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TRANSFORMING THE NOC TO MAXIMIZE THE 5G OPPORTUNITYHow a digital workforce can optimize the Network Operations Center and accelerate the journey to 5G

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Transforming the NOC to Maximize the 5G Opportunity

Introduction – The 5G ChallengeThe potential market-making opportunities that 5G represents to the telecoms industry are undeniable.

5G provides a platform for service providers to deliver more engaging and immersive experiences, which can drive usage and revenue across all aspects of user activity. In particular, 5G will allow service providers to open up new revenue streams in the realm of B2B2X (or business-to-business-to-consumer). As a recent PwC report stated, ‘By replacing legacy network infrastructure with competitive, cloud-based services, operators can go far beyond marketing generic connectivity services and target large enterprises…. with more valuable services, in particular with respect to video and IoT.’ 1

The telecoms industry is under no illusions about the need for improved networking. Every day, more and more devices are actively communicating with each other, and simple upgrades of current 3G and 4G networks are no longer enough to support growing traffic. 4G is reaching the limits of how much data it can transfer. 5G has to be the answer.

But the shift to 5G is hugely costly for the industry as a whole. Network sharing is already standard for most telco service providers, and the huge expansion of network infrastructure required for a successful rollout of 5G will accelerate this trend.

Of course cost is a huge factor in the creation of 5G networks, but it is by no means the only challenge. As an industry, there is a significant need to develop a broad range of innovative use cases targeting specialized industries to attract the necessary investment to make 5G pay for itself in the future. This ability to demonstrate the value of 5G is crucial to build demand amongst businesses and also consumers.

There are also regulatory and compliance challenges, and the potential impact of the U.S. – China trade war which could limit the availability of essential components.

However, perhaps the most significant challenge for service providers is to effect the seismic operational changes which are needed in order to roll out 5G networks and services in a fast and seamless way and then to maintain 5G operations on an ongoing basis. Unless telcos can modernise and optimize their operating processes and structures so that they support and enhance their 5G ambitions, then they will undoubtedly fall short.

5G success will be determined in the NOCThis paper explores these challenges that telcos face in delivering 5G to consumers and businesses over the coming years.

But more importantly, it outlines new operating and resourcing models which will be required for telcos to successfully develop, launch and maintain 5G networks and services.

This transformation needs to focus primarily on the Network Operating Center (NOC), the most intrinsic part of any telecoms network. The NOC is the engine room and knowledge center for every service provider, responsible for monitoring the entire

1 What does 5G mean for telecom? PwC, 2020

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infrastructure of the network, from customer-facing applications through to back-end architecture.

The paper argues that today’s NOC is simply not capable of handling the level of complexity and volumes of data that will be involved in the mass roll-out of 5G. Already, even with the low levels of 5G that are currently being deployed, technicians within most NOCs are inundated with information from every area of the business, and up and down the technology stack – alarms, performance indicators, network topology, network and service transactional data and more.

As 5G is scaled up, many NOCs will soon become overwhelmed and fall over completely. And the end result of this will be disappointed customers and service providers unable to take advantage of the 5G opportunity.

Importantly, the traditional response to this type of issue – more bandwidth and more people – will not be enough to overcome the challenge. The scale and speed of the change required for 5G will render previous solutions unfeasible. A sticking plaster approach won’t work.

Instead service providers need to implement a complete overhaul of the NOC, embracing new ideas and new approaches to build a NOC that is fit for purpose in the 5G era. This means taking advantage of innovative technology, re-thinking resourcing models and developing a customer-centric strategy for transformation.

This paper argues that Intelligent Automation must sit at the heart of the 5G-ready NOC, with a digital workforce operating alongside existing teams, processing huge volumes of information to continually optimize operations, 24/7, identify potential issues before they impact users and to drive enhanced customer experience.

By implementing an intelligent and scalable digital workforce into the NOC now, telcos can ensure they have the capacity to cope with massive increases in network traffic, ever-greater complexity throughout their operations and evolving customer demands

and behaviors. In doing so, they will be best placed to steal a march on their competitors and start to reap the full benefits that 5G can bring.

The race is on to maximize the 5G opportunityAs in so many industries, innovation and digital transformation is now the key battleground for telecoms service and infrastructure providers. New technologies such as 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) are critical to delivering better coverage, higher connectivity speeds and wider, more seamless service.

5G represents the platform for service providers to offer customers engaging, seamless and new experiences, and to differentiate in an ever more competitive market.

