CUSTOMER SERVICE SYSTEM - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

BT's Customer Service System (CSS) is the core operational support sys tem for BT and brings in 70% of BT's income. It was rolled out nationa lly in 1989 and provided an integrated system for telephony - order ha ndling, repair handling and billing. It continues to grow in size and scope to handle new products and services and increasingly is interfac ed to other systems to facilitate automation of business processes. Th e need to overcome its limitations drives an evolution process for the system which is lending to the development of complementary platforms with which CSS must interwork and which will eventually replace it.