ODA helps CSPs transform — one value stream at a time
AI and network APIs are moving swiftly from concept to reality, but they require an architecture with standard components, shared data, and predictable interfaces. Open digital architecture (ODA) provides that foundation via clear contracts, a shared model, and an architecture canvas that guides execution, backed by conformance programs. This Viewpoint looks at what ODA transformation can mean for communication service providers (CSPs), how to deliver that one value stream at a time, and how to ensure success.
THE NEED FOR ARCHITECTURAL TRANSFORMATION
Two major shifts are reshaping telco IT. First, as AI becomes mainstream, teams are using agents and copilots to write code, run customer service workflows, and ultimately enhance the customer journey. Second, network APIs are starting to reach commercial scale. Through GSMA’s Open Gateway (via CAMARA), operators are publishing common APIs that work the same across carriers, including number verification, SIM swap, quality on demand, and device reachability. Additionally, telco API aggregators like Aduna and Bridge Alliance are providing developers with more user coverage, which is key to network API adoption.
However, AI and network APIs can only deliver on their potential when the underlying architecture uses standard components, shared data models, and predictable interfaces (for an overview of ODA, see the Viewpoint “Open Digital Architecture: The Next Frontier for Telecom Operators”). That’s the idea behind the TM Forum (TMF) ODA, a componentized, cloud‑native blueprint reinforced by TMF Open APIs and an execution blueprint (the ODA Canvas) backed by conformance programs, such as Open API Conformance, Running on ODA, and (since 2025) ODA Component and Canvas certifications.
What Is ODA?
ODA is a modular, domain‑mapped set of software components that expose business and operational capabilities through TMF Open APIs, built on the Shared Information and Data (SID) model. The ODA canvas, a critical component of the ODA operating model, shown in Figure 1, is the reference architecture; it registers components, exposes their APIs, orchestrates continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD), and provides a conformance test kit to verify behavior. When combined with Running on ODA (see Figure 2) and Component/Canvas certifications (for vendors/operators), ODA creates a framework that de‑risks integration, reduces the chance of vendor lock‑in, and accelerates change.
ODA VALUE ENABLERS
Done well, ODA offers CSPs several value-creation opportunities:
HOW ODA IMPACTS VALUE STREAMS
When a customer buys a plan online, the typical workflow is:
In legacy setups, each of these blocks was developed separately for each product and channel, with limited reuse and inconsistent data models. This was problematic because customer journeys were different across channels, with each new product requiring custom integration, significantly slowing time to market.
ODA standardizes these blocks and lets them converse using common, reusable APIs. That means CSPs can assemble and change offers like LEGO pieces, reducing integration cost, delivery risk, and dependency on individual vendors. This results in faster time to market for new offers, lower IT change costs, and more consistent customer experiences across digital and physical channels.
CASE STUDY: AXIATA
Axiata was among the first telecommunications groups to achieve Running on ODA status (alongside Reliance Jio and Vodafone Group), ensuring its place as an early leader in digital transformation. Axiata implemented a federated, ODA-aligned technology backbone that supports group-wide governance while allowing for local, autonomous innovation. This approach eliminated vendor lock-in, optimized time to market, improved the customer’s digital experience, delivered aggressive cost savings, and positioned the company as a model for other telcos attempting ODA transformation.
Axiata Digital Labs architected and deployed the Axonect Fabric and API Management Platforms across Axiata’s operating companies to deliver vendor-agnostic, microservices-based ODA components to replace legacy platforms and integrations. Axonect reveals business capabilities through TMF Open APIs and facilitates orchestration across cloud-native and legacy landscapes, enabling both legacy asset sweating and opportunistic modernization. The Axonect Fabric and API Management Platforms incorporate enhanced ODA Canvas, Open APIs, GSMA Open Gateway APIs, API governance, and reusable ODA components.
