An interview with TEOCO’s Eric Masur, Chief Architect for Business Analytics

Network circuits sit at the heart of every Communication Service Provider’s (CSP’s) infrastructure, yet managing them—especially at scale—has long been a source of significant complexity, cost, and operational friction. From contract oversight to inventory accuracy to long-term financial forecasting, the challenges are multifaceted and deeply interconnected. In this interview, Eric Masur from TEOCO explains how SmartCircuit, an AI-powered circuit lifecycle management platform, is helping CSPs take control of their transport networks with unprecedented clarity, automation, and intelligence.

Can you explain how SmartCircuit helps CSPs manage their network circuits?

Network circuits are one of the costliest pieces of any CSP portfolio. SmartCircuit is a software platform that helps manage and analyze leased network circuits. It has six integrated modules that cover the full lifecycle: BillTrak SmartMatch, Contract Management, Circuit Ordering, Circuit Inventory, Forecasting and Accruals, and Margin and Profitability.

Using SmartCircuit, CSPs gain a comprehensive view of their circuit inventory so that when they offer a service – whether retail or wholesale – they can conduct a true cost analysis to understand profitability while also managing the full lifecycle of the circuit.

SmartCircuit does this by automatically analyzing all the circuits within a transport network, evaluating things like contracts, connectivity, billing, and inventory. Users are empowered to monitor and manage all these assets and any associated contracts automatically through AI, using simple, natural language prompts.

Are circuit contracts typically difficult for CSPs to manage?

When it comes to uncovering and understanding the financial ramifications of network circuits – yes, this process can be incredibly complex. Let’s take the example of leased circuits. A CSP may have thousands of leased circuits from dozens of carriers – all under various complex, multi-layered contracts. It’s almost impossible to manually track everything to ensure that all SLAs and conditions are met and that pricing and payments are accurate.

For CSPs, it’s important to understand what is at stake when executing a contract for a new circuit. For example, how will this impact spend for the next ten years from a cash flow or a liability perspective? Do they understand their Service Level Agreements (SLAs)? Or, what their early termination liabilities look like? How will they account for outages and other performance related issues? And, how will it impact other areas of their network?

SmartCircuit provides the ability for users to analyze complex, long-term contracts and all the amendments associated with them. Sometimes these lease arrangements can last a long time—eight to ten years is not unusual. They may have started with a Master Service Agreement (MSA) at one point in time and then have literally hundreds, sometimes thousands, of additional amendments and documents added over the years. This adds layers and layers of complexity over the decade’s long evolutionary life of these circuits.

SmartCircuit automatically captures, tracks, and analyzes these contract details, giving CSPs better control over how they manage their networks and their budgets. One of the many things that sets SmartCircuit apart is that it really does natively understand complex contract families. And it is doing so today at scale – for some of the largest CSPs in the world.

What is TEOCO’s SmartCircuit inventory module? Don’t most CSPs already have an inventory system?

One common challenge for CSPs is that they often have too many inventory systems – typically acquired over the years through various acquisitions. These are notoriously difficult to integrate and take time—sometimes lasting years—to reconcile. TEOCO SmartCircuit provides a ‘single pane of glass’ that oversees all these disparate systems, offering suggested fixes to keep everything in sync and accurate.

The inventory module of SmartCircuit acts as the “fact checker”. It matches current circuit inventory against invoices and can self-correct the primary inventory system. It improves overall inventory accuracy, regardless of how many other inventory systems are in place.

What about the Margin and Profitability module – how does that tie into managing network circuits?

This module is invaluable because it allows CSPs to analyze circuit profitability and explore various buy/sell scenarios from a strategic perspective. For example, a huge initiative for large wireless service providers is the convergence of fiber and mobile, especially for offerings like fixed-wireless. CSPs want to know where it makes financial sense to continue leasing new circuits versus building them. Or let’s say a large mobile operator acquires a fiber provider, and now they want to know if they should terminate some of the leases. Which ones should go, and which ones should stay? And where will it make sense to build out network in the future, knowing that if they expend a little capital today, they could save a lot of money tomorrow.

How does SmartCircuit™ leverage AI and automation?

SmartCircuit currently uses a variety of machine learning, natural language processing, large language model (LLM) and other technologies to extract and analyze data from contracts automatically. It is a complex challenge because every contract is different, but it helps to improve accuracy and reduce costs for our customers.

In addition, SmartCircuit IQ is a feature that provides a ChatGPT-like experience that allows users to ask questions about their contracts using common language. It delivers answers instantly, with reference links to the documents so that there is a seamless experience for finding where the information exists within the contract.

Managing network circuits no longer has to be an exercise in complexity, fragmented systems, or guesswork. SmartCircuit brings together inventory accuracy, contract intelligence, financial modeling, and AI-driven automation into one cohesive platform —giving CSPs the ability to fully understand and manage one of their most critical assets. As the industry continues to evolve, SmartCircuit stands out as a powerful solution designed to reduce cost, minimize risk, and help CSPs unlock the full financial and operational potential of their networks.

For more information about SmartCircuit™, download the brochure or contact us today.