On the landline side, the incumbent service providers have been notoriously lousy at record keeping. There are still in place very antiquated inventory systems along with a high level of ignorance about whether a large number of circuits are either working or connected in networks. At least with wireless technology, it has been around for a much shorter period of time, and would not be nearly as burdened with ineffective solutions in the back offices.
What is the biggest reason for bandwidth on demand not taking off in a significant way after about three decades of hype? Again, it is about the lack of adequate knowledge by these carriers concerning their networks. How can executives be sure that rapid change will not adversely impact services with them all toppling on to each other?
While there have been workarounds, modifications, as well as reductions in the use of Ma Bell’s Trunk Integrated Record Keeping System (TIRKS) system, there are no apparent indications that the OSS will be eliminated any time soon. Unfortunately, even some carriers abroad were saddled with TIRKS.
Yet, even if there were a substantial amount of decent data, major turf and political wars at the operators have not gone away. Why should it be assumed that the results of useful analytical work would necessarily be implemented in every case anyway? They may not be able to overcome the ingrained culture at these companies.
Shockingly, there are still way too many people (including at the director level and above) at AT&T. Our intelligence points out that there is a good number of individuals at the old Pac Bell portion of the firm, who are just bored out of their minds because of a lack of work. An abundance of bureaucracy as well as corporate operational layers should not require a “big data” fix.
[written by Mark Lutkowitz]
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