As CSPs modernize operations, Ericsson’s OSS/BSS Business Value Pathways target monetization, experience and efficiency
As communications service providers (CSPs) work toward increasingly autonomous networks, the OSS/BSS conversation is shifting. As AI solutions mature, CSPs are focused on where AI can create measurable value, how they can develop trust in autonomous systems and whether fragmented data environments can support the move from automation to autonomy.
For Robert Curran, consulting analyst with Appledore Research, that is the central challenge facing the market. “The first and most critical one, I think, is just the impact of AI in this whole area and understanding…where it should have an impact, where it can have an impact, what makes most sense,” he said. Operators also need to distinguish near-term, high-value use cases from those that can wait. And, as ever, they have to confront the data problem. “Data is very fragmented,” Curran said. “It’s still the case — I know it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true— which is the siloed data.”
This is critical because autonomous networks depend on the right data being available in the right place at the right time. Without that foundation, AI remains experimental rather than operational. Without clear business outcomes, it risks becoming another technology cycle that consumes budget without changing how CSPs sell, deliver and monetize services.
Ericsson Head of Portfolio Business and Operations Support Systems, Jason Keane said that same dynamic is shaping customer conversations. “AI is a huge impact on the industry, but if you don’t have good data, you’re really not getting a good outcome,” he said. He also pointed to growing fatigue around AI investment without a clear return. “We need to get down and get the actual value back out of the network.”
Ericsson’s response is to frame OSS/BSS transformation around what it calls Business Value Pathways: outcome-led approaches that work backward from business priorities into the required technology, data and operational capabilities. The company’s newly announced pathways focus on accelerating monetization, enabling experience and improving efficiency, with specific pathways for faster data transformation, zero-touch product launch, agentic AI service experience and agentic AI for intelligent IT operations. The pathways are detailed in: Outcomes first, autonomy follows – Business Value Pathways towards autonomous networks.
Keane highlighted the importance of that shift because operators have often over-indexed on the architecture and under-indexed on the business result. Ericsson is focused on “the actual impactful use cases that we can deliver,” he said. “We probably spend a little too much focus on the wonderful technology but not the business outcome we want.”
Agentic AI fits into this evolution as a practical operating capability, not a bolt-on feature. Keane described Ericsson’s OSS/BSS portfolio as moving toward connected data, a knowledge plane, and ultimately orchestration of agents that can help deliver outcomes. “It’s not just that you bolt AI on the side, but you embed it in what you do,” he said.
Curran sees that as a meaningful market shift. “AI is everywhere, agentic is…everywhere in the OSS/BSS portfolio,” he said. The implication for CSPs is that autonomous networks will not be achieved through AI hype or isolated automation projects. They will require clean data, trusted intelligence, cross-domain orchestration and a disciplined focus on business value.
In Ericsson’s framing, the path to autonomy starts with outcomes. The technology matters, but only insofar as it helps CSPs move faster, operate more efficiently, improve customer experience and monetize new services with confidence.
