2019 has come and gone, probably faster than many of us expected, and now, we must look ahead to what the next year can offer the telecommunications service provider and technology supplier communities. Given advancements in microchips and a desire to move away from risky manual processes, it should come as no surprise that upcoming digital transformation initiatives will have a core focus on automation, intelligence and computing power. The edge is already revolutionizing the way customers interact with devices and services, and it will continue to change how we interact with the network as 5G rolls out. The potential of 5G and the move towards greater automation has kept transformation momentum going, as operators look to make their businesses both operationally and tactically more efficient. This will drive the ongoing shift away from siloed operations towards an integrated data management environment across networks, systems and devices, where the power of both data and processes becomes increasingly evident for everything from service ordering, orchestration, billing, device management and customer experience. What 2020 will look like is certainly up for interpretation, so let’s take a look at a few key trends that should become more widespread over the next 12 months.
#1: From Monolithic to Micro-centric
The evolution of the industry has kept investments primarily in back and front office technology over the past few years. While the trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing, we as an industry can expect to see a shift in the way next-generation back office solutions are architected. As service providers transform, they should future proof investments by using state-of-the-art microservices software architectures that segment key functionality blocks and make them available as individual components. This creates greater flexibility later on in the development cycle, helps amortize the transformation investment over a longer period of time, and allows the operator to evolve more quickly than with a traditional monolithic architecture. This investment in microservices also benefits the entire customer lifecycle through discovery, shopping, ordering, billing, payment, and rewards & loyalty management. Using a more cost effective software upgrade approach, a microservices architecture can even allow the service provider to adapt to meet evolving requirements.
#2: The Platform Economy Will Drive Greater Alignment with Key Verticals…Eventually
As the platform economy drives new levels of scale, existing OSS and BSS infrastructures need to be automated and event-driven. Service providers must ensure their digital transformation strategies automate front-end and back-end workflows of customer service requests, enable zero touch provisioning, and give customers a proper omni-channel experience. 5G as a platform for new services is a perfect example of this. While it may symbolize network speed in many people’s minds, the opportunities for new service creation driven by bandwidth and networking slicing brings a vast service potential for enterprises, industry, healthcare, media/entertainment and other related industries. In fact, it is this potential that will accelerate a new platform economy where operators will work with the above-mentioned vertical industry and ecosystem partners. This will, however, require that service providers have their back office in order. They will also need to be able to handle multi-party compensation models encompassing partner management, contract management, and settlements across a diverse range of partners. As such, we can expect continued investments in BSS by 5G operators to ensure they realize maximum benefits from the platform economy.
#3: Growth in Private Wireless Enterprise Networks, Thanks to 5G
Paul Hughes,
Director of
Strategy,
Netcracker
Dedicated private networks are something enterprises have used for years. VPNs made available through LTE, MPLS and now SD-WAN will soon be complemented by private 5G networks, which also bring a new option for local area networks (LAN). A 5G private network will eliminate the need for wired technologies, shortening the time to connect the vast number of wireless enabled devices used across the enterprise. Service providers will be able to create a dedicated network slice for either a temporary or localized activity and provide the option for customers to build their own network. Network and service control will be of paramount importance, and for the service provider, the revenue model must be well defined and profitable. Private LTE networks are already in place and available in areas that allow them, and thus the jump to 5G private networks should begin in 2020 and 2021. The rollout of 5G private networks will be an important area for the both service providers and business communities to pay close attention to as business models solidify and pricing models emerge.
#4: AI and Automation as Cornerstones for Customer Management
Powerful in their own right, AI and automation have become two of the key functions that virtually every service provider will prioritize to drive more successful outcomes at the customer facing level. First and foremost, the move from partially automated processes to fully automated processes will simplify service orders, service modifications, delivery and customer management. This benefits the customer with faster service provisioning times as well as real time access to services, accounts and billing information.
Second, as the network evolves towards closed-loop automation, it will in turn move network management away from manual intervention and towards an intelligent software-centric approach reducing time to resolution and improving the customer experience.
Thirdly, customer service automation will bring valuable data into the workflow, granting CSRs (Customer Service Representatives) the ability to either provide scripted responses to recurring support scenarios or identify a specific issue and escalate it. Self-service and chat bot/digital assistants are already helping eliminate customer calls to the contact center. Further automation of this area will help minimize time spent on responses for common or time related situations and allow faster time to resolution.
#5: New Powers at the Edge Will Bring Service Creativity and Offer New Data for Intelligence
As mobile devices become more powerful, new performance capabilities such as multi-access edge computing (MEC), the ETSI-defined network architecture concept, will bring new strength of service to the end user. The power of the cloud and the availability of a richer IT service environment on the edge of the mobile network means end customers will benefit at the device level. While still in its early days, 5G network slicing in enterprise-related use cases will likely be the first to take shape, and many enterprise applications will increasingly rely on 5G’s ability to enable edge computing. Bandwidth intensive and ultra-low latency services and data like those generated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices will be stored, processed, analyzed and utilized close to or at the edge of networks. By enabling data aggregation and processing at the edge, companies will not only achieve bandwidth savings but also reduce latency, improve reliability and enable more personalization of services.
