Achieving Operational Excellence in Mobile Telecom
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A P P L I C A T I O N S
A WHITE PAPER SERIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS AT THE HUB OF THE
MOBILE PRODUCT AND IS CENTRAL TO DELIVERING
WORLD-CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE. IT-ENABLED
SOLUTIONS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN ALLEVIATING
PRESSURE POINTS FACED BY MOBILE TELCOS TODAY.
Achieving Operational Excellence
in Mobile Telecom1 MOBILE TELECOM AT RISK
2 WHY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS RELEVANT
3 HOW IT CAN HELP REDUCE RISK AND IMPROVE OPERATIONS:
THREE STEPS TO LEVERAGE IT EFFECTIVELY
OFFSHORING
INCREASE IT ARCHITECTURE FLEXIBILITY
RE-VAMP CRM AND BILLING CAPABILITIES
4 CONCLUSION
5 PARTNERING WITH SYNTEL
Achieving Operational Excellence
in Mobile Telecom
Mobile operators in mature western markets
are facing operational challenges. Flexibility, speed-to-
market and cost containment are more important than ever before.
Information Technology is at the hub of the mobile product and is also central to
providing world-class customer service. As such, the underlying IT systems,
capabilities and architecture play a central role in enabling mobile telcos to achieve
their operational aspirations.“IT is at the heart of the mobile solution, particularly
in terms of the IT-enabled functionality provided
for customer care and billing…”
1. partner or outsource along several dimensions
of their value chain. Some examples include:
– Customer acquisition via branded sales
MOBILE TELECOM AT RISK
partners is common in Germany and
Mobile operators in mature western markets are other parts of Europe;
facing operational challenges—flexibility, speed-to- – Many telcos have outsourced customer
market, and cost containment are more important care and bill generation functions; and
than ever before. Information technology is at the
hub of the mobile product and is also central to – Several global mobile operators have
providing world-class customer service, and as such outsourced IT applications development
the underlying IT systems, capabilities and and maintenance to low-cost, high
architecture play a central role in enabling mobile quality vendors in India.
telcos to achieve their operational aspirations. • The telecom technical landscape is undergo-
ing rapid change as operators upgrade from
RISK FACTORS 2/2.5G to 3G, and talk is already underway of
There are several factors of the mobile telecom an IP-based 4G environment. This evolution
industry that put operators’ ability to succeed at risk. of the technical landscape of the core mobile
• The focus is shifting from customer acquisi- network puts a lot of pressure on IT systems
tion to retention in mature western markets that have to integrate to these telecom tech-
(e.g., Germany, UK, US). As mobile telecom nologies (e.g., provisioning systems, rating
penetration approaches saturation in some engines, etc.) The complexity of the problem
markets, the game changes to retaining cus- increases because of the lack of standards and
tomers and churning other telcos’ customers, open architectures in the network landscape
as opposed to acquiring “new” customers. To (most telecom network environments are built
succeed in this environment, mobile operators on vendor-specific, proprietary technologies).
have segmented their customer base and are • Evolution and commoditization of the basic
offering segmented offerings for each (e.g., voice product as customers’ mindsets shift
no-frills vs. global roaming+value-added from the mentality of buying a product to that
services such as MMS, internet, etc.) of buying a solution (which has lots of value-
This shift in focus puts tremendous pressure added services bundled into it). As a result,
on the underlying IT systems, particularly the post-sale customer service gains more
customer care, billing and provisioning. For importance, and the underlying CRM and
mobile operators to succeed in their retention billing systems become quite critical to the
strategies the underlying IT systems must be mobile operator’s success in the marketplace.
flexible and the IT architecture must be
conducive to rapid product introductions
(and changes) with minimal costs. 2.
• Cost consciousness precedes turnover and
market share objectives as many western WHY INFORMATION
mobile operators strive to remain viable in an TECHNOLOGY IS RELEVANT
increasingly competitive environment. In this
situation, telcos are increasingly focusing on IT is extremely relevant to this discussion because
their core competencies and are choosing to it is at the hub of the mobile product and is centralto delivering world-class customer service. Hence, c) Re-vamp core customer care and billing func-
IT-enabled solutions play a key role in alleviating tionality by leveraging third-party packages
pressure points faced by mobile telcos today. and adopting a pragmatic and cost-effective
The mobile product can be segmented into data and integration architecture.
three parts:
Initiatives in these areas can be applied to varying
• Functional attributes that include the core fea- degrees (and simultaneously if required), depending
tures of the product, e.g., MMS, SMS, online on the degree of urgency for the mobile operator.
services, games, ring-tones, etc.
