Fulfillment of telecommunications services involves a series of supply chain activities responsible for assembling and making services available to subscribers. These activities delineate an operational infrastructure whose efficiency relies upon its ability to allow a communications service provider (CSP) to match the supply of services with demand in an economical way and with consistently high levels of quality and reliability.
Contents
To achieve these goals, the design of service fulfillment platforms take into consideration the following:
Processes
The supply chain activities in service fulfillment involve the following processes:
Subscriber expectations
Keeping up with increasing subscriber expectations in today's market is not the exclusive domain of service assurance. Service fulfillment plays a critical role as well in ensuring a "first time right" customer experience.
Customer satisfaction in the telecommunications industry stems from adequate service provisioning, value for money, loyalty and relationship management. An efficient service fulfillment platform automates service order processing to gain speed via flowthrough capabilities and to reduce the service order fallout that results from manual processes. This is being recognized by CSPs as they increasingly look to their suppliers for help in achieving higher levels of automation.
Service fulfillment vendors
Notable global service fulfillment vendors include Netcracker Technology, Comarch, Sigma Systems, Cisco, Open International, Telcordia (now part of Ericsson), TIBCO, Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia), Amdocs, Oracle, Comptel, HP, Tecnotree, Arkipelago, Tata Communications, Softenger (I) Pvt Ltd and Ericsson.