Opportunities for product lifecycle management in telecoms

The current telecommunications market is white hot with competition, and it is increasingly difficult for operators to sustain profitability though premium priced products and services. Increasingly profitability is dependent on them reducing capex to the bone, and minimising opex wherever possible. One of the key areas to tackle is therefore the actual process of designing and launching a product. At a macro or group level, some operators have time-to-market programmes aimed at improving overall internal processes. However, the process of designing a new product and getting it to market remains slow and inefficient, resulting in an impaired ability to compete effectively and higher operational costs. Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a micro-level approach to addressing these issues. This is the first in a range of views on PLM in telecommunications.