www.comarch.eu
no 2/2009 (10)
Comarch Telecommunications Business Unit Comarch Technology Review is a publication created by Comarch experts and specialists. It aims at assisting our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information about market trends and developments, and the technological possibilities of addressing the most important issues.
in focus
Mobile Technologies
>> Behind the Scene of Mobile Products – Smartphone Operating Systems >> Loyalty Card Killer! >> Location-Based Services: New Opportunities for Innovation >> Smartphone – the Best Tool for Cutting Field Service Costs and Increasing Productivity
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Preface < 3
In today’s
times, we’re all aware that the world is mobile. And it’s not only because people carry mobile handsets and laptops religiously, but mainly due to the outstanding possibilities offered by existing services, systems, environments, resources and communities when mobilized. Mobile devices are just enablers, the real secret behind it relates to how each and every solution should be tailored to mobiles in order to enrich the end user experience and provide the right content at the right time: “Here and Now”, on demand and limitlessly. Business models for mobility will be driven by QoS and AoS of services as well as by the interoperability of voice, data, multimedia and payment services. Telco “dumb pipes” or “smart pipes” network services will support users’ communication, interactions and mobility, entertainment and professional activities. In this issue of Technology Review we present various aspects of mobility as it opens new markets and opportunities emerging from already existing legacy solutions in telecommunications, as well as NGN and 4G, which have vast potential for converging and evolving and both of which are enriched by mobile access channels. Starting from Smartphone technologies, through applications in LBS, Loyalty and Digital Homes, towards the solutions in telecommunications providing a third dimension to Service Assurance and Networking, the excellence of intelligent networks with mobile assets is presented step-by-step. At Comarch, we strongly believe that when the right approach to mobility is adopted, services can evolve rapidly, systems be enriched with network intelligence, self-tuning and self-adaptation, environments can be simplified to service delivery platforms, resources can be managed more easily by All-IP technologies, and unified processes and communities can grow dynamically. All these factors will enable positive market segmentation and lead to highly lucrative business openings in the near future. Join us in our vision and enjoy reading! <<<
Editor-in-Chief: Katarzyna Gajewska DTP&Graphics: Jakub Malicki Proofreading: Martin Jones Publisher: Comarch SA, Al. Jana Pawła II 39a, 31-864 Kraków Tel. +48 12 64 61 000, Fax: +48 12 64 61 100, e-mail: marketing@comarch.pl www.comarch.eu Print: Skleniarz Printing House, ul. J. Lea 118, 31-033 Kraków Circulation: 1 000
Paweł Bieryt Comarch SA Position: EVP Professional Services Department: Telecommunications Business Unit
Technology Review is a free publication available by subscription. The articles published here can be copied and reproduced only with the knowledge and consent of the editors. The names of products and companies mentioned are trade marks and trade names of their producers. To receive your subscription to the electronic version or see the previous issues, please visit technologyreview.comarch.com. Since 1993, Comarch’s Telecommunications Business Unit has been specializing in designing, implementing and integrating solutions and services for telecommunication operators. Experience gained during this time, along with its knowledge of the latest industry trends, allows the company to flexibly adapt itself to the needs and expectations of every client.
Piotr Madej Comarch SA Position: Mobile R&D Department Director Department: Telecommunications Business Unit
Worldwide Offices: Poland Belgium Germany France Lithuania Austria Panama Russia Switzerland Slovakia Czech Republic Ukraine The United States of America The United Arab Emirates
Complete integration with operatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing order management, billing and even legacy CRM systems Business process automation helping to optimize and standardize the processes Coverage of the full acquire-grow-retain customer lifecycle with integrated functional modules Learn more at: crm-for-telecoms.comarch.com technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Table of Contents < 5
in focus
4.
Behind the Scene of Mobile Products – Smartphone Operating Systems Despite the global recession, Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units in the second quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. It is a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year, while overall mobile phone sales declined 6 per cent. What kind of factors should you take into account when planning a mobile product? Is the mobile development process for mobiles the same as it is for desktops? Is it really possible to write one application that serves all, or at least the majority of all, devices available on the market?
10. Loyalty Card Killer! Nowadays, there are loyalty programs for almost every business on the market: in retail, finance, airline, and also telecommunications. But this final example probably benefits from running loyalty programs the least. Frequent Flyer Programs offer tickets as a highly lucrative reward and retail companies facilitate quicker points collection. Is today’s technology able to change the situation, reap more profits for mobile operators and grant them tools which are also desired by loyalty programs in other industries?
13. Location-Based Services: New Opportunities for Innovation Localization technologies are increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives and help improve the quality of services we use. It is claimed by some that it is a technology powerful enough to become a leading component of the information technology world in the near future. According to Gartner, the LBS market is set to grow from $41 million in 2008 to $95.7 million in 2009. This is likely to be a slightly optimistic forecast, but nonetheless it is quite apparent in today’s world that the number of services using location-based technology will increase. This article gives a broad outline of LBS technology, present and possible future applications of it, and also discusses the innovation trends in the area of LBS.
17. Smartphone – the Best Tool for Cutting Field Service Costs and Increasing Productivity Does your field service use up more and more money? Do your customers seem to be dissatisfied, and are the number of “Where is my tech?” escalations refusing to decrease? There is a simple solution: buy gadgets, go with trends and be green. Your company will not only save money but will also be able to increase revenue.
22. Digital Home – a Dream or a Fact? UPnP is the technology of tomorrow that started the day before yesterday. The main goal of UPnP technology is to enable seamless connectivity of various devices, forming networks in home or corporate environments and enabling Digital Home experience. By its design, adding new devices or programs to the network should be as easy as plugging a piece of hardware into a PC. The devices and programs connected familiarize themselves with the current network setup thanks to service discovery and advertisement, and configure themselves accordingly on the fly, with regard to devices already connected. In short: UPnP is a framework for building networked applications.
Operational Excellence
27. Towards Self-Organizing Networks Current mobile market landscape with dropping revenues per bit and increasing demand for diversified service portfolio forces operators to reduce OPEX while investing in new technologies and solutions. Constantly growing multi-technology and multivendor networks become more complex than ever before and significant network planning and management effort is needed to ensure satisfactory end user experience. This effort can be minimized with implementation of Self-Organizing Networks (SON) which will enable operators to simplify network operation and extend their network in plug & play manner. Comarch considers network management automation as key requirement as well as a crucial factor for investments in next-generation wireless technologies such as LTE and supports SON use cases with its product portfolio.
35. Telco on Demand? Can
a telecom provider outsource everything besides the marketing department? Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. The SaaS model has become one of the most popular trends in today’s IT environment. Software vendors are starting to offer their software in the SaaS model for many industries. But is SaaS already mainstream in telecommunications? How far can a telecom provider go into SaaS? Are there any IT or network areas that cannot be outsourced?
40. Self Tuning OSS An economic slowdown always pushes market players to reduce costs and peruse new revenue sources. A more effective strategy than a simple one off effort is to employ the tenet of efficiency improvements as a continuous cycle. The article describes the concept of the OSS system which should not only promise to add value to CSP but also contain self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms which can measure the system performance in business oriented KPIs and improve its performance. See how the concept of a continuous improvement cycle implemented in the Next Generation Service Management solution can help CSPs to maintain profitability whilst under pressure to reduce time-to-market for new services. Find out about customer service composition optimization which aligns with the notion of Self-Organizing Networks.
32. Service Assurance: Bridging
the Gap between the Traditional Management Silos Each service provider has its own business model. One may focus on being the technological leader delivering the highest possible quality to customers, while others may find their niche in simple and inexpensive services that are available for a flat rate. Yet all of them face the same problem, the customer will leave if the services do not work. Throughout the years they have been mitigating this potential threat with a number of different fault management tools which keep the network in a good state of operation. Nowadays this seems to be no longer possible as business models have changed. Today, even simple services have become dependent on several different platforms, which are often delivered by business partners. Service providers must bridge the gap between old tools and new models. They must shift their operations to the next level: Service Assurance.
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6 > In Focus
Behind the scene of mobile products Smartphone Operating Systems
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
In Focus < 7
Abstract Despite the global recession, Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units in the second quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. It is a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year, while overall mobile phone sales declined 6 per cent. If you also take into account the rapidly growing functionality of these devices (fast CPU, GPS, accelerometer etc.), and the mobile application stores boom it comes as no surprise that more and more companies decide to build their products for the market, or add mobile functionality to those already existing. Because of the number of Operating Systems that can be found in smartphones, the decision regarding which to choose can be crucial. What kind of factors should you take into account when planning a mobile product? Is the mobile development process for mobiles the same as it is for desktops? Is it really possible to write one application that serves all, or at least the majority of all, devices available on the market? These are questions that service providers new to the mobile world may not have answers for. In this article we try to answer them and give a broad outline of today’s mobile software landscape.
Key Players Choosing a Smartphone Operating System is much more difficult than choosing an OS for a PC (around 90 per
cent for one OS), or even choosing a web browser (two main browsers with around a 90 per cent user share). This is healthy as competition drives quality and innovation, and you can select what best suits your needs. On the other hand, however, you have to research every possibility, and it is far more difficult to make your product accessible to the majority of users.
bian Foundation was founded by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NTT DoCoMo, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, Samsung, ST Ericsson and AT&T with the aim to “provide royaltyfree software and accelerate innovation”. Comarch also contributes to the development of Symbian through its membership of the Symbian Foundation, sharing the vision of creating an open and compelling mobile software platform.
Symbian In 1998 Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and Psion founded a company called Symbian Ltd. “to exploit the convergence between PDAs and mobile phones”. Psion had created the EPOC16 operating system for its pocket computers, Psion Organisers, in the late 1980s. Partnership between the leading phone manufacturers was most likely to have been driven by fear of losing the smartphone market to PDA companies. Psion’s EPOC32 operating system, developed since the mid 90s, was primarily used in the Ericsson R380 (November 2000). Later, EPOC32 was renamed Symbian OS, and was utilized in the Nokia 9210 and Nokia 7650 (2001). Symbian Ltd’s shareholders have changed over time (e.g. Siemens, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony Ericsson), and the company also licensed the Symbian OS to even more manufacturers (e.g. LG, Arima, Fujitsu, Lenovo, BenQ, Sharp). On Symbian Ltd’s 10th anniversary Nokia announced that they intended to acquire and transform it into a non-profit foundation. The Sym-
Figure 1. The market share in Q2, 2009 according to Gartner Symbian 51% RIM BlackBerry 19% iPhoneOS 13% Windows Mobile 9% Linux 5% Android 2% Other 1%
The Symbian Foundation is going to publish the Symbian platform under the open source Eclipse Public License by 2010. This is a fantastic opportunity not only for all developers interested in writing applications for Symbian, and looking to explore the source code and uncover Symbian OS secrets, but also for device manufacturers, who can now equip their own devices with Symbian OS free of charge. The likely consequence of this is that creating Symbian applications will be easier, faster and more cost-effective. Currently, Symbian is the leading smartphone OS, and with the support of nearly 150 members of the foundation, including mobile network operators, semiconductor vendors, software companies, and phone manufacturers it probably will be for some time to come. Admittedly, its market share has recently declined in favor of RIM, iPhone and Android, but its position remains very strong. Even though Symbian is the leading global smartphone OS, in North America it is a very different story, this probably due to (smaller) Nokia’s market share. When it comes to application development on the Symbian platform it is important to note that it enables developers to implement almost anything imaginable. The only limitation originates from the capability model, which restricts some APIs crucial for maintaining the platform’s integrity. However, before you start implementing your solution you should be aware that developing for Symbian is fairly time-consuming. Symbian’s dialect of the C++ programming language is not particularly straightforward and you need experienced developers in order to meet the deadlines and obtain software of a good quality. Nevertheless, when completed the application is fast, smooth, user friendly and satisfies even the most fastidious customers.
RIM BlackBerry Please note that these results are based on the number of units sold in Q2, and is not a true representation of the number of smartphones currently operated by users (a larger share for Symbian OS and Windows Mobile at the expense of iPhone and Android).
The BlackBerry Operating System is produced by Research In Motion Limited. The first BlackBerry device was released in 2002 and since then has gained popularity mainly in North America. From its very incepnr 2/2009 (10)
8 > In Focus
tion the key feature of BlackBerry was push email (the possibility to receive email directly), which attracted real interest from various companies.
only methods for shipping are through Apple. However, as the phone itself is in high demand in the United States and is gaining in popularity in other parts of the world it is wise to also provide an iPhone version of your application, if possible of course.
Recently BlackBerry has increased its market share, but what may bring a halt to this growth is the alliance between Nokia and Microsoft announced in August. The purpose of the agreement is to bring business software to smartphones and (officially) pose heightened competition to the likes of BlackBerry. Nokia smartphones containing both Microsoft Office and email programs is likely to be the key development born from this collaboration. The usage of Java language makes development for BlackBerry relatively easy, when compared to Symbian
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is the operating system from Microsoft for smartphones, PDA, and other devices. The first version was released in 2000, and because of Microsoft’s dominant position on the market for operating systems for PC, office suites and web browsers many believed that the impending success of Windows Mobile is just a matter of time. Indeed, the option to easily exchange and use documents and emails with a PC is still a major selling point of the OS.
for instance. It is also easier to find developers who can start developing for the platform without problems arising. The range of APIs available is another advantage of the BlackBerry platform, though maybe it is not as comprehensive when compared to the Symbian case. However, with popularity limited to North America this renders it suitable for only certain solutions.
Linux No royalties or licensing fees and the ability to freely change virtually anything were most probably the main motives behind why many smartphone manufacturers decided to use Linux kernel as a base to its own platforms. Platforms produced by Motorola and DoCoMo gained the most popularity on the Asian market. Nokia and Google also invested in Linux-based platforms – Maemo and Android respectively. With the variety of different vendors’ Linux-based platforms, it highlights the fact that many sides are interested in its growth, yet the lack of compatibility between them currently makes it impossible to treat “Mobile Linux” as competition to the platforms described above. Industry standards or de-facto standards can alter the situation. An additional opportunity for Linux on smartphones is the scope for single platform success. These days Android and Maemo look the most promising. In fact, almost every six months there is news in the media that “undisclosed Nokia sources” reveal that the company will in fact abandon Symbian in favor of Linux.
Android iPhone OS The first iPhone was released by Apple Inc. in June 2007. Taking this into account, its popularity is huge, and it is still dynamically growing. Even though there is controversy regarding how great the contribution of marketing was to this success, the iPhone undoubtedly has vast influence on all the other platforms. Similar to BlackBerry, iPhone’s popularity is far greater in North America than in other regions.
