Bust the Bundle: When Combinations Go Bad

Combinations can be wonderful. Peanut butter and chocolate. Phones and cameras. Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

Other times, combinations can be irritating, disruptive, or disastrous.

Cable packages are a quintessential example of combinations which did not serve consumers.Many found themselves paying for hundreds of channels, just to gain access to the mere handful of channels they actually wanted. For years, there were simply no alternatives to these bloated packages. As more entertainment streaming services became available, such as Netflix and Hulu, consumers began “cutting the cord,” to escape from the poor value of cable packages.

HBO held out for years, stating they’d never offer a direct streaming service. I admit, from my 2018 vantage point, I laughed at this comment from 2011, “HBO Co-President Eric Kessler is undaunted, saying HBO regards cord cutting as a temporary phenomenon that will go away once the larger economy improves.”

Fortunately, HBO has seen the light and now offers HBO GO – no cable required.

TLM Services and Software: Combination Required?

Large enterprises require both software that automates TLM, and the assistance of skilled people to work with it. Purchasing a bundle from a single vendor can be appealing. And because this bundle is often expected, software vendors may offer managed services simply to “check the box” in order to close deals.

Unfortunately, the best software developers aren’t always the best service providers.

While software vendors have the requisite domain expertise, they may not also be skilled at running an effective managed services division. As my colleague Hormoz recently wrote about, organizations can be more successful by focusing on their strengths, and outsourcing areas outside their core expertise.

Escaping Bad TLM Services Combos

Decoupling software and services empowers customers to optimize both. Eliminating this pesky entanglement allows your organization to use the best possible service provider, regardless of which software is in place.

Like TV content providers, telecom lifecycle management service providers are realizing the disadvantages of compulsory combinations as well. Here at 2-Markets, we’ve pioneered an innovative path to improved service delivery without the pain of changing TLM software. We refer to it as ‘Bring Your Own TLM Software.’

The idea is that if you are purchasing TLM services from your TLM software provider, and you find the quality of services declining, you can simply purchase services from a new provider… without also changing software.

Beholden to No TLM Vendor

There’s no need to be beholden to your software vendor. They are a vendor like any other… they should meet their SLAs, or expect to be replaced.

If you’ve found yourself tangled up in a bad combination, contact us. We’d be happy to help you unravel.