ZIRA’s ODA journey: From architecture to real business impact

Telecom is changing fast. No longer defined by wires and uptime, it’s now about experiences, speed, and ecosystems—launching new services and onboarding partners in a matter of weeks, and monetizing innovation instantly. For many operators, legacy BSS systems are holding them back, slowing innovation and inflating costs. 

This is why TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) is so significant. It provides a framework that helps operators move away from monolithic systems toward modular, standards-based architectures that support agility and growth. 

In a recent interview with TM Forum, ZIRA’s Chief Product Officer, Amir Turalić, explained how ZIRA has put ODA into practice and what it means for operators, integrators, and investors. 

Ready for ODA: Proof, not just promise 

ZIRA’s Lead-to-Cash suite has officially earned the ‘Ready for ODA’ accreditation, signaling that it meets industry standards for modularity and interoperability. But the real story lies in the outcomes. ZIRA’s ODA-aligned solutions are already helping operators: 

• Reduce integration effort by 30–50% using TM Forum’s Open APIs 

• Accelerate development cycles by ~30%, leading to faster launches 

• Onboard partners in 4–6 weeks instead of months 

• Shorten procurement and evaluation cycles by up to 25% 

These gains translate directly into faster time-to-revenue, lower operational risk, and stronger competitive positioning. 

From theory to measurable results

ZIRA’s ODA approach has already been tested in the field: 

• Virgin Media Ireland: A full-stack Lead-to-Cash solution went live in 9 months—significantly faster than the typical 12+ months in comparable projects. 

• stc partnership: ZIRA’s ODA-based products are already running 17 certified Open APIs in a live environment, proving that standards are more than theory. 

• Commercial impact: Since aligning our architecture with ODA, ZIRA has seen its lead pipeline grow by ~30%, showing that the market values standards-backed credibility. 

More than a technical milestone

ODA alignment wasn’t simply about ticking compliance boxes. It reshaped ZIRA’s products, processes, and culture. The company invested in: 

• API conformance and modularity to reduce complexity and risk 

• Cross-team enablement so ODA knowledge isn’t limited to architects 

• Catalyst projects with TM Forum, testing solutions in real-world scenarios 

As Amir Turalić put it, “It isn’t a certificate on a wall, but predictable results in the field.” 

The hard parts—what it took to get here

Real transformation isn’t frictionless. ZIRA’s path to maintain ODA as a reference architecture surfaced three main challenges, and illuminatingly, how they addressed them shows the discipline behind the certification. 

• Fine-tuning APIs without breaking customers: Conformance to ODA specs required careful API alignment. ZIRA prioritized backward compatibility and staged migration strategies to avoid disruption to existing deployments. 

• Sharpening modularity: Revisiting microservice boundaries forced product teams to reassign responsibilities, ensuring each module had a single, clear purpose. That discipline reduced coupling and simplified testing and deployment. 

• Cultivating an ODA mindset: The biggest change was cultural: shifting from a product-first mentality to a capability-driven model. ZIRA invested in leadership sponsorship, cross-team workshops, and role-based learning paths to make ODA a working reality rather than a checklist. 

The lesson: adherence to standards is as much about people and process as it is about code. 

Why it matters

For operators, ODA alignment means being able to launch new services faster and scale ecosystems without being constrained by legacy systems. For integrators, it means fewer custom builds and more repeatable implementations. For investors, it signals vendors that can scale consistently across markets.  

ZIRA positions ODA not as the destination but as infrastructure for the next wave of telecom innovation.