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Sigma Enhances Create-Sell-Deliver Technology Platform for B2B Businesses

News Sigma Enhances Create-Sell-Deliver Technology Platform for B2B Businesses
Hansen News
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Hansen News

Toronto, Canada – 15 May 2019 – Sigma Systems, the global leader in catalog-driven software, today announced the latest updates to its Sigma Create-Sell-Deliver Portfolio for communication services providers (CSPs) looking to better serve their enterprise customers and other segments of their B2B businesses.

IDC predicts that by the year 2022[1], USD 6 trillion will be spent on digital transformation technology and related services by enterprises. To capture their share of that spend as revenue, CSPs need to change and think differently about their create-sell-deliver systems and processes. In a 5G world, CSPs will experience exponential data growth, a vast increase in scale and types of connected devices, as well as a marked increase in the complexity of service based on various networks. Sigma’s Create-Sell-Deliver Portfolio is tailor-made for these new conditions, and Sigma is continuously advancing the portfolio to help CSPs better serve their customers in the world of rapidly expanding digital services for B2B Businesses.

Rob Hingston, Vice-President of Products at Sigma Systems, commented: “There couldn’t be a better time for CSPs to address the improvement of the create-sell-deliver systems and processes serving their business customer segments. With cloud, virtualized networks and 5G all driving the opportunity to create new business models, CSPs need business and operational support systems that enable them to think and run their B2B business segments differently. Sigma continuously develops its portfolio to maximize the capability of CSPs to better serve their business customers in this world of digital services to capture new revenue opportunities.”

The products that comprise the Sigma Create-Sell-Deliver Portfolio are Sigma Catalog, Sigma Configure Price Quote, Sigma Order Management, Sigma Portfolio Inventory, Sigma Provisioning and Sigma Insights.

Version 7.1 of Sigma Catalog delivered improved product lifecycle management capability, including the ability to review the set of differences in entities as they changed over time as well as recording all lifecycle actions that change the workflow status of an entity; enhanced offering design capabilities through consolidation of tools and their functionality into a single schema maintenance tool; flexible pricing models for business through a new discounting structure known as charge-based business can model pricing adjustments within the scope of catalog offerings; more compact user interface controls for the display, creation and editing of compatibility and mapping rules to assist with the creation of complex items of catalog data; and new modelling extensions to defines rules or information that need to be captured as part of commercial order capture or technical order fulfilment processes.

Sigma CPQ, now at version 2.9, has deepened its productized pre-integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and added live product impact assessment for non-BAU product migrations and changes. The next version aims to deliver further enhancements to the enterprise order capture framework to support a richer technical order enrichment process for complex enterprise quotations. In addition, further enhancements to Sigma CPQ’s ability to manage the complex MACD operations and an upscaling of quotes per site for large enterprise customer support are planned.

Sigma Order Management has advanced to version 5.0 and has added substantial new business service capabilities. These include multiple-location orders, which save time and ensure consistency for enterprise orders; enhanced visualization of milestones for order tracking, which cuts down the time taken by fulfillment operators to review and assess enterprise orders; configurable acceptance custom-order formats which can quickly integrate orders from legacy systems into Sigma Order Management; and enhanced work-design capabilities that allow fulfilment designers to create codeless business logic within an adaptor, create custom sequence order-cancellation workflows, as well as utilize multiple end-events within a single workflow to fulfill a business process flow for a given enterprise customer.

The latest release of Sigma Provisioning is version 6.3, which cemented its market status as the leading converged provisioning platform for enterprise services, delivered on traditional and next-generation digital networks. The next release of Sigma Provisioning, version 7.0, is planned to deliver even greater scalability, a microservice and cloud-native architecture and operational capabilities tailor-made to manage next-generation order operations.

Sigma Portfolio Inventory is currently at version 1.1, establishing the product as the industry’s only independent and interoperable portfolio inventory product for the telecommunications industry. The product has added a runtime event framework, allowing external systems to subscribe to change events within portfolio inventory, as well as historic version management, allowing historic snapshots in a separate data store for B2B Businesses.

Sigma Insights, the data aggregation, analysis and reporting application of the Sigma Create-Sell-Deliver platform, is now at version 4.0. Sigma has optimized application performance to process and analyze enterprise-scale customer sales and orders more quickly. Sigma has also added in-app reporting capabilities for the Sigma portfolio, starting with Sigma CPQ, to enable a near real-time performance view of customers’ quote conversion and revenue.