Without doubt, the race to deliver 5G is on. A paper from Ericsson published in November 2020, reported that more than 100 service providers have now announced commercial 5G service launches, and that the first 5G standalone networks have also been introduced to the market. Incredibly, Ericsson estimated that there were already 220 million 5G subscriptions globally at the end of last year, with a

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major increase last year driven by accelerated uptake in China.

Looking ahead, the report forecasts that there will be 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions globally by 2026, accounting for around 40 percent of all mobile subscriptions. In North America, it is estimated that 5G will account for an 80% share of all subscriptions within the next five years.

For the telecoms industry, 5G is not just the future; it is the here and now. Service providers are acutely aware of the need to accelerate their journeys towards 5G to drive revenue, exploit new opportunities and avoid the very serious consequences of being left behind.

Balancing a 5G future with urgent prioritiesWhilst it represents a huge opportunity, the level of innovation and change required to deliver on the 5G promise brings with it significant challenges, heightened levels of complexity and a need for massive investment. Service providers are already under intense pressure to deliver seamless customer experience and faultless network availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. With vast numbers of people relying on mobile devices to access essential services and stay in touch with loved ones during these tumultuous times, service providers simply cannot afford outages or a slip-up in service delivery.

However, despite these immediate priorities caused by the pandemic, service providers are under no illusions about the need to implement 5G technology and the urgency of doing so. They simply cannot afford to wait and see, or to stand still. They need to act now.

The challenge they face is: ‘how to accelerate their transformation programs to take full advantage of the 5G opportunity, whilst maintaining and optimizing their current operations. And how to do this with limited and finite resources in a highly turbulent and unpredictable environment’.

2 Ericsson Mobility Report November 2020

Current troubles in the Network Operating CenterThe answer to these questions, or at least a large part of it, lies within the Network Operating Center (NOC).

To a large degree, NOCs were already struggling to cope with the massive increase in complexity and massive swathes of data that have emerged over recent years, even before the introduction of 5G.

In many cases, technicians within NOCs have become overwhelmed by the constant information they are served, unable to identify and resolve issues quickly, before they impact customer and the business. Many simply don’t have the time or tools to analyze the sheer amount of data that is being created every minute, nor to turn this data into any form of meaningful or actionable insight Identifying and understanding problems remains hugely time consuming and therefore Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) remains high across the industry.

Ultimately, this increasing inefficiency in the NOC impacts network and service availability, brand reputation and the bottom line.

Evidently then, telcos need to re-design and re-think the NOC in order to serve the needs of the business and to facilitate the shift to 5G.

However, as with any major transformation or change initiative, there are barriers to overcome. Many service providers are held back from modernizing their operations, both within the NOC and across their wider business, by siloed, legacy IT systems and a lack of resources and skills. Systems do not speak to each other so data is not transferred across functions. Team members then have to act as the integration layer between systems and applications, which is slow, inefficient and costly. It also means that valuable skills and resources are wasted on repetitive, process-driven work, rather than on more strategic or customer-facing tasks that can deliver real value to the business.

The introduction of 5G will compound all of these issues dramatically and stretch NOCs (and the teams within them) to breaking point.

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Transforming the NOC to Maximize the 5G Opportunity

What is Intelligent Automation and how can it be applied in the NOC?

Intelligent Automation is business-developed, ‘no-code-required’ automation that can deliver value to any business process within a connected enterprise. Intelligent Automation integrates Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and additional functionality such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) so that digital workers have more advanced skills such as rules-based thinking and can continually learn and improve as they go.

Within the NOC, digital workers can provide the following capabilities:

• Analytical – digital workers can analyze incoming data and events and immediately determine patterns that are actionable and automatable

• Cognitive – digital workers can identify the right resolution to issues, based on multiple sources of structured and unstructured data (such as historical alarms, performance data, service tickets, vendor manuals, methods and procedures, and both public and private knowledge bases). The creates a knowledge base that drives the digital worker to a hypotheses for the recommendations that is self-learning and continuously improving.

• Increased intelligence – Once the right fix has been determined, the digital workers can trigger how this is executed and implemented, notifying and instructing relevant stakeholders and systems. Then new services or new technology is introduced, the capabilities of the digital worker can easily be expanded, without the need for new coding or infrastructure.

Re-imagining the NOC for 5G with Intelligent AutomationAware of this pressing need to transform the NOC to facilitate their 5G plans, increasing numbers of service providers are now realizing the potential that Intelligent Automation presents.