OFFSHORING
• Non-functional attributes that are essential for
delivering and maintaining the mobile service, Offshoring typically yields 65-70% cost and
e.g., tariff plans, customer care “service pack- productivity gains. Factor cost savings arising from
ages”, loyalty programs, etc. labor arbitrage alone contribute to about 45%-55%
cost savings, and additional cost and productivity
• Communication attributes that are linked to benefits are derived from better quality of service,
the core mobile network and enable the wider and deeper talent pools, reengineering and
voice/data to be transmitted, e.g., BSCs, scale advantages.
MSCs, telecommunications switches, etc.
Offshoring “favorites” along the value chain
As discussed earlier, the mobile telecom landscape IT and IT-enabled components of the mobile
is undergoing several changes, one of which is a operator value chain are among the offshoring
shift from a product to a solution mindset. IT is at “favorites”, and many mobile operators have already
the heart of the mobile solution, particularly in embarked on this journey. Specifically high on the
terms of the IT-enabled functionality provided for list are:
customer care and billing (e.g., order management,
trouble ticketing, cross-selling/up-selling, rating, • Applications development
bill calculation, bill settlement, etc.) Hence, the • Applications maintenance
telco’s ability to deploy high-quality, cost effective • Help desk
IT solutions becomes a core requirement for
• Customer care
it to succeed in today’s and tomorrow’s marketplace.
• Bill processing
• Payroll
3. Other areas gaining importance include customer
and market analysis, CDR consolidation and
HOW IT CAN HELP REDUCE RISK maintenance of customer records.
AND IMPROVE OPERATIONS: Current practices and future projections
THREE STEPS TO LEVERAGE for Offshoring
Independent analysts predict that the offshoring
IT EFFECTIVELY wave has only just begun, and that offshoring
volumes will continue to grow at a healthy pace for
Given the relevance of IT in reducing mobile the foreseeable future. Gartner predicts offshoring
telecom pressure points, operators can choose to (IT and BPO) to grow at 14% CAGR between
embark in three areas: 2001 and 2008 (see Figure 1).
a) Outsource key IT applications (development
As a further indication to the future growth of
and maintenance) as well as key IT-enabled
offshoring, Forrester Research indicates that
functions such as billing, customer care,
offshoring is still in an early innings, with only
payroll, etc.
~5% of Fortune 1000 having fully exploited IT
b) Increase in the flexibility of the underlying offshoring as of 2004 (see Figure 2).
IT architecture of core systems of the mobile
operator. This is achieved by segmenting the Six value drivers in mobile telecom
architecture into logical domains, de-layering Offshoring
the architecture via selective encapsulation • Cost Savings. This is the first and most obvi-
of legacy systems, and introducing re-usable ous value driver due to the labor cost arbitrage
services between key applications [via an inte- between the offshoring location and the host
gration backbone, enabled by leading country. Vendors typically offer 40-60% cost
middleware solutions]. savings off the onshore cost base.Figure 1: Offshoring growth predictions
Worldwide Offshoring CAGR
Business Process Spending ($ Billions) Percent
Offshoring (BPO) 827 14
IT Offshoring (ITO) 367 16
321
128 460 13
193
Source: Gartner 2001 2008
• Quality Improvement. Offshore vendors are location. One example is dialing up individual
typically masters of business processes and the customers who are delinquent in payments, as
quality of IT solutions is much higher due to done by one of the leading global credit card
their strict adherence to standards (e.g., ISO companies, via their offshore center in India.
9001) and their strive for continuous improve-
• Broader and Deeper Technical Skill Pool.
ment demonstrated by Six Sigma and SEI
This enables the mobile operator to deploy
CMMI Level 5 capabilities.
new products and services without any
• Capital Cost Avoidance. The onshore com- constraints due to technical talent shortages.
pany is able to leverage vendor infrastructure
• Focus. As a result of the other value drivers,
and thereby avoid capital cost expenditures.
the mobile operator is able to concentrate on
• Pursuit of new IT-enabled products and its core competencies vs. attempting to become
services. Some of these are not viable at the a stellar systems integration company.
onshore location, but because of the cheap
labor costs, are possible on the offshore
Figure 2: IT Offshoring: The best is yet to come
Percentage of Fortune 1,000 companies
Percentage of full bystanders 80%
Percentage of experimenters
60%
Percentage of committed
40%
Percentage of full exploiters
20%
0%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Only 5% of Fortune 1,000 are fully exploiting offshore.
