Success stories. Teradata Replacement.

At the beginning of 2022, Tele2 was going to migrate to a costly and brand new version of Teradata’s RTIM software. The system version in use at the time had some restrictions, therefore not all business requirements could be met swiftly and flexibly. As a result, the company was frequently unable to implement complex business logic chains, or had to deal with suboptimal settings.
In March 2022, Teradata declared that it would no longer work with Russian enterprises. Thus, Tele2 was not only unable to install system version updates in order to remain competitive in the market, but would also receive no support in the event of a system failure.
Therefore, the business needed to find a method to replace the software swiftly and efficiently, without disrupting service delivery.

Tasks

PROMPT SUBSTITUTION OF FOREIGN SOFTWARE

FASTER TIME TO MARKET

OPERATING COST OPTIMIZATION

Solutions

Real-Time Campaign Management is a toolkit that offers real-time event flow analysis, supplements missing data, and enables tailored interaction with the subscriber base at the appropriate time via customized business logic chains. As of March 2022, the company had more than 2,500 active scenarios configured.

Thanks to a long-standing partnership with Bercut, the Tele2 team was not only familiar with a Russian product with similar functions – Bercut Business Rules Engine (BRE), but it was also part of its IT infrastructure.

The Business Rules Engine Bercut is an automated system with intelligent response to events. The platform analyzes the flow of events from external systems in real time. By comparing the parameters and criteria of occurring events, the BRE independently selects a suitable response model, launches and executes user-configured scenarios.

Teradata’s and Bercut’s solutions are very close in terms of dynamics and mechanics. In both cases, users pre-configure rules, criteria, and math formulas, known as decision trees. When a specific event occurs, the system selects the best appropriate response model based on that data. In other words, a certain matrix or combinatorics of conditions is created, which is then analyzed to produce a certain outcome. The system has a maximum response time of one second per request.

Market monitoring indicates that, having similar functionality, Bercut BRE is the most equivalent solution in class to the Teradata RTIM, and it satisfies the operator’s ambitious expectations.

In June 2022, representatives from the companies met in St. Petersburg in person to discuss Tele2’s expectations and the roadmap for the deployment of the Bercut system. The teams collaborated to design criteria that served as the foundation for modernizing the IT solution and create Bercut’s unique telecommunications products.

The BRE system is intended to improve the operational efficiency of the company’s processes while ensuring maximum convenience for the business user. The BRE tool enables businesses to make modifications to existing scenarios and configure new ones without the need to engage skilled IT specialists. With BRE, changes made by the user are immediately reflected in the productive environment. The user can then watch subscriber reactions in real time and make changes to improve the offering. One of the BRE’s fundamental concepts is the separation of technical and business functions: engineers are responsible for the operation of system elements and sophisticated components, while business users are in charge of developing new criteria and business-specific logic.

Products

Hybrid Integration Platform

HIP is the basis for integrations, creating products and automating business processes

Business Rules Engine

is an automated system for intelligent response to events

Result

The initial release of the upgraded BRE, which enabled Tele2 to begin moving the existing scenarios from Teradata RTIM to Bercut’s solution, became available in August 2022. For migration purposes, a specific integration adapter was created using the hybrid integration platform HIP Bercut, which connects the existing environment to BRE. Meanwhile, Tele2’s IT project teams received accelerated online training on the new platform. Bercut also hosted a face-to-face training event for business users, where the first pilot scenario was launched.

Over the course of six months, numerous business users were able to migrate all of the existing logic to BRE, and begin developing new scenarios. As a result, there was no downtime or financial loss during the migration process.

The Tele2 team highlights that the IT solution has shown itself since its inception, decreasing T2M per scenario tenfold and the time to launch a new business logic from an hour to a few seconds. To date, the Bercut and Tele2 teams have established operational engagement in accordance with the SLA requirements, ensuring that any specific requests from the operator are immediately and professionally implemented.

This project is a successful example of replacing imported software with a domestically produced equivalent, with added benefits for the client. Tele2 was able to decrease T2M and the company’s running costs tenfold as early as the stage of replacing the RTIM system, while also gaining access to more capabilities and a flexible tool for targeted marketing. The separation of technical and business functions enabled the operator to autonomously create products that do not require complex custom changes without the involvement of a third party.