By introducing an intelligent digital workforce into the Network Operating Center, service providers can access a scalable, agile and resilient resource to take over the repetitive, process-driven tasks which take up so much time. Digital workers can operate 24/7 and perform these tasks more quickly and accurately than human workers. In doing so, they can identify and resolve issues more quickly, leading to significant reductions in MTTR and enhanced customer experience.

But in addition to this, the deployment of digital workers in the NOC also frees up time for existing staff to focus on more interesting and high-value other work, leading to further benefits for both the business and employees.

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2 Ericsson Mobility Report November 2020

Intelligent Automation in the NOC – use cases

Intelligent Automation can be used across almost every area and process within the NOC. Here are some of the most common use cases for deployment of digital workers:

• Network Inventory Reconciliation

• Trouble Ticket Creation

• Trouble Ticket Resolution (FTTP)

• Alarm & Fault Monitoring

• Network Design

• Network Facilities Assignment

• Network Planning

• Change Management Notification

The characteristics of the 5G-ready NOCAs we have seen, service providers need to overhaul their current operating models and adopt far greater levels of automation to adequately scale up for 5G. They need to move towards ‘touchless operations’ – where digital workers take over the heavy lifting of network and service monitoring and optimization and human workers are deployed onto higher value tasks that make a real difference to customers and business performance.

This digital workforce-enabled NOC of the future will enable service providers to roll-out seamlessly their 5G networks and deliver compelling and reliable 5G services to customers.

And as service providers consider how they can best accelerate their 5G efforts, they should begin by looking to re-design their NOC based around these key attributes and considerations:

• A proactive and strategic function The NOC must be transformed from a reactive function, best characterized by fire-fighting and damage limitation, to a proactive, forward-

looking and strategic function that guides the organization and continually evolves to meet customer and business needs.

Unfortunately, the built-in automation provided by most manufacturers does not come close to adequately addressing the complex landscape that service providers are now navigating. The inevitable gaps are often a source of huge inefficiency (and operational risk) within the NOC. And, as we have seen, existing teams and traditional resourcing models aren’t enough to fill these gaps.

However, an intelligent digital workforce, accessed directly from the cloud, can be scaled up or down in real-time according to changing business needs, and re-deployed instantly across different tasks and even different teams and functions. This elasticity in resourcing and capacity gives service providers the platform to put their NOC on the front foot; digital workers can quickly be taught to handle ‘heavy lifting’ tasks, allowing more time to think about the bigger picture.

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• Agility and resilience to ensure 100% availability The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of agile and resilient operations across all industries. With a fully scalable digital workforce, the NOC of the future won’t be constrained by the limitations of traditional resourcing models – such as absence, variations in productivity levels or restrictions in the movement of people, as we have seen during the pandemic.

Digital workers will continue to operate in the NOC in all circumstances to maximize network and service availability and maintain customer experience at all times.

• The integration layer which enables omni-channel experiences The NOC of the future will have Intelligent Automation at its core, with digital workers performing the never-ending, always-on tasks that are currently such a drain on staff time and morale.

Within the NOC of the future, digital workers will be used to streamline and optimize a vast array of processes, user touchpoints and journeys. Working seamlessly in the background, 24/7, digital workers can handle every interaction with third party intermediaries and orchestrate a seamless omni-channel experience for customers. They are the vital integration layer between software, hardware and connectivity, keeping data flowing around the business, identifying issues early and continually improving and optimizing processes as they go.

The digital workforce will become the foundation for digital self-servicing within the NOC, helping to finally realize the long-held ambitions of technicians across the telecoms industry.

• The guardian of compliance Digital workers will also be essential in ensuring and reporting on regulatory compliance within the NOC and across the organization more widely. Service providers will rely on digital

workers to handle any new requirements for customer engagement and market activity, as well as managing core processes in relation to customer confidentiality and privacy rules. This will become an ever more critical exercise as data privacy and security regulations becomes more stringent and the consequences of data breaches become even more severe. Using Intelligent Automation, the NOC will ensure that compliance is embedded into every process and interaction.

• Driving down costs in the business The deployment of digital workers in the NOC will allow service providers to reduce overheads and cost to serve by automating Business Support Systems (BSS) and Operating Support Systems (OSS) and standardizing processes. Service providers will be able to right-size their existing resources in the NOC and free up time for human workers to focus on developing more meaningful, high-value relationships with customers. This will be particularly important as service providers target the enterprise market with new 5G-enabled services and propositions, such as IoT.

