Five must-have customization features in modern BSS/OSS systems to boost business agility

Have you ever been involved in a BSS/OSS development project for a telecom operator and realized that the product needed just a little bit of extra functionality to meet the business goals? Maybe you needed an event to trigger a message in the right format to another application. Or perhaps you wanted to integrate a slice of another application’s UI into your BSS/OSS system, making it more accessible to customer service agents or technicians. Or maybe you discovered the API didn’t expose the exact piece of data you needed.

If you recognize these scenarios, you’re not alone. Customization has always been a recurring theme in BSS/OSS projects.

For the last two decades, I’ve worked with BSS/OSS development for telecom operators and seen the balance evolve between out-of-the-box functionality and customization capabilities. Off-the-shelf features give you speed, but adaptability ensures long-term relevance.

Even with the rise of SaaS, no-code tools, and industry-standard processes, the ability to extend and adapt a system remains crucial. And yet, customization options are rarely mentioned in RFPs. Time and again, they prove to be decisive once a system is in place and organizations discover real-world needs that standard features alone can’t address.

That’s why it’s worth looking closely at the customization capabilities a vendor provides. Here are five features I believe are must-haves for enabling business agility and driving long-term value:

1. Configurable Custom Fields
   Sooner or later, you’ll need to extend the system’s data model. Maybe it’s a reference field, a date, or an attribute critical to your business. A flexible custom fields framework allows you to add, hide, or modify information without relying on costly development.
   
   The best solutions go beyond storing the data:
   

   • Are custom fields available through APIs?

   • Can they be imported/exported with standard data?

   • Can they be surfaced easily in the UI?

   
   A strong custom fields tool lets you adapt the model as your business evolves, without triggering lengthy projects.

2. Extendable APIs
   APIs are the backbone of modern BSS/OSS integrations. But what happens when the API doesn’t provide the method or data you need? That’s where extendable APIs become a differentiator.
   
   Instead of waiting for a vendor release, extendable APIs let you publish small, pluggable extensions to expose the missing functionality. Whether it’s a quick low-code approach for prototyping or a production-ready integration, having this flexibility prevents bottlenecks and accelerates delivery.

3. Custom Views
   Customer 360 views, dashboards, and operational screens rarely cover 100% of your needs. You’ll often want to add a field, create a new tab, or embed another application. Custom views, also called widgets, web parts, or, in our case, UI Plugins, make this possible.
   
   With a standardized framework, you can typically:
   

   • Extend existing overviews

   • Add buttons or actions

   • Integrate other applications into a “single pane of glass”

   The key is avoiding heavy, one-off development. Configurable UI plugins should be deployable, testable, and portable between environments, making customization sustainable over time.

   
   

4. Event Triggering and Handling
   

   Modern BSS/OSS systems thrive on event-driven architecture. Events, like creating a customer, updating an address, or provisioning a service, should be easily captured and acted upon.

   Robust systems provide a mix of configurable event options (e.g., webhooks) and frameworks for developing custom event handlers. This ensures you can integrate with marketing tools, GIS/PNI systems, or other platforms without fragile workarounds.

   When events are handled consistently and efficiently, they reduce manual intervention, support automation, and improve data integrity across systems.

    

5. Process Dependency Injection

   Not every process can be handled by configuration or low-code. Sometimes, you need to inject logic into the system, for example, making availability checks against a network planning system before confirming a service order.

   This is where Inversion of Control (IoC) and dependency injection become powerful. With IoC, processes aren’t hard-coded; they’re designed to accept extensions or replacements. That means you can add custom code at strategic points without breaking the system.

   The result: flexibility to meet unique business needs today, and confidence that you won’t hit a wall tomorrow.

Off-the-shelf features give you speed, but adaptability ensures business agility and long-term relevance.

— Ulf Engstrand, Senior Product Specialist at Netadmin

Striking the Balance

The sweet spot between out-of-the-box functionality and customization is not about choosing one over the other, it’s about balance. Today, 80–90% out-of-the-box coverage is often realistic. But without the right customization features, that final 10–20% can become expensive and risky.

A modern BSS/OSS system should give you both: a rich set of ready-to-use features and the frameworks to extend them efficiently. That’s what ensures adaptability, reduces vendor lock-in, and supports long-term innovation.

At Netadmin, we embrace this philosophy. Our modern BSS/OSS solution, built on cloud technologies and industry standards like TM Forum, is designed to strike the right balance: comprehensive built-in functionality for retail and wholesale network operators and ISPs, paired with a rich set of customization options. This ensures our customers can meet evolving demands, accelerate time-to-market, and maintain business agility in a rapidly changing industry.