The $100 Billion Question: Why Telcos Must Decouple to Delight with NaaS

Written by Brad Buhl

Published on Oct 09, 2025

Part I: Strategic Context and the NaaS Ecosystem

1.1 The Connectivity Conundrum: Why the “100-Year-Old Business Model” is Dead

Let’s be blunt: the telco world is finally shedding its skin. We’re moving from the clunky, century-old model of selling ‘raw capacity’ to delivering sophisticated enterprise capabilities through a fluid, cloud-like consumption model. Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is the crucial mechanism enabling this transition, delivering subscription-based network services such as LAN/WAN, VPN, and network security.¹ Industry analysis confirms that offering NaaS is critical for communication service providers (CSPs) seeking success in delivering 5G services to enterprise customers, with 91% of CSP leaders agreeing with this premise.¹

This evolution represents a significant departure from the legacy model, which has been described as a "100-year-old business model" focused solely on connectivity.² Enterprises are demanding this change, with almost half (47%) of surveyed technology leaders planning to adopt NaaS to achieve business benefits.³ The most significant benefits cited include enhanced network security (62%), optimized network performance (58%), and guaranteed service levels (48%).³ Furthermore, enterprises expect cloud-like simplicity, characterized by self-service options, rapid service activation, and usage-based consumption models.⁴

This demand for agility and programmable service delivery highlights a critical disconnect within the CSP technology stack. Traditional OSS? They’re the project managers of a bygone era: proprietary interfaces, highly customized (read: brittle) configurations, and error-prone manual processes. These relics are glued to the network infrastructure, effectively slamming the door shut on the service agility and rapid innovation that enterprises now compel us to deliver. If the NaaS value proposition is defined by cloud-like speed and self-service, the customer-facing layer responsible for commercializing and configuring these dynamic services—the Business Support Systems (BSS) or Digital Commerce layer—must be decoupled, agile, and API-driven to overcome the limitations of the legacy OSS infrastructure.

1.2 Architectural Agility: Decoupling the Monolith from Massive Monetization

To successfully deliver NaaS, CSPs must adopt a modern, cloud-native technology foundation. Both OSS and BSS solutions must be modernized to enable scalable operations and growth in the 5G era.⁵ This transition mandates an API-first approach, where different functions and operations can be decomposed and integrated seamlessly.⁴ The industry consensus, driven by bodies like the TM Forum, promotes Open APIs as the standard for enhancing interoperability and accelerating innovation across BSS, network commerce, and resource inventory management.⁶

The only path forward is Composable Architecture. It’s the API-first blueprint that takes the monolithic mess and decomposes it into agile, modular components like product catalog and checkout. This isn’t just theory; it’s a competitive weapon that delivers a cleaner, faster solution and demonstrably drives up to three times faster deployment cycles for new features.⁸

Crucially, the inherent complexity of NaaS offerings—which involve configuring and selling abstract concepts like network slices based on latency or guaranteed throughput—demands a sophisticated Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) functionality.¹⁰ The telecom sector is historically characterized by complex pricing models and purchasing processes that often overwhelm enterprise customers.¹¹ A traditional e-commerce catalog is insufficient for this environment. The B2B portal must integrate CPQ to automate configuration, reduce pricing errors, and ensure accuracy.¹² Therefore, robust CPQ capability is not merely an optional feature; it is a core technological enabler required to simplify the definition of NaaS products and ensure accurate, automated ordering, directly mitigating the pain point of telco complexity.¹¹

Part II: The Breadth of Broadleaf: Bridging Commercial Promise and Technical Provisioning

2.1 Mapping the Money: Deconstructing the NaaS Customer’s Digital Journey

The enterprise consumption of NaaS involves a complete digital lifecycle, spanning four distinct functional areas that define where the digital commerce platform must interface with internal systems:

