TMNQUARTERLY 1312 TMNQUARTERLY

PARTNER FEATURE

The network operations centre (NOC) is the heart of any CSP’s network. It depends on assurance tools, such as OSS systems and network probes, to secure the health of the network.

Traditionally the services that operators have owned and provided - voice, text, data - were vertically integrated with the network. This mode of operation ensured that if the networks were managed then quality of service was also maintained, albeit in a vertical fashion. In short, there was confidence that if the network was operating well, then so were the services running over the network.

The customer experience disconnect Subscribers of today measure the quality of a CSP from the experience they receive when using applications for video streaming, instant messaging, social media, voice calling etc. These are services that might, or might not, be under the control of the CSP.

So the network may be functioning well according to KPIs the NOC monitors, while end-users may experience problems with a video streaming service such as Netflix or YouTube.

That is why building a view that is customer and service centric, rather than one that focuses solely on

service delivery platform that may not necessarily be hosted inside the CSP’s own network. In addition, degraded experience may sometimes only be associated with subscribers using a specific device.

Building the case for the SOCDescribing the SOC is easier than building it within the operating business. The challenges are both technical and cultural.

First, the SOC creates a new technical requirement - to present a per service view of user performance. This means monitoring new, different and merged KPIs. Unfortunately, CSPs have no set industry standards for a SOC deployment to fall back on. There is no 3GPP or ETSI model on building service level datasets and presenting that information. A service level view means understanding which events and KPIs are customer-impacting, and which are less important.

A key requirement is to assess and merge KPIs into groups of measurements that the operator knows can impact the performance of specific services. By creating a Service Quality Indicator (SQI) calculated from multiple KPIs, the overall service experience for the user can be measured by abstracting the service view from the underlying network. This means the operator is no longer

As Machine Learning and AI technologies advance, it is possible to foresee the addition of a predictive capability to the SOC. This will give the operator even greater visibility. For example marketing teams would have the ability to design more specific customer offers based on predicted usage, while technical teams or automated controllers could take action to prevent problems before they occur.

Did you know?

Polystar’s 30+ years’ experience in discovering, correlating and analysing data gives it the ability to build a data abstraction layer that feeds the service-specific insights that will enable the transition from the NOC to the SOC.

With KALIX, the latest addition to the Polystar product portfolio, Polystar is taking the next step in helping CSPs to improve customer experience, optimise network efficiency and become more customer-centric.

The Polystar SOC Advantage

monitoring a huge range of KPIs, but a specific SQI.

Additionally, the SOC must operate across the full vendor ecosystem within the network and to other domains, creating the requirement for a common, independent broker of data.

SOC’s business transformationBuilding acceptance for this mode of operation entails gaining support at the top of the business, at C-level. One way to do this is to start small and demonstrate some clear business case wins. This gives those investing resources in the SOC the confidence to progress to full implementation.

Polystar has the experience of collecting, analysing and correlating data to create insights that provide a per-service view. This presents the service view in a manner relevant to different functions within the operating business, from the C-Suite to marketing departments, to customer care agents and to technical staff. Although this data may be shared in different ways, it is all based on the same unified datasets.

This drives a cross-business buy-in of the SOC model and can transform the operational flexibility of the business.

The author, Thomas Bystedt is Director Network Insight at Polystar.

the network domain, is of major importance. Having visibility into real customer experience and service performance means that operators can prioritise actions based on customer impact.

As a result, customer satisfaction will increase, something that is of vital importance in today’s fiercely competitive marketplace.

Transition from the NOC to the SOCCSPs’ can follow their customers and change to a more service centric perspective by transitioning to a Service Operation Centre (SOC). In a SOC, CSPs monitor and act from degradations in the service delivery rather than network availability.

In this case, if subscribers are experiencing poor performance with a specific application such as social media or video streaming, a SOC will be able to isolate the problem to a network issue or an issue with a

To find out more about Polystar’s SOC solutions, visit: www.polystar.com or join us at MWC 2018 HALL 6, STAND 6G31.

FROM THE NOCTO THE SOC

PARTNER FEATURE

The transition to a new, service-centric operating model is not without challenges, but the rewards are great.