Embrace change, avoid disruption
MTN Group has successfully installed Exfo’s ‘context dynamic’ design in 14 African countries to support its digital transformation, it says. Testing, monitoring and analytics specialist Exfo will run a tighter, more secure network inventory and boost performance across MTN’s voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale and API services to 270 million customers in 19 markets.
After early adoption of the system in MTN Uganda and South Africa, the mobile operators said that a simplified network management and a better picture of its telecom assets had measurably improved the quality of their customer services. Exfo Context has streamlined MTN’s network management, created a more reliable data inventory and made the planning and assurance processes more thorough.
Exfo Context uses native graph database technology and a semantic modelling framework to extend a complete dynamic view of networks, services and customer dependencies enabling key automation use cases. Automation relieves pressure on network managers, giving them the right information at the right time to make informed decisions, the vendor says.
It can be stressful for people when a company is in a permanent state of flux and the work environment becomes unstable. Meanwhile, from a management perspective, the introduction of new technologies like 5G, network virtualisation and programmable networking multiply the complexity. All of which makes the need for visibility is a vital quality, according to MTN Group CTO Amith Maharaj.
Meanwhile customers want reliable service performance, which is also made more difficult by the increased complexity of the network and related service assurance processes. With the help of Exfo’s automated updates, change audits and service impact analysis, MTN operators have helped to keep everyone happy. At MTN Uganda, where most of the planning and operation team is using Exfo, the finance and resourcing departments are using network data to guide their budgeting decisions, said Ali Monzer, CTIO, MTN Uganda.
Staff and network managers feel reassuringly in control of their lives as they can quickly grasp the state of their network and assess the impact of faults or planned maintenance activity. Stress levels are kept to a minimum when everyone understands whether detected changes have received the necessary approval from a change management process perspective, according to Exfo’s VP for EMEA Wim te Niet.
The digital transformation of the network is a top priority for MTN and wherever Exfo’s system is in place it will support the adoption of new technologies accord to Lloyd Mphahlele, MTN Group GM: Transport and OSS Tools. “The transformation was enormous and exciting at the same time. Exfo addressed the complexity in the network domain and create a single pane end-to-end view, that has significantly improved our operations,” said Mphahlele.
More detail are here. The Exfo specialists will be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 27 – March 2.