The backbone of any company in the telecommunications sector is the operational and business support systems (OSS/BSS) that help companies manage their products and services. The OSS/BSS system helps in automating or mechanization of a long chain of activities.
These activities include the design of products and services, validating customer's addresses where service is required, qualifying customers, showing available products and services to customers so they can choose what service they want and then performing credit checks, getting a signed contract or agreement from customers and finally ordering of products/services.
These OSS/BSS systems also handle installation coordination, pre-service testing, service turn-up, maintenance, billing, and ongoing coordination of testing and trouble resolution for all provided services. In today's digital age, providing a seamless and efficient customer experience is crucial for any business to succeed.
In addition to the above-mentioned activities, another important capability of this OSS/BSS system is to handle the addition of new products/services by the customer, customer's move to a new address, change in services/products, and disconnect of the services.
Often customers buy, from telecom service providers, multiple services like data, voice, and video services. These products/services typically go through many states. For example, when a customer buys these products/services, they are at first put in a pre-provisioned state. Then when the technician comes to the house to install, for example, a Wi-Fi router and makes all connection, then the state of these products/services are changed to and provisioned state.
Even after the subscriber is active, each of the services may go through vacation, suspend, or abuse states. For example, if a subscriber is found to abuse data service, then that service can be put under suspension due to abuse, but the service provider is legally obliged to keep limited voice service so that the subscriber can make emergency calls to E911. As a result of all these permutations and combinations, a subscriber and subscriber's services go through many states.
Sachidanada Kangovi, an American technology executive, was a Distinguished Engineer at Comcast, a cable and internet industry leader who is at the forefront of providing top-notch customer service.
Dr. Kangovi led the architecture team on this very complex OSS/BSS IT system at Comcast. He is the man behind the transformation of Comcast's OSS/BSS system. Kangovi developed a state machine called Service Linked Multi-State System (SLIMS) to handle all the multiple states described above. This state machine plays an important role in the OSS/BSS system. For this invention of SLIMS, Dr. Kangovi received many patents in the US, Canada, and Europe.
It is worth noting that Kangovi's patented SLIMS system for Operational and Business Support at Comcast has significantly impacted the industry. It has allowed Comcast to offer seamless products and services to millions of customers. This platform enables the company to improve service delivery, reduce errors, and enhance the customer experience. This system is designed to streamline the customer experience by providing a centralized platform for managing various services and products offered by Comcast.
Kangovi was instrumental in the development of the SLIMS system. The SLIMS system has set the benchmark for providing top-notch customer service, enabling Comcast to stay ahead of the competition. His method for provisioning subscribers, products, and services and managing various states in a broadband network has paved the way for a centralized platform that has improved customer service. The patents received for the SLIMS system are a testament to Kangovi's innovation and commitment to providing top-notch customer service.
Kangovi's patents have set a high standard for innovation in the field of Information Technology and have proven to be a crucial aspect of Comcast's success. His work demonstrates the importance of investing in research and development and its impact on a company's growth and reputation.