Methodology for analyzing threats and opportunities in the macroenvironment. Encyclopedia of Marketing Expanded Map of Telecommunications Company Operations
Kim Nechaev brand manager of a large western publishing house, [email protected]
Marketing management in a consulting company
- enterprise characteristics
- situational analysis
- organization of marketing activities of the enterprise
- the current system of planning and financing the marketing activities of the enterprise
- management system reorganization project marketing activities at the enterprise
Part one: Characteristics of the enterprise
Description of the enterprise
Consider a company engaged in forging Russian-German relations between client companies and consulting within the framework of these relations. Let's call it “East-West Connection”. The organization has its head office in Hamburg and representative offices in Moscow and Celle, and each of these structures has a business center. The main service of the company is the opening of representative offices Russian companies in Germany [registration of a legal address, recruitment and training of personnel, legal advice on German tax legislation] and assistance to German companies in their introduction to the Russian market.
Within the framework of the main business, the companies provide an additional service structure called the “East-West Connection Business-Center”. The main task of the business center is to provide services related to the holding of presentations and meetings on the projects of the parent company [rent of conference rooms, meeting rooms, booking air tickets and hotel rooms, using the services of the secretariat, etc.]. Since at present the consulting projects of the company do not provide one hundred percent utilization of the business center's capacities, the company is carrying out a number of independent activities to promote the services of the business center in the market.
Additional services for “East-West Connection” clients are provided by partners [multiplier companies]. The diagram below describes the flow of information between the functional elements of a company's business.
SCHEME 1. Structure of information and communication flows of the company.
Diagram 1 shows two types of clients, the first of which is attracted and cooperates with the organization independently, and the second interacts through an intermediary [multiplier company]. Part of the functions within the framework of any project "East-West Connection" can be transferred to other organizations [multipliers], for example, it concerns the production of advertising materials or a website, as well as transportation and hotel services.
Business portfolio composition
Consulting services:
- search for partners and representatives in the foreign market
- marketing research of European markets as part of expanding the geography of the client's business
- advice on doing business in Germany and Russia
- selection and training of personnel for the implementation of the company's activities in the foreign market
- organization [registration, business planning and activity support] of firms and representative offices in Germany, Austria and other Western European countries
- organization and support of information and business trips
- planning, organizing and conducting presentations of projects or a product line of a client company in Germany and Russia [usually clients are manufacturing companies interested in developing their business on the foreign market]
- attracting investments and launching venture projects in the field of high technologies
Services of business centers in Hamburg and Moscow to support the activities of companies:
- adaptation of advertising and information materials of the company for doing business on international market
- adaptation of the company's existing Internet solution for a foreign audience
- design and development of a corporate Internet solution in English, German and Russian
- direct marketing services
- granting reference information from databanks about government and commercial structures in Germany and Russia
- professional interpretation and translation [German, English and Russian]
- virtual office and secretariat services
- provision of premises and equipment for negotiations, presentations of client projects and other events
- visa support in Germany and Russia
- transport service and courier services
Positive and negative sides structure and composition of the company's business portfolio:
The ability to vary prices for services depending on the ability to pay potential client; a wide range of services, allowing the consumer to receive a “full package of services from one source”; a positive image of the company as an organization with great opportunities; minimum maintenance of permanent staff and ease of coordination between projects in the existing scheme of work
Lack of a formed client image and, therefore, a clear positioning of the company's services in the market; high risks [quality of services] and the complexity of project management associated with the transfer of part of the work to external execution
Main factors economic activity companies:
- the growth rate of the company's business profitability [in accordance with the company's business plan, there should be an annual growth in the company's profitability]
- design throughput of the company [the number of projects completed by the company per year, taking into account the cost of each project] - this indicator should not decrease
- an indicator characterizing the company's costs - the growth rate of costs for maintaining a business should not exceed the growth rate of business profitability
With such indicators of the company's performance, so-called “customer distortion” often occurs, when it is “more profitable” for a consultant to work with a certain type of client and at the same time avoid communicating with other clients. The practically fixed budget of the cost part of marketing does not allow to actively develop the business, since marketing costs in case of unforeseen circumstances are “cut down” first of all. This strategy does not allow the company to develop intensively, grow with the market, the increase in the level of sales of services occurs due to sales of a chaotic personal nature, which is not effective. Despite this, the company occupies a certain niche in the market of consulting services, which allows it not only to survive, but also to bring profit to business owners.