Currently, there are only 3 iPhone devices - Original, 3G and 3GS – and this can be a potential problem with regard to wider adoption of the OS. Developing for iPhone is unfortunately not as smooth as its usage. The language “Objective C” is not widely known, and is generally limited to Applerelated developers. The number of APIs available is also underwhelming, and there are numerous features which cannot be implemented by a third party. Application distribution is also far from satisfactory – the technology review [www.comarch.eu]
The most probable reason for the less sizeable success of the Mobile version in comparison to desktop Windows is most likely related to the unwillingness of leading smartphone manufacturers to integrate it into the majority of their devices – Windows Mobile is present mainly in HTC phones. In 2009 Microsoft signed an agreement with LG Electronic to license Windows Mobile, although with the attention of HTC focused primarily on other platforms (mainly Android) it may not halt the trend of a decreasing market share. Following a common theme, the Windows Mobile market share is also more extensive in North America in comparison to other regions. Development for Windows Mobile-based devices is similar to development for standard Windows. Third party developers have several options available to them when deploying a mobile application, including writing a native code with Visual C++, which provides more comprehensive APIs, or writing a managed code that works with the .NET Compact Framework, which is actually a subset of the .NET Framework and hence shares numerous components with software development on desktop clients. The resemblance to desktop Windows and the .NET Compact Framework make Windows Mobile particularly suitable for business application implementation, although other applications can also be created.
Following the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, many expected that internet giant Google would release its own gPhone. Eventually, this turned out not to be the case, but in November 2007 Google did announce the early version of the smartphone operating system ‘Android’. The congregation of companies officially interested in Androids’ success is the Open Handset Alliance which consists of mobile operators, software companies, semiconductor companies and handset manufacturers (e.g. HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson). The OS is developed as open source on the Apache License, and is based on the Linux kernel on the GPL license.
The first Android phone hit the market in October 2008. It was made by HTC, and was sold as HTC Dream but was also branded as T-Mobile G1, Era G1 and Rog-
In Focus < 9
ers Dream. Android phones did not sell as rapidly when compared to the iPhone’s release, but this may change with the arrival of additional phones from alternative manufacturers - Google expects 18 Android phones by the end of the year from 8 manufacturers. Currently, the main selling point of the OS is the possibility for integration with Google services such as GMail and GoogleMaps. Google provides developers with Java API powerful enough to satisfy most needs and implement various types of solutions. Moreover, advanced developers may implement the native C application and deploy it within the phone, making it possible to use virtually all the telephone’s functions. The development for Android is not very difficult and it shouldn’t be problematic finding developers. Although there aren’t many devices on the market yet, the popularity of Android is growing and you should certainly consider this platform when planning a new product.
Maemo Maemo is a Linux-based OS for mobile devices developed by Nokia. The first device – Nokia 770 – was released in November 2005, and was classified as an “Internet Tablet”. Due to the lack of GSM telephony hardware and a fairly large touchscreen, it was far more effective as a tool for web browsing compared to the majority of alternative phone screens. Various voices claimed that the device was not intended to challenge Symbian OS Nokia devices. Finally, however, in August of this year Nokia announced the first Maemo phone – N900, proceeded by rumors that Maemo will be the chosen preference of Nokia for
their smartphones. The major advantage of the Maemo platform is the fact that development is similar to that on standard Linuxes. This renders it fairly attractive to Linux geeks who want to extend their product range to mobile devices, and due to the enormous capability of the platform it is hard to imagine an application which cannot be implemented to Maemo. Currently, there is only one smartphone available on the market as the previous Maemobased devices released by Nokia were not equipped with telephony features. However, the platform is extremely powerful and it is likely that it will become more popular in the future. Therefore, you should take it into account when planning a long-term project.
Palm webOS Another Linux-based platform that could become a major player in the future is the Palm webOS. Palm Inc., a company with vast experience in the PDA market, holds the aspiration to be the “iPhone killer” and repeat its success. There were long queues to the first stores selling the device with the OS (Palm Pre), and favorable reviews in the press highlights its potential, although only time will tell.
There is an SKD for WebOS and developers can consider writing code for the device. However, due to its current small market share this makes the device less attractive as a target for mobile applications unless you decide to ship the device to your customers together with the software.
Hardware Smartphones commonly tend to utilize the most advanced hardware currently available on the mobile phone market, although they do often differ from one another. Even within the genre of devices based on a single operating system, significant differences in hardware may still remain. As a result, the product developer should know which hardware is essential for the product, and which particular smartphones have it. For some products a key might be CPU speed (e.g. for encryption), and others may require advanced animation effects and hardware graphics acceleration. The majority of smartphones have a built in camera, with differences in their resolution and the time the device requires for saving a picture. Many smartphone products use a camera to attain information from the environment or for scanning barcodes. Today, one can find smartphones with various types of hardware which can be used to connect to other devices. Thanks to this, smartphone can remotely control other devices and can also exchange data. Wifi Internet connection enables access to fast, cheap, and unlimited Internet, and facilitates the operation of more mobile web scenarios. An accelerometer and magnetometer are used to trace the actual motion of the phone, and allows users to interact with the application in a far more natural way.
GPS and information from the GSM network can be used to retrieve information regarding where a phone is and enables creating location-based products, such as Google Latitude or Comarch Mobiloc. In addition, user interface hardware varies with different smartphones, although following recent developments (since iPhone’s success) it appears that touchscreen may now be the standard. For some products miniature QWERTY keyboards may be especially useful and for certain additional buttons wheels can be used to improve user interaction with a product. On the Asian market there are now smartphones with rather unusual hardware that allows a phone to change its smell or even check how drunk you are... Another area where smartphones differ is the size of their screens. It can vary from fairly small monochromatic versions found in the older devices to those which are (surprisingly) quite sizeable: 16 million colors and even 800 x 480 pixels, such as on the Nokia N900. Handling such a variety of screen resolutions is not always an easy task from the programmer’s point of view. What worsens the situation further is the orientation, which in some models changes on the fly depending on the physical position of the device or the location of the keyboard slider, in combination with the fact that some telephones, such as the Nokia E90 Communicator, have more than one display.
Restrictions What is likely to be one of the biggest traps waiting for those with a lack of experience in developing mobile products is the various restrictions. Many think that the smartphone OS will grant them access to everything, similar to that of an OS on a regular PC. Symbian includes the Symbian Signed program, and a particular product must go through this in order to attain access to certain phone capabilities. To pass the program one has to guarantee that the product passes some tests and must also pay for the signing process. There are also capabilities that require the device manufacturer’s approval, which might be both problematic and extremely time consuming to achieve. The official reason for Symbian Signed’s existence is for prevention of malicious software being installed on the phone. In order to develop applications for the BlackBerry device and use certain features termed as ‘sensitive’ you must pay 20$ for signing keys and register on the RIM website. This process is used to track the usage of these sensitive APIs, and does not require any testing or RIM’s approval.
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Development for the iPhone was originally restricted to Apple Inc. and several other companies they selected. Now, however, there is public SDK (Software Development Kit), as well as the option to create an application for the iPhone after purchasing a Macintosh computer and paying for iPhone Development Program membership (99$). It is worth noting that even this public SDK lacks API for certain features that are only available to Apple. One of Android’s design bases is that “All Apps are Created Equal”. The notion is that there should be no difference in the possibilities available for applications preinstalled on the phone by the manufacturer, and all 3rd party applications.
Symbian’s native development is carried out in C++. This is a popular language. However, Symbian uses its own dialect on top of C++ that must be understood in order to write the most advanced and efficient programs. BlackBerry uses two versions of Java – Java Micro Edition and its own Java API. Apple decided to create a language entitled Objective C, and also took the decision to use it for the iPhone. Generally speaking, this language is only popular within Apple’s own ecosystem, and there are few developers with expertise in its field, although it is worth noting that popularity grows with the iPhone’s success. Android development can be conducted using its own version of Java language.
Programming Languages It is definitely worth knowing which programming language is native to a particular platform, as this is the key determinant of product development cost and its maintenance. The more popular a language is the easier one can find developers, the less complicated it is the more optimum the speed at which the product can be developed.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
One to Rule them All Excluding those that are native, some smartphone OSs’ enable writing programs in alternative languages. Such programming languages are less efficient, grant more restricted phone access, but are more straightforward and if supported on more than one platform
enable users to write a single program (single code) for more than one operating system. Typically, non-native language can be useful for relatively simple products that should work on as many types of devices as possible. The language designed to operate on all low resource devices is Java Micro Edition (JME). In fact, it works on most phones (not only smartphones). However, the more recently created platforms (iPhone, Android) lack its native support. What is more, there are different bugs within different implementations of JME on different phones, and the advantage of writing one code for several platforms is lessened by the requirement to deal with bugs specific to each phone model. Following Nokia’s acquisition of Trolltech (the company that developed Qt Framework) in 2008 work has been ongoing in order to provide Qt on Symbian and Maemo phones. When this is completed there should be the option to use QT for writing a single code for Symbian, Maemo, desktop Windows, Linux, and Mac. The Internet is also a common environment for all mobile operating systems. There is no access to smartphone capabilities from a web browser, but for certain products, for which most logic can be shifted
In Focus < 11
to the server side, mobile web is also a possibility. For advanced products there are also web-related technologies such as Flash Lite and Mobile Web Widgets.
Application Development When comparing to desktop, mobile applications are far less portable and must usually be written for all required platforms separately, as there is no universal programming language for all mobile devices. Java Micro edition is sometimes viewed as a universal language (although not supported on certain platforms), but it usually turns out that using Java leads to more problems than solutions. For most devices it is not a native language, meaning that the application almost never appears to be native. Moreover, compared to native, usually lower level programming language, Java applications offer inferior performance and are less user friendly, which may result in customer reluctance to use them. An additional disadvantage of Java is the lack of APIs, which means that only certain features can be implemented – inexperienced developers may not even realize that a feature they plan to acquire is not actually feasible in Java prior to starting the development, which leads to bitter disappointment and, what is more important, financial losses. However, it should be said that some, not very complex applications can be successfully implemented by means of Java ME. Another issue one should be aware of when dealing with mobile software is that there are also differences between devices based on the same platform. Due to the binary breaks between different versions of the same platform, APIs availability, screen resolutions and hardware configurations, it is impossible to write a one-for-all application even on a particular platform, unless it is a fairly simplistic piece of software. Going into specific details of such issues is outside the scope of this article, and so if you come across such problems and do not have people experienced enough to solve them it is advisable to use the services of an experienced company to help you complete your project. The effort is not the same for all platforms, and strongly depends upon the type of application you are going to implement. Some features may also be impossible to implement for certain devices as described above. There is a general rule that states the lower the level of programming language the longer the development. Therefore, creating a native Symbian or Linux Maemo application will usually be more time-consuming than implementing one for Android, BlackBerry or Windows, providing that you can use the .NET Compact
Framework. iPhone is a completely different story as the platform is reasonably closed and the first question should always be whether the functionality can be implemented there. Following this, if you are certain of the feasibility and have experienced developers, the implementation should not take longer than it does for Android or BlackBerry.
Summary Without a doubt choosing a mobile operating system is case specific – there is no single platform ideal for every product, and you can make the most informed decision simply by choosing a platform that best fits your particular situation. Usually, the most important factor is popularity of the platform – the larger the number of devices, the larger the market for the product. It is important to take into account the fact that popularity varies by region (especially North America), and can change drastically over the product development period (such as in the recent case of iPhone). Rarely can one ignore popularity if the product can work on devices bought especially to run it. Most products have hardware without which they simply cannot function, and some can operate significantly better using specific types of these. Access to a phone’s hardware is enabled for programmers in programming languages that have a major impact on the cost of product development and its maintenance. It is also important to remember that there are restrictions that can make some products impossible, or even unprofitable to create for a particular operating system. Finally, creating a comprehensive mobile application is not an easy task and some might think they should try to avoid it. The mobile market, however, grows rapidly and it is unwise to ignore this fact. Therefore, if you lack experience you should find a company who can help you to represent yourself in the mobile world with your products, smoothly. It is important to note that creating a multiplatform mobile service of a high quality is not impossible and there are people who can do it for you. <<<
Piotr Janas Comarch SA Position: Senior Software Developer Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Piotr has been developing for Mobile platforms (mostly Symbian) for 4 years. Currently located in Helsinki, he supports one of Comarch’s key clients, and closely follows changes in the mobile world from an expert perspective.
Grzegorz Wąchocki Comarch SA Position: Senior Software Analyst / R&D Manager Department: Telecommunications Professional Services Info: Grzegorz leads the R&D unit, which has the main aim of exploring new mobile-related technologies in addition to searching for new opportunities on the mobile market.
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Loyalty Card Killer! technology review [www.comarch.eu]
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Nowadays
there are loyalty programs for almost every business on the market: in retail, finance, airline, and also telecommunications. But this final example probably benefits from running loyalty programs the least. Frequent Flyer Programs offer tickets as a highly lucrative reward and retail companies facilitate quicker points collection. Is today’s technology able to change the situation, reap more profits for mobile operators and grant them tools which are also desired by loyalty programs in other industries?
Evolving Analytics One of major benefits experienced by retailers from loyalty program operations is the possibility for tracking customer purchases, something otherwise almost impossible to achieve. Without the loyalty program, knowledge about customer behavior is very limited. In the telecommunications arena this problem doesn’t exists, as every customer is identified by his SIM card and all his data is open for analysis. What’s more, a loyalty card could be easily lost or forgotten, while most people usually keep their mobile phone in their pocket. Usage of the mobile phone as a loyalty identifier therefore seems to be the perfect solution, the only problem that needs to be resolved relates to recognition of the phone by the retailers POS system. To accomplish such a feature, NFC (Near Field Communication) technology can be employed. Based on well-known RFID technology, it can be used for activities including payments, ticketing, loyalty program operations, lotteries, entertainment and marketing. The use of mobile phones as a program member identifier as well as payment device could flip the situation with customer recognition completely on its head. Every transaction made using an NFC-equipped mobile will contain the customer ID in the form of an NFC tag, so theoretically there won’t even be a need for the loyalty program as a means for analyzing customer behavior. Because the NFC tag will be homogenous for all customer transactions regardless of where they are conducted, the companies will be able to exchange this data. The legal regulations as they currently stand are most likely to be irrelevant to this type of situation: transferred data does not have to contain personal information. Companies will be able to identify a customer by his tag, analyze his activities, and direct a fully customized offer to him during his next visit and ensuing use of his mobile phone. No personal data collection is required here for any of the coalition partners. NFC and mobile phone payments can influence promotions as well as offer selection; companies with heightened knowledge of a customer’s
spending power, habits, hobbies, as well as periodic and one-off activities, will be more comprehensively equipped to target their promotions, select better selling products and will have the capacity to more precisely adjust their discounts and prices. Even though in this example customer identification is possible without loyalty program membership, there are two main factors guaranteeing that loyalty programs will be prominent on the market for a while to come. The first is the use of the NFC device itself. Not every transaction will be paid using a mobile, as in today’s world not every customer uses his credit card. The percentage of people willing to use such new solutions varies between different countries as it depends on numerous circumstances, some of which can even be cultural. The second factor is the appeal of the loyalty program to customers’ and its impact on sales. For companies operating on very competitive markets it is paramount that they search and utilize every option for gaining customer attention that is available.
