Enablement platform provider may not respect the telecommunications standards
and the network restrictions, e.g. related to signaling or
roaming and finally, even just a small number of M2M applications could completely kill a network. Of course, networks can be optimized and prepared for it but in the cloud
approach it is more difficult to address key issues related
to problems with the network (see 3GPP TR 23.888 document for more information).
The integrated approach where the operator carries their
own M2M Application Enablement platform and is well integrated with the network and other systems (it cannot
be a fully dependent but rather uses gathered information) provides many advantages related to being able to
use more information to make vital decisions in M2M applications. Additional capabilities include quality of service monitoring and the possibility to address potential
network problems. In this approach, it is also easier to follow ETSI M2M architecture which also brings many other
additional advantages, such as: easier creation of applications on devices, gateway and network levels as well
as limiting vendor locks thanks to the elimination of proprietary interfaces.
ICT, ...
Professional Services
Cloud offering
Vertical M2M applications
Product Catalog as part of M2M

Platform or separated?
M2M connectivity
From the perspective of a CSP, owning an M2M Application

Enablement platform brings some benefits, such as: more
independence and potentially more control over the entire
M2M value chain which results in better revenues. The real
money in M2M is in applications and integrations, not in connectivity. However, it may be difficult to convince system integrators and end-to-end solution providers to use the Application Enablement platform offered by a CSP and not use
connectivity-independent Application Enablement platforms
offered in the cloud by independent providers. Opportunities
may lie in providing better quality and security of data offered
by a CSP and a more end-to-end approach offered to customers which would be beneficial for all involved.
Single experience
Offerings
Application Enablement in the cloud or

integrated?
Services
tions cannot be used. Large amount of processed data leads

to similar findings. In such a case, Application Enablement
platforms must be deployed separately on the premises of
companies from these specialized verticals if they are required all software is vertical specific, including the M2M
application part. Applications related to mHealth or Automotive are good examples here.
Experience
HOT TOPIC: M2M
Figure 4. M2M connectivity and applications as a part

of more comprehensive offering
What about selling it?

How CSPs sell services in the business to business (B2B)
domain is changing. In many cases it is not simply selling in
separate areas anymore. It has been described in another
article related to enterprise customers Five best practices
to improve your offering for enterprise customers.
In other words, it means that some services, considered as
typical M2M (related to connectivity and specific M2M applications), can become part of a more comprehensive offer together with an ICT or Telco cloud offer (hosting, ERP applications etc.).
From the IT architecture perspective it may create a significant challenge and questions concerning a product catalog. Responding to these challenges can be difficult because
some services are delivered typically by other organizational
units (e.g. cloud services are usually not part of the M2M department) and the question is how to manage offerings, as
well as delivery and billing? Comprehensive bundles should
be managed where they are sold, this may mean that bundles may need to be created separately and are duplicated
across a few parts of the organization.
Another option is when an Enterprise Product Catalog is
used by the CSP for all B2B offerings and all such offers are
managed there, including M2M. The creation of service bundles with M2M products can be achieved more easily and
27
28
HOT TOPIC: M2M
The integrated
approach where the
operator carries their
own M2M Application
Enablement platform
and is well integrated
with the network
and other systems
(it cannot be a fully
dependent but
rather uses gathered
information) provides
many advantages
related to being
able to use more
information to make
vital decisions in M2M
applications.
providing a single experience for customers can be realized

more efficiently.
Large amount of data to be processed
Impact on billing
Real-time for connectivity and applications
M2M connectivity services do not have a large impact on

billing. Operators should decide if it should be a part of the
M2M platform as a billing function dedicated for M2M or if
the existing billing system should be used.
Low average revenue per user (ARPU) business,

large technical requirements
Real challenges are related to billing on the application level where CSPs want to provide billing capabilities to various
verticals as a service. Each vertical is a different industry
with many specific billing requirements and can range from
the very simple to the very complex non-telecommunication services. Service independent billing services must be
flexible and capable of supporting all verticals as part of the
M2M offer and this can be quite challenging.
There are several considerations related to such billing. Some
of them include:
Various business models B2C, B2B, B2B2C,
B2B2B2C
Connectivity and application-level
Multinational multi-language, multi-country,
multi-time-zone
Open
Telematics
Security &
Surveillance
Dynamic
...
Automotive
Specialized
Other issues
There are many other issues related to M2M which may impact the IT architecture of CSPs and must be considered.
One of these involves security. M2M services are very often
multinational and is it often required that subscription data
must be stored in the subscription country. Also, the security of data transferred from devices to the platform should be
addressed, currently, in many cases it is completely ignored.
For some verticals (e.g. related to health) data transmitted
from devices to where the data is processed must be secure.
Big Data is becoming one of the largest topics in the area
of M2M and is related to the huge amount of data collected from millions of devices. This data must be collected and
make available for entities which must fulfill regulatory requirements for each vertical.
Summary
The impact of M2M and Internet of Things on the IT Infrastructure of CSPs is much larger than many enterprise architects assume. It seems that M2M is not only an additional product, but
it is an alternative type of communication which can influence
the network, signaling, logistics, billing and revenue management, selling and many other processes inside an organization.
Service Agnostic
Billing
Utilities
Personalized products for customers
M2M Application
Enablement
as a Service
M2M Application Enablement Platform

M2M Connectivity Platform
CSP
The way IT architectures will support M2M processes in the

future will change to become a more important part of the
organization. However, it is also related to how CSPs will approach their M2M offerings. If a CSP is more focused on connectivity, then large changes to their operation will not be
needed and the addition of an M2M Platform and M2M offering should be easily achieved.
A comprehensive, end-to-end M2M offering which also consists of applications, devices, and services and is related to
cooperation with many partners and other CSPs will require
not only large changes in the IT architecture of a company
but also changes in the organization in order to be able to
manage the new cooperation models.
Figure 5. Billing must be capable of handling connectivity and application level services
HOT TOPIC: Delivering true Quality of Experience
4 Key Elements
of Customer Experience Management
for Telecom Operators
ustomer experience is currently all the hype for
most businesses and the telecom industry, being on top of innovations and buzz as it usually
is, has not been left behind. But what does providing great
customer experience actually mean for a telecoms oper-
ator? Being able to quickly deliver new services? Delivering precisely these services that customers want? Providing great customer service across all touch points?
Well, it is actually all of these, and more.
29
30
JAKUB
ZAUSKI-KAPUSTA

Comarch SA
OSS Consulting Manager,

Telecommunications
Business Unit
In the telecom industry competition is fierce you can see

it on multiple levels, including the devices available in a given providers catalog of offers (and their prices), the proposed tariff plans and the delivering of innovative services
that stand out from competitors offers. Customer loyalty can
no longer be taken for granted, as subscribers are currently
more inclined to switch provider than they have ever been in
the past. Network quality and coverage is no longer a major
differentiator, which is why telecom operators have started
to compete on the level of customer experience.
Making Your Employees Your Brands

Ambassadors
Enter Customer Experience Management
This is probably why many service provides have now decided to take back control of these areas and to improve inhouse customer service, by embedding customer awareness and brand culture in their employees. They try to treat
their employees as internal customers, ones who need to be
satisfied with the service quality and who are able to help
showing and communicating this satisfaction to external clients. This change of attitude is achieved by striving to make
employees feel proud of being part of their companys brand
and then training them to apply this positive attitude towards
customers. The key element is to convert employees into active promoters of the brand and its services and also to generate a can do attitude, not limited only to the departments
directly involved in customer relations.
Many service providers have recognized the fact that they

need to redesign their IT environments in order to pursue
a strategy of constantly improving customer experience.
But to implement real Customer Experience Management
(CEM), a communication service provider (CSP) needs to undergo a comprehensive transformation project. It starts with
recognizing which existing processes require improvement.
The key elements of such a transformation include involving
upper management as well as all other employees of a service provider, gathering customer feedback from various communication channels and measuring customer satisfaction.
All these aspects need to be addressed during the transformation and for each one different challenges must be faced.
A couple of years ago service providers often outsourced their

call centers and sales channels. From a business perspective it seemed to be the perfect solution, it brought significant cost savings, and seemed to achieve the desired levels
of innovation. But in the long run, these customer communication channels have drifted too far away from the customers themselves, and this started to pose the risk of them not
associating with the brand as much anymore.
Gathering Feedback from Customer

