Get a handle on Order-to- Activate Framework

The trick is to create an intervention that examines end-to-end processes by placing a wrapper around upstream and downstream functions, says Vinay Firake of Wipro

- Vinay Firake

Most businesses design and run processes from marketing to customer acquisition for order fulfilment or service activation. This is followed by service assurance, bill generation and collection. There could be minor variants but the processes are typical. Consider the telecom service provider business. The process, from when a customer places an order to when the provider activates the service may take weeks, depending on the product, location, access and a whole list of parameters.

Even before the billing process is activated, there are multiple processes which need to be taken care of. Customer identities need to be validated, the order must be handed over to the operations team, equipment and component provisioning must be done, followed by installation, service configuration and finally the quality checks. However, if we look at the same process from the customers’ viewpoint, the journey leaves a lot to be desired. For example, it is unrealistic to expect customers to wait for two weeks for the service to start.

Can the service provider reduce the two weeks required for service activation to two days or even lesser? If this can be done, it will greatly improve customer experience, especially in the early stages of the engagement. The service provider also gets to book his revenue from that customer a full two weeks earlier than usual. It is a win-win situation. So, where is the snag?

The problem is co-ordination with the dozens of units within an enterprise in order to provision First Time Right, which can result in lesser resources, faster revenue realization and improved customer experience.

As a consequence, enterprises undertake a number of transformations focusing on eradicating complications that hinder efficient provisioning. These fall into four categories: