The TeleManagement Forum (TMF) is launching a telecom operations benchmarking service in conjunction with leading fixed and mobile service providers around the world. The benchmarking service forms a key part of the TMF’s Lean Operator Business Excellence Programme. The aim of this latest addition to the Lean Operator programme is to assist the industry's movement to improving customer service and cutting operating costs by establishing common quantifiable and measurable standards against which service providers can assess their operational efficiency. Working with telecom providers from North America, Europe and Asia, the TMF benchmarking team is defining common metrics as a first step in establishing the programme. The heart of the on-going service will be data collection for these metrics from a global group of service providers. Formal data gathering will begin in August with the first benchmark results and the launch of a subscription-based report series and interactive web portal targeted for the fourth quarter.

The benchmarking process will involve a detailed, web-based response form of more than 50 multi-faceted questions for service providers to answer. The data derived from the answers will provide insight into industry business performance from the perspectives of: revenue and margin, customer experience and operational performance. The detailed metrics definitions will be announced at the TM Forum's TeleManagement World in Nice on 17th May.

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