Communication Channels
Involving Upper Management

The key success factor for introducing CEM programs is the
involvement of all of the stakeholders, both those responsible for The key element is to convert employees into active
promoters of the brand and its services and also to generate a can do attitude, not limited only to the departments
directly involved in customer relations.
customer communication channels and those who oversee
network-related activities. Typically, telecom operators include overall customer satisfaction as a variable in their management bonus schemes Net Promoter Scores (NPS), customer churn figures, customer satisfaction surveys or even
simple Facebook Likes are used to calculate bonuses. But
Customer Experience Management cannot end there. It is
even more important that the analysis of potential impacts
on end customers is included in the roadmaps for all tools
and products used by a service provider. Even a simple process, like performing some changes in the network, should
be clearly communicated to all customers, in order to ensure
a positive experience and their overall satisfaction. And its
the role of upper management to spread this and other kinds
of customer-centric thinking across the whole company, on
all organizational levels.
For a very long time now, gathering customer feedback has

been the main focus of widely understood customer experience. The highest focus was put on following customer activity in all the available channels. Nowadays, the content of
customer communications is far more important than the
channels. In order for customers to be satisfied, they need
clear and precise communication from their service provider, especially when any changes occur.
Nowadays, the content of customer communications is far
more important than the channels in order for customers to
be satisfied, they need clear and precise communication from
their service providers, especially when any changes occur.
As far as the channels are considered, the most important
thing is to manage them appropriately. If a customer or even
a group of customers complain, a service provider should
address these remarks and provide a precise explanation,
instead of just blocking the channels. Currently, many telecom operators even go as far as promoting the authors of
the complaints if the source of the complaint was caused by
problems on the service providers side. In this way, telecoms
convert these customers into brand promoters.
compatibility, and determining which RFS Specifications describe technical alternative implementations of CFS Specifications.
TOPIC:
Delivering
of Experience
This service assembly process guarantees efficient service delivery by reusing existing HOT
service
building
blockstrue
andQuality
avoiding
31
the misallocation of service components. Moreover, this strategy assures only a minimal impact on existing services that a
user wishes to retain.
Customer
Focus
SERVICE DELIVERY
CRM
SERVICE
ASSURANCE
CRM
Capture customer
needs
Calculate Customer
service impact
Identify what
technical services
are required
Identify impacted
technical services
Allocate resources
Identify faulty
resources
Customer
Facing Services
Resource
Facing Services
Resources
Network
Focus
Figure
1. Closing
theloop:
loop: service
service delivery
& service
assurance
Figure
6. Closing
the
delivery
& service
assurance
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Telecoms must transform their network management departments into customer-centric and service-centric entiIDEAS IN BRIEF:
Conclusions
On one hand, this may look like one of the easiest aspects of ties, delivering reliable, real-time information about potential
Customer Experience Management, since it does not require service outages. It is a long journey, but it is the only possi Entering Customer
NGSF ischanging
a new class
of OSS
systems,
which
aims
time-to-market
and truly
integration
costs associated
with the Experience
human
nature
or having
high primarily
social skills.
On to
thereduce
ble solution
for ensuring
superb service
quality. Imporother hand,
complexity
networks
and IT through
landscapes,
it is onsystem
the consumer
(mass)Unlike
market,
for enterprise
introduction
of newthe
service
offers.ofThis
is achieved
a new tant
and as
modern
architecture.
former
OSS systems, Management
coupled
with
the
high
speed
of
introducing
new
services
customers
it
is
mandatory.
Enterprises
require
fast
anda reliwhich exploited architecture using the vertical silos concept, the new format employs a horizontal architecture with
focus on transformation
makes measuring customer experience quite complicated. able information about potential service disruptions, as their
program
First of all, it is hard to really identify customer experience, business often depends on this information. A successful apsurveys are just methods for measuring the approximation proach should cover a transformation of standard Network
Making all
or comparison of it.
Operation Centers (NOCs) into Service Operations Centers,
employees feel
where all network faults are prioritized and solved based on
part of the CEM
8 program
What can be done from a service providers perspective? their service and customer impact. The next step is the inThere are two main areas which can have a huge impact on tegration of all service-relevant Key Performance Indicators
customer experience and can be measured and supported (KPIs) from network performance management and passive
Effective gathering
by operators: service quality and information management. probing systems. In order to facilitate adapting these changcustomer
es in the structure of services and customers, it is imporfeedback through
Service Quality Management
tant to build these systems in a model-driven architecture,
various channels
where any changes and adaptations in the service models
The systems used for Service Quality Management and Cus- and topologies are followed by necessary measurements
Servce Quality
tomer Experience Management are sophisticated tools, they and aggregations.
Management
are designed to cover all network statistics with Customer
and Customer
Facing Service (CFS) quality indicators. There are different Information Management
Experience
approaches regarding how the systems are deployed, but in
Management
all cases the service model is the key element that enables The second aspect of measuring customer experience comes
reliable measuring
combining service ordering processes with the future mon- from assessing customer activity on online portals and custools
itoring of how customers perceive service quality.
tomer care channels. This data is important for post-mortem
www.telecoms.comarch.com
32
The key element is to

convert employees
into active promoters
of the brand and its
services and also
to generate a can
do attitude, not
limited only to the
departments directly
involved in customer
relations.
analysis and the introduction of pro-active measures for the

most common problems. Following the golden rule of clear
and precise information policy, service providers should communicate the output of the analysis and corrective actions
to their customers at all times.
Information management is a key element of all customer
communications, both during the customer acquisition process and in maintaining good customer experience for existing customers. The principle is clear: customers see and
hear everything that is communicated and promised and
they want to see it happen.
First of all, if during the offering stage certain products are
advertised as free of charge or with certain features, those
features and tariffs should then be implemented as promised. One of the examples of a negative customer experience
observed in telecom offerings concerned information about
flat rates and free call time with a certain pool of numbers.
Many telecoms used stipulations, on a certain day of the
year (New Years Day, Christmas Day, etc.) these calls were
not free of charge. Such a message was not communicated clearly when the offer was advertised nor in the dealers
locations, instead, it was hidden in the long Terms and Conditions text in the agreements. This approach can only do
harm to customer experience.
The second aspect of information management is especially valid for enterprise customers, but it is a good idea to also
implement it for the consumer market. It consists of grouping information about all activities related to changes and
outages in the network. Many customers require immediate
information regarding an existing outage and pro-active information about any planned activities, which may have an
impact on the quality of the services they use. In case problems appear, they should be fixed quickly and professionally, and all relevant information should be presented to the
customers affected by the process. Responsiveness is a
key element here. Many enterprise customers require special handling and almost real-time service notifications (in
the matter of minutes). This calls for highly automated tools
that can calculate the impact of any fault on the service used
by the end customer and automate the delivery of relevant
and timely information.
Summary
The complexity of the services and high demands from the
market make customer experience one of the most important aspects of any service providers business. Implementing Customer Experience Management is a complex transformation project, containing organizational and IT changes
which should follow customer requirements with regards to
the responsiveness, correctness and quality of the provided information and services. The involvement and engagement of both management and employees is required to support good customer experience and brand recognition. Clear,
professional and responsive communication with customers is a key element of such a project. And in fact, it should
never end. In order to keep it successfully running, service
providers need reliable and real-time measuring tools that
facilitate quick adaptations related to service changes and
the automated gathering and distribution of information.
33
Customer Experience-centric Network

Planning & Optimization
The Gap Between Network

Performance and Customer
ANDRZEJ
W-AMBROEWICZ

Comarch SA
Radio Networks & Managed

Services Product Manager,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
The era of voice-centric network planning and optimization is over. Nowadays, operators have to search for
innovative services to generate new revenue streams.
However, the introduction of such services usually
entails increased traffic in the network, and thus requires constant capacity enhancements and quality monitoring.
The introduction of new services and the need to continuously deliver high quality content, coupled with
the necessity to optimize infrastructure investments
to protect margins, requires a better understanding of
where and how subscribers consume services that are
delivered to them.
Today optimization is usually aimed at enhancing technology-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such
as call establishment success rates, average throughput or call drop ratio. However, improving these indicators does not necessarily have to directly translate into
better customer experience, as the latter may also depend on the type of end user application, terminal or service used. The risk of delivering underperforming servic-
es to the most valuable customers or over-engineering

the network is high and can potentially raise costs. This
is why components that measure service quality as perceived by the end customer should provide information
regarding which network capacity upgrades or optimization efforts are necessary. An insight into all network
elements supporting complete end-to-end service delivery path and correlating network KPIs with services Key
Quality Indicators (KQI) is fundamental to ensure high service quality. Multi-vendor, technology-independent platforms, featuring both network and service modeling functions can help operators manage this complex process.
Complete information the Key to

Ensuring High Service Quality for
Customers
Looking Through the Eyes of your VIP
Customers
It is important to understand what services customers use and how specific network parameters influence their perception of those services. Therefore, a
feedback mechanism assuring the quality of delivered
content should be in place.
34
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
Complete
information as the
key to ensuring
good service
quality
CSPs need topdown visibility
combined with
real-time
monitoring
Importance of
sevice specific KPI
requirements
What to look for
when considering
a new planning
& optimization
platform
It is especially important to have information about qualitysensitive services used by high-value customers in a given geographical area. By having that knowledge, a telecom
operator can plan and optimize the network for the consumption of particular services, ensuring the highest satisfaction of the most important customers.
This goal can be achieved only with a complete set of data,
starting from network configuration data, through to network quality statistics, up to information about customerspecific issues. All this data needs to be readily available
to the operator at all times and come with extensive search
and filtering options.
All in One, One for All Correlating Network and

Service Quality
Ensuring high quality of delivered services requires a shift
in the historical silo approach of network and service management tools. Many telecom operators are still running several network management and monitoring platforms, each
of them dedicated to a particular technology-vendor combination. But in order to maintain satisfactory levels of customer experience, CSPs need top-down visibility combined
with real-time monitoring and reporting of every infrastructure element along the service delivery path.
For the highest service quality, the collected events violating quality targets need to be correlated with network
counters, allowing mobile service providers to thoroughly
understand the relationships between resources, services, customers and the respective performance indicators.
routed to the appropriate destinations. If certain data is

missing, substitute information can be obtained using
alternative methods, e.g. collecting missing Operation &
Maintenance Center (OMC) counters or requesting additional drive tests.
A properly structured network optimization effort facilitates cumulating knowledge about problem resolutions
that can be used to solve future potential issues. IT systems should therefore store the history of optimization activities and the impact of each action so that it is available
for future optimization. The availability of historical data
also helps operators to understand the impact of new devices, applications and service plans on the network and
offered services.
Customer-centric Planning
&Optimization for New Services
andTechnologies
What exactly do end users pay for? The answer is simple
the consumption of services, delivered to an adequate
quality. And thats exactly what a telecom operator should
strive to provide.
Each service consists of components with associated
KPI requirements, i.e. a telecom operator may set an average throughput figure required for the delivery of a
certain type of data-over-packet-switched network session. Upon service activation, the relevant KPIs can be
checked to ensure the high quality of a given service at
the end users side.
Learning from the Past, Preparing for the Future

