Fisticuffs Aside, SI Panel Promises Some Fireworks : Billing & OSS World Conference Session Will Exa

Billing & OSS World Conference Session Will Examine System Integration

Jim Barthold
02/27/2009

Continued from page 1

“SIs today need to be more proactive because the telecom segment, including cable, is changing so often and so fast you can’t only learn from what you did on your last project, you have to have a vision where the industry is going ... so you can help your customer tomorrow,” Sotola said. “I don’t want to imply that it was ever cookie cutter — that’s not the right term — but it’s very, very different today. They can be using us a little more as a sounding board [and] that creates a separate new paradigm.”

Of course a big difference today is how service providers choose their SIs. Lowest price, while tempting in a time of cap ex constraints, is not always the best deal because, as the old saying goes, you tend to get what you pay for.

“I’ve talked to customers who chose the lowest hourly rate and then the project went south,” said Sotola, citing some specific horror cases where the work was either not accomplished or finished in a shoddy fashion and the carrier was left in the lurch.

Baker went even farther. Service providers, he said, can’t hide behind the economy when it comes to spending money to modernize and consolidate OSS/BSS operations.

“In some cases I think the recession is being used as a rationale to get rid of people,” he said, obviously stoking a potential bonfire for the session. “If you get rid of people, somebody has to do the work [and] OSS systems have to pick up the load. It’s an opportunity, but it’s also a problem.”

It’s an opportunity for the SIs, for sure, if they do it right, said Viswanathan.

“During this economic situation we are not looking at being a replacement for the existing IT staff. We want to help with the business problem that they have more from a top gun business advisory perspective to how we can deliver the solution in a more comprehensive and collaborative fashion,” he said. “It’s no longer a case where they need IT services and want to engage the SI for that.”

The value of the SI, Viswanathan said, is to “create a value-based ecosystem and not throw it on the IT services; create a partnership and go-to-market with the service providers and become a core partners in innovating the network.”

It’s a point that each panelist, in his own way, will emphasize to an audience of service providers. And from there, let the fun begin.

Thurs., April 16
9 – 9:45 a.m.
Track One: All Things Revenue: Generation, Assurance, Optimization
Working Successfully With Systems Integrators and Telecom IT Service Firms