GCCM Muscat – Empowering Wholesale Transformation: Navigating the Landscape of Standardized MEF LSO APIs

Can the MEF API standard truly revolutionize the telecommunications landscape while meeting the expectations of Digital Natives? This question ignited a fervent discussion at the Carrier Community – GCCM Muscat event that brought together leaders from Enxoo, Omantel, E&, and Rostelecom.  The key takeaway from the discussion is that standardization, particularly through the MEF API, is pivotal in realizing the vision of seamless connectivity.

The moderator of the discussion on Empowering wholesale transformation with standardized MEF LSO business APIs – challenges and best practices was Erik Van Stokkom from Carrier Community.

Panel Discussion Highlights:

• Adapting to Digital Natives:

In the keynote presentation, Ewa Jaśkowiak, Head of Sales at Enxoo, and Magdalena Juszczyk, Solution Engineer at Enxoo, underlined the necessity of aligning with the expectations of “digital natives”, who will account for almost 30% of the global workforce by 2025. 

To keep up with the rapid changes and meet the demands of Generation Z customers, who expect everything instantly, the telecommunications industry must streamline the sales process and focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience, where buying services takes minutes and not weeks.

“Looking at companies who really get the customer experience right, who are ready for the digital natives, we have Amazon, where 50% of sales are completed within 15 minutes. If we compare it to our customers, and telecoms globally, the average sales cycle is about seven days. This is about 700 times more than that of these digital native companies” – said Ewa Jaśkowiak. “Effortless connectivity powered by MEF API standards is not merely a dream; it’s a tangible necessity in a world where speed and efficiency define success” – underlined Ewa Jaśkowiak.

• Operational Efficiency:

Other panelists echoed this sentiment, highlighting the transformative potential of standardized processes.

Salim Al Mazrui, General Manager – Wholesale Operations at Omantel, emphasized the impact of standards on efficiency: “If there’s a standard in place, it makes it easier to integrate systems. It also complements in terms of shortening the time to market, which makes the sales team and the marketing team happy”.

• Strategic Goals and Cultural Challenges:

Maxim Akinin, Director-International Carriers, PJSC Rostelecom highlighted the cultural challenges in implementing standardized APIs, emphasizing that the biggest problem isn’t selecting a platform or standard, but rather the cultural and organizational changes required. Defining strategic goals and addressing cultural differences within organizations were seen as major challenges.

“LSO is a very good framework for sure. So framework is the key here. It’s like a constitution which is definitely required. But in order to approach this implementation, you need to do so many things inside your organization, beginning with creating a physical inventory, business processes, etc., and at the end of the day, the culture of the company itself”- added Maxim Akinin.

• Ecosystem Expansion Challenge:

Pablo  Mlikota, Sr. Vice President/ International Roaming @ Mobility Services at Etisalat, speaking about the standardization of LSO API, pointed out that the main challenge is to increase the size of the ecosystem. “I think back to the question Erik posed, is the challenge in getting all the players to play? I think this will become effective once everyone is on board, not just one operator in one country because you need the other two” – explained.

Conclusion

The discussion’s conclusions highlight that standardization enhances operational efficiency and offers customers hassle-free telecommunications solutions. In response to evolving market expectations, panelists emphasized that implementing standards, especially MEF API-based ones, is a key success factor. However, a critical mass of industry players is essential for this vision to become a reality.

“We’ve shown you the dream today and my closing remark is that we turn that dream into reality and appreciate that APIs really drive innovation. If we’re talking about innovation through all these sessions and panels, APIs and integrating different amazing technologies, different pieces into our infrastructure, making that seamless across the board, across all the layers, that’s going to be an amazing thing. So I encourage you to follow the dream” – concluded Ewa Jaśkowiak.