Differing Lead Times for New Services at UK and US Operators

Ceon, a provider of product management and fulfilment software for communications service providers, has released the results of a research paper, commissioned to independent analyst house Qualitative Change, measuring lead times for new product launches for UK and USA telecoms operators.

The research reveals that for medium complexity products the US lead times are typically more than 5 months - with the maximum lead time from design to launch of up to nine months in America, while for telecoms operators in the UK it can be anywhere between 3 to 18 months.

Lead times are more variable in the UK, and the findings indicate that communication services in the UK are more tailored, complex and have richer content with a greater number of options for the consumer than in the USA.

This pressure to meet the needs of customers through tailored services is evident with those UK Tier one and large service providers surveyed launching up to 95 new products annually. With up to 40% of these new UK product offerings involving a brand new network service capability, the magnitude of the challenges facing operators launching new products is evident.

The research also highlights the impact on human resources of this explosion of new product development. For UK Tier one operators, up to 300 people could be involved in the process, across divisions and functions, including planners, product managers, service designers and analysts.

Research analyst Marion Howard Healy comments: "The key concern for operators in today's market is designing and launching new services or products matched to changing individual needs, however the research reveals the complexity of this process in terms of the size of teams involved and sheer scope of the process. To operate in rapidly changing markets, operators must be able to develop more standardised approaches to product lifecycle management."

The research paper details the key challenges facing operators which will need to be addressed in order to improve efficiencies and streamline the product lifecycle process. These are, to:

• Increase communications and automated processes across 'silo' operations.
• Compile and keep current definitive lists of service capabilities, devices, content and merchandise so product managers can define accurate product offerings
• Create a unified view of building-blocks, plans and eventual products across different domains and business units.
• Collaborate on creating cross-domain or cross-business product offerings. Build a systematic collaboration model, revision management, change control and lifecycle management of product definitions.
• Devise an easier way of identifying and managing the implications of change in the underlying service capabilities and building blocks when complex products are created.

Ceon VP, Yogen Patel comments: "Recent regulatory rulings, accelerating competition and increased customer demands in the UK are putting greater pressure on UK service providers to roll out more complex bundled offerings, tailored to meet customers lifestyles and preferences; hence the difference in lead times."

"However, the timeframes experienced on both sides of the Atlantic reveal that all operators now need to start thinking like fast moving consumer goods retailers in terms of putting up product and service package offerings. Long lead times will simply not be sustainable in today's market where providers must be able to launch new service and product packages within days, or even hours. To do this efficiently requires a high level of process automation, by adopting product lifecycle management software, which will significantly reduce time-to-market and cost-to-market for new products."

To see the full survey findings and a copy of the white paper on product lifecycle management visit http://www.ceon.com/plmwhitepaper.html"

Posted to the site on 18th January 2007