Anyone who has visited London has heard the familiar sound of a subway loudspeaker warning them to “mind the gap” between the train and platform. That same phrase could serve as a warning to today's service providers who need to “mind the gap” between their customer facing business support systems (BSS) and network facing operational support systems (OSS). In reality, this “gap” has existed for some time. BSS systems (typically including billing and CRM), have always been separate from OSS systems (such as service activation, provisioning, fault management, etc.), which included having separate business processes and people.

By Bhaskar Gorti

The potential power of new intermediaries such as the Googles, Amazons and E-Bays – often already having their own billing systems and payment mechanisms in place – is set to pose a major threat to the service provider's traditional dominance of the entire value chain. As the industry starts making the long awaited strategic shift from simple survival to positive growth, new challenges continue to emerge. Unless service providers of all shapes and sizes confront these, they're going to be reduced to little more than mere bit-pipe players. However, knowing where you've got to get to is only part of the problem facing operators as they try to transform themselves through the addition of content and applications to their service portfolios...