Discovery & Quote: The customer identifies and configures the required service. This stage involves sophisticated CPQ to manage complex products, access to contract-specific pricing and discount structures, and the ability to submit or receive custom quotes.¹³
Order & Monetization (BSS): This stage involves processing the configured order, managing the resulting subscription, implementing recurring billing, and assigning specific entitlements (e.g., Role-Based Access Controls or usage thresholds).¹⁵
Fulfillment & Orchestration (OSS): The commercial order is translated into technical network commands. This requires robust integration with the orchestration layer to achieve zero-touch provisioning and automated, end-to-end service activation.⁴
Assurance & Reporting: Post-sale, the customer needs real-time visibility. This phase includes monitoring service quality, tracking usage, diagnosing performance issues, and ensuring continuous adherence to agreed-upon Service Level Agreements (SLAs). .¹⁴

2.2 Layered NaaS Architecture and Broadleaf’s Placement

Broadleaf Commerce fits strategically at the convergence point between the customer-facing experience (Digital Engagement) and the back-end provisioning process (Service Orchestration). Broadleaf serves as the agile Digital Commerce and CPQ Layer (the NaaS Marketplace), fully decoupled from the underlying complex infrastructure management systems (OSS) via standardized Open APIs.

The role of Broadleaf’s Subscription and Entitlement capability ¹⁶ is foundational in this architecture, acting as the bridge between the commercial agreement (BSS) and the network resources (OSS). The detailed configuration created within the Broadleaf CPQ must be translated into a service profile or 5G slice identifier. The Entitlements engine then defines the contractual guarantees—the Quality of Service (QoS), guaranteed speeds, or usage caps—which the underlying OSS/Assurance systems are mandated to monitor and enforce programmatically.²⁰ This capability transforms the NaaS portal from a mere storefront into the command center for programmatic, guaranteed service levels.

The resulting architectural stack defines the necessary specialization:

Table: NaaS Architectural Stack Placement

Layer	Function / Responsibility	Key Technologies/ Standards	Broadleaf’s Role
Digital Engagement (Top)	Customer Experience, Self-Service, Discovery, Account Management.	Headless CMS, PWA Front-ends.	The B2B Portal UI/UX.
Commerce & Monetization (BSS)	Catalog, CPQ, Pricing/Discounts, Subscriptions/Entitlements, Order Management.	Broadleaf Commerce, CRM (Salesforce), Billing systems.	The NaaS Commercial Engine (Core B2B Logic).
Service Orchestration (OSS)	E2E Service Orchestration, Zero-Touch Provisioning, and Inventory Management.	Amdocs E2ESO, Nokia NSP, TM Forum Open APIs.	Integration Target (API Consumer/Publisher).
Network Infrastructure (Bottom)	Programmable Network Functions, 5G Slices, Core/RAN.	Nokia Network as Code (NaC), Virtualization (NFV).	The Resource Layer.

Part III: The Competitive Carnival: Where Monoliths and Marketers Miss the Mark

3.1 The Three-Ring Circus of NaaS Commerce: Why Specialists Will Win

The NaaS B2B portal market is contested by three primary groups of vendors. The first group comprises established BSS/OSS providers, such as Amdocs and Comarch.²¹ These firms possess long-standing relationships with Tier 1 CSPs and offer solutions focused on core infrastructure functions, including complex rating, high-volume billing, and end-to-end service orchestration.¹⁸ For instance, a leading European CSP partnered with Amdocs to implement an End-to-End Service Orchestration (E2ESO) solution for their NaaS platform.¹⁸ However, the historical challenge for these incumbents lies in delivering modern, composable digital storefronts that can rapidly adapt to the complex, bundled, and dynamic nature of new 5G and NaaS offers.⁷

The second group consists of large CRM and Digital Experience Platform (DXP) vendors, notably Salesforce and Adobe. Salesforce Communications Cloud is specifically designed for CSPs, emphasizing the unification of the customer journey, sales workflow automation, and reducing operational costs through tools like Agentforce.²² Adobe Commerce provides a composable, cloud-native platform for B2B experiences, focusing on high-performance storefronts and personalized commerce experiences.²³ While offering superior customer experience tools, these general-purpose platforms may lack the specialized, deep B2B commerce capabilities critical to telco, such as customized, contract-specific pricing tiers and sophisticated role-based access control (RBAC) necessary for managing complex network services.¹³

This competitive structure presents a strategic opening. Traditional BSS/OSS vendors provide the necessary depth in orchestration but lack the speed and customer-centric front-end required for NaaS marketplaces. Conversely, DXP platforms offer front-end speed but often lack the transactional depth and customized B2B logic necessary for monetizing highly variable NaaS subscriptions. This gap is precisely where Broadleaf Commerce, a specialized B2B commerce platform, differentiates itself.