Evolving CRM Activities Customized offer presentation directed at the customer itself could also evolve with NFC use. Commonly used channels such as emails, direct mailing and SMS don’t provide the required flexibility, meaning the offer could be presented and forgotten. NFC allows for more sophisticated activities – uploaded during a visit at the point of sale, the offer could reveal its content at a certain point in time, or could even offer a reminder for a certain promotion periodically. Transferred data can contain virtual coupons, lists of the promoted products with points and discounts, or links to media content. Calendar entries can automatically inform of company events, commencement of any promotions, or offer notifications of any points/coupons expiry dates. NFC can be also used for collecting customer feedback. Uploaded questionnaires can be completed by the customers at a time most convenient for them, and promoted with additional points or discounts. Coupon promotions are particularly popular on certain more fully developed markets, but generally speaking, companies are using coupons in paper format and utilize channels such as newspaper or direct mailing for coupons spread among consumers. This limits the efficiency of such promotions as customers often lose their coupons or simply forget about them. NFC can also improve such activities with the usage of coupons being easier than ever before. The coupon tag will be automatically loaded during the transaction to the phone and the appropriate loyalty application will take over displaying the coupon offer to the customer. To use the coupon you only need to nr 2/2009 (10)
14 > In Focus
fulfill the coupon conditions, and optionally select the coupon from the phone menu prior to the transaction. Following NFC customer identification, all coupon-related operations can be performed automatically by the POS, and loyalty systems, discounts or additional points can be granted. For a fully interactive solution additional customer-facing displays of the POS systems can also be used, and these are able to present all coupons and offers that the customer is entitled to. The coupons will also be transferable between phones; for the seller it’s not so important who will use the coupon the important thing is that some additional profit will be generated. But of course NFC also has some limitations. With the bandwidth limited to 424 kbit/s it’s impossible to send large volumes of marketing information over a short connection period. NFC should then be used as the first point of offer presentation, with customers
numerous cases where the necessary device at the POS (which would inform the customer of the lottery and the win) are lacking. Here, a mobile phone can act as an additional marketing canvas. There are also various potential benefits for telco companies. The first of these is not even a direct advantage, but is based on human nature. With the increasing role of mobile phones and the number of services they provide, people are less eager to switch the phone and the operator. This could have an impact on the loyalty aspect of mobile companies, without even having to operate a single loyalty program. But there are numerous other possibilities. One of them is usage of NFCenabled phones as top up collectors. During cash transactions there could be an option for taking mobile top up in exchange for relinquishing the change.
receiving more detailed information and audio-video content via an Internet connection.
Summary
The revolution could also take place in our wallets, as mobile phones containing built-in NFC technology can be recognized by numerous different loyalty programs. This should eliminate loyalty cards from the market, with their only remaining presence being on the operator’s company logo on the phone display background. Joining a new loyalty program will also be a very simple process, requiring only minimal application installation, which can also be sent by a NFC device or downloaded from the Internet. The installed application will primarily collect registration data and then take care of appropriate presentation of the marketing offer as well as coupon management. Like any other type of technology NFC can also be used for entertainment, and that which generates profit. An example of this potential usage is the POS lotteries. During the transaction, the loyalty system is able to select a prize for the customer. This could
As it appears, Near Field Communication technology can evolve into a highly potent marketing tool for loyalty program operators. With the use of NFC, companies could reap double the rewards. Directing expertly targeted offers to the relevant customers will increase sales, and will also bring about a reduction in costs due to the now extinct requirement for producing advertising and promotional materials in paper format. In addition, customers can appreciate additional services, faster payments and simplified usage. Furthermore, telecommunication companies can still claim their share, even if their loyalty programs do not benefit directly from NFC solutions. Besides, they own a tool which would most likely bring about a radical change in loyalty operations in other industries. An obstacle to the common use of this solution is the currently limited number of NFC-ready phones, and the even smaller availability of NFC receivers at the POS. But the situation is changing, and the prices of the devices are decreasing successively. According to a report produced by the UK-based company Juniper Research, NFC mobile payments will exceed $30 bil-
be a gift, additional points or even a discount. If the customer wins, the relevant notification is displayed on his phone. This lottery concept is already present in some loyalty systems (a good example would be Comarch Loyalty Management - CLM), but there are
lion in 2012, whilst the forecast for 2009 is currently at $8 billion*. Also, the first loyalty programs utilizing NFC technology are already on the market. A good example is Italian fashion house Miroglio, which commenced operations this year. <<<
Evolving Market
Dictionary NFC Near Field Communication: a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over a very short distance. RFID Radio-frequency identification: the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves.
* from the “NFC Mobile Payments & Marketing Opportunities: Forecasts & Analysis 2009 – 2014” report by Juniper Research
Tomasz Dudek Comarch SA Position: Product Manager Department: Business Development Center Info: Tomasz is responsible for selection, development and promotion of applications from the CRM and customer loyalty domain. technology review [www.comarch.eu]
In Focus < 15
Location-Based Services New Opportunities for Innovation
Localization
technologies are increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives and help improve the quality of services we use. It is claimed by some that it is a technology powerful enough to become a leading component of the information technology world in the near future. According to Gartner, the LBS market is set to grow from $41 million in 2008 to $95.7 million in 2009 [2]. This is likely to be a slightly optimistic
forecast, but nonetheless it is quite apparent in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world that the number of services using location-based technology will increase. However, it is tricky to say what form future LBS applications will take and what directions should be followed in order to create a user-friendly, fully localize-enabled and comprehensive functionality. This article gives a broad outline of LBS technology, present and possible future applications of it, and also discusses the innovation trends in the area of LBS.
What is a Location-Based Service? The Global Positioning System consists of satellites orbiting the Earth, control and monitoring stations positioned on Earth itself, and GPS receivers owned by users. GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that are used by GPS receivers to provide a three-dimensional location.
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A location-based service (LBS) is defined by the
device is located. The accuracy of the location may
ries, including yellow pages listings and business
Open Geospatial Consortium as a service which delivers information about location to people who are using wireless, position-aware devices such as cell phones and PDAs [8]. The LBS can also utilize alternative information related to users and their devices such as account context information, user location history or even their personal preferences in order to improve the quality of the application and user experience. Location-based services have a long history. Since the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense has been operating the global positioning system (GPS), a satellite-based infrastructure which is used to determine the position of any object on Earth. Initially, GPS was intended to be used for military purposes but in the 1980s the government decided to make it freely available to other industries on a worldwide basis. Many applications have since been using location data in
then be improved by combining the cell-id with a timing advance value, which is an estimation of the RTT (Round-trip delay time) between base stations and the terminal. The estimation is then used to determine the distance between both parties. GPS on the other hand, is a satellite-based system, with 24 satellites broadcasting location data. A GPS receiver processes the signals received from several satellites and calculates its location basing on the time differences between those signals. The main disadvantages of GPS location are the extended time to first fix (TTFF) and poor indoor coverage. Thus, in order to improve the efficiency of the system a new technology entitled “Assisted GPS” was introduced. This approach combines GPS technology with various methods of determining position using cellular network information. In addition to the mentioned outdoor positioning systems, there are also indoor types.
descriptions in a given geographical area. All types of activities where location is of importance are also popular e.g. detailed maps and directions, traffic condition alerts and information regarding services such as gas or food. Sports-related applications, such as running distance or calorie counters by means of which one can track the path traveled or calculate overall distance, speed etc, are also popular among mass-market consumers. Another group is IM applications for mobile phones that enable locating and chatting with friends who are nearby. Today, countless standard IM systems add this feature to their offer. Location-based games in which players must visit different parts of the city in order to retrieve information about other users or further game directions are also a good example. Certain multimedia data can also improve location-
order to enhance their products and services. However, the boost of LBS in the 1990s was not driven by GPS technology but by another type of location technology coming to prominence around this time. Mobile network operators started using their radio stations infrastructure to obtain a device’s location. This technology played an essential role in creating the market for location-based services. Today there are even more ways of obtaining location data (Table 1) using a mobile device. All of these have pros and cons, and are suitable for different types of applications. In cellular networks, location is carried out by means of proximity sensing, where the position of a device is determined using the coordinates of the base stations. Generally speaking, the mobile network possesses the area number - called a cell - in which the
The main difference between them is the target area. The indoor positioning systems focus on closed areas. Such systems are mostly based on monitoring the signal strengths characteristics.
aware services. A user prefers listening to audio directions than to reading static maps with his current position marked, although not only data-related directions alone may be of interest here. Let us imagine that someone is riding a bicycle and using a navigation application. Not only does he appreciate the directions, but he may also like to listen to the sounds of his surrounding environment, such as the trickle of rushing water when he approaches a mountain stream. There is also the possibility for adding three dimensional data, such as models of buildings to the flat map, or including touch user interface support in order to increase user experience [1]. Niche consumer applications are targeted at limited areas of the market. These generally tend to be slightly more sophisticated services and devices tailored for the most financially able people e.g. golf cars equipped with computers providing information such
Current Applications Nowadays, LBS products are employed within numerous domains, ranging from mass-market consumers, customers in specialties applications, business clients as well as being used in industrial and corporate environments, where a vast number of objects and inventory must be identified and tracked on the map. The most of all LBS-related demands originates from mass-market consumers. The majority of their requests are related to location and navigation que-
Table 1. Mobile network platforms for identification [3] Type
Methodology
Pros
Cons
Industry application
Cell Identifier (Cell ID)
Base station uses radio frequency signals to track mobile device
Relatively widespread infrastructure
Hard to pin down user’s exact location to within a few meters
Wireless network providers, police force, banking government, security, welfare
Global Positioning System (GPS)
24-satellite network
Outdoor precision within five-meter range
Expensive. User device must be in direct line of sight. Device needs special embedded chips.
Military applications, commercial applications such as real estate security, police force (not as successful in consumer settings)
Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS)
Enhancement over GPS. Perpetually locates
No “cold starts” Faster fix on location
Expensive. User device must be in direct
Military applications, commercial applications such as real estate security, police force (not
sight. Device needs special embedded chips.
as successful in consumer settings)
Suitable mainly for indoor positioning
Indoor commercial applications
device and coordinates data flow, unlike GPS. WLAN-based Location Services
Depends on signal strength utilization
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
No additional hardware infrastructure is needed
In Focus < 17
Table 2. Business opportunities in LBS [3] Demand Level
Typical Services
Typical Business Models
Consumer Demand Location and Navigation Personalized Content
Maps, driving directions, yellow pages
Subscription-based services, pay-per-view, syndication, micropayments
Niche Consumer and Business
Maps, shopping locator service, coupon discounts, alerting services
Subscription-based services, advertising, revenuesharing, micropayments
Industrial/Corporate
Supply chain management, inventory management, customer relationship management, intelligent transportations and system infrastructure
Application service provider, consultation services, infrastructure provider
as golf course maps or playing tips, or fishing boats equipped with shoal finders. Another category is alert services, which are used during natural disasters or accidents. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, for instance, Hong Kong
When it comes to LBS the situation is quite different. Introducing new features to existing solutions is not always possible, and what‘s more it generally tends to fail to utilize the intrinsic nature of location. As a result, we are offered certain sophisticated loca-
is essential to give up looking for an application that may benefit from knowing our friends’ or our own location. We should rather start thinking about what sort of services users may need at their location at that very moment. It is “here and now” that really matters. Unfor-
mobile phone operator Sunday launched a service that warned subscribers via SMS (Short Message Service) messages about buildings where SARS cases where suspected or confirmed. Such messages were sent to all people who were within approximately a one kilometer radius of the case location. Business and corporate customers may also benefit from LBS concepts, for example, using it to track goods, people or even entire projects. There are several technologies that facilitate enhancing such activities; devices that are designed to monitor and control the supply chain, the amount of materials and their positions. Another example is the concept of ambient intelligence or pervasive computing, whereby almost all materials and devices contain sensors and form a large network of intelligent, location-aware devices.
tion-based features which are added to a recognized application or service and sometimes we may end up wondering “what on earth do I need it for”. Have you ever set an alarm notifying you of when a friend is within 100 meters using your Instant Messenger (IM) client? Companies try to convince us that location within your IM contact list is a crucial component, but not everyone sees such a need. The appearance of location capability within mobile phones, unlike many other features, such as multimedia support, local connectivity, etc. not only adds some extra features to the device and makes it more attractive but also, and most importantly, opens up new and so far unknown areas of applications. What kind of services can be implemented basing on location is a hard question to answer. But it is of paramount importance that these novel services are not to be viewed solely as an answer to the customers’ needs. They are used to create new markets, revealing to people services that are as of yet unknown to them and giving them a chance to see that these products may come in handy. GPS navigation is a good example. No one expected to have a small box saying “turn left in approximately 50 meters” stuck to the windscreen of their car a dozen or so years ago. There was no voiced need for it in the market as people were not even aware that such a contraption could be created. Location-based services should be viewed in the same light, which when first seen, make us think “how could I have lived without it”. This is real innovation. Here and now – the need is always context specific, the user wants something at that very moment and at that very location. We should be able to forecast this and supply him with it. The user and his need takes precedence, everything else is irrelevant. So, in order to create an innovative location-based service it is crucial to stop thinking about how to improve our current products with geographical coordinates. It
tunately, at the same time such services are somewhat risky investments. It is impossible to predict whether it will succeed or end up in utter failure until we present it to the customers. Sometimes, such as in the case of the WWW (World Wide Web), it is vital that people be taught how and what the service can be used for. Only then does it start to generate revenue. Another area that still requires some progress being made is in middle-layer support for LBS solutions within the mobile platform. As it stands, there is no recognized, platform-independent and commonly acceptable standard or API. Moreover, a particular platform does not even tend to have generic middle-layer LBS support. There are APIs by means of which GPS coordination or cell-id may be accessed, but if one wants to use a more sophisticated method for finding the device’s coordinates, using all possible data sources such us GPS, cell-id, IP (Internet Protocol) address, etc., to always obtain at least rough coordinates and guarantee they are of the highest accuracy given the circumstances, one must usually implement these calculations by himself. There are countless techniques for calculating the coordinates of a mobile device, yet it is fairly difficult to find a readymade tool which can combine different location data sources and provide final values and also guarantee their accuracy. Nor is there a consistent specification of what sort of data is to be provided to developers – it is not only position that matters here, also properties such as speed or direction of movement may come in useful e.g. a petrol station advert on a highway should only be displayed to those drivers who are able to pull over – i.e. move in the specific direction. The ideal situation would be to provide developers with reliable APIs for accessing location data, to specify what type of data it should be and possibly a uniform way for handling different location data sources on different platforms and programming languages in order to facilitate the implementation and migration of LBS applications.