The company's services are designed mainly for working with small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, the company is trying to work with large oil and metallurgical companies.
The market as a whole can be assessed with the top number of companies in Russia and Germany [regardless of the industry] interested in developing their business on the international market. The size of the market, in which “East-West Connection” operates, in monetary terms, the author of this article does not undertake to assess due to the lack of unambiguous data at the moment. In the order of magnitude, the total cost of these services is hundreds of millions of euros per year. It should be noted that at the moment there is an active growth of the market, associated with the fact that the strengthened Russian enterprises are actively entering the European markets. The share of the market occupied by the company is growing more slowly than the market itself, which may lead to its loss in the future.
There are about two hundred competing companies in Russia. Most often, these are consulting centers at all kinds of chambers of commerce and industry, manufacturers' unions and entrepreneurship support funds.
To identify the long-term development trend of the company, we will apply the method of assessing the survival of the business. The method is subjective [method expert assessments], therefore, the probability of correctness of the judgment will depend on how correctly the individual evaluates certain characteristics of the company's business.
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Benefits of Marketing Planning [M] |
Points total |
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Enterprise marketing planning ensures a high level of coordination different types marketing activities |
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The marketing planning process empowers enterprise managers to anticipate unexpected behavior in the business environment |
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The presence of marketing planning increases the readiness of the enterprise to change and reduces potential losses |
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When an enterprise is faced with surprises in the external environment, the marketing planning process minimizes the risk of wrong actions. |
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Having a marketing plan reduces conflicts between managers about “where the company should go” |
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The marketing plan improves internal communications, the assessment of the company's performance in the market and the degree of achievement of goals |
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The marketing planning process forces management to systematically think about the prospects of the enterprise |
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Having a marketing plan makes it possible to correlate the resources of the enterprise with the opportunities in the market in the most efficient way. |
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The marketing plan provides a clear understanding of future development opportunities |
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Marketing planning allows you to determine the most profitable development strategies |
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In the table, each characteristic is rated from 0 to 10 points, with 0 corresponding to a negative assessment, and 10 being the highest possible rating for the indicator. Likewise, we will fill in the table describing the effectiveness of the company in the field of sales.
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Sales Benefits [S] |
Points total |
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When a company recruits sales representatives, we try to select the best labor force on the market. |
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Sales staff training is necessary condition his works |
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Our sales representatives consistently exceed their goals |
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Compared to our competitors, our sales representatives have a better image |
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We constantly have a sufficient number of sales representatives for the required sales volume |
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Our sales staff are very clear about their role in the enterprise |
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Our sales force is well motivated |
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Spatial planning is the strength of our sales efforts |
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Sales staff has good contact scores per order |
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Our sales staff have no employee turnover problem |
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Summarizing the data in the tables, we can conclude that the company is in the area of “uncertainty”, which most of all belongs to the “business survival” sector. The boundaries of the "survival" area are different for different industries.
Part Two: Situational Analysis
Let's analyze the main factors that characterize the potential of an enterprise using the "SWOT" method. Based on the table below, we will form the directions in which it is necessary to move to overcome the negative aspects of the company's activities. The following are the main factors affecting the company's business as a whole, although a detailed analysis requires the compilation of SWOT tables for individual areas of activity.
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Strength [benefits]
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Weaknesses [disadvantages]
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Opportunities
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Threats [threats]
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The table shows that there is a certain dualism regarding organizational structure companies. On the one hand, flexibility and adaptability is the company's strong point, but on the other hand, it is a weak point in terms of decision-making. To strengthen the company on the market, the following measures are necessary: clearly position their services to the consumer having only the necessary flexibility to manipulate the composition of the business portfolio, optimize information flows within the company through a unified information system based on intranet and internet, resisting the consolidation of competitors' business through an individual approach to to the client and the mobility of the company structure, constant improvement of the quality of the services offered and the search for additional competitive advantages in the market.
Using the “PEST” analysis methodology, we will identify the factors influencing the company's activities from the side of the macroenvironment. It is worth noting again that the company is considered here as a whole without dividing the business into components [consulting and business center services].
