Virtual CTO Leadership Drives 80% Reduction in Outages and Performance Failures
FAST FACTS
Industry:
Telecommunications
Specialty:
Enterprise network services and data infrastructure
Solution:
Platform stabilization and architecture modernizationt
Users:
Network operations, engineering, service delivery, and enterprise clients
ABOUT THE PROJECT
A major telecom infrastructure provider was in freefall. Chronic outages, performance instability, and architectural fragility were threatening key client relationships and slowing revenue. Internal teams were overwhelmed with firefighting. Root causes were unclear. No one had full visibility into system health or service performance.
PROJECT IDEA
- Rebuild the core delivery platform with a focus on uptime, transparency, and operational observability.
- Introduce a data-driven, service-oriented architecture to prevent cascading failures and improve fault isolation.
- Restructure leadership and workflows to emphasize proactive monitoring and continuous improvement.
PROJECT CHALLENGES
- Unstable Platform Infrastructure: Core systems were failing without warning—taking down customer-facing services across data, voice, and analytics.
- No Root Cause Discipline: Teams resolved symptoms, not causes. Incidents repeated frequently with no shared history or logging.
- Lack of Observability: System health metrics, alerts, and performance logs were fragmented—or missing altogether.
- Leadership Gaps: Internal teams lacked clear ownership, shared goals, and execution velocity to manage a real recovery.
RESULTS
- 80%+ reduction in system outages and degraded service events.
- Real-time observability layer deployed across all key services, improving response time and root cause resolution.
- Incident response time decreased by 70% through automation and clear ownership.
- Platform uptime stabilized above 99.98%—a critical win for enterprise client retention and SLA fulfillment.
BUSINESS CHALLENGES
The company’s infrastructure was crumbling under its own weight. As demand grew, so did failure rates. Systems failed quietly and catastrophically. Core services like provisioning, telemetry, and billing would randomly break, causing escalations from clients and panic internally. No one had a full map of dependencies. There was no consistent RCA process.
Leadership had tried hiring vendors, replacing heads of engineering, and adding headcount—but none of it stuck. The issue wasn’t just code. It was culture, accountability, and visibility. With SLAs hanging in the balance and enterprise deals paused, the company needed more than advice—it needed execution.
WHY TELECOM LEADERS TRUST COGNATIV?
Cognativ helps telecom firms transform their platforms into predictable, scalable, and client-ready systems. We combine deep infrastructure expertise with hands-on executive leadership. From outages and observability gaps to platform modernization and cross-team alignment, our SmartSaaS™ and RAPID frameworks deliver lasting stability and clarity under pressure.
UNSTABLE PLATFORM INFRASTRUCTURE
Frequent, unplanned outages were damaging customer trust and delaying revenue recognition.
NO ROOT CAUSE DISCIPLINE
Incidents weren’t documented or diagnosed deeply—leading to repeat failures and longer outages.
LACK OF OBSERVABILITY
Product, engineering, and account leadership had no shared language, process, or delivery model. No one owned outcomes.
LEADERSHIP GAPS
Engineering, support, and infrastructure operated in silos with no shared goals or coordination.
INCIDENT CHAOS
Escalations took hours to reach the right team—meanwhile, clients suffered silent failures.
DELIVERY STALL
All energy was consumed by firefighting. Strategic improvements had ground to a halt.
THE SOLUTION
Cognativ deployed the RAPID framework under a virtual CTO model—bringing both strategic leadership and architectural precision to the engagement.
- Phase 1: Assessed current-state architecture, dependency maps, and failure modes. Created an incident heatmap and traced cascading failures to root architectural gaps and process bottlenecks.
- Phase 2: Re-architected core service paths for resiliency and isolation. Installed observability tools with custom dashboards and alerting logic tailored to client SLAs. Introduced a shared incident workflow across all departments.
- Architecture: Used Cognativ’s SmartSaaS™ composition model to design for fault containment, rollback safety, and modular release. The platform now self-reports health status and flags anomalies automatically—enabling response before client impact.
HOW RAPID WAS USED...
"“Infrastructure transformation requires both speed and stability. RAPID let us isolate what mattered, ship fixes fast, and build confidence week over week.” "
– Ali Davachi, Cognativ Founder
What is the RAPID Framework?
RAPID—Research, Analyze, Plan, Implement, Decide—is Cognativ’s transformation methodology, built to deliver results under real pressure. Documented in RAPID Transformation: An Outcomes-Based Approach to Drive Results, the framework aligns teams, reduces noise, and installs disciplined delivery—fast.
RESULTS OBTAINED
The board engaged Cognativ to lead a full operational turnaround under a virtual CTO model. Using the RAPID transformation framework, Ali Davachi worked side by side with the executive team to restructure architecture, build a real-time observability stack, and install delivery discipline across technology and support. Within months, outages dropped by 80%, and the business regained the stability required to scale enterprise accounts.
Reduction in Outages
Proactive detection, decoupled services, and monitoring tools slashed outage frequency and duration.
Faster Incident Response
Clear escalation paths, shared dashboards, and automation shaved hours off time-to-resolution.
Unified Observability Layer
One system now tracks performance across all customer-impacting services, updated live.
Uptime Stability
For the first time, SLAs could be met with confidence—unlocking new deals and renewals.
IMMEDIATE BENEFITS
- Service Reliability: Enterprise clients saw measurable improvements in uptime and responsiveness.
- Reduced Escalations: Fewer client-impacting failures meant fewer emergency calls and save-the-deal scenarios.
- Roadmap Restarted: With stability restored, leadership could prioritize growth again.
- Team Clarity: Incident ownership was clear, empowering faster action and accountability.
ONGOING BENEFITS
- Cognativ continues to advise on platform scalability, release discipline, and security hardening.
- The observability model is now used in client presentations, quarterly board updates, and investor reports.
- Internal engineering KPIs are tied to real metrics—reducing “gut-feel” prioritization and siloed work.
- The company is now positioned as a credible, resilient infrastructure partner in high-regulation industries.