Innovation Be different – to be successful you must invent a service which is distinctive, and which can be recognized by users amongst the millions of other similar products. Innovation is a colossal word but just what exactly is innovation in the LBS-related segment of the market? The natural method of creating new products is to incorporate new technologies into existing software as new features complementing their previous functionality, as opposed to creating completely new products. This is a common and simplistic approach to introducing new technologies onto the market in addition to stimulating growth of current services simultaneously as they are enhanced with increasing new functionality in line with technological development. This is also a fairly safe way of conducting business since customers are already accustomed to the service and do not require being taught how to use the new services or even informed of why they actually need them.
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Making Money
References
New revenue streams – services are great when they are making money. But can you predict the earning potential of these same services in 10 years time? Maybe advertising doesn’t answers this question. Taking profitability into consideration, there are numerous ways of making money on a mobile service. However, since users do not want to pay directly for the services they use, it seems that advertising is starting to take the lead. The key to success in the field of mobile advertising is rendering the advert truly context dependent and, even better, not explicitly visible to the user. An advertising model based on texts and banner ads used by popular web browsers may serve as a good example here – users are not given adverts but additional links to sites they are in fact searching for. Mobile advertising should and really can be heightened so that it contains similar features. The point is that it is vital that mobile applications and services are highly context dependent. What does this mean? The system must be able to predict what kind of services the user might need at that very moment and the device should be ready to offer those services to the user. How to predict what a user wants and when technology is capable of doing it is not an easy question. However, we can be sure that the location of the device will play a crucial role in the process of rendering the application context-aware. This is because we believe the location to be the most important and powerful context-related factor imaginable. Today, users are fed up with the amount of services, applications, information and adverts presented to them in the virtual world and look for some selectivity. No one wants to hear about a new tariff promotion when sitting in a restaurant, and the software should be able to predict this. Numerous things can be inferred from knowledge of the device position, speed, direction, average movement or the area where he spends the majority of working hours. When at work, users are likely to be more interested in services such as a new option for dinner or a new parking service. Whereas, during a first visit to a city a person may like to be made aware of the three most important historical monuments to see during a single day trip. Then, a few days later a shopping center available nearby serves as a new point of interest. Apart from advertising, there are not many effective ways (we are aware of), of making money out of a service’s popularity. And so here the question arises relating to the domination of adverts over alternate methods for creating income out of LBS in the future; Are there any other possibilities? What will constitute the main source of funds for LBS creators in 10 years time? We do not know the answer, but what we are currently certain of is that everybody expects the mobile services being provided to be free. The freeof-charge model fosters interest in the application
1 Magnusson, C., Tollmar, K., Brewster, S., Sarjakoski, T., Sarjakoski, T., and Roselier, S. 2009. Exploring future challenges for haptic, audio and visual interfaces for mobile maps and location based services. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Workshop on Location and the Web (Boston, Massachusetts, April 04 – 04, 2009). LOCWEB ‘09, vol. 370. ACM, New York, NY, 1-4. 2 Dataquest Insight: Consumer Location-Based Services, Subscribers and Revenue Forecast, 2007-2013, http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1035015&subref=simplesearch 3 Rao, B. and Minakakis, L. 2003. Evolution of mobile location-based services. Commun. ACM 46, 12 (Dec. 2003), 61-65.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
among customers and, therefore, the LBS applications should also be free in order to generate popularity and guarantee that their designers achieve success in the market. To date, however, no one has been able to provide a truly free, comprehensive Location-Based Service, which in addition has not been decorated with ads – why? The answer may be as simple as this – we do not know how to generate a profit from a service without either retailing the service itself to the customers or selling advertising space. Thus, we believe the monetizing of mobile services is a good place for innovation. If one can come up with a novel, efficient way of making money from a service, which is free for its user and which does not involve displaying adverts which customers are already tiring from, it would be a groundbreaking invention.
Conclusions Localization-based services combine vast numbers of, formerly separated, technologies into one locationaware platform. LBS have been treated as an addition to what is already available within the device, but we believe it is powerful enough to evolve into the heart of mobile platforms and mobility itself in the future. It is highly likely that future mobile applications and services will be driven by knowledge of where the device currently is and what is the most desperately required service at that moment. It is the handset that should deduce what may be needed “here and now” and it should in turn make it available to the user. This constitutes the road to providing a reliable service, fulfilling customers’ needs and guaranteeing revenues. <<<
Grzegorz Wąchocki
Marek Konieczny
Comarch SA
Comarch SA
Position: Senior Software Analyst / R&D Manager Department: Telecommunications Professional Services Info: Grzegorz leads the R&D unit, which has the main aim of exploring new mobile-related technologies in addition to searching for new opportunities on the mobile market.
Position: Team Leader Department: Mobile Software R&D Info: Marek is currently responsible for leading and coordinating test teams in Product Testing projects for portable devices..
Smartphone – the best tool for cutting field service costs and increasing productivity
Does your field service use up more and more money? Do your customers seem to be dissatisfied, and are the number of “Where is my tech?” escalations refusing to decrease? There is a simple solution: buy gadgets, go with trends and be green. Your company will not only save money but will also be able to increase revenue.
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An
attractive offering, high quality of products and satisfied customers constitute factors that may contribute to a telecom operator’s success on the market. Two of them are surely related to the work of field staff. First of all, field employees are responsible for the high quality of services, as they maintain the operator’s network infrastructure to ensure access to all services adhering to contracted service level agreements (SLA). For customers, field forces are also company representatives. If a company uses self service solutions, they may even be the only representatives who are in contact with the customers. It proves that the well performed work of field service staff is the key element for an operator’s success. In current times of economic slowdown prices of telecom services become the main focal point for providers. Obviously, operator’s business costs have
To give a positive answer to this question, vendors of FSM systems extend their product portfolio with solutions based on mobile technologies. Mobile software and hardware available on the market nowadays ensure: > Possibility of building ergonomic and high-usabilityfocused mobile systems > Hardware parameters enabling advanced, elaborate mobile application functionalities > Moderate costs
great impact on product prices. Telecoms have used methods of improving productivity and rationalizing customer field service costs for a long time. Because of that, field service management (FSM) and optimization systems should be planned by the majority of service providers. Not only do FSM systems allow automated scheduling and effective resource management, but they can also support work orders dispatching and fulfillment of field work orders. This brings real benefits to of the network maintenance and customer service departments. But you can still ask yourself – can operators do more?
advocated by research conducted by Aberdeen Group for instance, then what functionalities and features of mobiles can help in reducing costs and increasing productivity in field service departments?
The elements of operator strategy that can be supported by mobile technologies include high quality of field service, higher level of field staff control, as well as simplified fulfillment of work orders. This article will consider how mobile technology support in the field service management domain enables rationalizing costs and productivity. Is investment in mobile software and hardware cost-effective? If the answer is yes, as
Optimization in Practice Due to the fact that customer service and network maintenance are usually the main components of a service provider’s operational costs, methods and technologies responsible for their improvement and
Cost Drivers Increase Focus On Mobility
61%
> Schedules based only on estimation of task duration without determination of actual task duration > Limited possibilities for rapid task reassigning (employees often spend their mornings on making to-do lists) > Limited possibilities for real-time task completion reporting, and updating of business processes (usually task reports are filled in after all daily field tasks are completed) > Absence of exact knowledge regarding current pending works in field and no possibilities for assigning the best resources to urgent tasks
Performance Category
Average Improvement
Mean time to repair
- 21%
Overtime costs
- 13%
Service profitability
+ 17%
Workforce productivity
+ 22%
44%
Need for improved data capture and information form management insight
Shrinking product margins placing more pressure on service revenue contribution
These mechanisms, which in theory bring many opportunities for productivity increase and rationalization of service costs, are blocked or limited because of general organizational problems, namely: > Minimal possibility for real-time dispatching
Average Performance Improvements | From Mobile Field Service
Increasing service-related costs (workforce, fuel,parts,fleet, vehicles, etc.)
Customer demand for faster and improved service issue resolution
optimization have been used for many years. They allow optimizing staff and equipment use, dispatching cost and efficiency, as well as all additional costs related to services, such as phone calls, drive costs, paper usage etc. The most popular methods of field workforce optimization are: > Scheduling with intelligent mechanisms of optimization > Dedicated task lists for field employees > Dispatching based on a wide range of criteria, taking into consideration: availability of employees, locations and competences
40%
20% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
% Of All Respondents
Source: Aberdeen Group, 2008
Source: Aberdeen Group, 2008
Figure 1. The main cost drivers in field service and average improvements from mobile support. technology review [www.comarch.eu]
In Focus < 21
Comarch FSM Mobile, all information regarding field work on the handset screen.
In a nutshell, the problem can be summarized as the lack of current knowledge and shortage of tools for rapid operational activities. Mobile technologies may in fact help, as they allow putting the right strategy (for example optimization) on the front line of field service. Thanks to mobile features, front line staff are drawn closer to the dispatcher/ scheduler. Mobile solution functionalities which resolve this basic problem of optimization include: > Current statuses of planned work – employees don’t have to complete a report at the end of the day, instead they fill in task completion reports online, straight after having finished it. Optimization mechanisms are able to update schedules in real-time and better fit plans for real field staff work. Another benefit is that business processes related to field staff work may be updated automatically in real-time. For example, installation of new services can be reported as finished on-line, and service time of activation is shortened so customer satisfaction grows. > Real locations – GPS tracking is a common element of mobile equipment nowadays. It sends location data from the field and allows planning next steps of the field service department by a dispatcher. For example, in urgent cases (emergency orders), it allows sending out the employee who is able to reach the location in the shortest time.
> Real-time schedule changes – this is done automatically by sending information to the field employee handset, without the necessity of looking for the employee telephone number in the database and without the need for calling the employee back to the office for new printouts with the updated task list. > Fast and accurate documentation – smartphones come with multimedia tools such as camera and dictaphone as standard. It allows for quick and full document intervention and for adding file attachments in real-time. This is of paramount importance in emergencies and is useful for sequence tasks on the same site where complete documentation is immediately accessible for consecutive activities. Mobile applications in the hands of field staff become a tool similar to a remote control in real-time, leading to increased productivity and efficiency of any optimization mechanisms. It shows synergy between field service management modules (mobility and optimization) which really pays off. There are numerous areas that can be optimized using mobile technologies, and in this paper we will focus on several of them: > Fuel and drive time > Papers, calls and resulting mistakes > First-time fix rate > Optimizing usage of up-sell opportunities
Fuel and Drive Time When discussing cutting costs and increasing productivity, what should be taken into account is the cost of a particular field intervention and the average time of intervention. Fuel consumption and vehicle utilization are easy to calculate and important for every intervention cost. Both of them are simple functions of driving distance. In this area mobile technologies and applications can support the service provider in several ways. One of them is the aforementioned synergy between optimization mechanisms and mobile solutions. The field work optimization system, which is responsible for calculating the shortest and easiest route between work order locations, is able to send this optimal work orders list in the right order to the right technician in field, provided they use a mobile application. Following this, the field technician knows exactly how the work should be organized in order to optimize driving time and distance. Distance-effective field service management may be achieved by integration with mobile navigation systems. Customers and network elements may be placed in various locations. Being on time and using the easiest and shortest route is certainly very important. Field service management systems with mobile applications support field staff by sending locations of nr 2/2009 (10)
22 > In Focus
Technician calls dispatcher to change order status Technician takes printouts with list of tasks from his office
Technician drives to order site
Technician fulfills an order
Technician goes back to the office to leave protocols, paper agreements
Back office copies data from paper to electronic forms
Technician calls Dispatcher for order details
Technician time, Printing costs
Field order fulfillment (mobile support)
Field order fulfillment (mobile support)
Costs for optimization
Field order fulfillment (without advanced mobile support)
Figure 2. Field order fulfillment – both with and without mobile application support
Fuel, Vehicle utilization
Technician drives to order site
Technician time
Back office employees time
Technician fulfills an order
Real time schedule, Optimal route Navigation
work orders to navigation systems, as a ‘Point of Interest’ on the planned route. This way the field employee is not only relaxed and does not waste time and fuel because his route is optimal, but additionally he knows exactly where to go and he goes there directly. Another important aspect that should be considered when talking about cutting driving costs is immediate handling of emergency orders. This type of order, thanks to real-time monitoring of employee locations (GPS data from mobile devices), may be fulfilled by employees who are in the nearest physical proximity. As a result, not only is the intervention as fast as possible, but it also enhances cost cutting, due to reduced distance. Time is money – this common saying proves to be very true when it comes to field service. Faster order fulfillment lowers costs of order execution and can help increase the number of completed work orders per day. Using mobile applications by technicians, effective route planning and mobile navigation all lead to the aforementioned cost-effectiveness. Due to the usage mobile applications it is also possible to save technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Phone calls, Dispatcher time
On-line access to order data, On-line completion reports, e-documents and e-signatures
more time. One of the many possibilities is that an employee doesn’t have to go to the office to print all of his daily tasks. Because he has a detailed task list on his mobile, he may go to complete the first order in the field directly from his house. If he has to print something, he can do it with his smartphone. The employee may not only start his work at his house but also finish it at the same place. Field staff aren’t required to go to the office to complete reports about executed tasks; it may be done online using the technicians’ handsets.
Papers, Calls and Mistakes The evolution of IT technology has created more possibilities for performing various activities on a computer screen - reading books, contacting other people, watching movies, drawing pictures etc. With the evolution of mobile technology and devices, more and more people tend to use IT technology functionalities wherever they are. Similarly, people are using mobile
technology for business purposes more and more frequently. Another significant benefit of electronic technologies is that knowledge, documents, agreements and pictures do not have to be printed on paper. It not only saves money (costs of paper) but most importantly it helps to protect the environment. With mobile technologies it is possible to have your entire office on a single handset and truly ‘be green’. Paper printouts in field service management unsupported by mobile technologies are used as basic documents with information regarding schedules, task details and execution reports. All of this data may be accessible via a mobile application, and the company doesn’t have to invest in and waste tons of paper to perform field service department tasks. At the same time back office employees don’t have to waste their time copying data from paper to electronic forms because all important information is instantly placed in the right database. The situation is quite similar when it comes to phone calls. In field service departments without any support of mobile technology, the dispatch-
In Focus < 23
er’s job is mainly to talk on the phone. He not only notifies field employees about schedule changes over the phone, but also uses it to report task completion or status changes and enquire about task details. Costs of calls and the dispatcher’s work are quite apparent, but there is also an additional cost – mistakes and their consequences. Mistakes are caused mainly by providing imprecise information over the phone. Mobile solutions - an application for field staff – enable access to detailed data concerning tasks and current schedules in real-time, without making any phone calls. They make it possible to fill the task completion data online with memorized facts, without any misunderstandings or problems. What’s very important is that it also decreases the dispatcher’s workload, enabling him to perform more orders and cooperate with more technicians. Because the range of dispatchers’ responsibilities will be lower, people working in this position wouldn’t be expected to have such extensive qualifications, further lowering HR costs.
