Maintaining robust network and service assurance is a non-negotiable requirement for any network operator. Every telecommunications customer expects their services to be reliable, especially as we become ever more reliant on our network connections and the apps that depend on them. Network operators have no choice but to ensure seamless service delivery, optimal performance, and customer satisfaction despite dealing with an increasingly complex service delivery environment. This is where Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) play a pivotal role. Advanced OSS/BSS solutions act like an insurance policy, allowing operators to rely on the availability of their network and the services that ride over them.

The Role OSS/BSS Play in Network and Service Assurance

Even though they are mostly hidden away from sight, OSS and BSS are the backbone of modern telecommunications, arguably even more so than the telco networks themselves. OSS solutions typically focus on the network management side of the equation. This includes network assurance - fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security management. Meanwhile, BSS deals with more customer-facing activities such as billing, customer relationship management (CRM), and order management. Together, OSS and BSS enable telecom operators to manage their networks efficiently and deliver highly reliable services. Service assurance calls upon OSS and BSS capabilities.

Key Features of Network Assurance

Network assurance involves proactive monitoring, managing, and optimizing network performance to ensure reliability, efficiency, and minimal downtime.

  1. Proactive Fault Management: Traditional network management systems often rely on reactive fault management, addressing issues only after they occur. Modern OSS solutions still do this too, but also increasingly enable proactive fault management by leveraging advanced analytics and even machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI). These systems can predict potential faults and take preventive measures, thereby reducing downtime and improving network reliability. Modern Fault Management solutions offer near-real-time fault detection and predictive maintenance, and even self-correction mechanisms, helping operators maintain optimal network performance.

  2. Automated Network Configuration: Manual network configuration is time-consuming and prone to errors and/or inconsistencies. OSS solutions are increasingly fitted out with automated network configuration processes. Automated configuration management enables rapid deployment of new services, enhancing operational efficiency, but also provides the platform for network self-correction (e.g. network updates / patches, capacity optimisation, auto-rerouting and more).

  3. Performance Monitoring and Optimisation: The conditions on the network change continuously to meet changing customer usage profiles. This means continuous performance monitoring is essential for maintaining high-quality service delivery. OSS solutions provide comprehensive performance monitoring tools that track a variety of network parameters in real-time. By analysing performance data, operators can identify bottlenecks and optimise network resources to ensure optimal customer experience and performance – not just for all customers as an average, but increasingly even on a customer-by-customer basis. Performance Management solutions offer detailed insights into network performance, often using time-series graphs, enabling operators to observe patterns of network / traffic behaviour to make informed decisions to improve service quality and network health.

Key Features of Service Assurance

Service assurance ensures end-to-end visibility, monitoring, and management of customer / network services to maintain high-quality delivery and customer satisfaction. 

  1. End-to-End Service Visibility: Ensuring service assurance requires complete visibility into the entire service delivery chain, including each network hop as well as a variety of other capabilities such as DNS that facilitate the service delivery. In addition to real-time monitoring, OSS/BSS solutions provide end-to-end service lifecycle awareness, enabling operators to monitor and manage services from inception to delivery and usage. This holistic view helps in identifying and resolving issues quickly Service Order Management platforms offer comprehensive visibility into service workflows, ensuring that every activity, every aspect of service delivery is monitored and managed effectively

  2. Customer Experience Management: Customer experience is often a key differentiator in today’s highly competitive telecom market. BSS solutions play a crucial role in managing customer interactions and ensuring a positive experience. Advanced CRM systems integrated with BSS provide a unified view of customer data, enabling personalised service delivery and proactive issue notification through to resolution. This delivers a 360-degree view of customer interactions and overall customer experience

  3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management: SLAs are critical in defining the expected level of service quality for each customer and each service. OSS/BSS solutions help operators manage and monitor SLAs effectively. Tracking SLA compliance in real-time can allow operators to better meet their commitments and avoid penalties. SLA Management do this by identifying any SLA breaches and associated rebates

Integration and Interoperability

One of the key challenges in delivering high-quality network and service assurance is the integration of disparate systems. In theory, modern OSS/BSS solutions are designed to be interoperable, allowing seamless integration with existing network infrastructure and a range of other business systems. This interoperability ensures that data is aggregated to enable holistic processing of network and service data. In reality, integration and interoperability is not always that easy. Having a pre-integrated OSS/BSS solution like SunVizion goes part of the way to overcoming integration and interoperability challenges.

Future Trends and Innovations

The future of network and service assurance is being shaped by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and  machine learning (AI/ML), amongst others. These are being used to develop predictive capabilities that can anticipate network issues before they occur. Modern virtualised networks are generating larger amounts of network and service data that can be analysed to gain deeper insights into network and service performance. 

Maintaining robust network and service assurance is fundamental for network operators today. Proactive fault management, automated configuration, performance monitoring, end-to-end service visibility, customer experience management and SLA management are all now foundational capabilities for any network operator’s OSS/BSS stack.