Enhancing telecommunications business operations and service level agreements by incorporating operational risk management

In this paper, the need for integrating operational risk management into service level management for telecommunication service providers is discussed, where business operations are predominantly governed by a service level agreement. Operational risks that do or could effect the organization and its ability to comply with service level agreement requirements can then be determined and appropriately managed. Further, service level agreement management and compliance in terms of customer quality of service definitions and metrics can be better defined and monitored, and business operations more effectively aligned to the delivery of customer required services. These needs and benefits also tie in with the fact that enterprise risk management has become mandatory since the introduction of regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley act and Basel II.