Predicting the future is a lot like weather forecasting. We’ll guess it right! But we don’t know when it will take place.
Climate is cyclic and depends on various causal factors - we know they will eventually take place, but just can’t seem to control the “when” and “how”. In reality, that happens with almost everything we desire and project for our future.
We’ll do what has to be done to go in a specific direction, but something always seems to be forcing us in the opposite direction. Therefore, we must be prepared to predict, anticipate and interpret what is happening.
The weather teaches us to live with the uncertainty of the best prediction about something that is merely predictable.
In this edition of CALL, we bring you perspectives of what can happen, what is inevitable and what we can´t control.
And if something good happens sooner than expected, then we were lucky. If we were able to avoid something truly unexpected, then it’s because we were well prepared.
Like the weather, there’s always one certainty – something will happen, eventually! We just don’t know when.
Sharing does two things it radically reduces resource consumption and increase access to resources. It's a share or die moment.
NOVEMBER 2016
A cross-channel experience at Vodafone Portugal
Communication Service Providers around the globe have recognized the importance of quality online shopping experiences. In an era where everything, including customer’s expectations, is about the digital world, offering a cross-channel experience is a must.
With the launch of Click & Collect in November 2016, Vodafone Portugal customers are currently enjoying a cross-channel experience. Click & Collect is a service that allows customers to select from a variety of different devices and later pick up their order at a preferred Vodafone store.
Celfocus’ participation in this project has provided a complete integration between Vodafone’s Frontend, Eshop and SAP guaranteeing that customers are capable of initiating their purchase online and finishing at their local Vodafone store.
DECEMBER 2016
5 months, 3 major sprints, 1 application
Vodafone Ireland
Celfocus’ journey at Vodafone Ireland has been a true success story. Currently working on over 12 projects, Celfocus has proven to be a reliable supplier for the Telecom Operator.
mCare is one of the projects under Celfocus’ responsibility at Vodafone Ireland. It is an APP used by Vodafone customers to view bill details, manage plan and add-ons, check network speed, and have live chats with agents to answer possible queries.
Celfocus, in partnership with two vendors, has successfully delivered 3 major sprints under an agile methodology that constantly requires teams to work together in order to keep up with the fixed timescales. In a matter of 5 months, the team delivered 3 major sprints that included features such as: Pay As You Go Details, Quick Top Up, and Handle Push Notifications.
Complete Network Monitoring – SIRO
After Celfocus’ successful participation in Vodafone Ireland’s OSS and BSS project, there are still several ongoing initiatives with Vodafone Ireland and SIRO, both in new functional deliveries and on improving existing solutions. Having successfully delivered several releases to production throughout the year, December marked the end of a long-running processual challenge that although technically simple was extremely valuable to SIRO.
In 2015, Celfocus implemented FTTH (fibre to the home) alarms that were monitored in HP TeMIP, solution that offers end-to-end visibility of the operator’s entire network from a single console, determining services’ status and identify network outages. In December, Celfocus’ team integrated this solution with HP NNMi. HP NNMi is a network monitoring software that drives the performance of physical and virtual networks and efficiently scales them to meet the requirements of the largest global networks.
In order words, with HP NNMi tightly integrated with HP TeMIP, SIRO’s Network Operations Team (NOC), now has a comprehensive view of the most important occurrences in SIRO’s active network capable of determining matters such as: Is the cabinet overheating? Are there energy issues? Did someone inadvertently leave the door open?
Managed as a Change Request to the initial OSS project scope, CR20 proved to be a true challenge when managing various vendors and setting up the servers and required connectivity between different networks (Vodafone Global Operations Network, SIRO’s IT Network and SIRO’s FTTH Network) proved to be the most critical part of the project.
JANUARY 2017
Faster order processing and fulfilment – Vodafone Portugal
On a daily basis, Vodafone Portugal captures nearly 100,000 orders. These provisioning orders are mostly customer requests that vary between change of tariff plan, subscription to add-ons, new customers, etc. These orders are initiated in frontend applications such as Siebel and VFE, then handled in CELFOCUS Order Management which breaks them into specific technical processes, and only after are they executed and provisioned by the different systems (Network, Billing…).
Celfocus’ participation in this project guarantees that when an order is submitted for execution, the mobile network services’ details include all elements of that service: voice, data etc. Submitting all elements of a service through the provision layer may seem like the correct form of fulfilling an order, however until January 2017 this was not done.
Successful delivery of this project means there is a single point of contact with the mobile network (regardless of the type (data or voice) and quality (2G/3G/4G…) and faster order processing and fulfilment. Celfocus’ commitment with Vodafone Portugal, has been leveraged into a new Mobile Network Provisioning approach, which addresses several known issues. This same approach allows Vodafone Portugal to face future requirements (5G…) with less costs and less “time to market”.
European Norm - IFRS-15
The International Accounting Standards Board is the entity responsible for developing and approving International Financial Reporting Standards. In 2014, they issued the Revenue from Contracts with Customers (IFRS-15). IFRS 15 establishes a comprehensive framework for recognition of revenue from contracts with customers based on a core principle that an entity should recognize revenue representing the transfer of promised goods or services to customers.
What does this represent for telecommunication providers around the globe?
The answer is simple, operators such as Vodafone offer customers a TV, NET, Voice plan, which essentially includes three different services that are billed as one. In reality, customers are not aware of exactly how much they are being charged for these services individually.
With IFRS 15 in effect, Vodafone has required all Opcos to locate a solution in place that is compliant with the standard. Celfocus has had an active participation in delivering a solution that allows Vodafone to submit revenue reports based on individual services. As of January 2016, Vodafone Portugal will be among the first IFRS 15 compliant Opcos.
