IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings

I’d like to expand on my thought process from my last blog on Advanced Solutions are an Art (Part 1).

When I closed the blog , and I quote:
“Advanced solutions are an art, anyone can propose a solution, not everyone can deliver one that meets customer needs while still being economically feasible.”

I wanted to continue the discussion and start a dialogue as to what a service provider actually provides on a day to day basis?

A service provider provides a service, a service is defined by the technologies, the processes, the systems and most of all the people within the service providers environment.

All of these define something I like to call the “Service Layer”.

A service layer in this context addresses 4 key capabilities within a service provider:
- Sales
- Service Delivery
- Maintenance
- Billing

Lets take a moment to peel the onion on each of the capabilities:
- Sales includes the following functions: sales engineering, account management, customer support, pricing, marketing, proposal development that all lead to an order.

- Service Delivery in the process of orchestrating the delivery of individual components that together provide a complex service, the capability is completed when the customer accepts the service and the service provider can start billing.

- Maintenance is by far the most important capability, like I said, anyone can sell a service, anyone can delivery a service, not everyone can support the service when a customer calls at 3am!

- Billing from a providers perspective is the really important, after all providers are meant to provide a return on investment, and just as important to enterprises as provider costs are typically a cost center and accuracy and support are key.

Maintenance is so important, we’ll do a deep dive in Part 3.