How to prepare for post-crisis?
Investment planning is never an easy task, but it is especially challenging in times of economic uncertainties. Currently, with a potential recession looming, everyone is looking into budgets, and checking opportunities to optimize, while still keeping up activity levels as much as possible.
We spent the last 2,5 years in emergency mode, and there are still uncertainties ahead of us in the immediate future. However, besides all the hardships, the pandemic showed us also how difficulties can fuel positive changes and speed up technological development. There were dramatic changes in the way of working, and also in how consumers purchase products and services, and how they want to interact with companies, and as a result, the adoption of digital technologies has been accelerated by several years.
Meanwhile, CSPs are still in the process of figuring out what is the best business model for them to become a digital service provider: how they can serve more complex demands, transform the way they work in the B2B segment, and how they can monetize on upcoming new technologies.
Companies are aware of the importance of digital transformation, and most have already started their transformation journey. While scalability and flexibility are already household names, there are also other aspects beyond the basic technical advantages that need to be considered, like integrated digital experience, process automation, zero-touch account management, and granularity of rating and charging.
In times of cost-rationalization, it’s always tempting to go for the bigger figures first. However, companies need to realize that constant IT development is a must, and digital transformation is an investment into their future, to establish a future-proof operation both in terms of technological and human capabilities. Every crisis has an end, and when we finally come out on the other side of this one, businesses must be ready, with full capabilities to grab new opportunities, and monetize emerging demand.
How can Etiya help to manage digital transformation in these critical times?
As we see in various Etiya projects, need-based transformation with a phased approach can provide you with the best of two worlds: you’ll improve your capabilities and efficiency gradually, while at the same time you can spread your costs over a longer period.
Each company has its individual challenges, but as an overall approach, a thorough analysis is needed first to identify the most important issues your business is facing, together with the long-term goals that you’d like to achieve beyond the crisis. This discovery will serve as a basis for defining focus areas, required business outcomes and measurements. With the support of Etiya’s consultants, and relying on Etiya’s scalable, modular digital BSS, you can plan the phases of your digital transformation in line with your specific needs.
- Short term: focus on cost-saving and efficiency in key pain points;
- Mid-term: further improvements in efficiency, capabilities and CX as per business/segment priorities, eg. sales enablement, customer engagement/CRM, and a next-level of cost-saving options, eg. low-code development;
- Longer term: capabilities to monetize new technologies.
Cost reduction has both short- and long-term effects. Legacy systems have high maintenance needs and costs, while Etiya’s cloud-native digital BSS will allow you to make immediate savings in both areas already. A cloud migration strategy should form an integral part of your transformation strategy, outlining required business outcomes, and detailing what cloud(s) and business models to use, what applications to move, the steps of the migration process, and an assessment of dependencies and risks associated.
However, besides the most obvious benefits, that is, lower costs and a simplified IT stack, there are also ample business advantages, and that leads us to the topics of efficiency and customer experience.
New system capabilities from Etiya’s Digital BSS will boost sales efficiency and CX in many ways:
- ability to create complex, catalog-based product bundles, with shorter time-to-market
- better personalization of products and experiences through AI-driven insights and predictions
- in-context, real-time business insights for quicker and more informed decision making
- increased speed in CPQ offer creation, customer care queries and purchase flows through powerful automation
In times of economic uncertainty, when purchasing power is shrinking, consumers will be more price sensitive, and more conscious about their product and brand choices: they want tailored offers, from companies where buying and customer care is easy and flexible. And once the crisis is over, those companies who proved themselves in times of hardship will have a better chance to retain their clients. Customer experience is the new differentiator, and Etiya’s solutions will provide both tailored offerings and the omnichannel experiences that customers are after.
While currently the main drivers of transformation are cost/efficiency and CX, innovation and new technologies will be on the top of the agenda again after the crisis, and CSPs need to be prepared for requirements that are yet unknown. As CSPs slowly but surely transform themselves into DSPs (Digital Service Providers), their offer portfolio will also change: from the typical mobile telco offers they will move to completely new realms. New monetization opportunities will emerge from marketplace and ecosystem capabilities. These will allow them to create offers in a new dimension: bundles with 3rd party suppliers, including non-telco products, and highly tailored packages as per individual customer needs. CSPs cannot realize the true potential of innovations and new technologies without a full digital transformation and a flexible BSS with advanced ecosystem management functionalities, like zero-touch onboarding, new ways of charging and billing, or partner settlements. Etiya’s Digital BSS is 5G ready, and works seamlessly with its Network Commerce and Management platform, providing CSPs with 5G ecosystem management capabilities and allowing experimentation with new business models. This is an area where there are still a lot of uncertainties about what will be the “killer application” of this new technology, and what will bring that breakthrough success that everyone is looking for.
---
Market demand is changing: instead of “simple” products, customers are rather looking for solutions to their problems. When CSPs plan their future operations, this way of thinking must be reflected in their plans as well. Etiya’s digital BSS provides them with the agility and capabilities that are essential in our constantly changing market environment to serve highly demanding customers in line with their expectations. Tighter economies and temporary hardships must not be reasons for companies to stop or delay their transformation journeys if they want to stay in the race long term.