First-time Fix Rate First-time fix rate serves as an indicator and its increase is always a key for the telecommunication operator. The higher its value the higher the productivity and the greater the customer satisfaction (there is nothing worse for a customer than not having his problem solved at the first attempt). This indicator is also important in the context of cost-effective management. Every field intervention creates costs. If there are more field interventions associated with a given work order, its cost becomes much higher. There are also other expenses related to multi-intervention orders, for instance those related to lower indicators of task realization per day. There are a lot of possibilities for improvement of field work in this area, such as increasing field staff competences, assigning tasks to accurate, skilled employees etc. Mobile access to field service management tools for workforces is a solution that may help to obtain a higher first-time fix rate. The main elements available as mobile tools that are used to improve the quality of field service as well as to decrease unsuccessful interventions are: > Access to important data related to the task and to the Trouble Tickets’ knowledge database > Access to network elements/inventory data > Possibility of conducting additional activities related to work order, such as printing completion protocols, capturing customer signature, etc. If a technician has online access from his mobile device to all tools required for the given task, he can
easily finish his work without having to go back to the office, because he forgot something or lacks some important information regarding the task. Field work is supported by the mobile application which, according to particular purposes, stores and presents the field employee with data about the customer, work order, tasks, required activities and equipment. It provides access to network data and enables its update. What’s more, it also serves for printing documents and capturing customers’ signatures. A technician’s smartphone can present a very wide scope of data and have numerous supporting tools. In field work, the more information about the task is provided to the filed staff, the more probable it is that the intervention will bring a positive resolution.
Technician as a Salesman Mobile handset as a solution which improves first time fix rate is a fascinating concept, but is there the possibility to make this indicator exceed 100%? If a service provider equips a technician with accurate data and tools, he may become a kind of a salesman himself. An appointment with a customer is a ood opportunity to increase the value of the contract and convince that person to buy other products or services from the operator. Customers don’t usually appreciate telemarketing, but they may be more willing to listen to the technician, who has just activated some services or quickly solved some technical problem. To play that role, the technician must have tools which will “sell the products for him”. If a telecom operator wants to benefit from this appointment opportunity, they should provide the technician with mobile tools that will work as an extension of the ones he already uses. Applications supporting order fulfillment can have an additional module for up-selling. Immediately after the technician has finished his task, he would report that he has the opportunity to present the customer with the company’s offer or fulfill the customer’s request for additional services. This information would be presented on his handset screen. If a customer is interested in a service or better yet - he wants it now, the technician would have all the tools needed to prepare a contract, capture a signature on the touch screen and install additional services. All this may occur during just one field intervention. Effective changes in technical service department organization and mobile tools which would guide technicians through selling, may not only bring productivity increases and decrease general costs of the company, but may also have a highly positive impact on sales. It is an idea worth considering as it may lead to opening an extra sales channel and ultimately – improving the business performance.
Summary In the competitive telecommunications market any activities carried out by a telecommunication company within the area of cost cutting and improvements in employee productivity are extremely important. Mobile technology, by supporting field service work effectively, meets the challenges and opportunities of the telecom market. Operators should start looking for vendors who are able to offer vast support in this domain, have experience on the market and provide elaborate solutions, which in turn will help revolutionized field services grant highly valuable benefits that are very hard to achieve by other means. What’s important is to take into consideration vendors who are experienced not only in the field service management area, but also in mobile technology. Mobile solutions have different features when compared to those of other IT systems. Mobile equipment for large field service departments creates significant cost (each technician must be equipped with a smartphone which in many cases is highly professional and fitted precisely to the technician’s needs). If the service provider deploys a safe, easily adoptable and stable solution that has an additional range of functionality, he is sure to see changes in monthly reports regarding costs, productivity and revenues. <<<
Szymon Uczciwek Comarch SA Position: Telco Consultant Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Szymon is currently responsible for the Comarch Field Service Management solution for telecom service providers.
nr 2/2009 (10)
24 > In Focus
Digital Home a Dream or a Fact? UPnP is the technology of tomorrow that started the day before yesterday. This year the UPnP Forum initiative is going to celebrate its 10th anniversary, incorporating almost 900 international leading companies in computing, printing, networking, consumer electronics, home appliances, automation, control, security and mobile products. The main goal of UPnP technology is to enable seamless connectivity of various devices, forming networks in home or corporate environments and enabling Digital Home experience. By its design, adding new devices or programs to the network should be as easy as plugging a piece of hardware into a PC. The devices and programs connected familiarize themselves with the current network setup thanks to service discovery and advertisement, and configure themselves accordingly on the fly, with regard to devices already connected. In short: UPnP is a framework for building networked applications. technology review [www.comarch.eu]
In Focus < 25
The Dark Side of Living Digitally At the beginning there were only zeros and ones. All could use it, but soon it was discovered that each carried it out it in their own unique way. Many wanted to be the first to establish a standardized method of playing with bits. As a consequence, the darkness of misunderstanding fell, and people could no longer communicate with each other. Electronic devices have generally tended to only be compatible with the same manufacturer’s devices, with the absence of a common language that would enable communication with numerous complementary machines from other vendors. To extend a home entertainment system for instance, one has been limited to the vendor of the appliances they had already purchased. But the real troubles were still to come… Let’s think about a very simple, everyday case. Imagine you want to share your pictures taken during your last summer vacation, showing you standing proudly by the erupting Strokkur geyser in Iceland. Your friends have just popped in, the pictures (zeros and ones, just to remind) are still sitting snuggly in your pocket - recorded by your mobile phone’s high resolution digital camera, and your brand new panoramic HD plasma is ready and waiting in the living room. At your disposal is the perfect medium to commence the show and make your friends truly jealous of what a fantastic holiday you had. All you need to do now is transfer the pictures from your mobile to a laptop via the USB cable (by the way, do you happen to have one to hand?), burn the picture onto a DVD (of course, you have a spare disk ready, right?), insert the disk (still hot) into your DVD player and press the ‘play’ button. Here you are; the zeros and ones are now being transferred from the DVD player straight to your plasma set. Two questions arise: don’t you have the feeling that the focus of your attention having been on trying to manage “zeros and ones” rather than actually enjoying the pictures was fundamentally flawed? And secondly, are your friends still there in the room, waiting patiently to see the final result following a painstakingly slow ten minutes battling with raw data?
Trouble-free Solution Universal Plug and Play saw the light in the late nineties, just as networks were growing in popularity. Several vendors were coming up with solutions to make networks and networked applications easier to manage. One of the earliest attempts was Sun’s ‘Jini’ offer, with its innovative lookup service concept (continued to this day within Apache Foundation’s River project),
which was rapidly responded to with Microsoft’s UPnP model. In October 1999 the UPnP Forum was formed as an industry initiative designed to enable simple and robust connectivity among consumer electronics, intelligent appliances and mobile devices from different vendors. UPnP technology is a key standard required for an interoperable network in a digital home, but it does not specify all aspects of interactions between devices, defining rather the frame protocol of communication. As in today’s world consumers are acquiring a huge amount and variety of digital content on their devices, at the same time they want to be able to easily and conveniently manage, use and enjoy this content, wherever they are and whatever devices they have at hand. In order to address this need, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) was established in 2003, with the aim of creating a generic, interoperable network of compatible devices from various vendors. DLNA guidelines were created and published to provide manufacturers with the opportunity to innovate and differentiate their products, and to simultaneously satisfy the consumers’ desire for trouble free access and management of their content. Nowadays, a vast number of Home Network, Mobile Handheld and Home Infrastructure Devices are DLNA certified, including media servers, renderers, players, printers, up- and downloaders and controllers from approximately two hundred vendors, including AlcatelLucent, Canon, Dell, AMD, Hitachi, Lenovo, NEC, Nokia, BMW or Sony Ericsson.
The Future Once all the devices on the market are DLNA/UPnP certified, configuration of the home network will be as easy and secure like never before. “One click of the button” or “Touch and click” slogans will eventually come into full force and will cease to be merely promises. With no additional configuration, nor installation of drivers, you will be able to interoperate with all home devices in your network, such as TVs, media storage devices, laptops, mobile phones, digital cameras and printers. But more is coming, if you dare to imagine… Think about sharing your favorite pictures from your private home collection with your friends while drinking a beer in a downtown pub. Even if your computer is shut down, you can wake it up remotely from your mobile phone and access the content you want. How about streaming your local team’s hockey game while in a hotel on another continent? It’s highly likely that you don’t want to miss it, but it’s no probnr 2/2009 (10)
26 > In Focus
lem: you can watch it hundreds miles away, streamed right to your room thanks to remote access to your home network. Or perhaps you are not particularly interested in hockey, but would like to check on how your young daughter is doing in her room using an IP camera rendering the video image directly to the TV set in your hotel suite? Or perhaps once you have driven into the garage, you would like your car’s entertainment system to automatically download a couple of MP3 files that your wife has just downloaded to your PC from myspace.com the previous night?
With DLNA and UPnP, the above cases of tomorrow are already happening today. <<<
Piotr Madej Comarch SA Position: Mobile R&D Department Director Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Piotr is responsible for mobile SW development for Symbian, mobile Linux, Android, iPhone and Blackberry.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Comarch Competences Comarch has been engaged in Digital Home technologies since 2004. With the extensive knowledge of basic DH standards such as TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP, XML, SOAP, UPnP and DLNA, the Professional Services Business Unit highlighted the strength of its competences within the field. Important milestones include: > Joining the UPnP Forum as a member > Contributing several successfully completed projects, including: > Extending the UPnP Certification Test Tool implementation for the UPnP Implementer Committee. The tool is used for verifying the conformance of Control Points with UPnP standards
> Implementation of UPnP/DLNA compatible stack for Symbian OS-based devices. The component is now used in several Nokia smart phones, including N95, N81, N78, N96 and N97 > Engagement in commercial projects involving UPnP: Linux-based tablets, Internet Radio devices and UPnP Certification Test Tool Upgrade > Participating in DLNA Plugfests and interoperability testing UPnP workshops internationally (2005 – Lihue, Hawaii, USA, 2006 – Sapporo, Japan, 2006 – Taipei, Taiwan, 2007 – San Diego, CA, USA, 2007 – Sanya, China, 2007 – Portland, OR, USA, 2008 – Kobe, Japan, 2008 – Durham, NH, USA, 2008 – Seoul, Korea) > Presenting the Digital Home Demo Booth for the Symbian Smartphone Show 2008.
Operational Excellence < 27
Towards Self-Organizing Networks
Current
mobile market landscape with dropping revenues per bit and increasing demand for diversified service portfolio forces operators to reduce OPEX while investing in new technologies and solutions. Constantly growing multi-technology
and multi-vendor networks become more complex than ever before and significant network planning and management effort is needed to ensure satisfactory end user experience. This effort can be minimized with implementation of Self-Organizing Networks (SON) which will enable operators to simplify
network operation and extend their network in plug & play manner. Comarch considers network management automation as key requirement as well as a crucial factor for investments in next-generation wireless technologies such as LTE and supports SON use cases with its product portfolio. nr 2/2009 (10)
28 > Operational Excellence
Ideas in brief > Increasing complexity of networks and OPEX reduction pressures cause that operators are forced to change the way how they operate their networks > Self-Organizing Networks (SON) promise to reduce manual effort needed for network operation by making networks capable to self-organize and manage its resources > Comarch product portfolio supports SON use cases via automated process management and integration of planning and optimization, configuration management and network provisioning capabilities The ideas related to network automation and introduction of self-organized mechanisms have been always on operatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wish list. According to Yankee Group OPEX related to network operation constitute as much as 20% in the cost structure and tend to grow as networks mature. As the number of technologies, vendors and base stations in a network increases, so is the effort of network planning and management. Time-consuming manual work is still required in many workflows such as parameter planning, optimization and handling of site failures. On the other hand the technology and market dynamics put a pressure on faster rollouts and network upgrades to stay ahead of competition. New technologies such as LTE will increase the network complexity and parallel operation of 2G/3G/HSPA and LTE networks will be a must for some years ahead. Moreover, potential deployments of femto-cells on mass scale will significantly increase the number of base stations and will require a self-organized approach for integration of new cells with macro layer. All above described factors indicate that we need to change the way how we operate networks. The required manual work needs to be significantly reduced and the network itself should be capable to self-configure and continuously self-optimize in response to network and traffic changes. Operators will define workflows and policies through which they will control the network but the hard work will be done by the network itself.
Principles of Self-Organizing Networks Self-Organizing Networks are defined as a set of use cases covering all aspects of network operation from network planning to maintenance activities. These use cases express high-level requirements for future networks and are based on the paradigm that network should self-organize and manage its resources so that optimal network quality and performance is achieved. SON use cases can be grouped into functional domains which are described in following paragraphs.
Self-Planning Achieved via self-configuration of initial parameters and re-computation of parameters during continuous self-optimization. The amount of manual pre-planning activities should be reduced to minimum and cover basic coverage and capacity planning. As a result, planning tool will deliver only few parameters such as location, number of sectors and other basic cell parameters while the rest will be derived automatically.
> QoS related parameter optimization > load balancing > RACH load optimization > optimization of home base stations
Self-Configuration Understood as the plug & play behavior of new network elements. The key areas is automated deployment of new base stations, which covers following activities: > automatic configuration of initial radio/transport parameters > automatic data alignment for neighbour nodes (realized for LTE via standardized Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) management) > automatic connectivity establishment > self-test > automatic inventory > automatic authentication and SW download
Self-Optimization The aim of self-optimization is to fine-tune initial parameters and dynamically re-calculate these parameters in case of network and traffic changes. Optimization of network shall be based on live measurement data. Selfoptimization is an important improvement area due to the fact that current automatic optimization tools focus on small number of radio parameters and a lot of manual effort is required for optimization activities. The aim is to make following optimization activities automatic: > neighbour cell list optimization > interference control > handover parameter optimization
selfconfiguration
Self-Healing Fault management should be simplified and automated via information correlation mechanisms. Operators will be responsible for definition of correlation rules and corrective actions to specific faults but the fault correction itself will be autonomous. Self-healing covers use cases such as cell outage detection and compensation via automated root cause analysis and such corrective actions as routing traffic to nearby cells. Another example is migration of unit outage based on automatic mechanisms for adaptation and reconfiguration of hardware.
selfoptimization
self-healing
Figure 1. Self-x capabilities of Self-Organizing Networks technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Operational Excellence
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Figure 2. SON architectures
centralized SON SON network management
network management
O&M network
SON SON
SON distributed SON
The key to understanding SON is that only part of SON use cases can be adopted while other remain manual. This enables gradual introduction of SON mechanisms and does not enforce ‘big bang’ approach. In order to address inter-operability in multi-vendor scenarios SON solutions shall be based on standardized interfaces but the detailed implementation of SON functions is vendor specific. Depending on where SON algorithms will reside, different SON architectures can be distinguished: > distributed – SON algorithm(s) will reside in one or more network elements > centralized – SON algorithm(s) will reside in existing NMS or in an additional SON server > hybrid – SON algorithm(s) will reside is partly in network elements and partly in the management system
Strong motivation to increase operational efficiency caused that SON concepts are one of the key areas addressed by operators’ lobby through Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) initiative, which complements the work on future mobile broadband networks within standardization bodies. There are many projects addressing self-organization issues. As an example, Socrates project concentrates on development of self-organization methods for wireless access networks, in particular related to LTE air interface. Gandalf project was defining solutions for self-diagnosis, self-testing and self-tuning in multi-system environment. Vendors are also active in the field of SON. Recently Motorola has announced advanced SON solution which is a part of its LTE offering. Other vendors such as NSN, Ericsson and Huawei are also working intensively on their SON solutions.
