Digital Bss: 5 Reasons Telecoms Are Leaving Legacy Bss Behind

By Author: Kevin
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5G technology is more complex and needs more attention. Old business support systems (BSS) from CSPs can’t be used anymore. Everything is moving towards digital BSS, a cloud-based approach that can keep up with the new economy. Telecom companies are starting to replace their old BSS systems to stay competitive. In this article, we will explore five reasons why switching to digital BSS is so important.

The Need for Speed and Greater Flexibility

In the old days, it took months, not days or weeks, to launch a new service due to hard-coded, manual system updates across dozens of siloed BSS components. Today, months just won’t cut it. There is simply no way for legacy BSS to offer the modularity and open APIs needed to support this level of speed.

A modern digital BSS platform provides microservices, containerization, and DevOps support, enabling CSPs to quickly configure, test, and launch new offers. Whether it is a new IoT bundle, a highly specific B2B slicing service, or a personalized data plan, today’s CSPs need a telecom BSS solution that enables them to change course quickly. Otherwise, ...
... they will miss out on opportunities that may not last long and struggle to keep up with digital-first competitors.

2.‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Delivering Hyper-Personalized Customer Experiences

The current consumer is looking for an experience that is smooth, personalized, and consistent across all channels, i.e., from a mobile app to an in-store visit to a chatbot. Old BSS systems with multiple databases and disconnected front-end systems make it almost impossible to achieve a unified customer view. As a result, interactions get irritating, billing becomes inaccurate, and the time for resolution slows down.

A state-of-the-art digital BSS platform changes this by consolidating all customer data into a single, real-time source. Such a unified view enables contextual personalization in pricing, recommendations, and service offerings. A strong telecom BSS solution that employs real-time charging and policy control can present offers based on immediate usage and location, going beyond static plans to enable truly dynamic service consumption. Such hyper-personalization in digital BSS is the main factor that keeps churn at a low level, and customer lifetime value is ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌enhanced.

3.‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Monetizing the Complex 5G Ecosystem

The arrival of 5G is a signal of far more than just faster speeds; it marks a new paradigm of business models, particularly in the B2B space (e.g., smart factories, autonomous vehicles, e-health). The new services entail complicated network slicing, differentiated quality of service(QoS), and complex revenue-sharing models with partners.

Old BSS was designed for simple voice and data retail billing. It is weak in rating and charging for changing parameters such as latency, throughput, and session duration, which are at the center of 5G. The complexity of 5G calls for a sophisticated 5G BSS that can handle multi-dimensional charging, converged rating, and partner settlement of high integrity. A fully digital telecom BSS solution equips CSPs with the capability to create, oversee, and monetize these complex B2B and B2B2X service chains, which are key to the return on the colossal investment in 5G infrastructure.

4.‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Major Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Reduction

It is very costly in general to keep and run dual or triple systems and maintain them in the case of very old BSS systems, which have multiple versions. A lot of money is spent by telecoms on the process of "pasting" and the integration of a mixture of different applications, which are often running on expensive, closed hardware, thus leading to the high cost of licensing, the presence of large teams devoted to system maintenance, and the cost of changing the system becomes too difficult.

Transition to a contemporary digital BSS platform changes the economic model. CSPSs can switch from CapEx-intensive infrastructure to an OpEx model by adopting cloud-native architecture and using open-source components. Besides that, the integrated, simplified nature of the modern telecom BSS solution makes integration simpler, reducing the need for customized code and minimizing system administration, resulting in appreciable savings in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over the long term. This financial efficiency directly influences the company's bottom line, and therefore, capital is released for further digital innovation.

5.‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Enabling Seamless and Scalable Digital Partnering

The next wave of telecom revenues will be generated beyond the traditional core services, mainly through the use of collaborative ecosystems and partnerships. CSPs are no longer just connectivity providers but are becoming digital orchestrators by integrating the services of third-party application developers, content providers, and enterprise partners.

Legacy BSS acts as a brake on this kind of cooperation, and hence, the procedures of partner onboarding, revenue sharing, and settlement are time-consuming and prone to mistakes. A cutting-edge digital BSS for telecom provides sophisticated, open-API features and streamlined partner management modules. It facilitates transparent revenue settlement and, thus, speeds up the process of co-creating and launching bundled services. This ability is essential for opening new revenue streams and for changing the operator's position in the wider digital economy, as they increasingly aim to leverage 5G BSS capabilities to support intricate B2B ecosystems.

Conclusion

It‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ is no longer a question of "if" a migration from legacy BSS to a modern digital BSS should take place, but rather "when" this will happen. The five reasons - agility requirement, hyper-personalized experiences, 5G monetization, TCO reduction, and partner enablement - extend beyond the demand for a different operating model and point to the fact that the traditional model cannot sustain modern digital demands. CSPs by moving to a cloud-native, API-driven digital BSS platform are not merely upgrading their IT systems; they are essentially re-architecting their business to be able to prosper in the fast-paced, competitive digital future.

Such a fundamental move allows them to be able to satisfy the ever-increasing subscriber expectations, monetize emerging technologies in a viable way, and secure a competitive advantage by achieving real business ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌agility.

For more information please visit https://www.6dtechnologies.com/products-solutions/digital-bss-solutions/