— ENDS —

Contacts:

Adnan Bashir
Senior Corporate Communications Manager
Hansen
+1 647 204 0999

[1] Source: IDC Worldwide Semi-annual Digital Transformation Spending Guide – Technology Forecast – 2019H1

1. What does “modernise with precision” mean for Tier-1 telecom operators?

“Modernise with precision” describes a low-risk, targeted approach to BSS/OSS modernisation where operators upgrade only the parts of their digital stack that create the greatest impact. Instead of embarking on high-risk, multi-year full-stack replacements, Tier-1 telcos selectively introduce cloud-native BSS/OSS, API-driven telecom architecture, AI-ready data layers, and TMF-compliant BSS components.
This modular strategy reduces cost and disruption, allowing operators to strengthen areas such as product agility, order orchestration, customer experience, and operational efficiency while maintaining stability in core environments. It aligns directly with TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA), which encourages a composable, interoperable, future-proof approach to telco transformation.

2. Why is time-to-market so important for telecom monetisation today?

Telecom monetisation increasingly depends on the ability to respond quickly to new commercial opportunities – from enterprise IoT solutions and digital services to 5G monetisation, wholesale partnerships, and B2B vertical offerings. In this environment, operators that can design, package, and activate new services in days rather than months gain a clear revenue advantage.
Legacy catalogues, rigid product hierarchies, and tightly coupled BSS architectures make rapid innovation difficult. Modern operators therefore prioritise catalog-driven architecture, agile/composable BSS, and cloud-native BSS capabilities to give business teams control over offer creation without relying on long IT delivery cycles. Faster launch cycles = faster monetisation.

 

3. What is slowing down product launch cycles for many telcos?

The primary obstacles are deeply entrenched in legacy architecture: hard-coded product models, outdated catalogues, nonstandard integrations, and heavy IT dependencies. These constraints slow down even minor product changes, creating friction between commercial teams and IT.
Modern telcos are replacing these bottlenecks with TMF-compliant BSS, cloud-native catalogues, API-driven BSS integrated via TMF Open APIs, and low/no-code configuration tools. These solutions allow product owners to create and test offers independently, ensuring the Digital BSS backbone supports true agility.

4. How can telecom operators reduce order fallout and manual intervention?

Order fallout typically stems from fragmented systems, inconsistent data models, and brittle custom integrations across BSS/OSS chains. When orchestration spans numerous legacy systems, even small discrepancies can cause orders to fail.
Operators can dramatically reduce fallout rates by adopting zero-touch service orchestration, modern order management modernisation, end-to-end automation, and a unified data model across their Digital OSS and Digital BSS layers. Cloud-native telecom systems and order orchestration for telecom remove reliance on manual rework, minimise delays, and improve service accuracy – all essential to delivering predictable customer experiences.

5. Why is accuracy so important for B2B and wholesale customer experience?

For enterprise and wholesale customers, trust is built on precision. A single misquote, incorrect configuration, or missed activation can lead to delays, SLA breaches, revenue disputes, and strained relationships. These segments rely on highly controlled, predictable fulfilment processes – particularly as operators expand into 5G edge services, network slicing, managed security, and outcome-based contracts.
Improving accuracy requires strengthening the underlying architecture – through modern CPQ for telecom, clean data models, cloud-native BSS/OSS, and robust API-driven telecom architecture. When quoting, ordering, provisioning, and billing are accurate, customer satisfaction increases naturally.

6. How does cloud, AI, and API-driven architecture support telecom modernisation?

Cloud-native platforms provide the scalability, flexibility, and deployment speed needed to support modern telecom services. AI introduces intelligence into operations, enabling predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and proactive assurance. APIs – especially TMF Open APIs – ensure new components integrate cleanly with legacy systems.
Together, AI-powered BSS/OSS, cloud-native architecture, and API-driven integration create a digital foundation that supports continuous innovation, reduces technical debt, and enables operators to deliver new services more efficiently. This trio is central to future-proofing the telco stack.

