The We Are Cortex automation platform uses ‘Process Fragments’ to support reuse and portability of existing automation flows, ensuring that none are ever wasted as legacy systems are retired or replaced.
Automation is no longer a choice, it’s a necessity. While it lays the foundations for future technologies, such as the deployment of AI in telecoms infrastructure – which is likely to take a decade or so – it also adds value right now.
Automation reduces complexity, boosts efficiency, promotes agile service delivery, enables the retirement of legacy platforms at the right time without disruption, and reduces human error. And it can do this right now.
However, there is a perception that automation must follow preparatory work, through the perfection of existing legacy processes and systems, and that it can only be applied to the very latest generations of technology.
That’s not the case. Automation can be applied to any generation of technology, not just the latest…or the next anticipated technology shift.
This is of fundamental importance, because we simply can’t wait to achieve perfection before introducing automation at scale: you must work with what’s in front of you, even while you may target retirement projects in future budget cycles, because we need the benefits today.
So, we need to be able to automate and optimise as we go — really, as part of our daily pursuit of operational excellence and sustained innovation — implementing programmes and projects now, even while planning for the future.
The importance of reusability and portability in optimisation
To achieve this, we need reusability and portability. So, consider if we implement an automation flow that spans legacy as well as modern infrastructure, under a single pane of glass. What happens if we retire the legacy or replace such a solution with a more modern equivalent?
The answer is that an automation is simply a logical sequence of triggered events and actions, assembled as a workflow. It unifies different solutions through integration with the underlying components, but it is not (or should not be) tied to those.
Because of this abstraction, with the right solution framework, we can reuse the automation and adjust the integration to the underlying components without impacting or changing the logic of the automation.
With reusable components, we can pursue aggressive optimisation and automation programmes, even while planning the next cycle of network transformation and upgrades – because the automation lies in the logic, not in the components or the interfaces to those components. But how?
This is achieved by the ‘Process Fragments’ supported by the CORTEX automation platform. Process fragments, chains, and function blocks can be reused across multiple areas, making the process of automation repeatable by domain, process, or project. It enables a pragmatic and repeatable approach to automation.
Process Fragments enable reusability and portability
Our platform uses reusable process microservices and comes with over 200 pre-built Function Blocks, or ‘Process Fragments’, which can be built up over time to cover cross-domain, hyperautomation processes.
It means that an automation flow that spans legacy and modern infrastructure is never wasted. This flow can be managed through a single pane of glass, and when a legacy system is replaced or retired the existing automation can simply be reused and ported.
This is what you get with We Are CORTEX. The reusability and portability of the CORTEX automation platform supports an incremental approach to optimisation. It arms operators and CSPs with a pragmatic, flexible, and future-proof way to automate as many sub-processes, processes, or domains as required.
In turn, our approach reduces risk and business disruption, while providing immediate value. So multiple projects can be initiated in parallel at a micro level as opposed to huge, risky transformation projects.
When legacy systems are retired, each automation process fragment can be reused and ported to newer technologies, without the need to start from scratch. The reusability simply means that each automation can be adjusted to the new integration without changing the automation logic.
This means that operators can benefit from a sustainable approach that reduces investment risk and means that they can retain all automations, even as the network evolves – enabling continuous optimisation across the organisation.
If you would like to know more about the reusability and portability of CORTEX process fragments — and the right way to optimise networks and operations — download our latest paper here.
