Edition #45: Can a Customer Experience Layer Replace Your Next Big Transformation?

Maplewave's Grant Carstensen explains why a customer experience layer approach can solve critical telco pain points - without the cost and risk of a full digital transformation program.

What's happening in the market that's making telcos rethink large-scale digital transformation?

Digital transformation programs are high risk but can bring long term benefits when executed well. The cost, the complexity, and the high risk of failure have always been challenges - but now, budget uncertainty is making them much tougher to justify. We're seeing CEOs under fire, 30% capital budget cuts being announced, and boards asking harder questions about multi-year, high-risk investments.

A full billing transformation project - swapping out your consumer CRM, converging multiple billing stacks, migrating customer data - is a multi-year project that comes with a multi-million-dollar price tag for a larger telco. And these projects have a high rate of failure. So, the question becomes: if you can't afford the full transformation, does that mean you can't solve your customer experience problems at all?

We don't think so.

What's the alternative?

Instead of replacing everything from the ground up, telcos can take a customer experience layer approach. The idea is straightforward: rather than converging your billing stacks or replacing your back-end systems, you place a unified interface on top of what already exists.

This isn't a new concept. TM Forum has documented architectural strategies like this - including the Digital Experience Layer (DXL) within their Open Digital Architecture. It's a recognized, endorsed approach. The DXL in its pure form is the RESTful API layer that sits between legacy stacks and new UIs and customer journeys. Maplewave can either work with an existing DXL or ESB layer, or - because our platform is built on modern microservice frameworks and REST APIs - we can serve as part of that layer ourselves, integrating directly with legacy systems and stitching things together through our own service frameworks.

What we're providing is a ready-built commerce platform that serves as a key set of services in that layer - easily integrated and expanded - connecting retail, e-commerce, self-care, and call center channels through API integration with existing systems.

What problems does a customer experience layer actually solve?

The big ones are:

• Fragmented customer views. When a telco has separate billing stacks for mobile and cable, for example, their reps don't see the full customer picture. We consolidate that view across channels so a sales rep sees one customer, not two disconnected accounts.
• Inability to sell converged offers. Many telcos have launched bundled offers (e.g., discounts for customers who have both fixed and mobile), but because the billing stacks don't talk to each other, they can't automate the setup. Customers end up having to call in. Digital channels get crippled. We solve that through integration.
• Inconsistent sales experiences across channels. Reps swivel between multiple systems. Online customers can't complete certain transactions. Our layer provides a single, consistent interface regardless of channel.
• Inventory and transaction management. Serialized inventory, order completion rates, transaction times - these all improve when you have a unified layer managing the process.

Can you provide a real-world example of this works?

One of our clients has two billing systems - one for fixed line, and a different one for mobile. Today, they cannot sell converged offers online - customers have to call the call center, or the call center has to call them. In retail, selling bundled offers requires multiple system swivels. And door-to-door is even worse; reps rely on clipboards and phone calls to swivel between systems, and even selling a single standalone product is a challenge because there's no integrated tablet-based sales solution designed for out-of-store use.

We’ve proposed a DXL approach as a low-cost way to fix this. Through integration to both billing stacks, we can provide an integrated sales experience that allows standalone or converged sales across every channel, including online and door-to-door. The key is that our platform is purpose-built for handling these customer journeys and this level of integration.

What doesn't this approach solve?

We should be clear about that. A customer experience layer doesn't replace your billing stack. It doesn't eliminate back-end tech debt. And if your process for creating new offers at the BSS level is slow, this layer won't fix that specific bottleneck - though we can provide integration to multiple systems where offers are maintained, which can improve time to market in some areas.

What it does is ensure that whatever offers you do create are presented accurately across all channels, that your customers feel like they're dealing with one company, and that your sales teams can complete transactions efficiently.

How does the cost and timeline compare?

A full billing or digital transformation project typically takes multiple years at a considerable IT cost. The customer experience layer approach? While not solving all the same problems as a full transformation, it is much more iterative and predictable in terms of timeline, budget, and at a fraction of the cost.

We almost always recommend smaller, incremental projects. They typically have a higher chance of success, and it allows you to get faster business value. A full transformation across all channels might take a couple of years, but you can get wins incrementally - improving one channel, one integration, one customer journey at a time.

The integration effort does require the telco's IT team engagement and, depending on the situation, involvement from BSS vendors. But much depends on whether APIs already exist and whether the telco has already invested in their own middleware or ESB layer - most have, to some extent. The point is that these are manageable, scoped projects, not bet-the-company transformations.

What about data and analytics?

This is an important question. Without data merged at the database level, real-time APIs alone aren't great for strong analytics. You'll absolutely need a data warehouse or data lake strategy. But again, this can be done incrementally - bring data from legacy systems into a data lake, incrementally bring more in, transform it, and invest in a data strategy. None of which requires replacing any systems.

And with a unified experience layer in place, you're already generating cleaner, more consistent transactional data across channels - which makes that data strategy easier to build over time.

How does AI fit into this picture?

This is where the approach becomes even more compelling. The experience layer you build today becomes the foundation for AI-driven retail operations, supply chain intelligence, and merchandising tomorrow. At Maplewave, we're continuing our investment in public APIs and MCP (Model Context Protocol) support, which will allow our platform to work with any AI investment a carrier makes. When you have unified, accurate data flowing through a single layer, you have the raw material that makes AI useful – data- and that's much harder when data is siloed across disconnected systems.

Why is now the right time for this conversation?

Because budgets are tight, and they're getting tighter. But the customer experience problems aren't going away. Telcos still need to sell converged offers, still need a unified customer view, still need their digital channels to work.

The strategy is clear: don't replace as much. Be more incremental. Use integration to improve experiences and customer journeys. For those who want to deliver fast, simple sales experiences across channels - whether digital or retail - and simplify the customer experience without a full transformation project, this is a proven path forward.

There's a recognized architectural approach, a ready-built platform, and you can start now.