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Policy [political factors] |
Economy [economic forces] |
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Social factors [social factors] |
Technology [technological factors] |
"East-West Connection" operates on the international market and, therefore, there is a strong dependence on external, macroeconomic factors. During the period of economic instability in Russia, there was a decline in demand for the company's services to almost zero, both from the Russian and German sides. In this regard, the risk of losing the entire business of the company in times of instability must be minimized by the availability of an additional backup package of services of the business center and the consulting division, which is not directly related to operations in the international market.
It is also worth noting that the global environmental trend creates additional demand for the company's services from client companies interested in “cleaning up” their production and bringing it to international environmental standards to enter the European market. For example, the company "East-West Connection" works in conjunction with one large Russian oil company over the network placement project gas stations in Germany.
Factors such as the economic unity of Europe, business enlargement and global technological growth should be taken for granted by the company, and it is only necessary to adapt the company to the rapidly changing business environment.
Matrix of ETOM analysis of the company's macroenvironment:
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Factor weight |
The importance of the factor |
Impact on company strategy |
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economic |
economic stability in the country |
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common currency in the countries of the European Economic Union |
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activities of multinational companies and globalization |
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social and cultural |
peculiarities of mentality in different countries |
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historical enmity between the peoples of some countries |
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political |
integration of Russian business into Europe |
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government protective measures |
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strong state influence on the activities of commercial structures on the territory of the Russian Federation |
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technological |
finding competitive advantages in the market through the development of a technological base |
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worldwide fight for ecological cleanness of production |
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inconsistency of standards and differences in certification processes for companies' products in different countries |
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competitive |
consolidation of competitors' business |
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fierce competition in a growing market |
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The sum of the positive component of the assessment: |
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The sum of the negative component of the assessment: |
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Summarizing the data in the table, we can conclude that negative factors prevail in the macroenvironment of the company's business. At the same time, the company can only adapt to external conditions, but not influence them in any way.
Consider the factors of the microenvironment of the company through the Porter model. Here we will describe the impact of the business environment on the entire portfolio of the company's services without dividing it into components.
Analysis of the competitive environment
Regarding the competition in the Russian market, it should be said that there are still many free profitable niches that are very difficult to “process”. For example, registration and buying and selling ready-made companies[legal address + bank account] in small towns in Germany. As practice shows, there are quite a lot of orders of this nature. It is also interesting to note the "Information Trip" service, which, as a rule, is of interest to representatives of business or science for initial acquaintance with the country where it is planned to conduct foreign economic or scientific activity... Travel agencies offering such a service are unable to provide the flow of necessary business meetings for the client without an appropriate base. This is where “East-West Connection” comes into battle for the market.
Part three: Organization of marketing activities of the enterprise
The current organizational structure of the marketing of the enterprise
Firstly, it is worth noting that each employee of the marketing service reports directly to the director of the representative office, which helps to quickly make and approve decisions aimed at promoting the company's services on the market.
Secondly, on the negative side, there is no separate post of CMO. This leads to collisions within the marketing group and the lack of centrally coordinated work due to the periodic unavailability of the director.
Another problem in the structure of the company is the combination of the duties of a consultant, a sales manager and a marketing manager in one person, while the sale of services is not divided into packages. Often this “versatility” of the staff leads to duplication of functions and “split personalities” in the marketing department [consulting department]. Despite this, each employee of the marketing department is responsible for a specific direction or project. In the controlled area, the consultant manager reports directly to the director.
DIAGRAM 2. Organizational structure of the company
The main problems of the organizational structure of the marketing department:
- no coordinator and supervisor of the marketing group within the department
- lack of specialization of sales managers, consultants and marketers
- lack of specialization in the components of the business portfolio
- lack of specialization in the components of the marketing mix
Marketing Service Objectives:
- ensuring a stable sales volume
- meeting the needs of the consulting services market
- analysis of consumer requirements to maintain the competitiveness of the company's services
- formation of needs for company services
Organization of management of marketing mix elements
- Product Policy Management
At the moment, the company's range of services is replenished only through the collection and processing of client requirements, that is, in the marketing department, the mechanism for implementing the function of constantly developing new services works very weakly. A new service in the company's business portfolio appears only under the pressure of an active client and, as a rule, adjoins the package additional services... The focus is not on the needs of the market, but on what the company can offer to the client, in other words, there is an “imposition” of services.
