As communications service providers (CSPs) confront the reality of a rapidly changing market and the emergence of technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence, it is only natural that there will be an impact on their commercial processes. There will undoubtedly be a set of new opportunities for CSPs worldwide – but this will not come without some pain.
Last year, we introduced the first edition of our Create-Sell-Deliver Outlook to gauge perceptions around product innovation, service creation and delivery across a broad set of service providers. Building on the findings from last year, we have now released the second edition of the study, which revealed valuable insights around the issues being faced today by CSPs, as well as discovering their views on the technologies of tomorrow.
One of the most striking findings was around the theme of automation – or, to be more accurate, the lack thereof. It is understood that manual processes are ubiquitous within the telecommunications sector, and can act as roadblocks to service delivery. While a sense of optimism prevailed among the study’s respondents with regard to product innovation and creation, we found that a staggering 75 per cent of processes which could be automated today were not. In other words, the overwhelming bulk of processes are still carried out manually, with only 25 per cent of them being automated.
What is interesting to note is that at the same time, 78 per cent of respondents were of the opinion that increasing automation in the delivery process is tied to driving profitability for the business.
With 5G, IoT and AI becoming reality, it is clear that CSPs need technology platforms which enable them to react to opportunities quickly and manage complex propositions easily. And this is not something that can be delivered by the legacy platforms and manual processes that are widespread in the industry.
Without the enabling platforms in place, there is a real danger that CSPs will be unable to quickly and efficiently capitalise on the opportunities presented in a brave new world. And if they are unable to act, you can be sure that someone else will.
Steve Costello,
Product Marketing Manager