The framework is a solid foundation for building an agentic AI layer atop ODA. By embedding AI enablement and governance within the ODA Canvas, Axiata established a unified intelligence layer that integrates traditional AI and GenAI. This provided a foundation for automated service creation, improved discoverability of modular components with knowledge bases, domain-specific AI models, and enhanced component and AI orchestration. Today, Axiata’s architecture encompasses more than 10,000 APIs, 4,000 microservices, and 1,300 reusable assets.
By leveraging ODA Canvas/Open APIs, Axiata boosted AI deployment cycles by up to 80% for design and 20% for go to market while improving operational efficiency by 40%. The alignment between ODA and AI frameworks demonstrates how open, standardized architectures can drive innovation at scale while lowering TCO. Interestingly, these results were delivered without mass-scale BSS transformation programs or business disruptions while coexisting with legacy systems (see Figure 3).
CASE STUDY: VODAFONE UK
Vodafone received Running on ODA status in 2022, one of the first global operators to do so. The program aligned architecture, Open API adoption, and operations across the group and set the stage for consistent delivery at scale. Vodafone also industrialized API governance by creating an API Guild and automating conformance against TMF Open APIs. This cut integration costs by millions of dollars, reduced API deviations by ~90%, and increased API adoption by ~50% across markets.
Vodafone uses ODA practices and Open APIs as the foundation for automation and AI at the group level. As showcased at DTW Ignite 2025, Vodafone has been involved in catalysts that combine Open API-aligned data and agentic AI for service assurance and network operations. This indicates a path where ODA contracts and telemetry become a safe surface for AI to reason and act.
On the commercial front, Vodafone UK reports material improvements after transforming the digital experience with Open APIs and a modular architecture. Digital sales increased more than 50%, conversion improved by 30%, and net promoter score (NPS) tripled. The program also automated more than half of customer interactions. These results show the link between standard interfaces, modular delivery, and business performance (see Figure 4).
On the engineering front, automated conformance and reuse significantly reduced cost and optimized time to market. The conformance engine and guild model are credited with millions in savings and faster onboarding of new integrations, exactly the kind of benefits ODA was designed to produce.
CHALLENGES TO CONFRONT EARLY
Early ODA adopters have demonstrated that successful transformation requires a well-thought-out program setup that has the following functions.
Ties technology transformation to business outcome
Technology modernization must carefully align with business outcomes and support the company’s overall strategic vision. Without clear KPIs that tie to strategic initiatives, such as time to market, reuse rates, cost per change, and NPS impact, ODA risks being treated as an IT exercise rather than a business transformation.
Has strong executive sponsorship
For this type of transformation to succeed, executive leadership must directly sponsor the initiative and strongly support it. ODA dramatically accelerates product creation, so teams must be prepared to manage APIs, cloud costs, and security as part of the same lifecycle. This means drastic changes to the operating model, including product management, DevSecOps, and FinOps; an upskilled workforce to successfully implement the new operating model; and updated sourcing and contracting models so suppliers are rewarded for conformance, reuse, and portability.
Adapting the target operating model and onboarding expertise to deliver on the transformation is a challenge, but cultural rewiring is the real test. Vodafone’s transformation shows that agility and speed came not just from new platforms, but from shifting how people collaborate and how success is measured. Its focus moved from delivering systems to delivering outcomes, supported by shared metrics across business and technology teams. These cultural and operational adaptations need to be stimulated by top leaders through continuous communication about the program and investment in it.
Takes a phased approach
Legacy systems with tightly coupled processes and point-to-point integrations are difficult to break apart, so success depends on a phased approach rather than a big-bang replacement. Wrap critical functions with APIs, introduce modular components around them, and retire old platforms progressively. TMF’s ODA implementation guides offer practical examples of how to safely manage this type of hybrid environment.
Uses strong data & API governance
Without a clear catalog, versioning policy, and consistent security model, APIs quickly become a tangle of inconsistent services. ODA adoption must start with a simple governance backbone that is strongly enforced: a single API catalog, standard versioning rules, and automated conformance checks. Everything should be based on the TMF SID model, so data definitions stay consistent across domains. Rather than a one-time event, API conformance must be continuous, automated in CI/CD pipelines, and visible to all teams. When our clients treat this as an ongoing practice, we see faster integration, fewer regressions, and less technical debt.