The life cycle of the company's services has a long period, and as far as the author knows, there has been no repositioning of the components of the business portfolio in the entire history of the organization. In the development strategy, the company adheres only to the direction of promoting its brand [brand strategy].
- Pricing policy management
When setting prices for services, the company adheres to the influence on the price of the cost of the services offered and the cost of similar services from competitors. Demand orientation, “profit from price” and “profit from turnover” strategies are not expressed in any way.
The process of producing a service is directly related to the so-called moment of truth [only the manufacturer can provide a service, although intermediaries can participate in the sale of the company's services]. Therefore, the distribution channel [for the basic package of services] can be characterized in most cases as a direct channel, that is, without the participation of any intermediaries. Sometimes situations arise when multiplier companies participate in the distribution [diagram 1].
- Promotion system management
To promote its services on the market, the company actively uses tools personal sales and public relations. Among the advertising tools, it is worth noting the use of online advertising. A number of activities are being carried out to attract customers through various manufacturers' associations and chambers of commerce and industry of Russia and Germany.
Let's highlight the main problems of managing the marketing activities of the company.
First, as noted above, the process of developing new services is not permanent - there is no explicit focus on the needs of the client. Secondly, due to the low priority of financing marketing costs, there is a strong narrowing of opportunities for promoting the company's services, which negatively affects the growth of the company's profitability. Lack of clear positioning of services for different groups consumers also introduces negative aspects to the organization's marketing management system.
Part Four: Planning and Financing Marketing Activities
Currently planning financial indicators the company's activities are carried out on the basis of previous experience and expected profits for the current year. There is no rigid orientation towards market demand. Marketing is financed from the profit received and is a percentage of the profit. Moreover, the percentage may vary from season to season depending on the flow of customers. Such a system makes sense when an enterprise has one or several owners, who, in principle, are satisfied with many things in the company's work.
Part Five: The Marketing Management System Reorganization Project
In light of the above problems in the system of organizing and managing the marketing activities of the company, it is proposed to carry out a number of measures to improve the efficiency of the organization in the market.
Activities of the project of reorganization of the company's marketing management system:
- The division of the consulting and marketing department into separate structures with the introduction of the positions of director of marketing and sales, director of the consulting department, as well as consultant, sales manager [contract manager], marketing manager, advertising manager, marketing analyst and PR manager
- Creation of the position of director of marketing and sales, subordinate to the director of a representative office, as a person who coordinates, planning and monitoring the activities of marketing and sales departments
- Separation of responsibilities between marketers and sales managers [contract managers]
- Specialization within the marketing and sales department on the components of the service package and the marketing mix
- Creation of a unified information system within the company, in particular for coordinating work between consulting and marketing departments
SCHEME 3. The structure of the company after the reorganization
When carrying out reorganization measures, the following problems of the enterprise are solved:
- a coordinator and controller of the marketing and sales department appears, which increases the efficiency of work within the group while achieving specific goals of the company
- specialization in the areas of "marketing and sales" and "consulting" eliminates conflicts of interest among company employees and reduces stress levels
- specialization in the components of the business portfolio and marketing complex will also increase labor efficiency by eliminating duplication of functions, reduce the complexity of finding new employees to fill any position, and will also allow work in several areas of the company
Since the company is private, the main directions for planning the marketing mix are dictated directly by the owner in accordance with the company's business plan and past experience in the market. It is not possible to offer anything new in this area, since only the interests of the owners are taken into account in the company. The only thing that the author could offer in the light of the identified problems is the separation of planning a marketing mix in two areas - consulting and business center services. With regard to financing, I would like to note that it is worth having a pre-predicted budget and a supply of funds for conducting specific programs and activities provided by the results of the previous year, not the current one. At the same time, within the marketing budget there should be flexible boundaries between marketing directions [research, development of the composition of the business portfolio, brand promotion, etc.], regulated by the director of the division, depending on the priority of the direction at a given time.
