Successful OSS projects are built on relationships and trust between vendors and carriers, so vendors should understand the psychology of buyers, their company environment, and the subtle factors that go into their purchasing decisions.
 
That's the distilled wisdom from a one-hour CD-ROM interview with Barbara Lancaster, President of LTC International, a leading telecom management consulting firm.  Interviewed by Technology Research Institute, Lancaster discusses what vendors and carriers need to know as they implement OSS systems. 

In the CD seminar, Lancaster compares the environments of large and startup carriers, and explains how these influence buying decisions.  Large carriers have thousands of people and "a complex legacy environment that, as a vendor, you ignore at your peril," she warns.  Startups, by contrast, have so few people, and they’re so busy, that "it’s tough to get somebody for half an hour to talk to you about infrastructure requirements."
 
The biggest potential differentiator for winning startup business, she says, is to combine a vendor's software with a knowledge of the telecom business. "Lots of people who are technically savvy with Microsoft Word can't compose a good business letter.  Service providers love it when their software vendor provides a extra measure of business process knowledge above and beyond a snazzy interface and flexible data architecture."

Lancaster discusses the pros and cons of the two basic approaches to selecting OSS software. Totally flexible solutions are fine for big incumbents, she says, because "they know exactly what they’re going to do with the system and have armies of people to implement it."  A canned solution with pre-configured templates and pre-filled-in pop-up screens might be better for a startup.

She also warns that middleware, while it simplifies integration for the vendor, creates another level of complexity for startups.  She also describes when buying "best of breed" might not be the right decision.

Lancaster advises vendors to avoid startup clients who lack focus; have inexperienced managers, impossible deadlines, or money problems; or are not a good cultural fit.  She also stresses that vendors should be honest about what they can and cannot do.

This Is How You’ll Be Helped By This Road Warrior Briefing #3:

This is a guided tour through the processes and psychology that drive OSS purchase decisions at both small and large telcos. The information delivered in this Briefing will be useful to both carriers and to the vendors who are serious about establishing a long-term presence in this market.

Those with OSS procurement responsibilities at service providers will benefit from having their complex world mapped out for them.  You’ll learn the obstacles and issues your peers are wrestling with, you’ll see which solutions are gaining favor in the industry, and you’ll get some very good — and very detailed — advice on how to avoid a marriage to the wrong OSS vendor.

All of this information is delivered using examples and contexts that will resonate with familiarity and authority.

For vendors, this briefing lays out the processes and psychology you’ll have to deal with as you attempt to sell to both small and large carriers. As you’ll see, your prospective clients are wrestling with more than just a complex and ever-changing technical environment. 

They’re also dealing (probably a lot like you are!) with cumbersome procedures and difficult personalities. The better you understand all these frustrations — both technical and professional — the better chance you have of delivering a genuinely comprehensive solution and building a mutually rewarding relationship.

This is essential stuff for vendors. And you’re simply not going to find it anywhere else. If you don’t know it, and your competitors do, you’re company stands a very good chance of consistently missing out on lucrative opportunities.

As you’ll see, there are vast differences between selling to the incumbents and to the startups. One has too many people in the mix; the other could probably use a few more warm bodies.  One has a long history of vendor relationships, has a library of positive biases and bad memories, and is working in a complex legacy environment. The other is building from scratch, needs help assembling blueprints and building materials, but is every bit as careful in vendor selection as the big boys.

This Briefing gets you inside the heads of those who control the purse strings and gives you a startlingly intimate picture of the environment in which they work.

Taken as a whole, this Expert Briefing contains the information that — if understood and acted on by both telcos and their vendors — would virtually ensure productive, long-term relationships built on mutual understanding and the delivery of timely and successful OSS solutions.

Table of Contents

• Incumbent vs. Startup Carrier

• Large Incumbent Carriers

• Legacy System and Legions of People

• Powerful User Groups

• The User Group vs. IT Battlefield

• Understaffing Dilemma

• Shaking The Money Tree

• Merging Software with Knowledge

• Psychology of the Telecom Buyer

• Loose Cannons on Deck at CLECs

• Band of Telco Entrepreneurs

• The “Old Boy” Network

• The Monkey Stays on your Back

• The OSS Selection Process

• Staying With the Herd

• A Flawed RFP Process

• Canned vs. Flexible Solutions

• The Totally Flexible Package

• Cheap and Reliable Volkswagen

• Best of Breed – Can it Succeed

• Assembled vs. Integrated Solutions

• Middleware a Middling Solution?

• Decision Support Benefits

• Battles on OSS Catalog Front

• Staying Out of Trouble

• Lack of Mission Focus

• Inexperienced Managers

• Impossible Deadline People

• Money Problems

• The Socratic Method of Partnering

• To Thine Own Self Be True

• Lack of Honesty Can Backfire

• Courage to Say “No”

• Is There a Cultural Fit?

• Organization Styles Compatible?

Meet the Telecom OSS Expert:

Barbara Lancaster began her telecom career with the local exchange giants Bell Canada and Bell Sygma. A few short years after beginning as a service rep, she had worked her way up to the position of General Manager of Billing and Customer Care.

Barbara is now best known as the founder and President of LTC International, an independent telecom consulting firm assisting service providers, hardware and software solution vendors, and financial firms involved in the communications marketplace. Her 45 full-time consultants at LTC are dedicated to telecom projects around the world.

The fact that Barbara worked her way up through the ranks of our industry makes her a particularly logical — and authoritative — selection for the third Expert Briefing in the Road Warrior series.

During her career, she’s accumulated a wealth of first-hand knowledge about the problems of implementing not just one OSS system. . .but the many generations of solutions incumbent carriers have had to wrestle with over the years.  

As Barbara leads you through the maze of telecom OSS selection and buyer psychology, you’ll notice how her long history in our industry lets her to size up a business situation from both a professional and a personality-rich perspective.