Launching a New Service
The growth in network traffic has to be coupled with capacity enhancements, otherwise it may result in degradation
or lack of service on the customer side. In order to prevent
that, telecom operators need to trigger additional capacity delivery in a timely manner. This way they can ensure
smooth consumption of services by their customers, leading to constant improvement of their brands image.
Analyzing trends and tracking down the cause of a network
quality degradation case requires historical data concerning network configuration, correlated with quality statistics and measurement files. The same information can be
used for forecasting purposes and for avoiding potential
future bottlenecks future issues can be often predicted
by studying trends from the past.
To gain a deeper understanding of customer experience,
service providers need to look at a variety of information
sources, including data gathered from end user devices,
application servers, network signaling and traffic flow. All
of this information should then be correlated, filtered and
During service planning procedures, all required and currently recorded KPIs should be checked. Another thing that
a telecom operator needs to check at this stage are the
network resource requirements for handling the predicted amount of traffic. This enables operators to determine
whether the delivery of a given service with the required
quality is technically possible while using the existing network infrastructure. If not, network optimization and/or capacity enhancement should be performed.
After a service is commercially launched, it is best to perform additional network optimization, based on performance
statistics, user complaints, application layer feedback and
probe/sniffer reports. Operators who collect service experience information from the network, end user devices and
applications, and combine it with existing customer information to predict potential experience problems are able
to proactively solve them before they become visible to the
client, and thus are able to gain a significant competitive
advantage. Such a proactive approach results in improved
customer loyalty and retention the most effective and

sustainable driver of current and future profits.
Launching a New Technology

New technologies require new planning / optimization tools
and procedures. An optimization process flow can be influenced by all the available data sources, therefore it may
change depending on the available information.
Minimizing the amount of technology- and vendor-specific

parameters that need to be optimized, and replacing them
with generic parameters, makes optimization campaigns
far easier. The number of experts who are up-to-date with
all the technology- and vendor-specific parameters, names
and rangers can be reduced. Instead, a telecom operator
can use standard generic parameters while storing specific translation rules in an administrative panel of the configuration management module.
A telecom operator needs to be able to shape optimization

processes, according to given network and service models. This is possible with the use of an appropriate network
planning and optimization platform.
35
In order to maintain
satisfactory levels of
customer experience,
CSPs need topdown visibility
combined with realtime monitoring and
reporting of every
infrastructure element
along the service
delivery path.
Service Planning
Network Planning & Optimization
Service Catalog
Requirements
Capacity planning
Quality of Service criteria
Service definition
Service performance
statistics
Network parameterization
Resource upgrades
Test Mobile
Probes/sniffers
Average throughput
Call drops
BER
RSSI
Operators who collect

service experience
information from
the network, end
user devices and
applications, and
combine it with
existing customer
information to predict
potential experience
problems are able
to proactively solve
them before they
become visible
to the client, and
thus are able to
gain a significant
competitive
advantage.
Service composition
BER
Packet delay/PDV
IP retransmissions
Counters
Alarms
Complaints
Figure 1. An ecosystem of multi-source information collection for network planning and optimization
This article is an abstract

of a more detailed white
paper available at: https://
www.comarch.com/
telecommunications/resources/
white-papers/contact-formngnp-customer-experience/
36
Implementation
of Comarch NG Service Assurance
for MTS Russia
he customers perception of the service quality

becomes the key issue which operators should
try to address and assure that the various variables which influence it are prioritized. However, this is only
possible by changing their approach to network management. MTS decided to face this challenge with a structured
transformation.
The Business Need

When MTS decided to start their OSS transformation, their
network monitoring was distributed over 8 macro-regions.
The network management processes and procedures were
established centrally however their implementations had regional specific.. This huge OSS landscape was not complete-
ly standardized, therefore it was difficult to maintain all the

systems and the network. The situation pushed MTS to make
some radical changes.
Easier alarm handling through an introduction of an

automated root cause analysis, integrated scripts,
as well as alarm qualification and correlation rules
The project aimed to optimize network management, in

order to lower operational costs and increase network
and service quality. MTS knew this required a centralized network management, standardized processes and
procedures and a unified OSS landscape. Centralization
of the monitoring structure in the Global Network Operation Center (GNOC) was also a necessary and important
part of the project.
Creation of a Know-How Database (KHDB), thus

assuring fast and simple access to the information
MTS decided to go even one step further and move their network monitoring process into the service layer, in order to
fill the gap between the network and the services offered to
customers. This would enable MTS to determine, which customers are mostly affected by network problems and establish, which services should be restored first.
The Approach
The transformation project encompassed two parts. The
first part was establishing the GNOC, and the second part
implementing Comarchs Next Generation Service Assurance (NGSA), Service Inventory and SLA Monitoring solutions. Both parts were closely connected, and even a single modification in the GNOC concept would cause changes
in the NGSA project. Comarch was ready to face those challenges and showed full commitment e.g. in adding new resources to the project and accelerating the schedule of
NGSA implementation.
The definition of the GNOC concept was based on best practices and the results of joint Comarch-MTS audits performed
in the macro-regional NOCs. The joint team also defined a
step-by-step approach to the handover of the network monitoring from regional NOCs to the centralized GNOC, thus enabling to avoid the network quality degradation
After an analysis of various areas of MTS network, a unified
umbrella solution concept was created, based on the following assumptions:
Unification and simplification of MTS environment, by
providing a single, unified GUI, thus facilitating problem
solving without having to use any additional systems
Reducing the number of alarms presented and
handled by the system operators, thanks to
automating alarm processing through rules utilized
by the built-in correlation engine
Unifying the structure of the alarms and their
enrichment to full meaning alarms
37
CUSTOMER:
Native integration of the service and network

layers in one solution, allowing to capture various
dependencies between both layers
MTS Mobile
Inclusion of an embedded process engine, thus

improving relations between processes and other
data such as events, related resources or services
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC

(MTS) is the leading
telecommunications group
in Russia and the CIS,
offering mobile and fixed
voice, broadband, pay TV
as well as content and
entertainment services in
one of the worlds fastest
growing regions. Including
its subsidiaries, the Group
services over 100 million
mobile subscribers. The
Group has been awarded
GSM licenses in Russia,
Ukraine, Turkmenistan,
Armenia and Belarus, a
region that boasts a total
population of more than
200 million. Since June
2000, MTS Level 3 ADRs
have been listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (ticker
symbol MBT). Additional
information about the MTS
Group can be found at
www.mtsgsm.com.
Why Comarch?
A transition from existing legacy, silo-based OSS to an NGOSS
environment that MTS decided to make, requires a strong partnership between a client and a vendor, who is able to adapt
the solution to the customers requirements.
Comarch can offer this kind of flexibility, as its solutions are
highly configurable and enable a high degree of automation.
Comarchs competitive advantage in the OSS area lies in the
fact that its products contain sets of ready-to-use profiles,
rules, correlations and views.
On the other hand, MTS saw Comarch as a reliable partner,
who is not only able to provide high-quality software, but
also a comprehensive set of accompanying services, together with specialized know-how and support. MTS valued
Comarchs consulting services in the area of centralizing
network operations and the companys consequent participation in the process of defining the concept of a centralized NOC as well as in the project rollout phase.
Comarch successfully implemented its OSS solutions and
centralized MTS network monitoring. A Global Network Operations Center has been located in Krasnodar. Consequently, all the monitoring tasks where smoothly moved to the
GNOC. The transition period proceeded without network quality degradation.
The new organizational structure and work approach have
been established and orchestrated by the newly defined processes. Comarch NGSA solution is now used as MTS main
centralized and unified umbrella solution for access and
core networks almost all around Russia.
Network reliability has been improved system automation
has decreased alarms presented to operators by 50%, with
further decrease expected after subsequent improvements
towards higher automation. The Know Event Database (KEDB)
defines event types and actions with a library of predefined
Telesystems OJSC,
Russia
38
NGSA
OSS Console
NIOSS
Remedy
OSS Web GUIR
Presentation
Layer
Authentication
Service
eporting Module
OSS Process Management
Service Inv:
- Services
Service Monitoring
RefDB:
- Resources
Fault
Management
SLA Monitoring
Correlation Engine
System
Layer
KHDB Engine
Event Forwarding
Streaming AdaptersT
Motorola
OMC-R
Siemens
SC
NSN
NetAct
ext File AdaptersB
Alcatel
OMC-CS
Alcatel
OMC-R
Huwei
OSS
Mediation
Layer
inary File Adapters
Siemens
RC
Ericsson
OSS
...
Network
Layer
Figure 1. Proposed architecture of the Comarch NGSA solution
COMARCH PRODUCTS
& SERVICES:
Next Generation Service
Assurance (NGSA):
Comarch Fault
Management
Comarch Service
Monitoring
Comarch Process
Management
Comarch Service
Inventory
Comarch SLA Monitoring
event enrichment rules. The KEDB supports rules such as delaying, suppressing, trashing, acknowledging, changing severity, setting specific values on the events and even more.
SUMMARY OF NGSA PROJECT RESULTS
MTS shortened problem solving times thanks to the simplification of their system operators working environment. The
main Operators View provides quick access to the desired
information, such as most wanted info, Know-How Database, related TT and processes, information about affected
objects, root causes etc. From the same view it is also possible to trigger fixing actions, as well as incident and problem processes. Moreover, seamless integration with existing systems feeds the data required for alarm enrichment
and incident solving to the NGSA solution.
100 alarms per second gathered on average
Service quality has been improved by moving network monitoring to the service layer. Comarch Service Inventory is responsible for modeling and storing information about service
topologies. The solution is also used to set up propagation
rules in the monitored services. Each one of them sets a pattern of system behavior, on how to react in situation when
one or more children signal alarm appears.
300,000 network elements being monitored
50% reduction in the number of alarms presented