Distributed and centralized SON architectures have been presented on Figure 2.
Current Status of SON Activities Concept of SON has been introduced in 3GPP Release 8 specification due to flattening architecture of E-UTRAN and resulting growth in number of nodes in the network. Main SON uses cases such as self-establishment of a new eNodeB and Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) management have been identified and described. Moreover, Release 8 standardizes important interfaces from SON point of view: > X2 interface between eNodeBs > S1 interface between eNodeBs and EPC
Our View on Self-Organizing Networks As majority of operators and vendors we agree that network management automation is a key technology requirement and a crucial factor for investments in next-generation wireless technologies such as LTE. Therefore, we designed our products to support process management and task automation and we continuously seek for algorithms and solutions enabling self-organization. When it comes to adoption of self-organization concepts in operational networks, we envision that this process will be gradual. Beside technical chal-
lenges related to algorithm implementation such as coping with ping-pong effects and algorithm convergence issues there is also a human factor which cannot be underestimated. For years networks have been operated in manual way and there is time needed for building trust in automatic network operation. Initially planners may want to view the results of self-x algorithms in order to be sure that network quality and performance will not be affected.
Our Approach for Supporting SON Use Cases High level definition of SON use cases enables to employ various implementation strategies ranging from centralized support of SON functions to fully decentralized solutions. Selection of implementation strategy shall depend on the problem to be solved. Centralized approach is suitable for SON use cases related to larger amount of cells such as coverage and capacity optimization. Decentralized solutions are better for solving localized problems such as neighbour list management and enable faster reaction times than centralized solutions. We propose a universal approach to address particular SON use cases for various wireless access technologies rather than concentrating purely on such technologies as LTE. Although our portfolio enables centralized and hybrid approach depending on SON use cases to be supported, most of our efforts are concentrated on hybrid solutions in which SON logic is devided between network management system and network elements. Distributed part of use cases needs to be tackled by nr 2/2009 (10)
30 > Operational Excellence
Figure 3. SON use cases with Comarch product portfolio
SON policies
automation engine process management
planning/ optimization module
KPIs
hardware vendors having a possibility to implement particular algorithms directly in the network elements. The heart of our solution is a Process Driven Inventory with flexible Process Management and Automation Engine. With Auto-discovery & Reconciliation, Fault Management as well as advanced planning and optimization algorithms combined with powerful Network Provisioning module our product portfolio enables automation and self-organization of network operation activities.
Process Management Process Management engine allows fully managed and controlled execution of all operational processes. It can act as a SON coordinator and orchestrate various SON workflows and processes. Freedom of process definition is ensured via Process Designer, which provides GUI for process composition.
fault management
auto-discovery & reconciliation
network provisioning
network information
network configuration
SON functions information
SON functions configuration
enables to import data from external systems having information about network configuration.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
prediction and OSS based data. External algorithms can be integrated with the solution to address operator specific needs.
Fault Management Fault management is a complete solution to ongoing fault issues inside operatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; networks. It monitors all important elements of the network, receives, displays and tracks alarms, allowing to manage potentially dangerous network problems. It provides root cause analysis based on correlation engine and combined with Process Management enables to automate fault corrections.
Automation Engine Enables to automate most of manual activities related to network operation. Flows of automated operations can be run by users, be part of processes controlled by Process Management module or can be provided as web service and triggered via external system.
Auto-discovery & Reconciliation Advanced tools such as Auto-discovery and Reconciliation applied together enable to get information about current network status as well as SON functions configuration and act upon needs. Auto-discovery allows to collect data from network elements directly or via systems managing these elements. Reconciliation
alarms
Planning & Optimization Modules Beside vey few parameters calculated in external planning tool, remaining parameters are calculated in self-organized manner by planning & optimization modules, which are pluggable pieces of logic utilizing
Network Provisioning Network Provisioning is an Inventory-driven provisioning system capable to configure all network elements, while simultaneously reflecting all the changes in the inventory database. Comarch bi-directional OSS Mediation is used to easily integrate the Network Provisioning system with many network devices in the multivendor environment. Figure 3 demonstrates how SON use cases can be achieved with our product portfolio. Operators will define SON policies and map them to corresponding processes which will be automated via Automation Engine. Execution of certain processes will be triggered dynamically based on information from the network (i.e. configuration changes, alarms, KPIs) or external events (i.e. request of site rollouts, customer complaints). Processes will orchestrate interaction of various modules such as Fault Management and Algorithm modules and as a result provide configuration changes or new settings for SON functions implemented in network elements via Network Provisioning module.
Operational Excellence
Example Use Case: Self-Planning of Radio Parameters for a New Base Station
References 1 2 3 4
TS 32.500-800 – Self-Organizing Networks (SON); Concepts and requirements, 3GPP TS 32.501-800 – Self Configuration of Network Elements; Concepts and requirements, 3GPP TS 32.511-810 – Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) management; Concepts and requirements, 3GPP TR 32.816-800 – Study on management of Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC), 3GPP 5 Next Generation Mobile Networks Beyond HSPA & EVDO, NGMN Alliance White Paper 6 NGMN Informative List of SON Use Cases, NGMN Alliance Annex Deliverable 7 NGMN Recommendation on SON and O&M Requirements, NGMN Alliance Requirement Specification 8 NGMN Use Cases related to Self Organising Network, Overall Description, NGMN Alliance Deliverable 9 “SOCRATES: Self-Optimisation and self-ConfiguRATion in wirelESs networks”, J.L. van den Berg, R. Litjens, A. Eisenblätter, M. Amirijoo, O. Linnell, C. Blondia, T. Kürner, N. Scully, J. Oszmianski & L.C. Schmelz, COST 2100 TD(08)422, Wroclaw, Poland, February 6-8, 2008. 10 Gandalf Project (www.celtic-gandalf.org) 11 Yankee Group research (www.yankeegroup.com)
Installation of new base station requires definition of initial set of radio parameters such as power settings, frequencies, handover parameters and neighbour lists. This process should be as automated as possible and best practice rather than optimal parameters should be aimed for. Self-planning of initial radio parameters with Comarch modules has been depicted on Figure 4. Parameter planning process is initiated with event, i.e. indicating request for integration of new base station. This event triggers reconciliation task which updates information about current network configuration. After that set of planning algorithms is launched in batch mode to calculate basic radio parameters for new cells. Depending on radio access technology appropriate algorithms are triggered and intra-/ inter- layer parameter dependencies are resolved. Resulting basic parameter set is enriched based on predefined templates by configuration management logic and provided to network via Network Provisioning Module. In case of availability of ANR function neighbour planning can be realized at eNodeBs, otherwise planning modules will be responsible for neighbour list generation.
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Summary As complexity of networks and OPEX reduction pressures grow, concepts related to Self-Organizing Networks are regarded by operators as the key technology requirement. The manual work associated with network operation needs to be significantly reduced and the network itself should be capable to self-configure and continuously self-optimize in response to network and traffic changes. In Comarch we designed our products
to support automated process management and we continuously design algorithms and solutions enabling self-organization. With our clients we develop hybrid SON solutions and concentrate on integration of planning and optimization, configuration management and network provisioning capabilities. This allows our customers to quickly integrate new network elements and implement configuration changes to the network. By means of task automation many manual activities can be avioded and operational efficiency can be increased. <<<
Figure 4. Self-planning of initial radio parameters
planning/ optimization module event, i.e. request for integration
1
auto-calculate parameters
2
3
4
process management & automation engine
Krzysztof Marcisz Comarch SA get current network info
generate conf files & provide them to network
auto-discovery & reconciliation
network provisioning
Position: OSS Product Manager Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Krzysztof is currently responsible for conceptualization of new OSS solutions in the area of network planning and optimization as well as sales and marketing support of Comarch OSS systems. nr 2/2009 (10)
32 > Operational Excellence
Service Assurance: Bridging the Gap between the Traditional Management Silos Each
service provider has its own business model. One may focus on being the technological leader delivering the highest possible quality to customers, while others may find their niche in simple and inexpensive services that are available for a flat rate. Yet all of them face the same problem, the customer will leave if the services do not work. Throughout the years they have been mitigating this potential threat with a number of different fault management tools which keep the network in a good state of operation. Nowadays this seems to be no longer possible as business models have changed. Today, even simple services have become dependent on several different platforms, which are often delivered by business partners. Service providers must bridge the gap between old tools and new technology review [www.comarch.eu]
models. They must shift their operations to the next level: Service Assurance.
The Picture Today Many service providers still use different management tools for different types of networks. The typical model is that with the introduction of the vendor in the network a new management system is introduced. It covers only one vendor, one type of network, with no link to the surroundings. Even if service providers have an umbrella type of fault management the required details can still be found in the management silos. Service information is scattered between different systems such as performance management, CRM and monitoring tools.
Strategy for Moving Forward More and more of service providers begin different projects focused on service management. They issue RFIs looking for different solutions for bringing all service related information into one place. We can observe that there are two main ways for introducing service assurance in operation departments. The first approach is to start with service models. Service provides start documenting services within models recording cross-service dependencies, IT assets and network resources required for service availability. They then focus on changes in the existing fault management solutions to allow them to monitor services based on these models. Constant improvements of the models trigger constant change requests in the monitoring solution,
Operational Excellence
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Figure 1. Vertical silos architecture vs horizontal architecture Horizontal – Layered Arch
Horizontal – Layered Arch
OSS
OSS
OSS
IP Access
Data
IP
Network
Network
Network
which increases their operational costs and lengthen the time-to-market for new services. The second approach is to start with dedicated tools for service assurance. Then based on functionalities a number of different sources of information are integrated with the service assurance solution, with the hopes that all the available information will be enough to monitor the service. Each time a new source of information is identified the service models are updated. Both methods have their advantages but the gold approach is in the middle. Investing in a solution, which has core capabilities for service assurance, is a must. No single service provider wants to be a sponsor of a unique, non-COTS solution for service monitoring. Solutions, which are already available on the market, have required modules, functionalities and algorithms for not only service assurance but also incident management, root cause analysis or customer impact analysis. In addition, sound service documentation, recording all the information pertaining to IT assets, network resources and use cases of the service is also a must for service assurance. The important thing is remembering that the service models will change. Therefore, it is strongly recommended not only to have a project for documenting the service, but also such reorganization of the service lifecycle, which enables the operations department in service Change Management processes. The new approach leads to an increase in the effectiveness of the service provider’s operations. Existing management silos are either no longer needed, or are incorporated in the service assurance platforms, allowing the technicians to use just one solution for investigating service malfunctions, finding the root cause and fixing the solution. Automation in answering the question of why the service is not working saves the most
NGOSS
IP Access
Voice
Data
TV
Content
Network
time, which apart from increasing effectiveness, also provides an additional benefit by shortening the service unavailability time. Many of the corrective actions can be automated in the service assurance solution,
as they deliver both correlation engines and process automation engines. This additionally allows for solving the potential service incident without the end customer even noticing it.
Assurance: > S&R Incident and Problem Management > Service impact calculation
S ! CfS RfS S
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Figure 2. Service models reusage in different departments nr 2/2009 (10)
34 > Operational Excellence
Figure 3. Interface between systems handling service information
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> Incidents resulting from network problems > Planned service incidents (approval)
> Incidents resulting from customer problems > Provisioning/activation requests > Process control during the whole lifecycle
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It’s always about Interfaces
What about the Service Quality?
Even if a service provider begins implementation of the best service assurance solution on the market, a certain degree of its legacy solution will require maintaining for some time afterwards. There is a possibility which excludes the need for the big bang approach: immediate replacement of all IT landscapes. The solution is reliant upon the definition of an interface, based on certain standards, in order to handle the legacy system as a Resource Facing Service – a component of the new service model. It is vital that such an interface provides at a minimum functionality which forwards incidents from the legacy system, passes on provisioning requests and enables controlling the service management process. Nowadays, there is no single standard on the market that can be applied. Therefore, it is good practice to implement several APIs into the legacy solution, or alternatively an API at a unified level should be adopted. Although this may entail a significant cost for integration of the legacy system, in many cases it is still an worthwhile investment. Solutions such as those of COTS Service Assurance or Service Management, and some legacy integration continue to preserve benefits such as increases in the effectiveness of service management, minimized time-tomarket for new services, and most importantly – thorough and precise service state monitoring.
Together with service assurance solutions, investing in Service Quality Management completes the service picture. In particular, when a service is dependent on a number of different and constantly changing network resources, SQM facilitates measuring the impact of network degradation and its propagation to the service models. Additionally, it integrates the numbers of existing performance management silos into one source of information regarding state and quality of the service. Even if at this current moment in time SQM is not a part of the service assurance projects, it is definitely on the road map for all major service providers.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
network and optimize them from the service availability and quality perspective. They can offer to the mass market the same services but of a higher standard and at a different price. Tailored offers can even be introduced for the most important customers, whilst delivering and assuring heightened quality in selected areas or for chosen services. If service providers integrate service assurance with CRM or SLA management systems they can enable customer monitoring as well as network and IT resources prioritization based on customer impact. In case of problems arising technicians are able to view the real business value of all resources and have the capability to plan workarounds and add a protection mechanism for the most essential resources. Existing service providers are no longer autonomic in service delivery. They have started to share the network and depend on the partners delivering service components. It is of even greater important to have a comprehensive service assurance solution which will support not only the service provider itself, but also its partners, with clear information about service state and the division of responsibility regarding service maintenance. Currently, the telecommunications world is a keen advocate of measuring customer experience. Service assurance, in addition to bringing about a unification of operations and bridging gaps between management systems, is the first and most crucial step in this process. Moreover, automation not only optimizes operations costs but also enables new business models. <<<
What Happens Next? Ongoing projects for delivering service assurance will allow service providers to see the big picture in terms of the service in order to measure its state. Once this information is acquired new opportunities open up and new business models and service offerings can come into existence. Typical network operation was oriented to solving incidents and problems. Using service assurance, providers can focus on proactive network management. It’s possible to plan the changes and investments in the
Jakub Zaluski-Kapusta Comarch SA Position: OSS Product Manager Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Jakub is currently responsible for sales support of Comarch OSS systems.