ETOM analysis
ETOM analysis can also be used to analyze the influence of macroenvironmental factors. ETOM is an abbreviation for Environmental Threats and Opportunities Matrix - a matrix of threats and opportunities in the external environment. The advantage of this analysis is the introduction of a limited number of factors and events identified by experts. This type of analysis makes it possible to substantiate the reaction of a particular enterprise to a set of factors in the macroenvironment.
QUEST analysis
A common disadvantage of the STEP and ETOM methods is that they do not take into account the possible interconnection and mutual influence of factors and events in the macroenvironment. Factor analysis technique QUEST macro environment will eliminate this disadvantage.
The term "QUEST" is an abbreviation of the Quick Environment Scanning Technique, a technique for quickly scanning the environment.
In general, this methodology allows a more balanced approach to the development of action programs to take into account the impact of the macroenvironment on the enterprise.
SWOT analysis
One of the widespread methods joint analysis microenvironment and internal environment of the enterprise is a SWOT analysis. The term "SWOT" is an abbreviation for the Strengths and Weakness of an enterprise, Opportunities and Threats in the market. The SWOT analysis includes: studying the development trends of the enterprise, analyzing resources, analyzing the possibilities of using the advantages and disadvantages of the enterprise, defining the goals and objectives of the enterprise, researching the macroenvironment to identify the opportunities and threats emanating from it.
The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and explore the strengths and weaknesses enterprise; and market opportunities and threats. Knowing the strengths will allow you to more effectively use the market opportunities and avoid its threats; understanding weaknesses will allow you to build their protection in time, as well as plan activities to minimize losses from threats.
SWOT analysis can be carried out using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Qualitative methods provide for the selection by experts of indicators of possible strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, opportunities and threats emanating from the market. The fact of selection, justification and inclusion of an indicator in the list by an expert gives its qualitative assessment as an important indicator for an enterprise.
Quantitative methods of SWOT analysis allow us to assess the importance and strength of the influence of a factor on an enterprise. In practice, decisions about possible actions and programs of an enterprise are often made in conditions of limited resources: time, administrative, material and financial. In this case, it is very important to correctly allocate resources to achieve the set business goals, taking into account priority and efficiency. In addition, when using quantitative methods, the information content and convenience of working with the analysis results are increased.
ETOM analysis can also be used to analyze the influence of macroenvironmental factors. The term "ETOM" is an abbreviation for Environmental Threats and Opportunities Matrix - a matrix of threats and opportunities of the external environment. The advantage of this analysis is the introduction of a limited number of factors and events identified by experts (usually 15).
Stages of implementation of the ETOM analysis methodology:
1. Definition of the object of analysis: the enterprise as a whole, separate divisions (branches, etc.) or business units.
2. Determination of selection criteria and selection of experts (analysis is carried out by the method of expert assessments or the Delphi method). As experts, specialists from various departments of the enterprise, representatives of medium and top management, independent consultants. Rating coefficients can be set for experts.
3. Development of a format for recording the results of the analysis of macroenvironmental factors by experts and the development of the final form of analysis. If necessary, it is necessary to test the format of the analysis. The tabular form of the analysis often has the form presented in table. 2.2. The set of indicators for assessing the factors of the macroenvironment can be expanded. Sometimes it is suggested to use standard lists factors of the macroenvironment, from which the expert selects the most important, from his point of view. Sets of factors, in turn, can be determined at the preliminary stage of analysis by experts.
Table 2.2 ETOM Analysis Matrix
| Factor groups | Events / factors | A threat (-) | Opportunity (+) | Weight (1-5) | Importance (1-15) | Impact on company strategy |
| Economic | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Social and cultural | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Demographic | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Geographic | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Political and legal | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Technological | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Competitive | ||||||
| . | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Total (-) | ||||||
| Total (+) |
4. Filling in the ETOM analysis format. The format is filled in independently by each expert as follows:
Column 1 - the group to which the factor belongs is determined: economic, social and cultural, demographic, geographic, political and legal, technological and competitive.
Column 2 - the macro-environment factors that are significant from the expert's point of view, as well as important events that may affect the company's activities are recorded.
Column 3 - for each selected event or factor, it is determined whether it can be a threat and have a negative impact, if it can, then a “-” sign is put.
Column 4 - for each selected event or factor, it is determined whether it can be an opportunity and have a positive impact, if it can, then a "+" sign is put.
