This article is provided by Alepo Technologies.
As the scope for digital engagement evolves and operators migrate to cloud-based infrastructure, what’s in store for 2022?
The pandemic has underlined the need for network transformation globally. More interactions have moved online: consumer and enterprise customers are increasingly choosing digitally enabled sales and self-care options. This rapid shift has accelerated the need for operators to introduce more digital touchpoints, and as more operators migrate to cloud-based infrastructure, 2022 will fast-track innovations in digital engagement.
Top trends for 2022
#1: Increasing adoption of zero-touch networks
Operators have already begun replacing physical touchpoints with digital ones - a move that’s helping them remain competitive by lowering costs, enabling a smaller resource footprint, and reducing time spent on sales and support. The focus now is on developing more efficient strategies and products that enable a fully digital customer experience (CX).
The all-digital, zero-touch network takes all customer interactions online. Operating in the public cloud, it provides operators a leaner alternative to traditional networks as it eliminates the need to manage complex physical infrastructure, manual processes, and physical retail stores. Operators can leverage data gathered from multiple digital touchpoints to drive revenue while keeping their capital investment and operational costs low.
A legacy business model that telcos are likely to reconsider is the vast number of plans and offerings they provide today. While these are meant to help cater to different customer segments, it can get confusing for customers to navigate through the offerings on their own. As more networks begin to implement all-digital brands, they will also simplify their service offerings.
#2: Enabling digital onboarding
Top MNOs have already made the shift to digitizing the end-to-end onboarding process and, with a host of secure eKYC tools entering the market, the trend is likely to permeate in 2022. Customers simply visit the operator’s website or app, browse and select their plan, upload their personal identification documents, get them verified instantly to eliminate the risk of fraud, have the SIM card delivered to their doorstep, activate their SIM online, and they’re ready to go in a fraction of the time they’d spend in getting a new connection from a physical store. Operators can collect payments instantly through online payment gateways.
Another trend in this arena that’s picking up pace is the eSIM, which adds another layer of security by digitally transmitting SIM data and eliminating the need for physical delivery addresses.
Fully automated workflows in the backend that are enabled by artificial intelligence and RPA, combined with digital onboarding, will help enable efficient and robust zero-touch networks.
#3: Providing automated digital touchpoints
Operators are already leveraging the potential of digital channels such as social media, chatbots, and community forums, implementing omnichannel self-care to provide support in customers’ preferred languages and platforms while gaining a holistic view of the customer journey to improve sales and customer satisfaction. In the next year, we’re likely to see more intelligent, personalized, dynamic, digital journeys, directing customers to a digital assistant depending on their persona and issue, providing clear CTAs.
Automated digital touchpoints will also help provide contextual recommendations, guided product searches, self-onboarding through various platforms, easier online purchasing options, the ability to switch seamlessly between channels, and much more. NLP chatbots are increasingly resulting in fewer questions from customers and will enable operators to eventually phase out inbound call centers, programming chatbots only to escalate issues they cannot resolve to a human agent.
In addition, operators will also work towards encouraging more customer engagement through digital channels, not only asking for feedback but also considering collaborations with external community forums to collect feedback, opinions, and other information. The valuable data volunteered through these interactions will help improve products and services.
#4: Granting more control to customers
This year will continue to be about transforming the customer experience, which means fulfilling the growing customer expectation to perform more operations on their own: building their own plan/s, deciding their contract term, choosing their preferred mobile number, validating the compatibility of their handset, checking whether there’s service availability where they want, selecting from personalized promotions generated by modern Customer Value Management (CVM) systems, deciding what notifications they want to receive and through which medium, and paying online with their preferred method.
The next step in enabling self-reliance will mean simplifying the user experience through clean design and easy-to-navigate platforms. For example, reducing the number of screens customers need to navigate to complete a task, including easily accessible buttons to control notifications; personalizing visits for new visitors by leveraging AI, machine learning, and peer persona mapping; enabling returning customers to continue where they left off; ensuring a seamless experience when switching from one platform to another; and more.
