The Future of Telecom: Collaborate to Thrive

As a telecom leader, you know the world of telecom is changing. We see the following trends going forward: customer experience will play a bigger role; the adoption of 5G and IoT technology will become increasingly important; and product innovation is creating new revenue options in a changing market. We will elaborate on each of these topics. 

Customer Experience
In February 2019, McKinsey’s Guido Frisiani and Tim Dickson reflected on the Telco industry and its future, together with Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s former CEO. When asked about the main challenges facing the industry, Colao’s answer was:

This statement is reinforced by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). According to BCG, telcos are lagging behind other industries when it comes to customer support in a digital setting. In addition, a survey found that online and messaging customer support is growing up to 20% annually, while other communication channels are declining. Creating a true omnichannel experience by optimizing communication between channels is a must. 

Telco leaders such as VodafoneZiggo have a major advantage over smaller, younger IT companies: customer data. By performing advanced analytics on customer data regarding purchases of products and services, data usage activity and customer support interactions, it is possible to gain substantial advantages over others. Using efficient marketing, pricing and upselling strategies, it is possible to monetize these data advantages. 

Tech adoption
With the arrival of 5G, many new opportunities will open up. The Internet of Things will take a big leap with an estimate of up to 30 billion connected devices globally this year, an increase of 300% compared to 5 years ago. Telcos can play an important role in this trend by becoming true digital service providers.

Industrial IoT, or Industry 4.0, will increasingly be used in all sectors. Fortunately, telcos are well-positioned in this emerging digital arena. 55% of B2B consumers select a telco for their IoT transformation, which indicates major commercial possibilities. 

With an increasing number of connected devices, security plays a major role. Analysts predict that over 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals in 2023 alone, marking cybersecurity as one of the main business risks. Furthermore, more than a third of companies lack a cybersecurity strategy that also covers IoT. However, of companies that do have a strategy, many report significant challenges when it comes to implementation. 

In addition, these vast volumes of collected data need to be stored. On-premise solutions for B2B customers would decrease the productivity of developers, due to an increased need for warehouse orchestration. The Cloud is the agent for flexible, scalable change when it comes to simplifying, optimizing and enabling new digital technologies and applications to drive business success. 

Product innovation
Annual global revenue from voice and data services are expected to fall by over $50 billion by 2022. Innovation and tech adoptions are new revenue options and cost savers. Services that help B2B customers digitize and move to the cloud are expected to be the biggest new revenue options. 

Since IT competitors have already established products in this sector, digital service providers have to be creative in how to develop their own competitive advantages. Atos provides ample opportunities to reinvent your organizations’ digital strategy and to truly become a Digital Service Provider.