Operational Excellence
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Telco on Demand? Can a telecom provider outsource everything besides the marketing department?
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. The SaaS model has become one of the most popular trends in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IT environment. Software vendors are starting to offer their software in the SaaS model for many industries. But is SaaS already mainstream in telecommunications? How far can a telecom provider go into SaaS? Are there any IT or network areas that cannot be outsourced? nr 2/2009 (10)
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Figure 1. Differences between On-premise, ASP and SaaS software delivery models
Company A
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A’s customers, partners technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Operational Excellence
Business Drivers for SaaS The basic concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) appeared in the late 90’s. Now SaaS, sometimes termed as “on-demand software”, superseding the “ASP model” or “hosted software”, has become one of the main trends for delivering software in modern IT. The basic goal of the SaaS model is reducing investment costs in software licenses and hardware by sharing one instance of software hosted on an application provider’s infrastructure and ondemand accessed by many customers, at the same time, remotely. SaaS applications are developed to leverage web technologies such as a web-browser for user-interface and Web Services for integration purposes. The data architecture is based on the multi-tenant concept with a single instance that enables multiple users to access a shared data model with the separated data of each customer. The following business advantages are the key drivers for the popularization of the SaaS model: > Low cost of initial investments (CAPEX), > Responsibility for data, operations and maintenance shifted to the SaaS provider, > Pay-for-use model (OPEX cost-effectiveness), > IT staff responsibility limited to integrating (if required) and extending SaaS platform, both of which are relatively easy, > Short setup time. A low entry cost means reducing the risk associated with investments in software deployment. A very important benefit of SaaS is that a customer can fully test and verify the functionality of a real instance of the application, before taking the decision of whether to buy it. Also, the customer does not invest directly in software and hardware upgrades as they pay only for the use of the software on demand by paying a monthly subscription fee for access to the system, providing specified parameters. All these parameters must be specified before signing an agreement with the vendor. In simple applications the setup period on the vendor’s side usually takes minutes or hours. In more advanced cases, the setup may also require some additional integration tasks on the customer side. These tasks may include integration of local systems with a remote service through an API, integration tests etc. SaaS vendors usually provide easy-to-use and well-documented API with working examples attached, therefore the integration process takes less time than it would when deploying a local instance of the system. In addition, SaaS makes the Quality Assurance process more simplistic than in a typical deployment. A customer usually accesses the application through the Internet, but it is also possible to set up
a VPN or leased-line between a customer and the vendor. Dedicated network connections may be required for real-time operations when network link Quality-ofService influences the stability of company operations or revenue-related processes. SaaS providers generally charge per-user – system core, additional features, extra bandwidth or storage. As the revenue stream to the SaaS vendor is usually more stable than to a typical software vendor, this often results in new features that are directly requested by users and releases of new features are significantly more frequent since the entire group of customers can benefit from the new functionality. The new features are often developed according to best practices of each industry, because the vendor has constant input from customers, based on their everyday experience. From a technical point of view, SaaS model implementations are characterized by: > Multi-tenant architecture, > Centralized upgrades transparent to the customer, > Shared data model, > Application scalability, > Configuration & extensibility, > Web-based access to applications, > Security of data, > Business continuity assurance, often with geographically separated disaster recovery center. All these features translate directly into business benefits – TCO optimization, flexibility and security.
A Bright or Dim Future for SaaS? There have been a lot of rumors lately related to the validity of the SaaS delivery model and the business models around it. These have been stirred up by SaaS providers struggling to achieve profitability and the critical mass required. Certainly the large numbers of SaaS start-ups are not helping the situation. However, a tough and uncompromising economy has paradoxically brought SaaS into the spotlight, as businesses are looking for ways to improve the bottom line. There are some indisputable facts indicating that the future will be more favorable for SaaS initiatives: > People and companies alike are less inclined to purchase licenses, hardware and other products (copiers, cars, office space, etc.), turning instead to service providers that rent them out; this leads to subscription-based models that are increasingly better understood by customers and widely accepted > Globalization of social networks and businesses requires tools that are available at anytime, anywhere, and this therefore means “on the Net”; while improving internet connection availability and speed helps on the consumer side
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> Availability of utility computing eases the way for new ideas to evolve into productive innovations; this leads to faster time-to-market, greater interest from VC and revitalization of the whole SaaS sector > Narrowly focused SaaS startups begin to combine and form partnerships, creating the whole value chains for their customers, as well as up-sell and cross-sell channels for themselves (as they cannot afford traditional types); this leads to mashups that can functionally match the best-of-breed software suits > Even the market leaders can no longer turn their back on SaaS. As an example, SAP, initially directing their SaaS initiative solely towards the SMB market (fearing cannibalization of their license and maintenance revenues), announced recently that they intend to promote their on-demand offering to their entire installed customer base. The analysts’ predictions are also favorable. The SaaS market is forecasted to grow at least twice as fast as the general software market, reaching $13B in 2009, and more than $20B in 2011. Some regions, such as India or China, may see a compound annual growth rate of up to 76% thru 2011. The market is also divided into functional areas. While it began in CRM and HCM (Human Capital Management), it’s since spread into web conferencing, collaboration, IT Services Management and security. One of the consequences of the SaaS boom has been the growing demand for tools that would support billing processes for all those subscription-based services; naturally, SaaS tools. This has proven to be relatively easy, and such applications are already available. But if a telco startup tried to use them, they would clearly see that those tools are well-suited for newspaper subscriptions or private wallet management services. To bill a telco operator’s customers you need something much more advanced, especially if you have prepaid customers and want to charge them in real time. That’s when you turn to a telco billing specialist.
Comarch Billing on Demand Comarch has been involved in the on-demand market since 2001 with our ERP package. Recently we’ve expanded our SaaS offer by providing the Comarch Billing SaaS service - a telecom-grade compact billing system available in the SaaS model. The service supports typical business processes, including customer management, product management, rating, invoicing, dispatching, partner management processes and customer self-care. Special care has been taken to ensure user acceptance, with video trainings and extensive documentation. nr 2/2009 (10)
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Comarch’s solution supports billing processes dedicated to small/medium sized service and network operators, with up to one hundred thousand subscribers activated in post-paid or pre-paid mode, in particular: ISPs, VOIP, IPTV and WIMAX operators. Comarch provides a billing solution in the Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) model, hosted at farms of our own servers located at Comarch Data Center (CDC). The service can be accessed online through Internet, a VPN or a leased line. The service provides the following functionality to an operator: > Offline Charging of the services that a customer would like to pay after the service has been delivered (in postpaid mode). For post-paid mode the system charges sessions and provides rated CDRs to the built-in invoicing module. > Online Charging of the services that a customer
the only on-demand initiative, and soon we will be able to offer additional services, preintegrated into a single Telco as a Service platform, enabling our customers to outsource practically all their IT requirements: > ERP – online application for all ERP needs, chronologically the first Comarch on-demand offering > IP PABX – phone switch to provide all internal and external phone communication, conferencing and other advanced services > Call Center – Call Center as a Service (called C2aS) allows operators to distribute their Customer Service Representatives, who use a supplied IP phone with embedded VPN software to connect to the Call Center application > IP VPN – makes it easy to use distributed IP-enabled devices in one virtual office network > VoIP operator – with the addition of interconnection to wholesale telco providers the platform can run the
focusing on core competences that will allow them to differentiate their offering from their competition.
would like to pay in advance (prepaid mode). For pre-paid mode the system controls the customer balance in real-time. > Billing/Invoicing of the services in postpaid mode. The system provides the following functionality: discounts and promotions, invoice creation, payment collection functionality, dunning scenarios (reporting and actions such as account blocking). > Reporting and Analysis Tool for analyzing business data directly within edited documents. Users who are not familiar with database technologies should be able to use the analysis tool to conduct advanced data analysis and present the results in the form of a professional, presentation-ready report. > Customer Care – a CRM tool that supports processes necessary in everyday customer management – customer management, order management, trouble ticketing – regardless of whether the actual CC
VoIP provider operations > Campaigns – from simple mailing to advanced loyalty programme, we can support every initiative of the Marketing Department, or even be one for our customers > Online Backup – provides a secure vault for documents and other files for the operator’s peace of mind and regulatory compliance > IPTV VoD – enables smaller IP operators to provide their customers with a high-end VoD service.
to the customer and its core business operations, the customer should carefully verify how stable the service provider is, not only from the technical, but principally from the business point of view. We are positive that Comarch is the right choice as the billing SaaS provider, due to its global reach, solid business foundations and extensive on-premise and on-demand experience. Thanks to basing the service on our stable products, we can guarantee business continuity, both short and long-term, with practically no limits in functionality or capacity. Ultimately, when an operator’s business comes out of the nascent phase, migrating the data and processes to their own on-premise deployment is very easy. <<<
user interface is used in the call center, front office or back office. The service can also be delivered with the following additional modules: > Top-Up and Voucher Management that can be configured to deliver various methods of recharging and payments. It generates and validates PIN codes that can be, after some integration, used by the users via IVR, scratch cards, web pages, ATM, etc. > Self Care – telco consumer web-based interface for self-management of accounts, contracted services and personal data. The broad competences of Comarch, active in various sectors of the economy, allow us to bring even more value to our customers. Comarch Billing SaaS is not
technology review [www.comarch.com]
This way, service providers will be able to outsource to Comarch everything besides product management, marketing communication and customer support,
Figure 2. Comarch Billing SaaS – GUI
Conclusion Making the decision of whether to use SaaS should be preceded by a thorough analysis of service functionality, specification of customer requirements and potential risks of using on-demand software in the customer business. However, for many medium-sized operators the answer is already known, as Software as a Service is already ‘mainstream’. The benefits of using SaaS are not only reducing CAPEX and OPEX costs, but sometimes even shifting the full responsibility of a specified business process to the service provider. Since, depending on the application type, a potential failure on the vendor side or network interruption can result in propagation
Operational Excellence
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Figure 3. Comarch Billing SaaS - Deployment
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Comarch Billing on Demand The solution is offered in the Software-as-a-Service model, allowing an operator to use this fully functional, powerful and modern billing system without the need for purchasing any licenses. An operator can start their business without initial investment in on-premise software and hardware. In the SaaS model the operator only pays for setup and use of the service. Our solution minimizes risk of investment (CAPEX) and maintenance costs (OPEX).
Top features: > Provides a telco-grade billing solution from a leading BSS vendor, in the SaaS model > Supplies post-paid and pre-paid billing capabilities > Enables easy integration with open API > Reduces investment (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX) > Offers Pay Per Use & Subscription pricing models > Provides white-labeling capabilities of Customer Self Care > Facilitates easy migration to “on-premise” model > Guarantees constant innovation by reusing experience from Comarch on-premise deployments
Grzegorz Kot
Lukasz Luzar
Comarch SA
Comarch SA
Position: Senior Consultant Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Grzegorz is currently responsible for presales consulting in the areas of sales channels’ support, outsourcing/SaaS and the VAS Comarch offering.
Position: Product Manager Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Lukasz is currently responsible for Billing in SaaS area, Comarch NGTV and CDS in VAS area..
nr 2/2009 (10)
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Self-tuning Operations Support System Continuous business efficiency improvements within your operations
An economic slowdown always pushes market players to reduce costs and peruse new revenue sources. A more effective strategy than a simple one off effort is to employ the tenet of efficiency improvements as a continuous cycle. The article describes the concept of the OSS system which should not only promise to add value to CSP but also contain self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms which can measure the system performance in business oriented KPIs and improve its performance. See how the concept of a continuous improvement cycle implemented in the Next Generation Service Management solution can help CSPs to maintain profitability whilst under pressure to reduce time-to-market for new services. Find out about customer service composition optimization which aligns with the notion of Self-Organizing Networks. technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Operational Excellence
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A period
of economic slowdown or even recession has always been a time in which all market players try to improve the efficiency of their business. All are seeking the possibilities to reduce costs of operation and to maximize revenue. Tough times simply force every player to fight for better efficiency. It is a game of survival. It seems that improving business should be a constant driver. The reality is that we need a painful incentive to make the effort. Some thinkers even consider a slowdown or even a recession as a necessary therapy which is painful but heals the economy. It probably derives from our human nature, that during the period of prosperity when the revenue stream is wide, we don’t pay attention to small enhancements which do not cause double digit revenue growth. We forget that small enhancements carried out systematically and methodically can bring a significant busi-
flow process rather than an automatic loop back to the underlying OSS systems. This means that the optimization cycle is slow. The answer to this problem is applying a self-tuning Operations Support System. The idea of a self tuning system is that the system can self-assess its added value and close the loop by supporting the corrective actions in the case of discovered inefficiency. The system self-assessment is expressed through KPIs which measure the business performance of the process supported by the system. The corrective action support includes identification of the system configuration which needs enhancing to improve business performance. The need for self-tuning Operations Support systems becomes critical in times where Communication Service Providers strive to shorten time-to-market for new service introduction. The problem is that fast
ness improvement. On a global scale, a continuous fight for efficiency even during a period of prosperity might help prevent a recession or at least lessen the impact of a slowdown. This conclusion seems quite reasonable so we can ask why we don’t do it. The answer is probably not only our human nature but the fact that efficiency improvements cost money. This is especially true for businesses which rely on complex systems like telecommunication infrastructure. The answer to this problem could be applying the IT technology which can not only support the operations but also contains self-tuning mechanisms. The traditional approach to business optimization is to apply business intelligence (BI) technology. In a nutshell, this technology works in the following way. Firstly, it gathers data from as many existing operations support systems as possible and places it in a corporate data warehouse. The purpose of the data warehouse is to give the data business meaning, which involves OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) techniques. The business meaning is expressed through KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) which is the language understood by business executives. KPIs measure how the business is running. Business measuring is a prerequisite for any methodical optimization and the term KPI-driven business captures that idea. The KPIs which fall below expectations highlight the inefficiency and the space for optimization. The problem with the described business optimization is that this process is rather slow. This is because corporate BI systems are disjointed from operations systems. It derives from the nature of the
often means inefficient. The self-tuning platforms can answer this problem by introducing optimization into the service lifecycle.
corporate data warehouse whose main goal is to shift from raw technical data gathered from OSS systems to the black box business view. It means that there is no automatic loop back mechanism. Once inefficiency is detected by examining KPIs, the corrective actions need to go though the man made decision
tiveness should be measured by KPIs. The KPIs are expected to enable business executives to validate the promise of SDP which is reduced time and cost of new service introduction. The self-tuning mechanism means that after identifying KPIs which do not meet business goals, it is possible to track down the con-
Reducing Time-to-Market and Maintaining Profitability After the Internet and mobile revolution Communication Service Providers (CSP) are forced to quickly provide composite services which combine fixed, mobile network access with content based services. The winner in this highly competitive environment is the one who can fastest provide compelling services to customers. However, the fight for new customers should be balanced with profitability concerns. This problem is highlighted in the recent industry report [1] published by TMF Business Benchmarking. The report warns that exciting new services can bring a Pandora’s Box of additional complexity that can eat up profit. The answer to this potential problem is leveraging an OSS system with self-tuning mechanisms. The problem of fast new service introduction into the market is address by hyped Service Delivery Platforms (SDP). The main promise of this type of OSS system is reducing time and costs of new service introduction by leveraging reusable service components. This concept is detailed in a separate white paper [2]. From the profitability assurance point of view, it is important that this kind of system contains the self-tuning mechanism. Firstly, it means that these systems should selfassess their business effectiveness. Business effec-
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Figure 1. Continuous improvement lifecycle
innately an iterative process. From a practical viewpoint, efficiency cannot be achieved as a one off task which resembles rocket since. Instead, it should be done step by step, with each optimization cycle ending by assessing the improvement of KPI’s. This concept is depicted below. If the result is still not satisfactory, a further optimization cycle can be started. The iterative approach is cheaper and can lead to better results. The first statement is true because it allows CSP to start with optimization which is easiest to implement. Prior to further investment in optimization, the results of the previous enhancement cycle can be measured. If the KPI’s improvements are satisfactory, further improvements can be delayed until new business goals are set. The better results of the iterative improvements derive from the “measure first” strategy which means that the iteration is preceded by KPI assessment which leads to fine tuning.