to operators
80 concurrent users of the NGSA Console
Comarchs NGSA solution will enable us to better control service and network quality, while also reducing the amount
of manual tasks related to network management. As a result, we will not only improve our customer experience, but
also cut operational costs related to managing the network
and services.
39
Extreme OSS
ervice Quality and Customer Experience Management systems have continued to gain attention
in recent years. Since the why and the how regarding business levels have already been discussed many
times, in this article we would like to concentrate on the
technical aspects of such systems. For years, Service Quality Management (SQM) and now Customer Experience Management (CEM) systems have been considered as the
bleeding edge of the OSS landscape, primarily because of
the extreme large volumes of data they can process.
PAWE SABINA

Comarch SA
OSS Solution Manager,

Oracle Certified Master,
Java EE 5 Enterprise Architect
Telecommunications
Business Unit
Service Quality Management

SQM combines service modelling with service quality
monitoring. It gathers network, applications and service statistics, aggregates them and presents them
against service models. The system facilitates propagating key performance indicators (KPIs) from resourcefacing towards customer-facing services, applying
thresholds and monitoring them with appropriate triggers for instances when action is required following
certain violations.
Lets first define how we understand the role and functions of these systems.
40
Customer Experience Management

Customer Experience Managementdirectly analyzes the stream
of customer transaction records and thus plays an overarching
role in telecomservice monitoringandSQM, transforming service
management by providing an insight into customers perceptions
of services. CEM systems greatly help when switching from network/resource-centric operations to customer-focused ones.
Extreme data volume

In the case of SQM, collected data is already pre-aggregated
by probing systems, underlying performance management
systems and, to some extent, it can even be aggregated by
the SQM system itself. Depending on the size of the network
being monitored, data volumes can vary from tens of gigabytes to terabytes per day. Big data volumes of data are usually shielded by underlying performance management systems which provide already pre-processed, pre-aggregated
data to SQM modules.
CEM systems are a completely different story, however. For CEM,
data feeds are passive probes which observe various interfaces in the core of the network. They gather information regarding
Fault Managament
Service Monitoring
Monitoring
(Stream processing
with temporal data)
Reporting
Business
Intelligence
(Batch analysis)
Big Data store
each and every activity regarding customers, and provide it in

the form of call and session records (Extended Data Records xDRs). As you can imagine, data provided from these interfaces can be huge, ranging from a few to tens of terabytes a day!
Extreme data processing

Data volumes entail complex processing. Over a minute, millions of elements of customer behaviour-oriented data can
be generated by various passive probes scattered over the
network. This means that the continuous information stream
of tens of terabytes of data per day must be parsed, pre-processed and enriched. However, this is just the first step. Next,
raw data needs to be stored, filtered, correlated and aggregated. The outcome are Key Quality Indicators (KQIs) of customers
experiences. These KQIs are further monitored, if they breach
any of the defined thresholds, predefined actions kick in - for
example, alarm generation. All this must happen in real time, for
all of the inputted data!
Extreme analysis
But monitoring KQIs is not all we can do with this information.
Raw data (xDRs) can also be used in offline (batch) analysis.
Since different departments in a company are interested in different aspects of how the network is perceived by customers,
a set of different aggregations, using combinations of various
customer parameters (dimensions)in the form of stored or
even ad-hoc queries must be run on massive amounts of connected data. For such analysis to provide meaningful results,
raw data is typically stored for one week or more, this means
that queries must run over a bigger dataset than is collected
daily - tens to hundreds of terabytes!
Distributed stream processing and the

analysis of Big Data
Youve probably noticed that the title of this chapter consists
of a few buzzwords that have become popular in the last few
years. Many words have been written describing high level (and
highly abstract) ideas regarding how these buzzwords were
supposed to effect business processes. We will now, however, give you a real-life example of how market-ready technologies can be used to build a solution for solving the non-trivial problems that CEM systems must deal with.
Mediation
Probing systems
The following picture presents a simplified data flow from probing systems to CEM.
Distributed processing
Core network
Figure 1. Simplified dataflow in SQM/CEM
Lets follow the path, starting with probing systems. Probes can
be configured to listen for records ofcustomer activity on various protocols across different points of the network. The system of probes works in the immanently distributed architecture,
consisting of multiple independent and non-interconnected el-
ements. The data stream generated by one probe, is multiplied

by the number of probes, and passed to the mediation layer.
This obviouslygenerates a huge stream of data which needs
to be pre-processed. At this stage, data is transformed to the
common data model, reformatted and simple correlations and
enrichments take place.To deal with these tasks, the mediation
layer must be distributed over several high-performance nodes.
Stream processing
Next, pre-processed data is fed to the stream processing engine,
where sophisticated data correlations and aggregations are performed in real-time. Lets stop for a minute and take a closer look
at the data that is processed here. The xDRs (and also other kinds
of data), contain attributes (also called dimensions) which characterize the customer, the used device, the area where the user
currently is, the type of used service, the bearer, call duration,
transferred data volumes, timestamps and many more. Nowadays, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have become more and
more complicated, with the need for proactive monitoring of their
fulfilment being more important than ever, as breaching them
costs real money for companies. In the near future, services and
their SLAs will become central points of interest for IP based networks because they will show how customers perceive bought
services (at least in terms of technical touch points).
In order to fulfil the demand, CEM systems must allow for rapid and flexible KQI definitions, as well as for combining various
parameters for different groups of customers. All this must of
course be possible, with the huge volumes of data flowing
from the mediation layer; and there is only one way to deal
with such volumes of data - distributed stream processing. We
dont need to mention the distributed aspect of it here since it
has already discussed in previous chapters, but stream processing requires elaboration. It is probably best described as
data processing using dynamic queries with well-known SQL
ones. Imagine a relational database. To get data from it, we
would write an SQL query, which would then be compiled into
a process that runs over data stored in tables. Matching records would be extracted and would eventually be returned
to the user. To check the number of records in a table every 5
minutes, we would run this query at appropriate intervals, and
each time the database would go over the table and count
the rows. A completely different approach is taken in dynamic queries. Here, we would first define a query (using, for example, an SQL-like syntax), and then run the data over it. In effect,the query will produce results progressively as the data
is fed to the query. The query maintains its internal state and
thus is capable of producing answers based only (lets keep it
simple) on newly arrived data. As you can see, this approach
is best fitted to processing high volumes of data in real time.
Big Data processing

But what happens to the processed data? The problem of
storing high volumes still exists, and I repeat, were talking
here about terabytes of raw data every day. Fortunately, we