3.2 Transactional Truth: The Matrix of NaaS Marketplace Differentiation

The core competitive advantage for Broadleaf Commerce lies in its specific optimization for transactional complexity in a composable architecture, positioning it as the middle ground between monolithic BSS solutions and feature-light CX platforms. The platform is optimized for the intricate features needed to sell abstract, highly customized, and dynamically priced NaaS offerings, such as bandwidth and 5G slices.

Table: NaaS B2B Commerce Vendor Competitive Matrix

Vendor Type	Example Competitors	Primary NaaS Strength	Primary NaaS Weakness	Broadleaf’s Competitive Differentiator
BSS/OSS Suites	Amdocs, Comarch	Deep E2E Service Orchestration, Legacy Network Integration, High-Volume Billing.	Slow time-to-market for new offers, Monolithic B2B storefront capabilities.	High architectural agility (Microservices/Headless) coupled with specialized B2B pricing and subscription logic.¹⁶
CRM/CX Platforms	Salesforce, Adobe	Unified Customer Journey, Sales Workflow Automation, General DXP/Content.	Limited depth in complex, transaction-heavy B2B entitlement/contract management is necessary for NaaS SLAs.	Focus on transactional complexity, customized pricing/discounts (volume/tiers) ¹³ rather than generic CRM or marketing.
Specialized B2B Commerce	Broadleaf Commerce	Flexible PIM/Catalog for abstract services, Advanced CPQ, Microservices Core, Subscription/Entitlements.	Does not provide core network orchestration or OSS.	Optimized specifically for the complexity and customization needed to sell highly variable NaaS products (bandwidth, 5G slices) and integrate via TM Forum APIs.

Part IV: Product Prowess: Mapping Broadleaf’s Arsenal to Telco Demands

4.1 Beyond the Basics: Feature Alignment for Abstract Services

Broadleaf Commerce’s existing specialized B2B feature set is a strong foundation, but it must be explicitly framed against the unique, abstract nature of telecom NaaS products to differentiate it from general B2B solutions. The table below doesn’t just map features; it maps Broadleaf’s core technological arsenal directly against the non-negotiable requirements that separate a simple storefront from a genuine NaaS command center.

Table: Broadleaf Feature Mapping to Critical NaaS B2B Portal Requirements

NaaS Requirement (Telco Priority)	Broadleaf Feature/Capability	Strategic Value Proposition	Source Context
Complex NaaS Configuration (CPQ)	Highly extensible Catalog, Product Bundling, Custom Product Types, API-driven configuration endpoints.	Enables visual, accurate, and automated configuration of abstract network parameters (e.g., latency, bandwidth, specific 5G slice profiles).	¹⁰
Contract-Specific Pricing & Billing	Advanced Pricing Engine, Custom Discounts (Volume, Tiers, Group-based), Subscription/Entitlement Management.	Supports the complex, multi-level contractual pricing unique to telco enterprise services, moving beyond simple static pricing.	¹¹
SLA/Performance Transparency	API-first architecture, integrated with a CSP’s Reporting/Analytics Engine.	Linking commercial contracts to technical fulfillment.	¹³
Secure Account Management	Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC), Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) & SSO integration.	Essential for complex B2B accounts where different user roles (IT, Finance, Operations) require varying access to network configuration and sensitive usage data.	¹³
Architectural Agility	Composable Microservices Architecture, Headless Commerce approach.	Decouples the digital storefront from monolithic BSS/OSS layers, achieving 3x faster deployment cycles for new features and reducing latency.	²

