Enhancing service providers reliability by mitigating supply chain risk : the case of telecommunication networks

Abstract

Service providers rely on the continuity of their service to sustain their businesses. While at first glance it may seem that service providers are not as dependent on their supply chain as product companies are, a closer look of some relevant systems shows that a stable and resilient supply chain is a key for both maintaining service and growing it. A wireless network provider which does not have spare parts in place to maintain existing cell sites will see an increase in outage duration and, thereby, customer churn. A cable/satellite service provider which does not have the equipment at the right place and in time to expand to a new market will see competitors capturing customers. In order to eliminate or at least mitigate these types of business risks for service providers, a transformation of the Time to Recovery (TTR) / Time to Survive (TTS) framework is shown to fit the service domain. TTR represents the time it takes for a supply chain system to recover from a disrupted supplier. TTS represents the time a supply chain system can continue to operate while its sources of supply are disrupted. The key metric which is introduced is value of service, which allows us to measure the actual lost value as a result of service disruptions.