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BSS/OSS Academy

Transformation Reality Check

What does the evidence tell us about transformation?

Transformation programmes succeed or fall short for many reasons — strategy and business alignment, architecture, governance, skills, execution and change management. This section brings together findings from credible research, keeps each source’s own wording and qualification, and separates what the research says from what the Academy reads into it.

Evidence reviewed: Sep 2026 · 14 findings from 12 publications · Every statistic was read in its source before publication.

Did you know?

4 of 6

66%

of CSP IT executives rated IT modernisation and technical-debt reduction a high priority; 70% said the same of cost optimisation

TM Forum · May 2026 (data 2026) · Global telco

Medium confidenceFreshness: Current

The evidence library

Each card shows one finding from one source. Open a card to see what the research says, what the Academy makes of it, and where it came from.

Showing 14 of 14 findings

Did you know?Contextual

≤26%

reported success rate among high tech, media and telecom respondents

McKinsey & Company · 2018 · Global telco

Freshness: Historical
Did you know?Contextual

Qualitative finding

BCG names five ways telco transformations fail at the outset

Boston Consulting Group · 2024 · Global telco

Freshness: Recent
Did you know?Contextual

Qualitative finding

Telco executives rank ineffective transformation as a top-three sector risk, behind budget, collaboration and skills

EY · 2025 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Medium confidence

17%

of CSP respondents had moved at least half of their OSS/BSS workloads to the public cloud — up from 8% in 2021

TM Forum · 2024 · Global telco

Freshness: Recent
Did you know?Medium confidence

66%

of CSP IT executives rated IT modernisation and technical-debt reduction a high priority; 70% said the same of cost optimisation

TM Forum · 2026 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Contextual

Qualitative finding

CSP IT leaders increasingly name unclear vision and organisational culture as major transformation obstacles

TM Forum · 2026 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Medium confidence

42%

of CSP decision-makers said their OSS/BSS procurement will be entirely driven by systems' ability to enable a platform business model and partner ecosystems; a further 46% called it a consideration

TM Forum · 2025 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Contextual

11%

of 100 CSPs surveyed had sufficient BSS in place for effective 5G monetisation; 98% said they would have to alter their BSS

Nokia · 2022 · Global telco

Freshness: Aging
Did you know?Contextual

10–15%

reduction in cost to serve from holistic telco transformation, with up to 8% incremental revenue a year and 20–40-point satisfaction gains, per McKinsey's prior research

McKinsey & Company · 2024 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Medium confidence

−10–15%

decline in telcos' return on invested capital in North America and Europe from 2018 to 2022, as industry invested capital rose by around $300 billion

McKinsey & Company · 2024 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Medium confidence

2 of 87

senior CSP IT and network leaders who reported that their company has fully democratised data

TM Forum · 2025 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Contextual

38%

of operators still collecting data in silos, managed separately by different teams (GSMA Intelligence with RADCOM)

GSMA Intelligence · 2026 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Contextual

75%

of telecom CEOs who say outdated IT platforms slow their ability to innovate (EY CEO Outlook Pulse)

EY · 2026 · Global telco

Freshness: Current
Did you know?Medium confidence

71%

of CSPs who said cultural and organisational issues are a serious barrier to digital transformation (TM Forum Digital Transformation Tracker 3)

TM Forum · 2018 · Global telco

Freshness: Historical

What successful transformations do differently

The same research also describes what the successful organisations had in place. The failure side of the evidence is under What Can Go Wrong?.

01

Strong executive sponsorship

Leadership commitment from the CEO through middle management, sustained for the life of the programme.

Evidence

02

Clear business outcomes

Target value defined before the platform is chosen and measured after go-live.

Evidence

03

Business and IT co-ownership

The business is accountable for delivery decisions, not only for sponsorship.

Evidence

04

Effective governance

Decision forums, stage gates and escalation that move at the speed of the programme.

Evidence

05

Architecture discipline

A business-led, modular platform with a funded plan to retire what it replaces.

Evidence

06

Organisational readiness

Skills, roles and operating model prepared before implementation, not after.

Evidence

07

Change management

A change story communicated by leaders, and roles redefined to match the goal.

Evidence

08

Data readiness

Data profiled and sized before the migration plan is written.

Evidence

09

Benefits tracking

Progress monitored against defined outcomes throughout.

Evidence