Column 5 - the weight (from 1 to 5) of each factor included in the analysis is estimated from the point of view of the possible impact on the activities of the enterprise (within the group of factors).
Column 7 - the strength of the influence of a factor or event on the strategy of the enterprise is calculated.
Formula: Multiply the value of the factor weight (column 4) by the value of the rating (column 5). The sign of the result obtained (- or +) depends on the selected value in columns 3 and 4. In the case when the same event or factor is an opportunity or threat, both options are taken into account, and their score will differ in terms of weight and rating.
The rows of the "Total" table contain overall assessment influence on the strategy of the enterprise of each group of factors.
5. Preparation of the final form for assessing the impact of macroenvironmental factors. A possible format option is presented in table. 2.3. Thus, according to the results of the assessment of each expert, the three most important indicators of the macroenvironment are selected and further in the planning and operational management these results are already used.
Table 2.3. The final table of the ETOM analysis by the method of expert assessments
| Expert | Three Top Rated Factors | ||
| factor description | Opportunity (+) | A threat (-) | |
| … |
6. Development by specialists of the program of action of the enterprise for each group of factors and individual events and factors.
7. Using the results of the final format of the analysis of the macroenvironment in the process of strategic and tactical planning.
8. Conducting an assessment of the planned actions after the end of the planning period, in order to find out whether with their help it was possible to reduce the negative impact and use the positive impact of the macroenvironment.
The considered methodology, as well as the STEP analysis methodology, makes it possible to substantiate the reaction of a particular enterprise to a set of macroenvironmental factors.
METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF THE QUEST MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
The term "QUEST" is a technique for quickly scanning the external environment.
The first stages of analysis using this technique coincide with the stages of other types of analysis. Then a selection is made based on the rating of the most significant factors macroenvironment. The number of factors included is usually limited to five, since a larger number of factors significantly complicates the analysis (Table 2.4). Column 2 of the table. 2.4 contains an assessment of the likelihood of the manifestation of a factor given by experts.
At the last stage, experts assess the relationship and mutual influence of the selected factors. The assessment can be in the form of a score, or it can simply record the presence of a connection. In general, the methodology allows a more balanced approach to the development of action programs to take into account the impact of the macroenvironment on the enterprise.
Table 2.4. QUEST Analysis Matrix
| Factors | Probability | Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 | Factor 5 |
| Factor 1 | ||||||
| Factor 2 | ||||||
| Factor 3 | ||||||
| Factor 4 | ||||||
| Factor 5 |
STRUCTURE OF SWOT ANALYSIS
One of the widespread methods of joint analysis of the microenvironment and the internal environment of an enterprise is SWOT analysis. The term "SWOT" is an abbreviation for the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, opportunities and dangers in the market. The SWOT analysis includes: the study of trends in the indicators of the development of the company, the analysis of resources, the analysis of the possibilities of using the advantages and disadvantages of the company, the definition of the goals and objectives of the company, the study of the external environment to identify its opportunities and threats.
The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and study the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, as well as the opportunities and threats of the market. Knowing the strengths will allow you to more effectively use the market opportunities and avoid its threats, understanding the weaknesses, will allow you to build their protection in time, as well as plan activities to minimize them.
eTOM (Enhanced Telecom Operations Map)- a multilevel model of production management business processes. An extended map of the activities of a telecommunications company - eTOM - is the basis for the analysis and design of business processes in the communications industry and a guideline for the design and development of OSS / BSS solutions. It is a reference model, or business process architecture, for communications service providers and their partners in the telecommunications industry. It is an integral part of the NGOSS approach to the development of operational support systems for telecommunications corporations.
Features of the eTOM architecture:
1. eTOM is a reference architecture that takes into account the business processes that are possible in the activities of a telecommunications company; 2. When developing eTOM, the emphasis was placed on connections between processes, defining interfaces between them and sharing information about customers, services, resources, etc., by different business processes; 3.This takes into account interactions with external environment: customers, partners, suppliers, regulators, etc .; 4. It is distinguished by its versatility and openness, it is applicable to any network technologies, services and types of business organization of the company; 5. the ability to integrate with other widely used models: ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), RosettaNet, etc.; 6. ETOM has been constantly improving for more than 10 years, it is based on the experience of the leading enterprises in the industry.
