ductivity, efficiency and overall customer service effectiveness will not be realized for OSS infrastructure without proper operational volume or business complexity. Therefore, a balance is required whereby the OSS investment precedes the business by about six or seven months. Operational Strategy The overall operational strategy of an IIC will also impact the OSS architecture. In many ways the operational strategy embodies the other strategies that are described above. The operational strategy is where the strategies all come together and the operational infrastructure priorities are defined. The operational strategy will drive the business process, organization and the OSS architecture designs. The IIC's operational strategy dictates which systems should be used for what, by whom, and with what processes. Competitive differentiation is achieved by aligning the people, processes and OSS technology along a clearly defined value proposition. Although there are a healthy number of vendors developing OSS packages, it is true that certain vendors have gained significant market acceptance and associated market share based on their popularity. With many IICs' choosing similar OSS packages, it's only natural to question how and if competitive differentiation can be achieved. The answer is that real competitive differentiation does not lie in which software packages an IIC chooses. It is how these packages are applied and used to enable the business that makes the difference. OSS packages are simply tools to enable automation. They need to be configured to drive the business processes that the IIC desires. OSS capabilities and business processes should be closely tied, and it is an IIC's ability to grasp and envision this concept that will lead to real differentiation. To achieve operational excellence, IICs often redesign and optimize their business processes on a continual basis. Effective process redesign can help promote flexibility and responsiveness to customers and market demands. In fact, continual realignment o