"Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," those were the first words uttered over the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, changing the way we would communicate. Fast forward to today’s digital age and the idea of living without a communication device is unthinkable.
Devices are everywhere and we interact with technology every day, which is resulting in businesses working harder to meet customers where they are or want to be. Cloud-based businesses and the rise of the sharing economy have strongly contributed to the growth of the digital age where the internet provides countless opportunities. While all of this is happening, we’re constantly building our online identity.
As the adoption of 5G goes mainstream, the telecommunications sector and its broader ecosystem will have access to technology, standards, platforms, and business models that will serve as the foundation for a large chunk of consumer and enterprise platforms. These platforms will power an ecosystem that is networked globally and is essential to our everyday lives and economy, therefore, they must be architected and created with identity, trust, and security in mind.
The expression of identity
The customer journey has evolved tremendously since the days when single household phone lines would serve multiple families all living together under one roof. Customers are not always consumers, which creates confusion around the digital identities that exist online. Parents who pay phone bills for their children exist as the customer, while the child is the consumer, causing a disarray of information that businesses need to work with.
Advancements in technology should ideally mean that telcos would have the ability to understand that the individual consuming their services may be different to the bill payer or ‘customer’. In a perfect world, managing identities to differentiate between customer and consumer is essential to enable a truly personalised customer experience.
With convenience at the forefront of customers' decision-making today, telcos need to ensure personalisation and enhance their services to meet the growing expectations of customer demand. It is imperative to keep them engaged by meeting their desire for a seamless experience and providing additional digital services by re-inventing their business processes with the customer journey top of mind.
A secure reliable identity management platform has become paramount to encouraging telcos to unify the way their customers access their digital ecosystem of mobile, web, and third-party applications.
Steering towards success
Last year, SingTel, one of Singapore's largest telcos, announced a new strategic direction to capture untapped digital potential, especially with the immense opportunities that mainstream 5G adoption will offer. Focused on reinvigorating the telco’s core business by introducing innovative digital products and services, the telco giant aims to provide the best possible frictionless customer experience.
Last year’s e-Conomy SEA report headlined that Southeast Asia is entering its “digital decade” as the internet economy is projected to reach $360 billion by 2025. Indonesia alone stands out with a 2x projected growth of what SEA’s gross merchandise value is today. Considering the region’s population size, it is no surprise that we are seeing immense potential in the region, with the pandemic playing the role of a catalyst.
Telkomsel, Indonesia’s leading communication services provider, has already powered its digital ecosystem of mobile, web, and third-party applications by enabling users to maintain the same identity across applications and devices including the MyTelkomsel app and online portal. This empowers them to be custodians of both their providers and IoT ecosystems, freeing up IT administrators for other projects.
Trust in the digital world
Adopting a digital-first approach closely aligned with customer-centric and data-driven processes enables telcos to securely position themselves to become trusted identity providers. They can unlock doors to an enormous number of key enablers within the digital ecosystems and provide the secure connectivity required to tap into the digital heartbeat powered by 5G networks and applications.
The end goal isn’t to stay on hold and be hung up on the past, unable to let go of legacy systems. Implementing and introducing a secure and robust digital identity platform to support the immense scale of today’s mobile world is critical to business success. Businesses that select the right archetype of digital identity capabilities to meet today’s dynamic customer expectations are in the front seat to provide a safer experience and build trust.
If Bell were to make a telephone call today, it might start with “Am I speaking with Mr. Watson?”