7. What is TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) and why does it matter?

TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) is an industry-standard framework designed to help telcos simplify, modularise, and modernise their BSS/OSS environments. ODA promotes interoperability, composability, and openness so operators can integrate new capabilities without heavy customisation or vendor lock-in.
For Tier-1 operators, ODA serves as a blueprint for transitioning from monolithic legacy stacks to cloud-native, API-driven, modular BSS/OSS infrastructure. By adopting ODA-aligned solutions, operators speed up integration, lower deployment risk, and reduce long-term operational cost.

8. How is Hansen involved in TM Forum and ODA?

Hansen aligns its architecture directly to TM Forum’s ODA principles and has contributed to the development of one of TM Forum’s recognised industry standards. This reinforces a commitment not just to following best practices, but to shaping them.
Hansen’s portfolio of cloud-native, AI-powered, API-driven Digital BSS/OSS modules is built on TMF Open APIs and composable design principles. This ensures seamless interoperability in multivendor environments and helps operators modernise safely and incrementally.

9. Can operators modernise their BSS/OSS without a full-stack replacement?

Yes – and in fact, most Tier-1 operators now prefer incremental transformation. Full-stack replacement is high risk, slow, and expensive. By contrast, modular modernisation allows operators to introduce new BSS/OSS capabilities – catalogues, orchestration layers, charging engines, customer management, monetisation components – without destabilising the existing ecosystem.
This approach reduces risk, accelerates value, and aligns with ODA’s principles of composability and openness. Operators can modernise at their own pace while still maintaining service continuity.

10. How does modular modernisation reduce risk?

Modular transformation focuses on improving specific parts of the architecture – such as product agility, order accuracy, unified data, or 5G monetisation – without changing everything at once. Each module is integrated, tested, and scaled independently, which reduces disruption and improves predictability.
It also allows operators to retire legacy systems gradually, reducing technical debt over time while still realising near-term efficiency and revenue gains. This is why agile/composable BSS is now the preferred model for Tier-1 telecom transformation.

11. What operational improvements can telcos expect from a unified data model?

A unified, AI-ready data model brings real-time visibility across commercial and operational processes, enabling faster decision-making and more reliable service execution. It also allows operators to detect issues earlier, automate root cause analysis, and reduce order fallout.
This consistent data foundation is essential for AI-powered BSS/OSS, predictive assurance, next-best-action recommendations, and advanced analytics. It ultimately improves operational efficiency, accuracy, and customer experience – three core pillars of modern telecom performance.

12. Why is Customer Experience (CX) tightly linked to operational excellence?

Most customer experience problems – delays, incorrect orders, billing errors, missed SLAs – originate from inefficiencies within the internal BSS/OSS engine. When operators modernise their Digital BSS/OSS processes, eliminate manual workarounds, and ensure accurate orchestration and service activation, the customer experience improves naturally.
This is particularly true for enterprise and wholesale customers, where CX is defined by precision, predictability, and contract performance. Improving CX requires improving the processes beneath it.

13. How do Hansen’s solutions fit into a Tier-1 telco transformation strategy?

Hansen provides cloud-native, API-driven, TMF-compliant, AI-powered Digital BSS/OSS modules that integrate smoothly into hybrid and legacy environments. Operators can use them to strengthen catalog agility, automate order flows, unify data, enhance monetisation, or improve service reliability – without needing to replace their entire BSS/OSS stack.
This flexibility supports transformation at the operator’s own pace, aligned to business priorities, regulatory requirements, and commercial objectives.

14. What benefits can operators expect from a layered or hybrid modernisation approach?

A layered or hybrid approach allows operators to combine existing systems with cloud-native components, enabling transformation without disruption. Key benefits include:
• Faster time-to-market for new offers
• Improved order accuracy and reduced fallout
• Lower cost-to-serve through automation
• Stronger customer experience
• Gradual reduction of technical debt
• Alignment with ODA and modular architecture principles
This approach balances stability with innovation – ideal for Tier-1 operators.

15. How do industry standards such as ODA accelerate telecom digital transformation?

Industry standards like TM Forum ODA and TMF Open APIs reduce integration complexity, promote interoperability, and give operators a trusted blueprint for modernisation. They ensure that new BSS/OSS components can plug into existing environments without custom engineering.
By reducing dependence on bespoke integrations and enabling modular deployment, standards significantly lower long-term cost and accelerate transformation across the business. They also future proof the architecture for new technologies, including AI, automation, and 5G service innovation.


 
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