Leading service providers and industry suppliers join Standards Procurement Council to improve efficiency in procurement process

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TM Forum today announced the formation of the Standards Procurement Council, a group comprised of leading service providers and their suppliers that collaborates to establish best practices to improve efficiency across the procurement process. This council is the next stage of TM Forum’s overarching program to simplify standards-based procurement in communications. TM Forum announced the council at Management World Americas 2011, Nov. 8-10, at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

The announcement of the new council follows the introduction of Conformance Certification for the Forum’s Frameworx suite of standards last year. TM Forum’s Frameworx Conformance Certification, a key to reducing inefficiency in the procurement process, provides an independent assessment of a product or solution’s conformance to Frameworx. To date, TM Forum has already awarded certification to over 20 commercial-off-the-shelf products and solutions.

According to the recent Frameworx Adoption Survey results which the TM Forum also announced today, 63 percent of service providers mandate Frameworx in relevant procurement activities while the use of TM Forum’s Frameworx Procurement templates has grown to 41 percent in 12 months. These statistics validate the importance of Frameworx Conformance Certification as service providers move to deliver next-generation services.

“What’s become clear through our research is that the cost of procurement is far too high, with estimates in the range of $2 million for a major procurement exercise. This level of expense is not sustainable in a market where margins are under intense pressure,” said Martin Creaner, President and CEO, TM Forum. “The Standards Procurement Council brings together service providers and suppliers to focus on the issues behind these costs in detail, and will deliver best practices to dramatically reduce this unproductive burden on our industry.”

The initial members of the Standards Procurement Council include Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, NetCracker, NSN, NTT, Oracle and Reliance Group. These members will work together within TM Forum to engage the industry to establish best practices for procurement, encourage adoption of standards-based solutions and accelerate the realization of IT transparency, efficiency and agility in procurement.

“Today, inefficiency in the procurement process is eating up the profits of both service providers and suppliers,” said Gordon Rawling, Director of EMEA Marketing, Oracle. “The Standards Procurement Council will establish a clear understanding of a business’ requirements and improve communications between service providers and suppliers. These efforts will reduce response and decision times, as well as the cost of the entire procurement process.”

The first meeting of the Standards Procurement Council is set for Wednesday, Nov. 9^th, at Management World Americas 2011. For more information and results from the meeting, please visit TM Forum’s Procurement website.

Resources

• To learn more about TM Forum, visit our website.
• Visit TM Forum’s Procurement website to read more.
• To learn how your products and solutions can become Frameworx-conformant, visit the Conformance Certification website.
• For a list of Product Conformance-Certified Suppliers, please visit the website.
• You can also view an online list of Solution Conformance-Certified Suppliers.
• For information about TM Forum’s upcoming events and conferences visit our event website.
• Stay informed about TM Forum news by subscribing to TM Forum’s press release RSS feed and newsletters.

Tags

TM Forum, Management World Americas 2011, Orlando, Peabody Hotel, Standards Procurement Council, procurement, Frameworx, Conformance Certification

About TM Forum:

TM Forum is a global, non-profit industry association focused on simplifying the complexity of running a service provider’s business. As an established industry thought-leader, the Forum serves as a unifying force, enabling more than 775 companies across 195 countries to solve critical business issues through access to a wealth of knowledge, intellectual capital and standards.

The Forum provides a unique, fair and safe environment for the entire value-chain to collaborate on pressing industry issues, helping companies of all sizes gain a competitive edge and the flexibility and speed they need to underpin future growth.

For more information about TM Forum, visit www.tmforum.org.

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