Displaying items by tag: CSP

A recently released Analysis Mason study in collaboration with Huawei entitled, ‘Digitalization reshaping operations: a new digital operational model for the future’ has illustrated how digitalization is fundamentally reshaping the way businesses are being operated, and how in order to remain competitive a new operational model for the future operational environment is necessary.

As such, communications service providers (CSPs) are embarking on their own digital transformation journey to increase service agility and operational efficiency through infrastructure evolution and operations transformation.

In developing the study, Analysys Mason worked with Huawei to provide insights into how software is changing the world. The study exemplifies how the success of CSPs operations transformation hinges on a new software-driven operations model that is already driving the success of digital businesses across different industries.

The new operational model must support high levels of process automation to the point where predictive autonomous operations becomes a reality, enabling CSPs to automatically pre-empt and tackle service quality issues before they occur.

This study explains several key areas that cover the radical overhaul of the operations model; why CSPs must adopt a multi-pronged transformative approach; the need for continuous innovation, ecosystems and lean operations; and the strategic journey to achieve digital operation transformation.

Based on extensive research across diverse industries, the paper explains how the current operations model severely constrains CSPs’ abilities to achieve the benefits of digital transformation and that to remain relevant in the digital era, the telecoms industry must adopt a software-driven operations approach that has been instrumental in the success of major digital companies such as Uber, Google and GE. 

Anil Rao, Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason and the author of the study, said, “The telecommunications industry is at a major tipping point; as operators embark on important digital transformation initiatives, with NFV/SDN, IoT and 5G still to come, the prevalent operational model and economics severely constrains them to achieve the benefits of these strategic transformation initiatives. CSPs need a future proof software driven operations model that can not only support today’s physical networks but also adapt as the infrastructure transitions to hybrid and virtual networks.

“The new operations model must be underpinned by highly automated operational processes, enabled by analytics powered operations software platform and supported by an operations workforce with the software skills to continuously enhance operational efficiency by developing automation as part of their daily duties,” continued Anil Rao.

The study also illustrates innovative ways for the CSPs to transform, whether they embark on the journey alone through a ‘Do It Yourself’ (DIY) approach or establish a partnership depending on the level of maturity of the vendor offer and the level of control and ownership that the CSP wants to retain in-house.

The paper includes a description of the various engagement options such as consultative led operations-as-a-service which relies on the partner to deliver the operations, based on agreed service level agreements using the partners’ operations platform, supplemented with advisory and implementation services to transition to software driven operations. 

Analysys Mason concludes the study with key recommendations for CSPs including how they should learn from other industries; implement automated operations, and the best partnership model for the transformation journey. The study also provides insightful recommendations for vendors on developing solutions for software-driven operations, offering innovative engagement models and how to demonstrate a robust vision of software-driven operations. 

75 percent of end-user organizations would be willing to pay more for 5G mobile capabilities, according to a Gartner study in which over 200 IT and business leaders from the Gartner Research Circle participated in a survey conducted in the second quarter of 2017. The objective of the survey was to understand how demand for 5G is growing and to learn about adoption plans for the technology. 

“Those in the telecom industry are more likely to be prepared to pay more than those in other industries,” said Sylvain Fabre, research director at Gartner. “End-user organizations in the manufacturing, services and government sectors, for example, are less likely to be willing to pay a premium for 5G than telecom companies, which are willing to pay a 5G premium for their internal use.”

In addition to offering better prices for industries in which users are less convinced of the business benefits of 5G, communications service providers (CSPs) must create value propositions that entice customers to start 5G migration projects sooner, Gartner said.

Although most of the respondents think their organizations would be prepared to pay more for 5G, few (8 percent) expect 5G to deliver cost savings or increase revenues, the study found. 5G is seen principally as a network evolution (59 percent), and only secondarily as an enabler of digital business (37 percent).

The survey also found that respondents from the telecom sector are less persuaded than those in other industries that 5G will be a revenue enhancer. “They tend to see 5G migration as a matter of gradual and inevitable infrastructural change, rather than as an opportunity to generate new revenue,” said Mr. Fabre.

The survey found that almost half the respondents intend to use 5G to access videos and fixed wireless capabilities. More interestingly, though, the majority respondents (57 percent) believe that their organization’s main intention is to use 5G to drive Internet of Things (IoT) communication.

"This finding is surprising, as the number of deployed 'things' that need cellular connectivity won't exceed the capacity of existing cellular IoT technologies before 2023 in most regions," said Mr. Fabre. "And even once fully implemented, 5G will suit only a narrow subset of IoT use cases that require a combination of very high data rates and very low latency. In addition, 5G won't be ready to support massive machine-type communications, or ultra-reliable and low-latency communications, until early 2020."

This finding may also be a sign of confusion about 5G's applicability, as many proven and less expensive alternatives already exist for wireless IoT connectivity — use of Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth, for example, would avoid the cost and complexity associated with cellular communications, Gartner said.

A degree of misunderstanding is probably also apparent in the expressed belief by a large majority of the respondents (84 percent) that 5G will be widely available by 2020. By contrast, CSPs' plans indicate that wide availability may not be achieved before 2022, the research firm added. 

Gartner predicts that, by 2020, only 3 percent of the world's network-owning mobile CSPs will have launched 5G networks commercially. "Although standards-compliant commercial network equipment could be available by 2019, commercial rollouts of 5G networks and services by CSPs before 2019 are likely to use pre-standard equipment," added Mr. Fabre.

CSPs' marketing organizations need realistic roadmaps for 5G coverage and typical performance, so that they communicate with customers accurately, Gartner said. They also need to publish clear 5G rollout plans for the years 2019 to 2021 to help innovators understand when and where 5G will be available for IoT applications.