are not alone in facing this problem. In fact, it has been a
major concern since the early days of the Internet, when the
first search machines were brought to the world. No wonder, Google, for the purpose of indexing billions of web sites
in its search engine, developed a new style of dealing with
big data. First, data is stored in a special highly distributed
file system on multiple nodes. To query the data, a so-called
map-reduce approach was developed, this distributes the
query terms over the data nodes. We also have here a paradigm-shift: instead of using a small number of high performance nodes as were used to doing in enterprise-class
systems, we can use multiple lower-end blades. This is especially important for high-availability systems. Losing high
performance machines can have a huge impact on overall
performance. On the other hand, losing one or even a couple of blades will not really harm the overall system performance. Just as we know it from well-known enterprise database systems, it is also the case here that we dont need to
bother with data replication and high-availability, since this
is what a Big Data system is responsible for.
Knowledge extraction
Remember when we mentioned earlier that we process data
in real time, using a short-term fast access cache? For the
purposes of monitoring this is perfect because the short time
window for data stored in the cache is enough. The processed
data however, contains much more valuable information which
can be reused by various departments in a company, not only
those directly related to customer experience. This is why, processed data is also preserved in a Big Data store.
A planning department will also be interested in where and at
what time certain services are heavily used, what is the required throughput, and what are the predictions for the following months. On the other hand, a customer service representative will be interested in failures that customer experience
along with the appropriate statistics. Lastly, marketing departments will want to know what services are used by certain groups of customers (profiles) so better products can be
offered in the future. As we can see, an efficient CEM system
can become a vital information resource for different business
departments. What is needed is a flexible and efficient query engine. Fortunately, such query engines exist on the market and we can even use plain old Structured Query Language
(SQL) to extract the data.
In this article we have presented the technical aspects of SQM
and CEM systems, and all the problems we face when dealing
with Big Data. Real time processing and offline (batch) analysis of huge data volumes is only possible by employing dedicated systems for specialized tasks. Since 2008, Comarch
has consistently been developing its SQM and CEM systems
and has successfully implemented them at some of the largest European mobile network operators.
41
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
What challenges
does Big
Data entail for
Service Quality
Management
(SQM) and
Customer
Experience
Management
(CEM) systems?
How to deal
with analyzing
and real-time
processing
of huge data
volumes?
How can the
processed data
be used by
other systems
and company
departments?
42
How to Combine
CRM and eTOM
for Better Customer
Experience?
perational excellence in customer relationship management helps companies build and sustain positive customer experience. The way Isee it, using TM
Forums set of standards is a good foundation for designing
and implementing new levels of operational excellence in service providers day to day activities. In particular, the eTom Process Framework can come in handy.
The scale of last years economy slowdown has had a negative impact on service providers (SPs) world-wide and especially in Europe (just look here1, here2, or here3) revenues
are dropping, prices are continuing to erode and average
revenue per user persists in declining. Of course its nothing new for SPs and many of them had already embarked
on aggressive cost cutting programs in 2011, or even earlier. However, according to the ETIS TeBIT 2012 Executive Report, which delivers insights concerning European telco IT
departments the low-hanging fruit is gone. According to
the report, although cost cutting continues to be essential,
the huge reductions seen in 2011 and 2012 will not be easily repeated. The thing that can actually move a business
forward is decisive IT spending that is focused on creating
business value.
What does it all have to do with Customer Relationship Management and eTOM? Well, IT spending is typically driven by
business needs. What does the business do when things
stagnate and go south? It transforms. Thats exactly whats
happening more and more business-driven IT transformations are initiated by service providers. These programs are
not restricted to simply replacing billing systems or CRM applications. They want to see huge cost savings and significant improvements of key performance indicators. The transformations are therefore much broader in scope. In terms
of business processes involved, they typically encompass
most of the Customer Relationship Management domain
in eTOM (also parts of Service Management and Resource
Management domains). This is not by accident. A huge potential for improvements remains in this area and these improvements would positively influence customer experience
43
and help get rid of unnecessary costs. Examples? One of our

customers was able to achieve a from 87% to 91% time reduction in their orderto-cash processes for their two flagship broadband products.
How can Process Framework (or eTOM) be helpful in such
initiatives? In short, with eTOM (and SID, which defines entities managed by eTOM process elements) an IT transformation can be undertaken more effectively. In a transformation project I saw, the Process Framework was also
being used to:
Define transformation scope in terms of covered
business processes and out-of-scope processes
PAWE LAMIK

Comarch SA
CRM Product Manager,

Telecommunications
Business Unit
Describe and classify current AS-IS processes

Identify gaps and overlaps in existing processes
Design target TO-BE processes based on
hierarchical sets of connected process elements
developed over many years based on industry
best-practices
Drive clear communication between businesses,
IT departments and other stakeholders (such as
external software vendors and system integrators)
Ensure that transformation outputs (like new
business processes and new IT architecture) are
future-proof
Some skeptics may say that using a standardized framework is an overhead. I agree to some extent but the benefits soon outweigh the burden in larger projects. Besides, as
my TM Forum trainer would say, eTOM is just a tool and using
any business tool must be justified by some real life need
where using it saves you effort and money. From my experience, this tool is essential to most CRM transformation projects and it is vital for supporting business value creation.
http://www.telecoms.com/51308/kpn-sees-q3-profit-drop-by-a-third/
http://www.telecoms.com/44669/vodafone-posts-stagnant-profit-for-full-year/
3
http://www.telecoms.com/44127/telefonica-profit-drops-by-more-than-half/
1
This is a post from the

Comarch Telcosphere Blog.
To post a comment and read
more entries about various
communication issues,
please visit:
www.telcosphere.comarch.com
44
Tier 1 Telecom Operator

Automates Service Assurance,
thus reducing CAPEX and OPEX with Comarch NGSA
The Goal
The Solution
Improve customer experience by shortening

customer impact analysis to seconds, as well as
introducing pro-active customer service monitoring
(based on a central database of known causes)
and Quality of Service (QoS) metrics
Reduce the number of network alarms that require
manual analysis, correlation and clearing by
increasing process automation
Unify and simplify interfacing between one
Umbrella NG OSS Layer and a multi-vendor, multitechnology Network Infrastructure
Decrease CAPEX and OPEX in the area of network
management thanks to the standardization and
consolidation of quality assurance processes and
knowledge
Guarantees high quality of customer services

across all network domains
Closes the gap between traditional Network
Management and Customer Experience
Management, providing for a major milestone in the
strategy of customer-centric network operations
Calculates the impact of alarms on services by
providing an insight into customer perception of
network faults the system facilitates a pro-active
reaction to service incidents (an operator can take
action before a customer issues a complaint),
which forms an essential part of a modern
approach to customer experience management
Provides full control over new service-based

performance metrics in the operators converged
network and IT infrastructure
Executes robust network alarm processing with
advanced root cause analysis
Provides a competitive advantage in the
enterprise customer segment by introducing a
new topological correlations engine, which can
significantly reduce the amount of presented
alarms in the converged network
Improves Customer Impact Analysis thanks
to introducing converged service models with
aggregated customer information and generic
alarm propagation rules throughout all services
Shows a high level of availability & reliability
Standardizes interfaces according to TMF
Frameworx, which significantly reduces the time
and cost of new integrations
The newly created Known Event Database (KEDB)
defines event types and actions with a library of
predefined event rules; KEDB supports rules such
as delaying, suppressing, trashing, acknowledging,
changing severity, setting specific values on
events etc.
The Result
Reduce CAPEX (47%) and OPEX (68%), together with
over 30% future savings forecasted in integration &
customization areas
Replace two separate systems for Fault
Management and Service
Management for all network domains (mobile,
fixed, broadband) with one comprehensive system,
Comarch NGSA, while providing extra value in terms
of system synergy and high-end features
A shift from resource-centric Fault Management
towards customercentric Service Assurance
Increased quality of service for the operators
customers; improved implementation and
management of next generation services
Cost savings, when compared to the previous

architecture of separate Fault and Service
Management systems a decrease in OPEX, CAPEX
and headcount for complete Service Assurance
processes (project and lifecycle) due to increased
automation of processes
Improved network reliability system automation
reduces the number of alarms by 70%, with
further decreases expected after subsequent
improvements towards higher automation
Shorter problem resolution times thanks to
the simplification of the working environment;
the main Operators View now provides quick
access to the desired information, such as: most
wanted info, Know-How Database, related TT and
processes, information about affected objects,
root causes etc.; it is also possible to trigger
repair actions, as well as incident and problem
processes
45
THE PROJECT
INNUMBERS:
Reduction of
CAPEX (47%)
and OPEX
(68%), together
with over 30%
future savings
forecasted in
integration &
customization
areas
750,000 network
elements
monitored
40 alarms per
second gathered
on average
Seamless integration with existing systems feeds

data required for alarm enrichment and incident
solving to the Comarch NGSA solution
70% reduction
in the amount of
alarms
Improved service quality by moving network

monitoring to the service layer; Service Monitoring
enables operators to define propagation rules for
events from resources to services and customer
layers, thus expanding Fault Management capabilities
250 concurrent
users of the NGSA
Console
A highly reproducible and flexible solution that can

easily be implemented globally and adapted to
specific requirements of various OpCos
Why Comarch?
Comarch has proven to be a strong and reliable
business partner, able to not only provide high
quality, COTS software products and professional
services, but also adapt to new business
requirements when necessary
Comarchs strong OSS portfolio and its own
professional services team that has specialized
know-how and is well regarded by customers were
also important factors in choosing the company for
this project
The customer is now one of Comarchs strongest
Tier 1 references in Europe in the area of OSS
solutions
COMARCH
PRODUCTS
& SERVICES:
Next Generation Service
Assurance (NGSA):
Comarch Fault
Management
Comarch Service
Monitoring
Comarch Process
Management
Comarch Service
Quality Monitoring
46
HOT TOPIC: Connected Entertainment
DLNA already works

in millions of home networks
does it work in yours?
Interview with Shane Buchanan
igital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a technology that will finally make it possible for all devices, regardless of manufacturer, to wirelessly communicate with each. Thankfully you do not have to be a
technology expert to use it, you just need to know that your
devices can do it. Shane Buchanan, Certification Administrator & Technical Operations Support at Digital Living Network
Alliance is the first point of contact in all matters related with
DLNA certification programs. Here he speaks about DLNAs
objectives, its future and its most recent innovations.
What is DLNAs mission and how does your work influence

the daily life of consumers?
Shane Buchanan: DLNAs mission is to provide a way for consumers to easily connect their electronic devices, regardless
of the manufacturer, and share media, such as photos, music or videos throughout their homes. In other words, we define the requirements for devices so they can automatically
discover each other over a home network without needing
a separate complicated system.
Think of a real life situation: you have some photos saved on
your phone and you want to share them with family or friends.
Instead of everybody sitting around your phone, it would be far
more comfortable to see them on a larger screen. With DLNA
you can simply take the photos from your phone and send
them directly to a TV without any wires, just over the home
network. The only configuration required would be that both
devices have to be connected to your home wireless network.
Sounds pretty simple, but does it really work? Do people
use this technology?
SB: Currently on the market, there are over 18 thousand certified DLNA products, including home media servers, Windows PCs, smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, games
consoles, wireless printers, routers, TVs, DVD and Blu-Ray
players. These are base model devices and they can receive
information from millions of technology devices that are in
our homes or are carried by people all the time, i.e. mobile
devices like smartphones and tablets.
What is the recognition of the DLNA Certifieddevices?Do
you have your own promotional strategy or do you rely on
the marketing activities of individual manufactures?
SB: We create consumer awareness through our own marketing activities, for example, DLNA is present at certain trade
shows, such as, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
As an organization we educate people on the consumer level but we also work on the business level. Generally, manufacturers display our logo on their box. When consumers
are in a retail store its easier for them to identify DLNA Certified devices. Many logo programs dont have testing procedures, however, DLNA has and through our certification
program we test the interoperability of devices, so consumers can be assured that DLNA Certified devices are able to
connect and work together.
What is the future and the potential capabilities of DLNA

