Background
For the past 4 years, T4G has acted as a systems integration partner in Bell Canada’s Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.
The emergence of IP technologies disrupted the status quo in the voice communications market. Bell Canada engaged T4G for a series of rapid development projects which led to the launch of best of breed VoIP services for the Consumer, Small-Medium Business and Wholesale markets.
The business anticipated that customers expected web-based tools to order and manage their VoIP service, outside of the traditional call centre. Special emphasis was placed on empowering customer self-service with real-time self-management of features, online ordering and pre-purchase product information.
Solution
The solution began by establishing a core which later evolved to satisfy multiple customer segments.
A series of technical trials were used to iteratively determine the base functionality necessary for launch and to test the usability and robustness of the system. This culminated in the launch of the VoIP service to the residential/consumer market. After the launch, development of features for the initial customer base continued in parallel with the development of custom instances for additional markets including SMB, a wholesale market, and a second regional consumer market.
Careful program management enabled the four separate variations to evolve interdependently, with re-use of common core functionality, balanced against different timelines, different goals and different operational standards.
Methodology
In developing our projects, T4G works in a close partnership with our clients to achieve our common goals.
In this engagement our partnership philosophy allowed us to:
- Work collaboratively in delivering the final projects.
- Create cross-functional teams that were able to quickly respond to any changes.
- Develop the methodology that was suitable to the project (e.g. RUP, MSF, Agile, etc.).
- Employ frequent touch points to ensure that communication was always clear and timely.
- Develop a relationship that allowed for immediate access to team members to solve any issue.
- Create a seamlessly integrated team in which every member of the team worked cohesively to achieve the common vision.
Functional Overview
The T4G component of the VoIP solution performed many business functions. It provided the interfaces that sold the product, with sales to a variety of different customer segments through self-service, call centre and retail channels. It managed the orders and orchestrated order fulfillment, shipping and billing. The solution also integrated with other enterprise functions such as reporting and service assurance.
The solution was inherently complex due to the number of business areas involved and the numerous network elements required to support the service.
The complexity further increased because the product and operational business areas, detailed in the table below, had separate standards and targets in each market segment.
Business Area1
| Function |
|
| Customer Relationship Management |
- Customer Interface Management Retention & Loyalty
|
| Fulfillment |
- Selling
- Order Handling
- Market Fulfillment Response
- Service Configuration & Activation
- Resource Provisioning & Allocation to Service Instance
|
| Assurance |
- Customer Problem Handling
- Customer QoS/SLA Management
- Service Problem Management
- Service Quality Analysis, Action & Reporting
|
| Billing |
- Billing & Collections Management
- Service & Specific Instance Rating
|
| Operations Support & Readiness |
- CRM Operations Support & Process Management
- Service Management & Operations Readiness
- Service Management Support & Process Management
- Resource Management & Operations Readiness
|
| Product Lifecycle Management |
- Marketing Communications & Promotion
- Product, Marketing & Customer Performance Assessment
- Service Performance Assessment
|
Architecture & Integration
The solution was architected to reflect the evolutionary nature of the service introduction and market demand. It was anticipated that the solution would be enhanced over many phases. Subsequent phases would need to extend the system with new modules and additional integration points without being limited by the initial design. Additionally there would be a need to adapt existing modules without requiring costly changes to the structure of the system. A Service Oriented Architecture was selected to link together a group of modules that could each be independently configured and extended, with each module corresponding to a portion of the business domain.
The software architecture also anticipated the potential for rapid growth of this business. The solution was built from the beginning with scalability in mind to address the large potential market for these services. The VoIP solution had a significant number of integration points with business support services and the many elements that had to be provisioned to establish a new service. A total number of 16 systems integration points and 5 user interfaces were required.
Technologies
The solution was constructed using Microsoft .NET technologies. The Microsoft platform was chosen for this solution because the anticipated rapid evolution could take maximum advantage of the rich set of developer productivity tools and because of the low lifecycle cost.
Web applications and web services for this solution are hosted on Microsoft Internet Information Server and constructed using Microsoft Visual Studio and the .NET framework.
Success was Newsworthy
“An analyst believes Bell is the first legacy telephone company in the world to offer voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, to residential customers…”
-- Canadian Press / National Post
“…The Bell offering will ensure that the next generation of VoIP offerings will be at a high standard… Good news, really, all around. Let the games begin!”
-- SeaBoard Group
1 Enhanced Telecom Operations Map
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