We often talk past each other when discussing how to bring new tech into telco networks.
Discussions about automation are particularly challenging given its long, evolving role across various telco-operator domains. All of this baggage is brought to the table when teams from different domains attempt to collaborate on modern implementations, especially as traditional network functions move toward the cloud to be operated with IT principles and follow software development and implementation cycles like CI/CD.
The same conversation may span ETSI MANO (a framework for network function virtualization), cloud-native solutions like VMware, AWS, Azure, and containerized services implementations like Kubernetes. Acronyms like NFI (Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure), NFO (Network Function Orchestration) and SO (service orchestration) are tossed around frequently. We are constantly translating between terms described in TM Forum, 3GPP and enterprise IT.
The term “service” has a double meaning today. For the cloud-native world, it describes a function that the container offers to the overall solution architecture deployed on the cloud. In a pure telco sense, a “service” can be a network function or even an end customer service. Constant confusion ensues.
Even “autonomous” and “automated” are often conflated. Something “automated” will work exactly the way it is programmed. Something “autonomous” will learn and evolve with feedback and more data.
When solutioning for operators, bridging the communication gap is crucial to convey what solutions, tools and technology can actually do.
Not all stakeholders speak the same language
As a new telecom company with e-commerce and IT roots and a head start on advanced automation efforts, we saw firsthand the confusion that can arise within our own teams. Externally, we’ve seen productive conversations hampered and adoption delayed due to misunderstandings around language.
It is critical to get collaborators on the same page, whether that is people on the same team or some combination of vendors, partners and customers. Some hand holding is necessary and it is important to draw the right logical parallels when talking with various target audiences.
The conversation extends beyond mere technology adoption to the practical application of automation, ML and AI, emphasizing the importance of contextualizing these advancements in terms of specific domains, business processes and data needed to trigger automation, ML and AI.
Breaking down automation discussions by domain
We don’t have the luxury of creating a new lexicon that everyone agrees on. But we can be more deliberate in how we talk about automation. Our teams have had the most success by breaking things down by domain, which is what we will do in this newsletter.
Simply, you need to define your pain point and collaborate on how to automate it.
Here’s how we localize and discuss automation in various telecom domains:
- Automation in network planning (RAN coverage, capacity planning, etc.).
- Automation in site management/rollout (Automated workflows and ML/AI-based subcontractor selection).
- Automation in network operations (ZT NOC/SOC, Automated RCA & NBA, self-healing).
- Automation in node provisioning and resource-level orchestration (NFO, service orchestration, ZTP).
- Automation in service provisioning (COM, CPQ, CFS, RFS & E2E Service Orchestration).
- Automation for customer care (Automation, ML and AI for customer 360 engagement).
It is a reality that under the CTO, network planning, deployment and operations ultimately happen concurrently and iteratively, with the results continuously feeding each other. The work can coexist but cannot exist in silos. Understanding where each is coming from helps crystallize purpose and what each attempts to accomplish, easing translation between domains.
Toward more fruitful discussions
There are always nuances and layers beneath the surface that need to be parsed the deeper you dig. But if internal and external teams use the approach we outline here as a foundation upon which to build fruitful discussions, we believe meaningful progress can be made more quickly with less confusion.
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