Making BSS transformation governable through a customer centric target operating model (TOM)

Competitiveness was at risk because the client’s BSS processes and systems had grown over time into a fragmented landscape that slowed delivery and limited customer centricity. Legacy constraints had already derailed previous modernisation attempts—making the core issue not “technology choice”, but missing end‑to‑end steering: unclear target picture, inconsistent decision principles and governance that could not align business ambition, journeys, capabilities and architecture. The management challenge was to translate strategic ambition into a coherent, organization‑wide operating model and decision framework—creating a reliable foundation for a multi‑year transformation without falling back into local optimisation and project churn.

We applied a structured TOM and architecture design approach:

• Strategic framing & ambition: “Top‑down” definition of strategic guardrails and “bottom‑up” identification of core pain points; formulation and quantification of business ambition levels using internal KPIs and industry benchmarks
• Journey & capability design: Modelling of the most important customer and company processes (“signature journeys”) across segments (e.g. new product introduction, lead‑to‑cash, complaints) as the basis for defining requirements for the future IT architecture; derivation and documentation of key business capabilities in a company‑specific capability map (end‑to‑end view)
• Target architecture & operating model: Definition of IT‑strategic guardrails, design of the target BSS architecture and requirements, support of vendor selection, and design of the transformation operating model (roles, governance, agile delivery structure)

The engagement established a coherent business and IT target picture that management can actively steer: a customer‑centric TOM anchored in signature journeys, a capability map as common language across business and IT, and architecture guardrails that de‑risk technology decisions. Strategically quantified ambition levels and business cases improved decision quality and prioritisation. A structured requirement set and vendor selection reduced execution uncertainty. Most importantly, the designed transformation operating model (governance, roles, agile delivery setup and roadmap) shifted the initiative from “repeated projects” to an execution‑ready organisational blueprint—creating clarity, accountability and momentum for the multi‑year BSS renewal.

The client is a regional German telecommunications provider offering DSL, fibre, mobile and TV services to private and business customers. With several hundred thousand end customers and increasing competitive pressure, the company must regularly modernise its core processes and support systems to ensure efficient, customer‑centric operations.