Great Plains CIO: Acquisitions ease operations transformation

Great Plains Communications CIO Katie Curtis explains how recent acquisitions have played a role in the process of upgrading the telco's OSS/BSS.

At a Glance

  • How acquisitions have impacted the company's process of upgrading its OSS/BSS (08:34)
  • Impact of the new OSS/BSS on Great Plains Communications' operations (09:47)
  • How acquisitions and the pandemic have impacted the service provider's operations (17:52)

Katie Curtis, CIO of Great Plains Communications, joins the podcast to discuss the service provider's transformation of its operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS). Curtis oversees strategy for Great Plains Communications' applications including OSS/BSS. 

Great Plains Communications is a 113 year-old service provider covering 13 states. The company delivers fiber services to residential, business and wholesale enterprise customers. Since 2016, Great Plains Communications has completed five acquisitions. 

Curtis explains how these acquisitions have played a role in the process of upgrading the company's OSS/BSS. She also discusses how the transformation of operations has impacted customer experience. 

Click on the caption button for a lightly edited transcript. 

Here are a few topics we cover:

  • Background on Katie Curtis and her role at Great Plains Communications (04:06)

  • How acquisitions have impacted the company's process of upgrading its OSS/BSS (08:34)

  • Impact of the new OSS/BSS on Great Plains Communications' operations (09:47)

  • How the new OSS/BSS changes customer experience (12:06)

  • How acquisitions and the pandemic have impacted the service provider's operations (17:52)

  • Customers' main cybersecurity concerns (21:35)

About the Author(s)

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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