technology and how can telecom operators potentially benefit from it to increase the attractiveness of their offers for
customers?
SB: The future of DLNA is centered on something we call Premium Video. Premium Video will allow service providers and
cable operators to send content into the home, for example
via set-top boxes or IPTVs, and these will be able to easily
distribute that media to other DLNA devices in the home. The
general idea is that you have a main source in your home as
a server that allows you to bring the content in from outside
the home. Unlike today, where a set-top box for each TV in
the house is used, this new feature would allow manufacturers to build it directly into a television, or a tablet, or a phone,
and stream media to these devices. The link between these
devices is protected to secure the content which is shared.
Service providers should be able to benefit from reducing
the costs of deploying several set-top boxes in customer
homes and consumers will gain more flexibility and comfort
from being able to watch their chosen media on their tablets or notebooks. Media is stored on a central server, and
they can stream it on their devices whether they are in the
living room or outside on the patio.
We are in the process of getting our certification program
launched for that feature soon. Many service providers and
cable and satellite operators are already developing this feature of DLNA. The truth is that there has been a lot of work
done over the years and many service providers are behind
DLNA because the development of this technology has actually been driven by device manufacturers.
Another big feature that DLNA is working on is Remote User
Interface (UI). This will allow people to send their UI to another device that will be able to render it. This technology is not
yet ready for certification, but it is definitely gaining popularity among our member companies.
The interview was led by Grzegorz Kafel, Certification Test Systems Specialist, Telecommunications Business Unit, Comarch
Are there any differences in adopting this technology in different regions of the world? America, Asia and Europe for
instance, are there any significant differences in the way
that these markets adopt your technology?
SB: The main difference in the adoption between different regions is just the media formats that are supported for instance, Japan has different media formats than the US. Europe
has some other media formats as well. But the technology
itself and the ease of use actually spans across regions, so
its not locked down by region in any sense.
47
SHANE BUCHANAN
DLNA

Certification Administrator
Shane Buchanan has been

the Certification Administrator at DLNA since November 2010. He is the
first point of contact for
the DLNA member companies to support them
in the process of certification of their products.
Shane also takes part in
the periodic DLNAs compliance workshops, called
plugfests, which gathers
various device manufacturers to test their currently developed products in a
DLNA-compliant network
against other products and
testing tools. Prior to the
DLNA Shane gained the experience in the field of testing, working among other
for Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corporation.
48
Message from Tokyo:

2013 MirrorLinkTM
in the consumers hands
uring the second week of November 2012, I was in

Tokyo to attend the 2012 MirrorLink Summit. Let me
share a few thoughts about this event with you.
Having the worlds largest electronics industry and the second largest automotive industry Japan was the best place
to host the annual MirrorLink Summit. MirrorLink is a unique
cross-industry standard designed to seamlessly connect
smartphones to automobiles.
PIOTR JANAS

Comarch SA
Project Manager,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
This is a post from the

Comarch Telcosphere Blog.
To post a comment and read
more entries about various
communication issues,
please visit:
www.telcosphere.comarch.com
The event was organized by Car Connectivity Consortium

(CCC), a group that consist of78 member companies representing over 70% of the worldwide market sharein vehicles and over 60% of the smartphone market share. The official opening was madeby Mika Rytknen, CCC President
and Chairman, who highlighted the currentsituation and the
future targets for MirrorLink and CCC. If you go through his
presentation you will see Comarchs name on theOrganization diagram as the vendor of the Compliance Testing System forMirrorLink.
After the opening keynote speech participants were invited to listen tomore speeches and panel discussions
or to attend the Live Interactive Demonstrationsroom to
see MirrorLink compliant devices in action. At Comarchs

standvisitors were given a unique opportunity to see the
Compliant Test System(CTS) that was developed by Comarch and is used to test MirrorLink devices inthe Device
Certification process.
Speeches and discussions were mostly concentrated on applicationdevelopment for MirrorLink devices and new APIs
that MirrorLink willprovide for them. If you can appreciate
how many sensors are located in yourcar, then you will be
able to imagine how many possibilities theyllopen to creative application developers.
In the evening participant had a chance to rest and toexchange thoughts more informally regarding the event.
Rooms crowded with visitors, interesting presentations and
scintillating conversations -by any means this Summit was a
success. For MirrorLink it was yet anotherstep towards reaching its goal for 2013 to provide the latest technology to alarge
number of consumers. While already enjoying a large amount
of industry support, a proven track record and having commercial devices on the market, this makes their goal realistic
and Im really looking forward to seeing how the achieve it.
HOT TOPIC: Cloud Computing
49
Mobile Workforce Management

How to Shift Enterprise Applications
into Public Clouds for SMEs
mall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) generate more

than 60% of GDP in all industrialized countries. They
employ 2/3 of the available manpower. In times of
crises, SMEs try to find new ways of making profit and to improve productivity. They outsource non-core activities, invest
in tools which reduce paperwork, they also try e-commerce
to increase sales and many others too.
According to Quick Insight Cloud Strategies a publication from TMF, small businesses are very often the least automated sector what means their potential for automation
is high and that their approach to IT is organized (if it exist
at all) differently to large organizations. Large enterprises
have dedicated staff skilled in IT, operations and standardization, this helps them to keep an eye on how software is
deployed, used and developed. According to current research
(like Microsoft SMB Business in the cloud 2012 report) 60%
of SMEs do not have the resources to manage the software
they would like to use. The natural way to introduce new
software solutions for small and medium enterprises is the
service model which means shifting all related managed
services to a service provider. This works for e-mails, company websites or CAD tools but SMEs need more. SMEs are
becoming more interested in software which can modernize their core business, but this also means coming to grips
with more advanced software. The question is whether sophisticated applications can be delivered as a service and
include all aspects of public clouds? Comarch Field Service
Management, following several deployments in large enterprises has been refactored and delivered in a version dedicated for SMEs and cloud services. Let me show you what we
did to meet requirements of SMEs and still remain a comprehensive and powerful tool in the field service area. To summarize it shortly - the task was not trivial.
Business needs do not have to be

generated, they already exist
Cloud applications have existed on the market for a while now.
Up to now, Software as a Service (Saas) had been popular in
two areas public services for individual users including services like e-mail, web page hosting etc. (it was also used by
enterprises based on the same rules) and in with large companies who have needed large applications to support its
core business activities, an example would be a billing system (BaaS). In the second case, the cloud was in fact limited
to a private cloud and the difference between cloud hosting
and physical hosting on a technical level was not noticeable.
SZYMON UCZCIWEK

Comarch SA
FSM Product Manager,

Telecommunications
Business Unit
50
Lowered complexity
Figure 1. Proposed architecture of the Comarch NGSA solution
When considering services for SMEs, it is natural that relevant

cloud experience must be utilized. The requirements of SMEs
have to be addressed with a combined approach taking
lessons learned from past experiences and adding specific
business needs. Frankly speaking it looks like SMEs may be
the most demanding customers in the cloud environment, but
when a market is worth a potential $800 billion (according to
Dr. Hossein Eslambolchi in the Quick Insights report Driving
Innovation: Seven Ways to Thrive in the Digital World) taking
this approach will be well worth it in the long run.
The first step is redefining system

functions
In general, public cloud services follow business model that
are based on a scale which means simple services for low
prices. But it is not necessarily just a case of providing applications for SMEs. To support SMEs, core business service providers must deliver software which is able to deliver
strong value, this will in fact allow for some compromises to
be made along the way, but not too many. Ewa Zborowska,
a research manager from IDC, in one of her articles about the
cloud market, states that the most important things in the
case of solutions for SME sector is their simplicity and an ergonomic Graphical User Interface (GUI). Simplicity should not
be understood as limited functionality but as a lower complexity of the available functions. So, the main principles for
supplying services to SMEs via a cloud application should
be defined as follows:
Easy to understand
Supported by wizards
As much as possible is available from one place
Ergonomic GUI
In instances of Field Service Management, a good example how functions are redefined for a cloud is the case
of work order execution processes and its configuration.
In cases of larger enterprises, work order execution processes are pretty advanced, so too are the configuration
efforts required to produce that part of the entire system.
It is because they have dedicated workflows, transition
rules, data validation patterns on different stages and are
defined differently considering the types of orders and
all process exemptions. It is not something which could
be used or configured by users without being trained, or
without receiving professional support or analysis. Consequently, it is not applicable for publicly available SaaS
products. Comarch Mobile Workforce Management system (cloud dedicated version of Comarch Field Service
Management) , to be well fitted into the market, defines preconfigured models for work order processes, or to put it another way:
We define a set of the main, predefined statuses regarding
work order execution flow which can be used (or not) which
are assigned business logic and validation rules. System administrators may add sub-statuses for informative or supporting roles.
Additional order types can be added but they must
follow predefined workflows
There is a set of work order parameters which
cannot be changed in the process all dedicated
data is addressed by additional custom fields
Configuration of business processes is supported
by wizards for defining parameters
Users can begin working with a predefined set of
configurations (order types which are assigned
execution workflows).
Another good example of how Field Service Management
has been tailored to SaaS is matching different views for
dispatchers in one combined view (Figure 1).
Comprehensiveness means all in one

