The annual GOVSATCOM conference is an important event for the Satcom industry, attended by satellite, governmental, institutional and defence leads. After its postponement in 2021, the event returned this year and took place in Luxembourg on 24th February, attracting over 500 participants and around 30 speakers.
This year’s event focused around the future of the industry. In-line with the theme, Helen Weedon, Managing Director, Satcoms Innovation Group moderated a panel discussion on the challenges and best practices of Service Management leading to Service Delivery. The panellists, all experts in the satcom field, were:
Dave Davis, Technical Director, ST Engineering iDirect
Russ Hogan, Service Operations Manager, GovSat
Karl Reddy, VP, SES Global Services
Andreas Voigt, Senior Engineer, Service Operations, EUTELSAT
The evolution of traditional service delivery
Satcom service delivery and service management is rapidly evolving and shifting towards automation and cloud-working. Customer and user needs have changed and there is an expectation for up to date and accessible data. Technology is advancing at an exponential rate and finding the balance between what customers want and what end users want has become ever more complex. As Russ Hogan, who also sits on the SIG advisory board explains, service delivery and service management is certainly not ‘one size fits all’.
It is important to remember that what is accepted as best practice in the commercial sector is not always ‘best’ within the military and governmental institutions. As the current industry trend towards automation continues, there still remains a clear need for customer support and the ‘human element’ when required. Security is, of course, paramount and remains at the forefront of all industry developments.
Security in an automated world
All panellists agreed that as service delivery moves towards greater levels of automation and cloud-based working, there is a need for a multi layered approach to ensure that security is not impacted. This approach requires the right equipment to be in place alongside robust processes that locate, identify and eradicate interference, thus mitigating interference and signal jamming concerns.
Dave Davis commented on the PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) approach and the importance of having that built into the service management and service delivery from the very beginning because without it, when things go wrong, it is already too late.
Data and system management
Even though users have an expectation of up to date, accurate data and analysis, there is still a need for simplicity. Management tools and data provision need to be intuitive and not overly complicated by multiple platforms, systems and tools.
Karl Reddy commented that lessons can be learnt from how the big telcos operate in terms of their network architecture, standardization of interfaces and systems. Like telcos, satellite operators need to be able to scale quickly, work flexibly and be agile while providing high quality service. SES Global Services is already seeing the benefits of the digital transformation programme which is transforming its enterprise, operations and development of new services for the cloud-scale era with standardisation and interoperability at its heart.
Andreas Voigt, who with his other hat on, also happens to be director of the Satcom Innovation Group, explains that the new flexible satellite systems that Eutelsat are operating give the customers far greater autonomy over designing their own footprint but Eutelsat is still there to help and assist when necessary.
Looking forward – what’s on the horizon?
A more hybrid, integrated and flexible form of service delivery seems likely within the next five years, utilising cloud-working and 5G to deliver full scale internet service provision. All panellists agreed that there will be more automation, but traditional service delivery and service management is definitely not dead. Yes, automation is the right way to go for improved efficiency, service quality and intelligent data provision, but there is also still a very strong need for the human touch.