Self-assessment: a Way to Keep the Promise
Improvement lifecycle
figuration of the system which needs to be corrected. The examples include: the ability to identify which service components bundling, although deliverable, are not profitable; the ability to identify which technology based service bundling is most profitable.
Efficiency Improvement as a Continuous Cycle The introduction of a new Operations Support System into a communication service provider (CSP) environment has always been driven by the hope of improvtechnology review [www.comarch.eu]
ing the efficiency of operations and thus improving business results. Before any OSS product which is delivered as COTS can start adding value, it must be integrated with the CSP environment. This process involves tuning the OSS product according to CSP requirements. Traditionally, it was the only time during which the OSS product was optimized to deliver the best possible outcome. The assumption was that once the OSS product was configured, it should just do its work without a need for its further tuning. Even throughout the period in which the competitive environment did not force rapid innovation rates, this approach lead to inefficiency, as improvement is
All OSS systems claim to add value to the CSP environment ether by reducing costs of operation or extending CSP capabilities. But do they really do that? How can it be checked? A good answer to this problem can be found in the self-assessment mechanism which OSS products should provide. The self-assessment mechanism is a materialization of the “measure first” concept introduced in the previous chapter entitled ‘Efficiency improvement as a continuous cycle’. The provision of such mechanisms by OSS products is envisioned to be beneficial for both sides: OSS vendors and CSPs. For an OSS vendor, the self-assessment mechanism can be the perfect way to highlight the benefits of the solution. It may be an effective way to convince a CSP to spend its hard earned money on a product which really brings value to it. For a CSP, the self-assessment mechanism provides a tool for validating promises of the OSS vendor. Checking KPIs provides a method for comparing the OSS vendors marketing materials with the real performance of the product. The ideal situation from a CSP point of view is the possibility to organize a “Proof of Concept” stage where vendors demonstrate their products. Ability to compare the products using hard metrics should make the decision regarding which product to choose much easier. The self-assessment mechanism of an OSS product is not only a way for a CSP to validate vendor promises, but also is expected to facilitate the business decisions process. Having OSS product performance expressed in KPIs with business meaning should enable the less technically oriented business executives to make more rational decisions. OSS KPIs are
Operational Excellence
expected to bridge the gap between the technical characteristics of an OSS system and the business impact of the system.
Service Fulfillment KPIs As the key benefit, hyped Service Delivery Platforms reduce time-to-market for new customer services. Once a new service is ready to be delivered to the customer, the SDP should also reduce the time and costs of service orders fulfillment. What is important is that this rapid service introduction should not result in poor customer experience. To be able to verify whether an SDP keeps its promises the appropriate KPIs must be defined. Time-to-market is one of the basic KPIs which can be used to verify the performance of any SDP product. One way of measuring this KPI is registering the time between introducing a new service into the service catalog and the time the first customer order can be fulfilled. The ‘average time to fulfill the service order’ KPI is a metric that can be easily traced assuming that the SDP exploits the order management solution. The ‘average cost of fulfilling a service order’ KPI is harder to measure using the OSS system unless the cost metrics are defined per order fulfillment process step. As an alternative, the KPIs which measure the automation rate of the fulfillment can be used. This is easier to measure in the OSS system and has a more direct relationship with the self-tuning mechanism. As an example, the KPIs which express the number of manual steps vs. automatic steps of service management can be used. The quality of the fulfillment process can be measured using the percentage of service orders which resulted in service incidents. A useful insight can be gained by combining the above listed KPIs with the network technology which was used for implementing customer facing services. The ability to measure the performance of the SDP is useful but the ability to tune the system to improve the performance is even more desirable. As the tuning mechanism is related to the mechanism employed within the solution, the self-tuning capabilities are described in the subsequent chapter regarding the Comarch Next Generation Service Delivery Platform.
Service Assurance KPIs Employing an OSS system in Service Assurance promises to reduce the time and costs needed to resolve service incidents. The equally important benefit of
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this solution should also be early service problem detection, which means proactive capabilities. Network related problems which impact services can start to be resolved before a customer experiences the problem. The examples of KPIs which can be used to measure the OSS performance in relation to fulfilling the described benefits are: Average Incident Resolution Time (AIRT), Average Incident Resolution Costs (AIRC) and percentage of problems by cause type. The proactive capability can be measured using the number of network faults which effected customer service but had been resolved prior to a customer issuing a complaint. The AIRT is the easiest to measure, assuming that OSS employs a BPM platform for managing incident resolution processes. The AIRC is more difficult to measure using the
is based on KPIs provided by the NGSDP which are described in the previous chapter ‘Service Fulfillment KPIs’. To describe tuning capabilities, some details on the NGSDP must be provided. The main concept is based on the premise that customer services are not monolithic services but on the contrary are composed of service components. The service composition is based on the SID model which assumes that Customer Facing Services can be composed of Resource Facing Services. The benefit of reducing time-to-market is realized by leveraging the concept in which new Customer Facing Services (CFS) can be built up from reusable service components represented by Resource Facing Services. Once the new CFS is defined in the service catalog its decomposition to RFS is interpreted by the service assembly process as a skeleton for the delivery process. The whole idea is depicted in
OSS system unless there are costs metrics defined per incident resolution step. However, a good alternative is introducing KPIs which measure the automation ratio. These KPIs are easier to measure using the OSS system and have a more direct relationship with the self-tuning mechanism. Good examples of such KPIs are: number of service incidents reported by a customer which required manual root cause analysis, number of network faults detected by the network which resulted in manual correlation with other network faults. The KPI percentage of ‘problem by cause type’ can be even further detailed to identify which network technologies used to implement customer facing services are the most fault prone. The ability to measure service assurance KPIs is half the story. The other half is the ability to tune the solution to improve KPIs. The self-tuning capabilities heavily depend on mechanisms employed within the solution and this is why they are described in the subsequent chapter regarding Comarch Next Generation Service Assurance.
Service Fulfillment is implemented in the Comarch solution using the Next Generation Service Delivery Platform (NGSDP). The main premise of this solution is fast and cost effective introduction of new customer services to the market. New service introduction
the dedicated NGSDP whitepaper [2]. From the tuning mechanism perspective it is interesting to analyze the RFS interpretation. A Resource Facing Service is also understood as a technical service which encapsulates the technology used to implement services. This may lead to tuning which aims to identify the most effective technology for customer facing services implementation. For example, the Broadband IP CFS can be leverage for the second mile technical service and the Ethernet Aggregation RFS. As an alternative technology, the ATM Aggregation may exist. The NGSDP provides KPIs defined per RFS. These statistics enable the discovery of which technology is better. For example, if the Average Time to Fulfill a Service Order is higher for services based on the ATM Aggregation RFS than those based on the Ethernet Aggregation RFS, this may give a hint that the Ethernet Aggregation is the more time effective option. The higher the fulfillment orders failures, KPIs for the Ethernet Aggregation may indicate that this technology is more fault prone. These interesting analyses can also be conducted using the Service Assurance KPI per RFS. These analyses can indicate which technology is optimal for Customer Facing Services from the assurance point of view. The details regarding assurance based KPIs tuning are provided in the subsequent chapter. The notion of discovering the best technology for implementing Customer Facing Services means customer service composition optimization is controlled from the service catalog. The service composition optimization and self-tuning capabilities align with
refers to the ability to deliver the services to customers. NGSDP also promises to reduce time and costs of service order fulfillment. The NGSDP provides a self-assessment mechanism which can be used to verify how the solution keeps its promises. The self-assessment mechanism
the ideas of Next Generation Networks (NGN) and with Self-Organizing and Optimizing Networks (SON) in particular. The SON idea can be perceived as optimization within technical service components (RFSs), with NGSM providing the service composition optimization. The service composition optimization is envisioned
Service Fulfillment Tuning in NGSDP
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Figure 2. Service catalog’s CFS-RFS model as a skeleton for service composition NGSDP
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as a way to bring the value of network optimization to customers via Customer Facing Service composition optimization.
Service Assurance Tuning in NGSA Service Assurance is implemented into the Comarch solution using the Next Generation Service Assurance (NGSA) model. The main premise of the product is time and cost reductions for customer service assurance. technology review [www.comarch.eu]
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Additionally, the product aims to provide a proactive solution which enables the resolving of issues prior to a customer experiencing a problem with the service. NGSA not only promises to bring benefits but also provides self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms. The self-assessment functionality enables you to mea-
related alarms collected from the network. This “bottom-up” process is accompanied by the “top-down” method which is realized for providing the service incidents resolution support when a customer reports a complaint. The bottom-up process means that network related alarms are translated into the customer
sure the performance of the solution and express it using KPIs, allowing you to validate the business value of the solution. To describe the self-tuning mechanism, some details of the NGSA must be provided. In a nutshell, NGSA provides a service meaning to the network
service impact. The top-down process enables you to trace the customer complaint down to root cause network resources. The idea of providing the service assurance meaning to the network related data is depicted below.
Operational Excellence
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Figure 3. Providing the customer service meaning to network alarms
t BB Instance
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Generic BB Mechanism
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BlackBerry RIM Platform
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The mechanism of providing the customer service meaning to network related data is leveraged in the process layer realized by the ITIL based library of processes. The ITIL library implemented in NGSA provides service incident and problem management processes which are the core assurance processes. The ITIL processes operate using knowledge which gives service meaning to network related data and ensures efficient utilization of this knowledge. The self-tuning mechanism is based on identifying the gaps in this knowledge. The knowledge is organized along the service catalog TMF SID model which decomposes Cus-
resource related events up to the customer facing service impact. More details about the NGSA can be found in the dedicated white paper [3]. The self-tuning mechanism is based on the most detailed KPIs which measure the automation ratio. The KPI: the number of service incidents reported by a customer that required manual root cause analysis has a direct relationship with the tuning mechanism. The high value of this KPI may indicate that knowledge defined along the CFS-RFS-R model is incomplete. In a nutshell, this is what the tuning process looks like: Firstly, a customer facing service (for which there are
should be updated. For example, it may be discovered that the BlackBerry CFS is not mapped on the Authentication Service whose outage impacts the customer service. This tuning is intended to improve the automation rate, so it has an impact on more business related KPIs like Average Incident Resolution Time (AIRT) and Average Incident Resolution Costs (AIRC). This tuning also improves proactivity levels. Ability to better translate network related faults into service impacts means early service issues detection. This means that service issues can start to be resolved even before a customer experiences a problem. This
tomer Facing Services (CFS) through Resource Facing Services (RFS) down to Resources (R). The basic SID CFS-RFS-R model is augmented with assurance management data. The most essential extension to the SID CFS-RFS-R model is the alarm propagation model which captures the knowledge regarding translating
numerous customer complaints whose root cause analyses involves manual steps) must be identified. Secondly, the resource type which was most frequently manually indicated as the cause of the service incident can be identified. Once it is determined, the knowledge defined along the SID CFS-RFS-R model
impact can be assessed by analyzing improvements in KPIs describing total number of customer complaints. Early service issues detection and proactiveness should result in a decrease in the total number of customer complaints.
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Conclusions Comarch Next Generation Service Management not only promises to reduce time and costs of introducing new services to market, but also contains a mechanism which allows CSPs to validate these benefits and implement efficiency improvement as a continuous cycle. NGSM can measure its performance by means of business related KPIs which allow a CSP to attain an insight into its operational efficiency. NGSM realizes the measure first tenet, which is leveraged to implement efficiency improvements as a continuous cycle. This feature appears extremely important as CSPs are forced to shorten service innovation cycles. Fast service introduction may lead to inefficiency which may eat up profits. Optimization organized in cycles aligned with new service introduction cycles is expected to
resolve this problem. NGSM covers both the areas of service fulfillment and service assurance, guaranteeing that fast service introduction is not achieved at the cost of degraded customer experience. NGSM provides interesting optimization capabilities which enable us to analyze which network technology is most effective for customer service implementation. These analyses enable us to optimize the service catalog built according to the SID CFS-RFS-R model. The CSP can discover which technology represented by the Resource Facing Service (RFS) is better suited for Customer Facing Service implementation. NGSM leverages the CFS-RFS-R model as the customer service composition mechanism which is a skeleton for service fulfillment and service assurance processes. Optimizing the service composition enables rapid improvement of CSP operations. <<<
Further reading 1 “Next Generation Service Delivery Platform. Integrated Service Fulfillment”, Comarch white paper. 2 “How to move Service Assurance to the Next Level”, Comarch white paper.
References 1 “Winning in a Shrinking World: Points to Consider”, TMF Business Benchmarking, industry update report. 2 “Next Generation Service Delivery Platform. Integrated Service Fulfillment”, Comarch white paper. 3 “How to move Service Assurance to the Next Level”, Comarch white paper.
Lukasz Mendyk Comarch SA Position: OSS Product Manager Department: Telecommunications Business Unit Info: Lukasz is currently responsible for the Next Generation Service Management solution, specializing in the service fulfillment area.
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Comarch Next Generation Service Management Fulfilling the promise of component-based service creation Boost the value of your network through an open service composer Learn more at: ngsm.comarch.com