To address their reporting or automation goals, large enterprises try to define the end-to-end support of their software
applications. They also have divisions which make sure that
everything works fine and is integrated properly. I have witnessed some top service providers use hundreds of applications managed by internal IT personnel. According to research (e.g. Microsoft) SMEs do not have entire IT teams and
they are likely to use up to 6 cloud services in the next few
User experience
Common
functions
Availability
Customizations
Low price
Simplicity
Configuration
Integrations
Service focused
High security standards
Preintegrated with other
applications from ISV
Administration
Dedicated processes
TCO
Business focused
Automation
Enterprise Software in SaaS (in most cases private cloud)

Standard Public SaaS (i.e. e-mail, web hosting)
Configuration
Modularity
Automation
Simplicity
Low price
Options
Preintegrated with other

applications from ISV
Business focused
User experience
Availability
Applications for SME available in public cloud
years. Excluding services like e-mail, hosted websites and

electronic invoices there is not much space for loads of different applications to support their businesses. To support
the core business of small and medium companies, solutions
must be delivered in all-in-one packages, this includes supporting all activities which require automation. It is not easy
to build applications that can support different businesses
comprehensively but service provider must get to know the
business of their clients. The same conclusion is visible in
the above mentioned report by TMF about cloud strategies.
The author states that the cloud is by nature a marketdriven initiative, and () a good understanding of the markets
is key to success. In the case of mobile workforce management, before we began coding work we analyzed in detail
the market sectors the software would be used for. The aim
was to also deliver knowledge which is built into the application and at the same time fit the application to the needs
of our potential end customers. One of the results of it was
that we decided to add a set of modules to the core workforce management system which could address extended requirements. One of them is a field service front office
- a simplified module which allows users to register new orders and schedule or reschedule them, check the status of
orders and some other additional data. The module is dedicated for customer service and, taking as reference enter-
prise deployments, covers Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the role of Trouble Ticketing (TT) the same
goes for some Human Resources (HR) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) functions in the system. For SMEs it
is more important to have their whole business supported
than to have the best-of-bread modules.
Automation is the key

The optimal utilization of resources is what small business
strategy is all about. The software SMEs use must not only
support users but carry out a lot of activities in the background to limit user engagement. Moreover, productivity
and the better usage of resources are two of the key things
people expect from SaaS. Automation in the case of Mobile
Workforce Management is a natural part of delivered functions but in the case of SMEs, automated processes need to
be very simply defined and based on a set of options with
built-in business assumptions.
Example: Comarch decided with Cloud MWM to provide only 3
options to set up processes for automated scheduling. A very
sophisticated, multicriteria process of assigning resources
Redefinition of Cloud Principles in SME

dedicated model
Trainings
Modularity
Options
51
52
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
SMEs look for
software which
supports their
core business and
is available in the
service model
Comarch
Field Service
Management
was reengineered
from an enterprise
application to
cloud software
to serve Small
and Medium
Enterprises
Simplicity in the
case of SaaS
applications for
SMEs cannot be
understood as
limited functions
but as lowered
complexity
of available
functions
SMEs according
to their business
profile, maturity
and development
should be given
the possibility
to extend the
options of the
software modules
they use
to tasks with many constraints is defined by only 3 options

(shortest driving time, shortest total execution time, balanced
usage of resources). Automation goals in this case are self-explanatory and this is how it should be for every configuration.
Security is important but trust is even

more so
For many years, security has been one of the most often
presented cons in the case of cloud applications. It has also
blocked many large enterprises from using cloud services.
Large enterprises use sophisticated ways to secure customer and business data and it is why private clouds have become more popular in this sector. Being honest, it is more
of a mental block than a technical one but business has its
own rules. For smaller businesses, security is of course important but it is not the single most important factor. Maybe it is because the vast majority of SMEs are founded and
managed successfully by risk takers .SMEs seem to know
how to avoid trouble they choice trusted service providers. So, only large and recognized branches on the market
can successfully deliver their applications to medium and
small enterprises. This looks like a golden opportunity then
for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) who are always
recognized and are a stable branch on local markets.
Employees stop using PCs because they

are mobile
BYOD for SMEs is not an increasing trend, it is a fact.
Individually, SMEs have low budgets for IT and in the future
they will not be using dedicated terminals to access the functions they need. The simpler way to access them the better.
Web-based applications for back office operations seems to
be the standard. It is easy to understand, platform independent and fully capable of supporting any back office user from
any enterprise. It is far more complex to serve millions of mobile users. Camille Mendler, Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media in her cloud market research found that only
80% of cloud service providers somehow address mobile
employees. From the other hand, IDC estimates that 34.9% of
the workforce is currently mobile (Mobile Workforce Management Population 2009-2013 Forecast; IDC). Medium enterprises see large benefits coming from having access to data for
their mobile workforce (according to Microsoft research) and
in many cases employees use their own devices. Bring your
own Device (BYOD) for small & medium enterprises is not an
increasing trend, it is a fact. The security concerns of SMEs
are of less importance than infrastructure costs. What does
this means for software vendors who address SMEs as the
main target of their applications? It means that software installed on mobile devices must be device and platform independent. It also must be easy to install and update without
special user involvement. To show how it can be implement-
ed and if any compromises are possible, I will use mobile applications for field technicians as a reference. We prepared an
application which works on all devices of certain platforms
(iOS, Android, Windows Mobile) but to meet the requirement
that it had to also be available in an offline mode we resigned
from a web-based app used on mobile devices and we used
a model that is more popular for smartphones an application that can be installed on a mobile device. We used multiplatform technology to minimize our efforts related to the
maintenance of the software. This approach of BYOD also suits
ideas regarding certain options, which will be mentioned in
next paragraph, for example, if a client needs to manage devices more carefully (i.e. security concerns) they can additionally purchase an MDM solution that is available in the cloud.
Composed services suited to SMEs

In any pizza restaurant you have predefined pizzas but you
can also add toppings or compose your own as you like. This
is how it should work in the case of cloud applications for
SMEs. The sector, according to IDC in its IT Buyers Pulse Survey from Cloud point outs flexibility as being its top priority
- 40% of respondents. In simple words (as a reference using
Mobile Workforce Management) it means that end customers should be given the possibility to purchase basic services to check if the services they are using provide value for
their businesses. And according to business profile, maturity and business development, end customers should have
the possibility to extend the options of the software they
use. Vendors who make their enterprise solutions available
in a cloud are able to split functions into modules and give
customers a choice, this is a highly competitive advantage.
It is also important if service providers wish to position their
software as a business enabler. Providers must also assume
that their customers businesses will grow and will need additional software support. To put it in a business perspective,
end users will pay more for more advanced software but only
if they need, and are ready, to use it.
Short conclusion for CSPs

According to TMFs Quick Insight: Cloud Strategies the main
target for CSPs in cases of cloud services are SMEs. They have
money and are undersaturated when it comes to IT support.
Of course, SaaS solutions such as e-mail servers are easy to
deliver and allows providers to earn money on cloud market
places but they do not build strong relationships with business users. The only approach which shows that CSPs can
be business enablers in areas of core activities and to help
build strong relationships with business clients while allowing CSPs to sell core telecommunication services is SaaS.
Properly prepared cloud applications will become a strong
part of CSPs offers and will secure their businesses for a
long time to come.
54
Is it too late
for telecoms
tobecome Cloud
service providers?
live in the advanced world of advanced technologies, the Internet and omnipresent services providing useful features available in the Cloud. Every day we use it but even today not everyone fully
understands what the popular industry buzzword Cloud
really means. For some its a service that is used by web
browsers (i.e email, CRM, backup) and others understand
it more as a hosting service where you can upload whatever you want and use it as, and where, you please. If someone did a little homework on this subject they would know
the terms Software as a Service (SAAS), Platform as a Service (PAAS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS). But isnt
it really just another new word for what has already been
available for quite some time?
WE
ADAM GOWIN

Comarch SA
Product Manager,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
Nowadays, when Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Zuora and other

such providers are available on the market, and have been
for some years and enjoy strong positions, is it actually worth
thinking about competing with them?
Once, a professor from a technology university thought about
whether he could educate people who would be able to
introduce innovative ideas when technology was moving
so quickly and it seemed like everything had already been
achieved. His conclusion was that innovation does not always have to create something new, but it does have to
make something better.
Innovation
The question wed like to raise is:
The North American SaaS market now stands at