4.2 Speed and Self-Service: The Headless Path to Triple the Development Velocity

Broadleaf’s foundational architecture provides key competitive advantages in the NaaS market. The microservices architecture and cloud-native infrastructure ⁸ align perfectly with the need for CSPs to break down classical function silos and adopt the flexible, containerized approach of webscale cloud companies.²

The headless commerce framework is particularly vital, separating the front-end user experience from the complex B2B logic.⁸ This decoupling allows CSPs to deploy consistent, high-speed user experiences across multiple channels (web, mobile, or even internal sales kiosks), enabling frontend teams to innovate independently of core BSS/OSS cycles. Case studies show this composable approach can lead to a 40% improvement in site speed and 3x faster deployment cycles for new features.⁸

Crucially, the Reporting and Analytics capabilities must be tailored for NaaS assurance. While traditional B2B commerce platforms track sales velocity, a NaaS portal must focus on guaranteed service levels.³ The platform’s analytics engine must integrate metrics pulled directly from OSS/Service Assurance systems—including Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), network accessibility trends, and performance issue identification by Radio Access Network (RAN) technology.¹⁹ This enriched reporting system serves not only to validate SLA adherence for the enterprise customer but also provides the CSP with usage insights to identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities proactively.¹⁹

Part V: The Path to Profitability: Strategic Imperatives and ROI

5.1 Three NaaS Imperatives for Accelerated Adoption

To differentiate the NaaS B2B market segment against incumbent BSS suites and general DXP platforms, Broadleaf Commerce can be implemented across three differentiated priorities not readily available by legacy providers (in addition to providing standard B2B Portal features and integrations to systems such as reporting):

CPQ for Abstraction: Formalized CPQ capabilities to manage the dynamic configuration of abstract network services (e.g., latency, jitter, bandwidth guarantees).¹⁰ The CPQ can validate technical configurations based on available network resources exposed via APIs, ensuring accuracy and mitigating complex purchasing friction.¹¹
API Compliance: Certification and full functional compliance with essential TM Forum Open APIs related to product catalog, ordering, service inventory, and entitlements.⁶ This is the technical ticket to integrate with major orchestration platforms like Nokia’s NSP and Amdocs E2ESO.
Entitlements & Assurance Bridge: Programmatically link subscription/entitlement data (the commercial promise) directly to real-time performance metrics (the technical delivery).¹⁹ This capability elevates the platform from an ordering tool to a critical Service Management Hub, fostering customer trust and delivering the transparency enterprises demand.

5.2 The Bottom Line: Quantifiable Returns on Digital Decoupling

By executing this targeted strategy, Broadleaf Commerce enables CSPs to realize significant, measurable returns on their NaaS investment:

Revenue Acceleration: Improved conversion rates resulting from a seamless digital experience ⁸, coupled with increased upselling and cross-selling derived from AI analysis of customer usage patterns.¹⁹
Operational Cost Reduction: Lower total cost of ownership by replacing monolithic BSS components and driving efficiency through automated, zero-touch provisioning and reduced order fallout.¹⁷
Customer Loyalty and Retention: Enhanced satisfaction and loyalty through personalized engagement ²⁵, secure account management, and transparent, real-time SLA reporting.²⁴

The foundational BSS challenge in NaaS is clear: Traditional incumbents are too slow, and DXP platforms are too shallow. You can’t solve for complexity with a simple storefront, and you can’t achieve agility with a monolithic architecture that keeps you shackled to the past.

So, here’s the reality for every Communication Service Provider: The $100 billion NaaS prize⁴ is waiting for those who can deliver on the promise of composable commerce and commercial assurance. Broadleaf is the specialized, API-driven core that bridges that commercial promise to the technical provisioning.

The question isn’t if you’ll modernize - it’s how long you’ll wait while your competitors are already decoupling their way to delight and dollars.

Stop chasing the complexity and instead, start demanding control. The time to decouple and dominate is now.