DTW23 - Ignite is just around the corner, scheduled to kick off in 2 weeks at the Bella Center, Copenhagen. As a Diamond Partner of the event, Amdocs Technology will be exhibiting its portfolio of software products and services, showcasing its exciting line-up of Moonshot Catalyst projects and participating in a host of speaking opportunities. Ariana Lynn, Principal Analyst at The Fast Mode spoke to Sarit Assaf, General Manager, New Tech Business Unit, Amdocs Technology on her thoughts on some of the key themes of the event including digital transformation, telco cloud monetization strategies and artificial intelligence.
Ariana: What are some emerging trends and technologies that you expect will power digital transformation in the telco space in the next year?
Sarit: Consumers are expecting more and for lower prices, which is why it’s so essential that telcos focus on providing the most amazing end-to-end experiences they can. Creating a holistic, human-centric approach to give users what they need, when they need it will foster greater engagement, and satisfaction, and will be crucial over the next year. This will be enabled through the integration of technologies such as Generative AI, automation and eSIM, and by using seamless data analytics to provide more targeted offerings and bundles.
Away from the consumer sphere, meeting the needs of enterprise users will be a focus for telcos this year. The B2B market will provide new growth opportunities as demand for mobile private networks grows to support advanced enterprise services and new 5G use cases. Furthermore, monetisation remains a key concern for telcos, especially as the 5G roll-out continues. Anyone that can support this area will be a key partner for telcos over the coming year.
Ariana: How has the convergence of telco and cloud changed CSP monetization strategies? What are some new growth opportunities?
Sarit: Telco monetisation is a hot topic – everybody wants to know how to make money. In recent years, several factors have influenced how monetisation strategies are evolving, including the cloud, 5G, the subscription economy, and the rise of data collection and analysis.
Now, telcos are evaluating how they can maximise 5G’s full potential by leveraging it within business and IT to unlock unique business and monetisation models. How they can monetise the subscription economy as services such as Microsoft 365, Google One and even Netflix are growing and enabling them to offer targeted bundled offerings that fulfil user connectivity and subscription requirements. And how they can take customer billing to the next level by creating hyper-personalised experiences that drive both consumer and business growth.
The cloud is an enabling factor in the monetisation conversation, as its use can help telcos optimise their workload costs and streamline their operations to again cut costs and enhance the experiences they provide.
Ariana: What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI), specifically generative AI? Where is it heading?
Sarit: Generative AI is going to be game-changing for telecoms. If CSPs utilise the power of Generative AI in the right way, they can use it to enhance customer engagement, elevate data collection, boost productivity, accelerate time-to-market, and much more. I believe that enterprise-grade Generative AI is going to become a necessity going forwards, and will enable telcos to overcome common challenges such as scalability, security, and data governance.
To unlock Generative AI’s full potential, telecoms companies need to acquire a specific set of skills and capabilities to ensure they can provide a quality experience to customers and internal stakeholders. This can be achieved by investing in scalable, carrier-grade infrastructure and working with partners that can help them navigate the pitfalls of irresponsible or ill-thought-out Generative AI adoption. For example, hallucinations and inaccurate training data are becoming a growing concern, and can significantly disrupt engagement.
I’ll be discussing AI innovations with Silvia Candiani, VP Telecommunications at Microsoft, during the Digital Transformation World headliner slot on Wednesday 20th September. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Sarit Assaf is General Manager of Amdocs Technology’s New Tech business unit, responsible for the company’s innovative product portfolio and overseeing the product management group that defines Amdocs’ CES product roadmap and strategy. She is also responsible for building Amdocs Microservices Management Platform, the company’s cloud foundation and cloud-agnostic framework upon which all Amdocs innovative products and offerings are built.