#5: Implementing pay-as-you-grow models
More network infrastructure will be virtualized and moved to the cloud. Also, software services such as business support systems (BSS) are increasingly becoming available in a subscription-based model. This will give operators the flexibility to start with minimum investment and add more resources as the business expands. This pay-as-you-grow approach will help ensure profitability for new CSPs entering the market, especially those introducing new all-digital brands.
#6: Deploying and monetizing 5G use cases
Several 5G deployments - in both NSA and SA modes - are already underway and many will go live by 2022. New mobile devices will be 5G-compatible, enabling 5G for residential and enterprise use.
To build a new line of next-gen service offerings and to fully monetize 5G’s transformative capabilities, including ultralow latency, ultrafast speeds, and high bandwidth, operators will look towards implementing flexible and modular IT stacks. This will also include network transformation projects to deploy modern and robust software infrastructure such as digital BSS. In fact, even operators not immediately making the shift to 5G will continue modernizing their BSS and core network infrastructure to support newer business models as well as enabling them to deploy and monetize high-value next-gen use cases like OTT partnerships.
Modernizing charging systems will help form the foundation to fully monetize 5G use cases across devices, event types, and services. More and more service providers will evolve their underlying monetization architecture to enable processes that are more automated, flexible, agile, and minimize revenue leakage.
Cloud-native deployment, wherever possible, will be the natural choice for these new IT stacks, not only because this simplifies operations and reduces costs, but also because it ensures 3GPP compliance. And based on 3GPP standards, they will also implement more microservices-based architecture, especially for modules that require integration with digital channels to enable swift and continuous testing and improvements of the digital front-end experience.
Further, the high levels of automation and orchestration that it implements will ensure that those who deploy the 5G Core as early starters will gain a competitive advantage in meeting future market demands and business objectives.
#7: Enhancing focus on digital security
With a growing focus on customer experience and personalization, and with more connected devices and services, networks will collect and store more customer data than ever before. To regulate the way this data is stored and managed, new region-specific compliances (like GDPR for European operators, for instance) will come into effect. In the next year, we’re likely to see more telcos shifting focus on ensuring compliance with these data security standards.
Further, to prevent online identity fraud, telcos will implement more stringent checks and rigid online identity verification systems. This includes implementing robust eKYC solutions that comply with European and International Regulations, phasing out postal addresses as verification and instead implementing eSIM technology, and more.
Conclusion
Global operators have spent a good part of the last two years combating the challenges of the pandemic. While for some it meant pivoting their priorities, for many, it accelerated their digitization roadmaps by months and even years. Many diversified their portfolios to include more data-driven offerings that helped open new revenue streams. They also implemented a host of structural changes and measures to boost efficiency given the restrictions on the physical presence of staff and stores. Creating value in 2022 will mean further solidifying this move towards digitization.
The digital-first business model will enable telcos to provide new capabilities that meet the evolving demand for fully digital sales and support experiences while keeping their capital investments and overheads low.
Many operators’ network infrastructure has been compiled through decades of business evolution. Rather than attempting to transform these complex stacks into an all-digital system, it may be beneficial to decouple and deploy a separate cloud-native stack that’s more cost-effective, easy to maintain, and can be swiftly adapted to meet changing business needs. And this doesn’t only apply to the backend. Creating separate all-digital brands can be a viable option to cater to digital-native customers with more simplified offerings and modern omnichannel support to appeal to a younger audience and attract new customers without cannibalizing the original business.
Alepo makes next-generation data opportunities a reality, delivering advanced software solutions and services that enable communications service providers to accelerate revenue growth, market share, and business success on fixed and mobile networks. Alepo helps accelerate digital enablement for networks of all sizes, including leading service providers globally. Known as the go-to partner for all things data, Alepo’s innovations are highly scalable, cloud-agnostic, and enable digital-first customer experiences. Alepo is based in Austin, Texas, with a presence in all regions of the world.
