Product Lifecycle Management Introductory Guide V1.1

Competing in the increasingly commoditized, digital service industry, providers are commercially compelled to seek more ways in which they can reduce their time- and cost-to-market, whilst improving innovation and quality.

With subscriber saturation in the communications sector at an all-time high, the emergence of multi-service providers from non-traditional sources, the convergence of user interfaces and increasing network abstraction, the pressure is on to execute a product strategy that delivers simplification and accuracy, personalization without customization, reliability and flexibility at a low cost.

These objectives are demanding a strategy that specifically answers a multitude of business critical questions, such as:

• How do I effectively exploit existing capabilities into more competitive and attractive market offers?
• How do I quickly introduce new capabilities on top of existing infrastructure?
• How do I ensure that my customer experience is a satisfactory one, from the point of order to the point of use?
• What can help me manage existing product lines, while launching new ones, without disrupting business as usual?
• How do I simplify the product development process to reduce the cost and time it takes?
• How do I bring the business and IT factions together to collaborate on more effective offerings?
• How do I assure compliance with tax and regulatory rules for transparency and traceability?

To answer these questions and respond to the intensifying pressure, service providers are increasingly focused on deploying a discipline that is turning under-managed capabilities and fractured processes into a coordinated effort to design, develop, deploy and maintain the products around which their business is centered.

In this context, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the key to effectively and efficiently innovate and manage a company’s products and related services and resources, to assure ongoing sustainability and profitability.