DaviD JaCObs
SponSor
David Jacobs
CTO and co-founder
JacobsRimell
David Jacobs is chief technical officer and co-founder of JacobsRimell.
What makes the i T requirements of cable MsOs
unique? That is, different from other telecom
service providers and/or other industries?
The only real difference in a converged world is the
access technologies—and subscribers don’t really
care about this. MSOs’ strengths are in their ability to
aggregate content that users want, whereas wireless
operators are good aggregators of technology, and
wireline telcos have strengths focused toward delivering services to business customers.
So essentially there is not a great deal of difference
as we move forward with the type of operator.
Everyone strives to reduce costs, perform faster
and more efficiently, and above all improve the customer experience. So really it’s all about mass customization and business agility. Here this is where the
strategy and attitude toward customers is critical and,
of course, how MSOs IT functions are able to implement and apply to this strategy. Essentially, the MSOs
already have this core competency to manage change;
they are working to make it more efficient.
What do you think will distinguish an effective
cable i T department over the next few years?
Clearly those that have managed to meet this challenge of being able to deliver on the business requirements, whilst being able to reuse as much as possible
for cost and timing reasons. This means an overall
migration to a much more open architecture, one that
is customer and information centric. For example,
in any operator, the product managers are generally
challenged by IT’s ability to deliver to their requirements—no one really knows what products, devices
or technologies will win, but today the product manager has to be able to take more chances, move much
faster, and be able to create and eliminate products
and services quickly. The IT infrastructure needs to
be able to cope with this new dynamic world. Today’s
implementations generally will not support these
requirements—hence we have the siloed architectures
we have.
MSOs have recognized that services are consumed
by individuals—IT’s back office infrastructure needs
to transform from its device, product, and technology
and premises-centric approach to being user-centric.
12 Supplement to Communications Technology
Another evolution taking place across the
industry today is looking at the dynamics of those
involved in this industry. Clearly, the goal of the
content producer is to disintermediate the delivery
channels; they want the one-to-one relationship
with the consumer of their content. Clearly the
goal of the delivery channel (the MSO) is to not
be disintermediated; they achieve this is by adding
value. The MSOs’ advantage is that they have the
delivery channel and the billing relationship—what
they need to improve on is to add more value and
differentiate the content and services by blending
or mashing with other services that users want or
will be prepared to pay for. Clearly improving the
delivery quality and the overall user experience will
make a difference here.
as MsOs continue to grow their business services
portfolios, what do they need to accomplish in
their back offices?
MSOs need to find a mechanism that allows them
to more easily take advantage of the market opportunity out there. Business customers are looking for
added value in the applications and services they take
from service providers, as well as cost reduction. The
reality today is that there is another land grab occurring. MSOs must demonstrate they can satisfy these
market demands, but with better service and support. Therefore, MSOs must automate the process of
turning on customers and managing the delivery of
a better experience. Again, MSOs have an advantage
here in that they understand better how to aggregate
services.
What do you see as the industry’s key strengths
and weaknesses in the Oss/bss arena?
Primarily in two areas:
• Weak adoption of standards in OSS, coupled
with little or no standards in BSS—MSOs and
vendors alike struggle to deliver true end-to-end
back office systems due to the number of vendors
involved and the variation in standards availability and adherence.
• Traditionally, MSOs focused on the network
and the technology—OSS is generally an afterthought. Widely used adages here are, “If you
can’t turn it on, you aren’t a service provider,”
and, “If you can’t bill for it, it’s a hobby.” ■
