What drives industry adoption of standards?

It's sometimes frustrating how long it takes for standards to become adopted by the industry - particularly in the OSS/BSS arena.  So here are some thoughts on why this is so and why there is some light shining at the end of this long tunnel.

First, lets look at some of the reasons for slow adoption of standards.  While you can always argue that the right OSS/BSS standards simply have not been available over the last 10 years, the recent strong levels of Frameworx adoption show that there is a growing widespread acceptance that the TM Forum Frameworx standards.  There is a wide range of case studies available showing SPs implementing TM Forum standards – particularly Frameworx components (http://www.tmforum.org/CaseStudies/2212/home.html).  In a survey the TM Forum ran a few months ago of ~4,000 members, around 50% and 30% are using or evaluating eTOM and SID respectively.

However, anyone closely involved with this industry knows that the first rule of standardisation is that standardisation happens when buyers (in this case the telcos) demand it!  Until relatively recently standardisation in the OSS/BSS arena has been a “nice to have” feature for Telcos rather than a must have.  While SPs have always intellectually understood that the whole life cost of a standard solution will be lower than that of a proprietary solution, most have been driven by the short-term imperatives of cost reduction.  But we have now reached a tipping point - with rapidly shrinking SP margins and new revenue opportunities not appearing - that the pain that most telcos are under, has driven them to genuinely demand standards – both from a cost reduction and an increased operational flexibility perspective.

Another factor in this equation is that, ‘demanding’ standard from suppliers has actually been a difficult process, with many suppliers able to claim conformance to standards, while still being essentially proprietary.  This has radically changed over the past 24 months.

• First, the TM Forum has introduced a Frameworx conformance certification program  for suppliers and this (for the first time admittedly) has given the telcos an objective mechanism by which to demand standards conformance from its suppliers. 

• Second, the TM Forum has released a series of RFx templates that allow SPs to ask for standards conformance in a consistent fashion, which is not only improving the adoption of standards, but also reducing the cost for suppliers in responding to the numerous RFx’s that they receive.

• Third, there has been a massive growth in training over the past 12 months, with over 2,000 people passing the basic or advanced level examination in knowledge of TM Forum standards.

The result of this is a virtuous circle which makes standardisation easier to ask for, which increases the overall demand for standards, which makes it easier for suppliers to build a business case to make their products more standards conformant. 

So in summary

• Make standards that are fit for purpose and that address key points of pain for SPs

• Make it easy for the SPs to demand standards conformance from their suppliers

• Make it easy for suppliers to demonstrate conformance

All the above are now in place, so prepare yourself for a year of hugely accelerated standards adoption.