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.INCREASE IT ARCHITECTURE RE-VAMP CRM AND BILLING
FLEXIBILITY CAPABILITIES
The IT architecture of the mobile telco is central For mobile operators that are under continuous
to its ability to introduce new products and services pressure to respond to competitive moves, having a
quickly and flexibly. Since most global operators have best-in-class and well-integrated CRM and Billing
legacy IT architectures that cannot be “scratched capability is a must.
and burned”, an innovative way of salvaging and
building upon key parts of the architecture is needed. Strategic drivers and target end-state
Typically, mobile operators that are “feeling the
Mobile Telco IT architecture: Best heat” from competition go in for re-vamping their
Practice Overview CRM and Billing capabilities, with four main
Best practices indicate that the IT architecture of strategic objectives in mind:
the mobile telco should be aligned with the intrinsic • Provide higher flexibility for the introduction
architecture of the telecom product and service. and configuration of new products and services.
Just as the mobile product has three broad compo-
nents, the IT architecture should have three broad • Enable higher customer-centricity by providing
components that align with this product, and align integrated customer care and billing function-
with the service delivery of this product. ality and “one view” of the customer, across all
market and customer segments.
The first part of the IT architecture therefore contains
• Providing higher quality of deployed IT
all the applications, servers, interfaces and networks
solutions, by leveraging robust capabilities
that handle functional or value-added services, such as
of third party CRM and billing packages.
MMS, SMS, games, ring tones, etc. The second part
of the IT architecture contains all the applications, • Enabling pre-paid and post-paid convergence,
servers, interfaces and networks that handle the non- via the integrated functionalities of third
functional services such as CRM, billing, provisioning, party packages.
back-office transactions, etc. The third part of the
As a result of pursuing a re-vamp of CRM and
architecture contains the applications, servers, inter-
billing capabilities, mobile operators aim to achieve
faces and networks that handle communications via
an end-state where customer care and billing
the core telecommunications network such as the
changes can be made very quickly, to respond to
BSCs, MSCs, etc.
market pressures, and customer retention strategies
can be pursued more flexibly and speedily.
By separating the architecture along these three
natural “domains”, each of the three domains can Some publicly known examples
evolve with a certain degree of independence, while There are several global examples of mobile operators
remaining in synch with the other two domains, via revamping their core CRM and Billing capabilities,
a set of re-usable “services” as described below. to bolster their competitive position in the market,
and strengthen their business viability. For instance,
De-layering
in 2003, Orange announced publicly that it was
The next step towards creating a flexible IT
undergoing a massive systems rationalization effort
architecture for the mobile telco is to de-layer
(at the time Orange had more than 20 CRM,
the architecture by selectively encapsulating select
billing and data warehousing platforms in Europe
legacy systems. Encapsulation is achieved via
alone) to streamline business processes, develop an
XML-tagging and other methods to develop
integrated view of its European customer base, and
common application programmable interfaces for
reduce costs by increasing back-office efficiencies.
select legacy applications.
The systems integration project cost Orange more
than 150 Million Euros and was considered central
Custom-developing a host of reusable services
to Orange’s continued success in Europe.
between applications and/or encapsulated interfaces
and implementing these services via third-party
middleware tools complete delayering. These services 4.
can be developed at multiple levels (e.g. at the lowest
level, “Create/Read/Update/Delete/ [Customer]” CONCLUSION
can each be a service, and any combination of these
can be bundled to create a composite service. As mobile telecom operators battle operational
challenges, they will benefit from the expertise and
support of a skilled IT vendor. Operators can
leverage Syntel’s extensive industry experience and
our unique perspective on the specific processissues and technology implications affecting them,
enabling it to successfully implement technologies Our customer-centric approach and our ability to
that meet requirements and optimize operations. understand your mobile telecom business set us
apart from our competitors. As you get to speak
Syntel’s Solutions for Mobile Telecomm with some of our key clients, you will see that
Syntel has developed the IntelliSourcingTM approach Syntel thinks first of our client’s business strategy
where we work collaboratively with you to determine and our client’s imperatives for business success.
which components of your IT capabilities and Around this understanding, we work together to
business processes you can outsource to us, and become thought and implementation partners of
which ones you should continue to keep in-house, IT-enabled components of our client’s business
to maximize your business capabilities, while strategy—to unlock value from IT and create IT-
minimizing your costs. enabled competitive advantage.
