Telecom operators need to develop more coherent strategies around the deployment and exploitation of their service provider IT systems if they're to cut their operating costs and become more efficient at developing and delivering new services, according to analysts at Heavy Reading.

Talking as Light Reading published The SPIT Manifesto today, Heavy Reading analyst Caroline Chappell, a specialist in telecom software and IT platforms, noted that the way carriers have "operated in the past, with silos of systems, just isn't economically viable. But the issues seem to be getting up the list [of priorities] with the powers that be at the operators. There's a growing realization that they need to do something joined-up about [SPIT]."

Chappell notes that operators often don't seem to make the most of the systems they already have, or the new ones they deploy.

"A lot of carriers deploy vital management tools and then don't implement change management processes or train their staff how to use those tools, so operations staff end up doing things manually. If you put the right systems in place, a lot can be achieved, but the carriers just aren't doing enough," she said.

She added: "They should be doing more and paying a lot more attention to this whole area. The carriers have pretty powerful tools and systems, but they're not doing the right things with them. It's a mess out there. The vendors have powerful tools but in many cases only a fraction of their functionality is being used. There's a lack of coherence and organizational structures within the operators."

Heavy Reading's chief analyst, Graham Finnie, noted that SPIT systems have "definitely come to prominence" within operator strategies within the past year or two, but that they need to be doing more "to handle the applications and services bundles they need to offer and to have the flexibility they need, as well as to reduce their costs -- those are the core requirements."

But Finnie notes that for carriers, the whole SPIT area is complex, more so than picking network infrastructure such as fixed broadband and mobile networks. "It's a harder investment decision, and it's tougher to figure out the business case for investing" in SPIT systems, adds the analyst.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

Interested in learning more on this topic? Then come to Three OSS Imperatives: Customer, Cost & Cloud, a Light Reading virtual event for service providers that need to understand how to adapt and transform their operational support systems to put customers first, drive out cost, and support new cloud-based services. To take place on Tuesday, April 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time, access is free. For more information, or to register, click here.