TM Forum’s Smart City Operations Map delivers essential design and development tools

10+ cities in China already using Smart City Operations Map for overall operations and programs; Smart City program is key part of TM Forum’s collaborative work focused on helping CSPs access critical markets to offer new products and services.

TM Forum, the industry association driving digital transformation through collaboration, has released a Smart City Operations Map which includes essential smart city design and development tools to help cities easily integrate technology, operations and capital requirements.

Already 10 cities in China are using the Smart City Operations Map for their overall operations and programs, including JI’Nan and Loudi.

The Forum’s smart city program is a key part of collaborative work focused on helping communications service providers (CSPs) and vendors transform their businesses to reap the rewards of a 5G economy. The map allows CSPs that have already invested in open architectures to benefit from seamless interoperability with city data and access critical markets to offer new products and services.

In addition to the Smart City Operations Map, the smart city program also includes benchmarks, Catalyst proof of concept projects, case studies and an IoT Component Suite for end-to-end IoT management.

Building a smart city

Smart cities have complicated operations that leverage data and technology to make informed decisions to provide efficient management. The new Smart City Operations Map is a key tool for helping smart city operators, such as managers in city departments or third-party providers, understand how to integrate emerging technologies and innovation with existing information systems to improve standard-of-living, and offer profitable services and economic opportunities for businesses.

Based on the Forum’s trusted Business Process Framework (eTOM), the Smart City Operations Map describes smart city operations using a common language, and provides descriptions and definitions for business processes, sales and marketing, business fulfillment, assurance and billing. This allows CSPs and vendors and other technology partners that have already built networks and solutions using the Business Process Framework to easily work together in what is typically a complex and siloed environment.

The map also provides instructions for market strategy, customer management, products, services and resources. Finally, it caters for the unique features of cities by including sections on citizen engagement, communities, smart city operators and broader stakeholders.

For example, Inspur, a smart city operator and TM Forum member, is working with over 100 cities in China to help them transform to smart cities. Ten of those cities, including JI’Nan and Loudi, have already implemented TM Forum’s Smart City Operations Map.

“TM Forum’s Smart City Operating Map has been a significant guide for the operation of Smart JI’Nan city,” said Mr. Jiang Zhenhua, Chairman, Smart JI’Nan. “Based on eTOM, this new map provides systematic view of smart city operations for JI’Nan managers and various stakeholders. It also helped Smart JI’Nan standardize the operation management system and business processes, integrate digital resources, and build a cooperative ecosystem so that we can provide quality-assured products and services to the public, businesses and government.”

“Today, most smart city projects are still in the initial stage and face issues such as lack of planning, data islands, unclear characteristics, insufficient effectiveness, lack of operations, lack of long-term sustainable mechanisms and so on,” said Chen Dongfeng, Executive President, Inspur Group. “The Smart City Operations Map is a breakthrough. It not only helps smart cities avoid unnecessary and repetitive business processes, but also aims to innovate a new model of city management and service supply chain together with the whole digital ecosystem.”

“Smart City initiatives around the world are striving to improve the livability of cities as urbanization becomes predominant for over half of the world’s population,” said Joann O’Brien, Vice President of Digital Ecosystems, TM Forum. “However, the design and development of smart cities is still considered a massive feat and solution architects lack holistic tools to do the job. This new Smart City Operations Map provides a framework to solve challenges for both buyers and sellers to help make smart city initiatives a success.”