• The hotbed for continual innovation By liberating staff from repetitive and mundane process-driven tasks, teams within the NOC will be able to focus more time and energy on developing core products and services, leading to greater innovation and collaboration, and improved business outcomes.

In an industry that will continually evolve and be disrupted by new technologies, the ability to continually transform and innovate in response to changing customer demands and market requirements will be key to future commercial success. The NOC will become the driving force for this shift to ‘ digital transformation as usual’.

• The champion of enhanced customer experience The NOC of the future will be the foundation for enhanced levels of customer experience across every channel and every touchpoint along the customer journey. Digital workers will improve

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3 Vodafone’s AI-based NOC overhaul steps up a gear, Telco Titans, 1st July 2020

accuracy, responsiveness and control across all operations, resolving issues before they can impact customers. They will also be able to identify usage trends and behaviors to feed into product development and service delivery to continually optimize the customer experience.

A leading example of this is Vodafone, which is in the midst of a major transformation project within its NOCs in major markets across Europe. Using AI-enabled automation, Vodafone is introducing a new set of cutting-edge fault detection and resolution techniques to speed up ‘first-line’ network support tasks.

The focus is on enabling zero-touch functions within its NOCs, with “a headline goal to deliver an 80% reduction, over three years from inception, in the effort allocated to first line support activities through automation”. Interestingly, a key part of the strategy is to redeploy people from first-line teams into some of the newer disciplines that are coming on stream in terms of network operations — so transitioning and upskilling staff into digital and DevOps roles.

Quantifying the Business Benefits of the 5G-Ready NOCThe introduction of digital workers into the NOC drives a whole range of operational, customer and business benefits.

It’s important for service providers to consider all of these at the outset of their Intelligent Automation journeys, when they are building out their business case and putting plans in place to monitor the impact of the digital workforce.

It’s important not to focus solely on cost reduction, important though that is. Many organizations embark on their automation journeys with a view to streamlining operations and driving down operating costs. But they soon realize that the benefits of Intelligent Automation extend far beyond cost

reduction. A scalable, AI-enabled intelligent digital workforce can act as a platform for genuine digital and business transformation, providing businesses with the capacity to enter new markets and pursue opportunities that they would never have been able to consider with traditional operating and resourcing models.

However, some of the key metrics that every service provider should be tracking with the introduction of digital workers into the NOC, include:

• Mean Time To Repair (MTTR): Leveraging Intelligent Automation as part of a cognitive NOC solution can improve reduce MTTR by more than 40%.

• User experience / customer satisfaction: An optimized NOC can have a huge impact on customer experience and service providers should ensure they have the tools and processes to measure the impact of digital workers in this way. This could be NPS scores or brand reputation-focussed KPIs.

• Cost reduction: Simple automation within the NOC can reduce operational costs by 25-30%. But these savings become even greater with more sophisticated use of AI and Machine Learning functionality within the digital workforce.

Linked to the above, service providers should consider ROI metrics around first time resolution; number and frequency of ticket escalations; service-level compliance; network and service availability; number of dispatches; hand-off time from engineering to operations; and speed to market with new services.

By factoring in all of these KPIs, service providers can ensure they have a complete picture of how Intelligent Automation and digital workers are impacting all aspects of the NOC and wider customer and business outcomes.

Transforming the NOC to Maximize the 5G Opportunity

Blue Prism is the global leader in intelligent automation for the enterprise, transforming the way work is done. At Blue Prism, we have users in over 170 countries in more than 2,000 businesses, including Fortune 500 and public sector organizations, that are creating value with new ways of working, unlocking efficiencies, and returning millions of hours of work back into their businesses. Our intelligent digital workforce is smart, secure, scalable and accessible to all; freeing up humans to re-imagine work.

To learn more visit www.blueprism.com and follow us on Twitter @blue_prism and on LinkedIn.

© 2021 Blue Prism Limited. “Blue Prism”, the “Blue Prism” logo and Prism device are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Blue Prism Limited and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Telco5G_Whitepaper_19022021_JR

By embracing Intelligent Automation, service providers can develop a NOC that is fit for the future, capable of supporting and accelerating their plans for 5G roll-out and the new services and revenue opportunities that will follow.

And by integrating a scalable and agile digital workforce into the NOC, service providers can generate significant operational and financial efficiencies within their 5G plans and across their wider operations.

Conclusion – Digital workers can transform the NOC and maximize 5G potential

To find out more about how Intelligent Automation and a digital workforce could get your NOC

5G-ready, please visit https://www.blueprism.com/solutions/industry/telecoms-automation/.