History
The main work on OSS / BSS standardization was undertaken by the TMF consortium. In 1995, TMF proposed the first version of the TOM (Telecom Operations Map) map of the business processes of a telecommunications company, and two years later, announced the start of work on the development of the TMN concept based on it, giving impetus to the use of the process approach in the development of global control systems. In 2000, all TM Forum initiatives in this area united under the project New Generation Operation Systems and Software(The next generation of systems and software to manage the operating activities of a telecommunications company), or NGOSS for short.
Today the NGOSS concept is based on:
- extended map of eTOM business processes, describing the structure of business processes of telecommunications companies;
- SID information model, which determines the approach to the description and use of data involved in the business processes of a communications company;
- TAM application map describing typical structure components of the information environment of a communications company;
- integration architecture TNA & CID (Technology Neutral Architecture and Contract Interface Definitions), which defines the principles of interaction and integration of applications, data and business processes in a distributed NGOSS environment;
- a system for monitoring compliance with the principles of NGOSS (NGOSS Compliance), which allows checking the components of an NGOSS solution for compliance with the principles of the concept.
Description
eTOM is a structural model of the business processes of a telecommunications corporation - a telecommunications service provider. The aim of eTOM is to create a common understanding of business processes that are typical for the entire industry, and their subsequent standardization. The eTOM business process map offers a structured set of business processes that define successful activity communication service provider. At the same time, eTOM is a reference model for categorizing all business processes of a company, providing an opportunity to build a map of business processes and use it in the future at the required level of detail. Thus, eTOM serves as a recommendation for process management, a starting point for work on reengineering business processes, concluding agreements with suppliers and partners. The structural model is based on a hierarchical decomposition of processes, which consists of 4 levels.
Zero level
At the highest level - zero (conceptual) - there are three main areas of business processes: "Strategy, Infrastructure and Product", "Operational Processes" and "Enterprise Management". The Strategy, Infrastructure, and Product processes are responsible for the full range of issues related to strategy, infrastructure and product lifecycle management. "Operational Processes" are the main business processes of telecommunications service providers, which are based on the provision, provision and billing of services. "Enterprise Management" covers general issues of supporting the company's activities, such as human resources management, financial and asset management, knowledge management, management of external relations, etc.
First level
The next step after the conceptual level in detailing the architecture of eTOM is the decomposition of the presented blocks (processes of level 0) to groupings of processes of level 1. This decomposition gives a general idea of eTOM and offers the first level of detail at which the activities of the company as a whole can be considered. Such a representation of the totality of the company's business processes turns out to be useful for the management of the enterprise: executive director, CIO, Head technical department etc., since the effectiveness of the processes reflected here predetermines the success of the company as a whole. At the same time, for a more specific description and analysis of business in practice, level 2 business processes obtained by level 1 decomposition are often used.
Application
Using eTOM gives:
- saving time and costs for developing the structure of enterprise business processes;
- solving typical problems of analysis and optimization of business processes;
- identification and elimination of duplicate processes that have the same functionality
- a framework for managing a set of IT applications based on business needs;
- the ability to create clear and high-quality models of business process flows;
- further application of knowledge in the field of business processes.
The use of eTOM technology in many telecommunications enterprises makes it possible to integrate with each other many business processes of several enterprises that are suppliers-partners of each other or united by other ties.
IT is used by Oracle, Amdocs, Agilent Technologies. An example of the implementation of eTOM is the development of a global IT architecture Vodafone, which was based on the eTOM structure, adapted and reflects the specifics of the company. As the telecommunications sector develops in Russia, the problem integrated analysis and optimization of business processes, telecom operators are becoming more and more relevant. Accordingly, the value and significance of both the entire program for the development of the NGOSS structure and its business component eTOM increases.