We are so committed to your success and to our Commitment to Quality Sets Syntel Apart “Syntel has
delivery of value to you, that we are often ready to Any successful corporation understands that the
structure our services as a fixed-price contract. In quality and dedication of the people behind the developed the
fact, more than 50 percent of our IntelliSourcingTM processes and technology are what stands between
engagements are structured as fixed-price contracts, success and failure. Quality focus and commitment
IntelliSourcingTM
and are delivering high value to our customers year
after year. For these customers, we are managing the
is a key characteristic that distinguishes Syntel
from many other outsourced providers. This focus
approach where we
full life cycle of their IT applications development extends throughout the Syntel organization, and work collaboratively
and maintenance needs, on a fixed-price basis. impacts its people, processes, and technology.
Syntel follows the widely recognized Six Sigma with you to deter-
In addition to our IntelliSourcingTM services, we also methodology to continually measure and improve
offer a full range of custom development and package performance and processes. As an integral part of mine which com-
implementation services. These services can be this methodology, it adheres to the DMAIC—
brought to bear to revamp your IT architecture and Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control— ponents of your IT
enable your company to introduce new products
much faster and cheaper than ever before, so you can
framework to guide process improvement.
capabilities and
strengthen your competitive position in your respec- Syntel’s Global Development Centers in India are business processes
tive market. You can also leverage these services to assessed at both ISO 9001 and Level 5 of the SEI
selectively replace and re-vamp your core CRM and CMMI (Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering you can outsource
Billing capabilities, if your challenges in these areas Institute Capability Maturity Model), making it
are more pressing. Like the IntelliSourcingTM approach, one of just a handful of organizations in the world to us, and which
these services typically have a blended delivery model assessed at these levels. Its delivery performance is
where part of the work is done onsite at our clients’ benchmarked against the highest capability stan- ones you should
facilities and part of the work is done in one or more dards of this model and achieving Level 5 is the
of our global development facilities. The combination ultimate recognition in the IT industry for the
continue to keep
of our IntelliSourcingTM, custom development and
package implementation services enable us to fully
maturity of Syntel’s software processes. This means
Syntel’s solutions have been proven to deliver:
in-house…”
address the IT-related pressure points for our clients • Faster project timelines,
in the Mobile Telecom vertical.
• Greater costs savings,
• Reduced risks,
5.
• Increased work efficiency,
PARTNERING WITH SYNTEL • Constant work process improvement, and
• Greater situational awareness.
Syntel has provided outsourced IT services for over
25 years. In fact, Syntel was the first US-based firm to Syntel’s Project Management practices are based on
launch a Global Service Delivery model in 1992 and the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project
leverages this model today to deliver increased time-to- Management Body of Knowledge, which emphasizes
market, enhanced efficiencies, and quality improve- communication, risk management, and leadership.
ments for a majority its Global 2000 customers. Most of Syntel’s Project Managers are PMI-certified,
or are in the process of pursuing certification, and all
Syntel crafts each solution around its deep under- project managers are leaders empowered by Syntel to
standing of the issues facing mobile telecom firms. act in the best interest of the customer’s success.
Our combined expertise in telecom and several
other industries give us a unique set of skills and
knowledge base to help operators succeed.about SYNTEL:
Syntel provides custom outsourcing solutions to Global 2000
corporations. Founded in 1980, Syntel's portfolio of services
includes BPO, complex application development, management,
product engineering, and enterprise application integration
services, as well as e-Business development and integration,
wireless solutions, data warehousing, CRM, and ERP.
We maximize outsourcing investments through an onsite/off-
shore Global Delivery Service, increasing the efficiency of how
complex projects are delivered. Syntel's global approach also
makes a significant and positive impact on speed-to-market,
budgets, and quality. We deploy a custom delivery model that
is a seamless extension of your organization to fit your business
goals and a proprietary knowledge transfer methodology to
guarantee knowledge continuity.
SYNTEL
525 E. Big Beaver, Third Floor
Troy, MI 48083
phone 248.619.3503
info@syntelinc.com
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