Creates a strong security posture from the start
Every new API increases exposure. As API footprints expand, so must the operator’s security posture, by hardening authentication and authorization, properly encrypting secrets, and tracking dependencies and supply chain components. The ODA Canvas should include observability and security guardrails from the start, rather than tacking them on later. Remember that security and resilience are cultural disciplines. Teams must understand how to build safely in the open, monitor continuously, and recover fast. Embedding these principles in the canvas design and in DevSecOps practices ensures that scaling ODA and AI remains safe and compliant.
THE ODA PLAYBOOK
Start with a strategy executive leadership is ready to sponsor
ODA transformation should not begin without a clear strategy defined by the company’s executive team and a clear commitment by top management to sponsor the program and drive it to success. Start with value, not architecture. CSPs should anchor their ODA programs on the value streams that matter most to customers and the bottom line. To avoid a big-bang transformation, CSPs should select two or three journeys where time to market or cost-efficiency are visible constraints (e.g., prepaid onboarding, SME bundles, or fiber change requests). For each value stream, they should build a business case around measures like launch speed, API reuse, and/or cost per transaction. Keep in mind that architecture is a means to an end, not the goal itself.
Modernize through composition, not wholesale replacement
Full-system rewrites rarely succeed. Instead, CSPs should build new components and APIs around the parts of legacy that still work and progressively phase out what no longer adds value. Each release should complete a single flow from end to end while maintaining business continuity. The focus should be on adding composable capability rather than replacing entire platforms.
Use ODA Canvas as fast feedback zone
CSPs can deploy a secure ODA-compliant environment early to give teams a safe place to experiment and release at pace. This should be lean but production-grade, with CI/CD, observability, and automated conformance tests built in. The idea is to shorten feedback loops so that developers, architects, and operations teams can see results quickly and fix issues before scaling.
Operationalize reuse
Once components and APIs are stable, CSPs should treat reuse as a main ODA KPI. They should track which components are used across journeys or markets and make that data visible by publishing working blueprints and patterns so teams can build on what already exists. Operators like Vodafone have demonstrated that disciplined reuse translates directly into millions of dollars saved and faster time to market.
Expand intelligently
Once early value streams show tangible results, CSPs should carefully scale ODA adoption, extending proven components and APIs to new journeys and markets while reinforcing existing governance and observability practices.
Close the loop with AI
With components, APIs, and observability in place, ODA becomes a natural foundation for AI. CSPs can leverage telemetry and operational data to train predictive and generative models that automate processes, improve customer experiences, and guide investment decisions. This combination will define how the next generation of operating models delivers value at scale.
THE URGENCY TO GET IT RIGHT
Transformation programs do not occur often within a firm and can either create significant value or fail, leading to substantial and costly write-offs. When it comes to ODA, we have seen some early adopters succeed in their transformation programs, unlocking significant value, while others failed and incurred significant write-offs. With the advent of AI, CSPs that fail to consider ODA will fall behind. CSPs should immediately develop a clear business strategy and transformation plan to leverage this opportunity and create significant value for the firm and its shareholders. CSP executives should act as the key drivers and sponsors of this change to ensure the firm aligns around a common, value-cumulative goal and is equipped with the right expertise and tools to deliver it successfully.
Conclusion
EMBARKING ON THE ODA JOURNEY
CSPs should not view ODA as merely an architectural blueprint or wholesale IT rebuild but rather as a disciplined, progressive, outcomes-led transformation journey. This requires a clear strategic vision that will help ODA become an ingrained operating habit rather than a one-off project, moving CSPs smoothly from digital aspiration to digital mastery. Importantly:
By Makram Chehayeb, Dr. Karim Taga, Christoph Uferer, Abhishek Srivastava, Anthony Rodrigo
cloud technology
Suma Capital cerró el ejercicio con 12 fondos y estrategias de invers...