$9.1 billion, up more than 16 percent from $7.8 billion
in 2011
Are Telco operators able to provide cloud services in a better way?
In Western Europe, SaaS spending is at $3.2 billion,

up from $2.7 billion in 2011
In Comarch we believe they are, because of a few reasons:
In Asia/Pacific regions, excluding Japan, SaaS

revenues are $934.1 million, up from $730.9 million
55
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
Utilizing all
Operators already have Customers, so they know them, they

know what they are doing (and where) and have other information that can help them provide better services in a better way and to a higher standard. Finally, they are in contact
with their customers and can easily find out what they need.
Single Sign-On (SSO) - operators which provide Self Care for
customers usually have unified login/logout mechanisms
for all services. Extending their Self Care service by adding
the Market Place module, where customers can order new
services (SAAS services) without needing to register again,
is quite natural and very convenient for end users if they
log in by SSO and enter the Market Place area they are registered immediately. Customers are now just one click away
from using an operators new services.
Utilizing all services with unified access is very convenient
and is pretty much essential from the customers point of
view nowadays.
One invoice having less invoices is much better, and not
just from an ecological point of view. It reduces accounting
costs in a company. It also provides a single point of contact in cases when customers require an explanation from
their service provider. And yes: protecting the environment
is a good reason too.
Trust operators are usually companies that are trusted
by their customers. This trust is very important for customers even if operators are not aware of it. Customers may
have some concerns concerning sending their data to a
cloud, but when its with their trusted old telephony provider it makes it easier.
What are the benefits?
In Japan, SaaS brings in $495.2 million, compared

to $427 million in 2011.
In Latin America, SaaS spending totals $419.7
million, up from $331.1 million.
According to Gartner forecasts: By 2015, SaaS will become a
$22.1 billion industry and will hit $240 billion by 2020.
Gartner also estimates that by the end of 2014 at least 10% of
enterprise email seats will be based on a Cloud or an SaaS
model and 55% by 2020.
These forecasts show that there is money to be made in the
SaaS market already and, what is even more important, the
potential for growth looks bright.
Isnt it too late?

Typical Cloud service providers have been on the market for
some years already and this may lead some to think that it is
too late to enter the sector. They already have their platforms
ready, have the know-how and have enjoyed a soft start.
On the other hand, up until recently customers were not ready
for such solutions. Customer awareness and their openness
to SaaS models is growing now and it seems that within the
next few years customers (especially SME) will be choosing
cloud solutions more often than standard options.
For operators it means that they must start their projects now
before demand for such products skyrockets in the near future and it will be too late for them to catch up.
After more than a decade of use, the adoption of SaaS continues to grow and evolve regionally within the enterprise application markets. Increasing familiarity with the SaaS model, continued oversight on IT budgets, the growth of Platform
as a Service (PaaS) developer communities and interest in
cloud computing are now driving adoption forward. - Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner.
The Gartner report breaks down SaaS spending in 2012 by
region, determining that:
services with
unified access essential from the
customers point
of view
Increasing
familiarity with
SaaS model
56
TECHNOLOGICAL CORNER
TETRA is the risk

worth the gamble?
a wise man once said: Two things are infinite: the

universe and human stupidity Unfortunately,
everything else has its limitations. So, what is the
best way to ensure constant connectivity for police forces,
fire departments, ambulance services or military personnel when operations time can mean the difference between
life and death and cellular networks are not available?
AS
TETRA
One of the most popular and leading solutions of digital trunked
radio in the public sector is TETRA. Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) is an open standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The first version was released
in 1996 and gave the world a new solution for digital Private Mo-
TECHNOLOGICAL CORNER
57
ties. However, one of the aims of TETRA was to simplify the

solution as much as possible. Therefore, a basic model of the
TETRA network can be built with just two elements: two mobile stations where Direct Mode Operation (DMO) is installed.
Nevertheless, the regular architecture model of the system
usually includes: Base Stations, Switching Control Nodes and
Network Management Station with gateways.
So (un)popular
Most TETRA networks are implemented for government bodies, such as the police, rescue services and the army. This
has made TETRA a popular system and it has become a recognized solution in the public sector.
Unfortunately, in the private sector the situation is quite different. In small and medium-sized companies, where the number of employees and the number of system users is not so
big, the system is not cost effective. Therefore, trunking is a
waste of the frequency spectrum for systems that support a
relatively low number of mobile stations. The second problem
with TETRA is that it is more expensive than a conventional
system that would use the same number of base stations and
radio frequency channels. The software solutions required in
trunked systems for fast and effective user management require more advanced hardware. Therefore, the costs for companies increase because the system must be updated over time.
These two reasons make using TETRA a huge challenge for
small companies, they can indeed lead to companies deciding not to implement it. Fortunately, these problems occur rather rarely in large companies and the public sector.
The advantages this system provides, such as reliability, fast
call setup time, advance prioritization system, DMO, gateway
mode and many, many more makes it very popular and the
most widely-chosen trunked radio system.
and unique
The large number of functions implemented as standard features makes TETRA a unique system. It significantly increases network possibilities, especially when compared to other
trunked radio systems. TETRA boasts many features, including:
Reducing infrastructure costs, thanks to using
a lower frequency which increases the range of
single base stations
bile Radio (PMR) and Public Access Mobile Radio (PAMR). TETRA combines advantages such as flexibility, security and fast
call setup time. This makes it one of the most powerful solutions
of trunked radio communication systems currently available.
High spectral efficiency, as a result of 4 channels in

the 25kHz band and a reduction of guard bands
Call setup time hovering around 0.25 to 0.5 seconds
As a digital system TETRA is based on GSM and GPRS solutions, which both enjoyed great popularity in the late nine-
Guaranteed performance at speeds of up to 500 km/h
JAKUB STALMIRSKI

Comarch SA
OSS Solution Manager,

Telecommunications
Business Unit
IDEAS IN BRIEF:
TETRA is one of
the best solutions
in regards to
security, speed,
flexibility and
reliability.
These is why
TETRA is so widely
used in Germany
(BDBOS contract),
Finland (VIRVE),
UK (AIRWAVE) and
Sweden (RAKEL).
An open multivendor market,
thanks to IOP
certification
guarantees a
wide choice
of compatible
hardware
and reduces
dependency on a
single supplier.
58
TECHNICAL CORNER
TECHNOLOGICAL
CORNER
Trunking is a method
of providing network
access by sharing
a limited number
of communication
channels to a large
number of potential
users instead of
providing all of them
with individual
access.
Channel encryption
A number of mechanisms to ensure connection
success in spite of overload issues
Fully supported hand-over function
DMO Direct Mode Operation, used to set-up a
connection between two mobile stations
Point-to-point function connection between
mobiles without the need for a control room
One-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many
connections
Gateway mode when a mobile station is in the
range of the network, this allows this station to
become a relay for another mobile station which
is out of rangeMobile solutions for base stations
(Mobile TETRA Base Station)
Available in two architectures: circuit-switched and
IP (software switches)
What next?
The initial release of the TETRA standard brought with it
huge success and a lot of changes in the radio communications sector. Because of this, work on the standard did
not cease. In 2005, the next version of the standard was

released as an extension to the first one and was named
TETRA 2. Nowadays, TETRA is still being developed by ETSI
and the TETRA Association. Thats why it is highly probable that we will see a third, broadband version of the standard in the near future.
The second release of TETRA was built on the basis of the
first one. In regards to common services such as information
checking, messaging and file transferring speed and spectrum efficiency have been added. Basically, TETRA 2 has four
main goals: always on, always there, always safe and always
fast. TETRA 2 consists of Tetra Enhanced Data Service (TEDS)
and Tetra Advanced Pocket Service (TAPS). The TEDS specification enhances the throughput capabilities of the TETRA
packet data service. Additionally, TETRA 2 comes with new
modulation schemes, channel coding, various coding rates
and new channel bandwidths.
For the end

TETRA is able to meet the requirements of even the most demanding users. The system guarantees security, reliability
and it is also quite flexible. Implementations of TETRA can be
seen all over the world. Starting with public sectors in Germany, UK and Norway, and ending with private institutions
such as gold mines in Turkey, Ningbo Chinas biggest harbor or even F1 racing tracks. We can safely say that TETRA
is one of the best communications solutions for demanding environments.

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no 1/2013

ARE YOU READY TO CATCH

IN FOCUS: ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS

With operators across Europe increasingly seeing

practices to improve your offering

14 Telesperience Chief Analyst Teresa Cottam looks at

why there is little loyalty amongst European SMEs

outsource or not to outsource

a perfect offer for enterprises

HOT TOPIC: M2M

you ready to catch the M2M market

of M2M and Internet of Things on

HOT TOPIC: DELIVERING TRUE QUALITY

Key Elements of Customer Experience

ustomer Experience-centric Network

Implementation of Comarch NG Service

HOT TOPIC: CONNECTED ENTERTAINMENT

LNA already works in millions of home

Shane Buchanan, Certification Administrator &

from Tokyo: 2013 MirrorLinkTM

HOT TOPIC: CLOUD COMPUTING

obile Workforce Management

s it too late for telecoms to become Cloud

HOT TOPIC: TECHNOLOGICAL CORNER

is the risk worth the gamble?

ier 1 Telecom Operator Automates Service

the universe and human stupidity Unfortunately,

he monetization of opportunities presented by the

In this issue of Comarch Technology Review we focus on this

Comarch Technology Review is apublication created by Comarch experts and specialists.

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Gartners Magic Quadrants for IRCM

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And while the transition towards offering comprehensive

According to Machnik, the level of customer experience that

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ple, it is very important to keep this data in their respective

In an economic climate where a huge amount of turnover

EVP of product management

Having discovered a market opportunity for managed mobile

Comarch Technology Review 01/2013

IN FOCUS: ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS

workflow management, a consistent dashboard, and unified

This plays into not only gaining customers, but maintaining

With this, enterprises are currently trying to cope with the

The above article was published by: European Communications

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are becoming more mobile, devices which are becoming more

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