How do you launch 11 MVNO brands in less than 2 months? Telness Tech's CPO Filip Askviken explains.

13th December, 2023

Telness Tech is currently in the process of launching 11 MVNO brands, all in less than six weeks. The client is an MVNE (Mobile Virtual Network Enabler) with ambitions to launch a “digital telco in a box solution” where they quickly and reliably can serve and enable MVNOs with different value propositions and target customer segments. This flexibility requires a technical platform with low complexity, high scalability and level of automation, and that allows for smooth migration of existing users.

Telness Tech was the only company that could do this at the desired speed, quality and cost. This includes but is not limited to fully white-label interfaces, modular product management, customer onboarding, automated provisioning and fulfilment – all with fully digital customer journeys and zero touch.

As one can imagine, this is a massive endeavor in both capabilities, tech and team talent.

11 questions on how to launch 11 MVNO brands.

With us we have Filip Askviken, Chief Product Officer at Telness Tech, to explain more how Telness Tech is uniquely equipped to solve this request for our client – enabling the customer to serve and launch all of their brands;

1. First and foremost, Filip Askviken, CPO at Telness Tech. In two sentences, who are you and what do you do?

I’m a tech geek, turned entrepreneur, turned CPO. I care deeply about our team, our customers, and our product. Together we make telecom a joyful experience for everyone.

2. What motivated Telness Tech to launch 11 MVNO brands in such a short timeframe, and what are the strategic objectives behind this initiative?

Our commercial team… Jokes aside. It is driven by an overwhelmingly positive market reception for our MVNx platform that allows our customers to differentiate themselves from their competition. Together with these customers, we set an aggressive rollout plan. Driven by market need and our long-standing mantra of simplicity and scalability, we knew it was possible.

Could you describe the key components of Telness Tech's fully automated BSS/OSS systems and how they have contributed to the rapid launch of these brands?

At Telness Tech, our commitment to innovation and capability shines through in the key components of our turnkey BSS/OSS solutions. These components, including a fully automated and scalable platform, flexible configuration, cloud-native architecture, and our exceptional team, play pivotal roles in accelerating the launch of new brands.

I’m sorry, I know that we should keep interviews rather short, but there really are four aspects here that are unique to us and enable us to launch 11 brands in such a short time-frame:

End-to-End System: Our fully automated BSS/OSS systems are designed to cover every aspect of the business process. From customer onboarding to billing and service management. Our turn-key platform streamlines operations, reduces complexity, and ensures a seamless experience for both our clients and their end-users. On top of that we provide white label interfaces such as mobile apps and omni channel admin portal that can be branded within weeks. This holistic approach significantly accelerates the launch of new brands by eliminating bottlenecks and improving overall operational efficiency.
Flexible Configuration: One of our unique capabilities is the flexibility of our systems. We understand that every brand is unique, and our systems can be configured to adapt to specific requirements. This flexibility enables rapid customization to meet the distinct needs of different brands. It means we don't offer one-size-fits-all solutions but rather tailor our systems to ensure a perfect fit, speeding up the launch process while maintaining scalability.
Cloud-Native Architecture: Our commitment to cutting-edge technology is exemplified by our cloud-native architecture. By harnessing the power of the cloud, we empower our clients to launch new brands rapidly, with the agility and scalability necessary for success. This cloud-native approach not only accelerates time-to-market but also future-proofs our solutions, ensuring they remain responsive to evolving market dynamics.
Great Team: Behind our innovative technology is an exceptional team of experts who are passionate about delivering success. Our team's collective experience and deep industry knowledge enable us to understand the unique challenges faced by our clients. With their dedication and expertise, we offer not just technology but a partnership that actively contributes to the rapid launch of new brands.

5. Managing 11 brand launches in less than two months is a significant undertaking. Can you share some of the challenges your team encountered and how you overcame them?

Launching 11 new brands without any current customer base, “Greenfields” is relatively easy when you have the right technology. Migration is always the tough part. Since these 11 brands are migrations and not Greenfields, this has presented the toughest challenge. We solve it with automation, a flexible configuration layer, and a great team.

6. In an industry where speed and efficiency are critical, what role does technology and automation play in ensuring a successful MVNO brand launch?

It is critical to strike the balance between customization and scalability. Much of what we have done is to look at what functions legacy software ensues to fulfill and then fulfill the same actions in a more lean and scalable way utilizing modern architecture and real estate. When I talk about real estate I mean cloud partners. In our case, AWS.

7. Can you highlight any unique features or innovations that set Telness Tech apart in the MVNO software provider space and enabled this accelerated launch? We have a variety of nifty features added on top of our seamless platform. However, what makes us truly unique are not the multitudes of features. It is the coherence and afterthought grown over thousands of iterations in our platform to create a seamless user experience. That combined with modern architecture and software is the recipe.

8. How did Telness Tech ensure that the quality of service and customer experience remained top-notch during these rapid brand launches?

Team. Team. Team. These are some of the hardest working, smart people I have ever worked with. That is essential; everything else is secondary. Through this team, we have managed to build and maintain a truly unique solution. On top of that to mention some: We have robust and proven processes, configuration layers that let the teams and our partners act fast on requests and adapt to various business models and regions and a “partnership mentality" where communication and transparency is key.

9. What lessons have you learned from this experience that other technology providers or businesses can apply to streamline their operations or product development?

We learn something from each delivery, and each learning we evaluate whether we can incorporate it into our platform. Those iterations build up the evolution of our ADT platform over time. Regarding learnings, we know from experience that migrating is the hard part. You have to adapt, fully understand, and have respect for the legacy solution. This can be done faster and more secure with the right technical tools. As a Telco, make sure to have a solid technical migration framework that has been battle-tested several times before. Set a thorough plan, including layers of acceptance, testing and verification. Different parts require different verticals of the toolset. Ex. Migrating user data from BSS to BSS, migrating between MNO’s and re-provisioning hundreds of thousands of subscriptions or mapping PBX functionalities 1 to 1 across different providers. It is very complex. I recommend teaming up with the right people who have a modern toolbox.

10. Launching and migrating this many brands in a short timeframe really is impressive. How is this even technically possible – in two sentences?

All migrations are unique, but all also consist of non-unique components. Understand the non-unique components and use technology that is flexible enough to orchestrate the specific project. For us, this comes down to smart and modern architectural decisions in the platform paired with thousands of smart everyday product decisions. This has led to what we talked about earlier: a complete end-to-end solution with a flexible configuration layer.

11. Finally, in two sentences, what benefits does launching the brands provide to our clients?

It battle-proves our capability to migrate multiple different brands at a high pace, which is important when serving several MVNE with a need for quick-to-market solutions.
It proves our ability to do so with an extraordinarily low, almost non-existent, churn on the current customer base. Which is usually a big factor when considering a migration.

Read more about our Fully Automated Digital Telco platform here, our proprietary platform that together with our team and experience enables these ambitious launches.

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