Literature
1.TeleMagement Forum ETOM Overview. 2.TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION SECTOR"ITU-T". - 2004. 3.E. Nagaev"ETOM: a structural model of business processes for telecom operators". - 2005. 4.TeleMagement Forum"Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) The Business Process Framework". 5.Mike Kelly (TeleManagement Forum) NGOSS and eTOM. - November 2002. 6.Steve Cox (Sr. Director NAS Applications Business Unit, Oracle Corporation) Leveraging the: ETOM To Facilitate Your Business. - May 19-22, 2003. 7.Martin Huddleston (Principal Engineer, QinetiQ)The telecommunications business is going through a difficult time. Despite the fact that this industry is one of the most resilient to the crisis, for many players the transition from aggressive growth to internal optimization has become a necessity. To implement such changes, most telecommunications companies are required to use new management and information technologies, among which one of the most effective and demanded is the management of business processes (Business Process Management, BPM), the elements of which are described in the eTOM model.
The industry is characterized by increased knowledge intensity and the need for highly qualified ICT specialists, which are the main arguments in favor of achieving the greatest effect from process management. In addition, the rapid development of the industry in recent years has required a rapid modernization of the ICT infrastructure - in response to the growing needs of customers in the speed and volume of information received. In addition to technological aspects it was necessary to constantly improve internal business processes, depending both on the equipment used and on changes in the market situation. Crisis, competition, high volatility, short life cycle services - all this inevitably affects the management system of a telecommunications company and leads to a focus on business processes to optimize activities.
Certain positive impact on the telecommunications industry, of course, has the activity of the international non-profit organization TeleManagement Forum (TMF), which deals with the development and optimization of the business of telecom operators, standardization of management and the use of information technology. One of the main components of the NGOSS standard developed by TMF is the enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM). It formulates a common terminology for all operators and approaches to the description of internal processes. However, Russian telecom operators have a misconception about this model, which is explained by an incorrect translation of its name: many decipher eTOM as "a model of business processes of a telecommunications company." Most business analysts and consultants working in the telecom do not see the difference between the business process model and the eTOM reference model of operations, which is fundamentally wrong and does not allow you to take full advantage of the process approach. While carrying out projects describing and modernizing business processes for our clients from the telecommunications industry, we were faced with the impossibility of using eTOM as a model of business processes.
Guided by the eTOM model, it is impossible to compile a complete description of the business processes of an enterprise, and therefore, to improve them. In addition, the functional areas of the eTOM model are unusual for the business units of the operator companies. It has already been said more than once that in order to correctly identify and describe a business process, it is necessary to form a chain logically related operations according to the following principle: an end-to-end business process should link objects external to the company, for example, "market-to-market" or "client-client". This is the main difference between the business process model and the eTOM model, which presents operations grouped by functional principle. The key point in defining a business process is the chain of operations. Therefore, the structure of the eTOM cannot be the same as the structure of business processes. For work on the implementation of process management, it is a business process model that is needed, and eTOM serves only as a "supplier" of individual building blocks (operations) for it. In practice, for a telecommunications company, development processes are separately distinguished, which are built according to the "market-to-market" principle (from analyzing needs to creating services, services and infrastructure).
The main business processes of the telecom operator are built according to the "client-client" scheme (from the request for connection to the disconnection of the subscriber). This approach allows you to get a systematic, holistic description of business processes, see the end-to-end business process and start improving these processes. To standardize the business processes of telecom operators, at one time we developed a reference model of the processes of a telecommunications company, based on the experience of completed projects. The resulting model was matched against the eTOM Transaction Model to verify its completeness. In fact, all eTOM transactions were placed in the business process model and then chained together. Building a model of "end-to-end" business processes based on the experience of implementing real projects and operations contained in the eTOM model is the basis of our proposed methodology. It has already been tested in several projects and has reduced labor costs for describing business processes.
As practice has shown, our model is more convenient to use than eTOM, since it contains the terminology familiar to Russian specialists in the field of telecommunications. When solving problems related to the management of the business processes of a telecommunications company, the model is rather of an auxiliary nature, since it was originally developed for the implementation of IT. From the point of view of improving process management, the model can play the role of a benchmark that serves to check the completeness of business processes. Having described a certain process, it is necessary to analyze the constituent operations for their presence in the eTOM, and also identify those operations that are described in the eTOM, but are not implemented in practice. The use of other NGOSS elements (TAM, SID, KPI) for tasks such as balanced scorecard (BSC) implementation, IT architecture management and data description has proven to be viable in practice. However, it should be borne in mind that NGOSS models only provide a framework that needs to be seriously adapted to specific conditions.
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