Telecommunications players across the globe look to value added services to drive greater revenue. One such proven revenue generator is the enterprise service number, which allows enterprise customers to provide a single number for end customers to contact customer response centers. In a competitive market, it is imperative for telecom companies to continuously improve these services while controlling costs.
Here is how Mindtree enabled a leading telecommunications and IT services provider in the Netherlands to provide seamless toll-free services to its enterprise customers while driving down costs.
The challenge
The customer was experiencing a lack of flexibility, slow time to market for new services, impaired scalability and poor service quality in its enterprise service number offering.
- A highly customized, little-known technology solution from Ericsson in the back end presented maintenance and upgrade challenges due to lack of professionals with the relevant technical expertise
- An aging workforce and impending retirements created risks, without a disciplined knowledge management process in place
- Poor documentation and lack of process discipline meant poor visibility into activities and performance
The customer chose Mindtree to take care of back-end technical activities, allowing them to focus more on their core business.
Our solution
Mindtree collaborated with the client to transition Business Support Systems (BSS) and then Operation Support Systems (OSS) in a two-wave program.
In wave one, we took responsibility for the customer's BSS including customer relationship management software; and software used for technical provisioning on telecom switches. In wave two, we additionally took on OSS responsibilities such as telecom switches, voice over IP solutions, interactive voice response systems and customer self service portals.
In both waves, our strategy was to first to achieve knowledge transfer, then perform shadow support activities; and finally move to assisted performance before completely taking over back-end support.
The knowledge transfer phase was especially sensitive due to the long tenure of many of the customer's existing support personnel and the lack of process documentation, which necessitated in-depth interviews with technical subject matter experts (SMEs). Mindtree conducted video recordings of sessions with the customer's SMEs and used these recordings to prepare process documentation, ensuring that there was no information loss.
The shadow support phase began with Mindtree working on operational systems, while fine-tuning the information acquired in phase one through reviews by the customer's SMEs. In phase three, our team took over operational activities, handling live customer incidents but continuing to work under SME guidance. Following the successful completion of phase three, Mindtree concluded the transition. Today, technical back-end support is entirely off shored and we run all operations, from service provisioning and fulfillment to service assurance.
Business impact
- Projected savings of USD 6.5 million over five years
- 50% reduction in operating costs
- Matured quality processes per IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) V3
- 24x7 offshore support
- Improved response and resolution times for customer incidents
- Comprehensive knowledge repository in place
