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New mobile private networks (MPNs) are currently being deployed at a rate never before seen, with annual spending in the sector now totalling USD10.9bn. As such, MPNs are being hailed as something of a surprise growth area for the telecommunications industry, however research shows that communications service providers (CSPs) are not the main players in this market.

After years of build-up and growing anticipation, the first consumer services based on 5G were finally launched around the world during 2019. In the UK, EE, O2, Three and Vodafone all launched 5G services to some degree, whilst the big four carriers of the US – AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint – have also rolled out commercial 5G services in various cities across the country. These launches have made one thing clear – telcos need to think differently about 5G services by ditching the traditional mindset around pricing and come up with more innovative ways of monetising their services. Radical improvements in bandwidth, speed and latency offered by 5G mean that telcos can leverage the opportunity to offer richer digital experiences and find new ways to engage their customers.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is creating an exciting new ecosystem for companies to disrupt existing markets, create new monetisation opportunities and rewrite the rules of the game. The key to monetising IoT, however, lies in quickly identifying the right layer for your business to operate within the IoT value chain and selecting the business model which can deliver a compelling value proposition to your customers. In order to reap the benefits of IoT, businesses also need to embrace digital transformation, invest in new support systems capabilities and comply with newer standards.

The advent of the digital economy has placed new demands on Communications Services Providers (CSPs) and the current breed of BSS/OSS systems are simply unable to cope with these demands. CSPs have to contend with legacy systems that are unable to integrate efficiently with new applications, resulting in a tangled web of disparate operational systems and processes. CSPs need to quickly reimagine the ways they operate and engage with their customers to succeed within this new paradigm.

Digital Transformation is fast becoming a key strategic objective for many Communications Service Providers (CSPs). Moving BSS to the cloud is an important aspect of this transformation. However, many CSPs do not have a strategic roadmap to migrate their BSS to the cloud and very often the key drivers for cloud adoption are purely commercial objectives. While CSPs understand that moving to the cloud makes perfect business sense, the reason for this passive approach stems from privacy and security concerns, internal resistance to change and a perceived immaturity of cloud technologies, among other concerns. As more CSPs offer cloud services to their customers and see demonstrable benefits, many expect the cloud BSS adoption levels (currently <10%) to dramatically increase by 2020.

Subscription services are becoming increasingly popular as businesses strive for predictable recurring revenue streams to drive customer engagement. But, as these service provider offerings mature and competition increases, so too does the need for businesses to differentiate through innovative pricing and product packaging.

Taking a cue from the communications marketplace concerning customer touch and service personalization, businesses in every industry are improving the experience of their customers. They are doing this by placing mobility services into existing product lines, and by offering what were once considered “products” as subscription-based services. While the former remains an essential element of the long-term evolution strategy for most companies, it is the latter - products delivered as subscription-based services - that are making headlines.

The subscription business model is going from strength to strength as companies evolve from selling products to becoming ‘as-as-service’ providers. It is a process that has the potential to transform your entire organisation - whether you are an established company looking to rapidly launch new services or solutions, or a new start-up, eager to develop an agile and flexible customer engagement strategy. 

A recent survey run by Cerillion, polling the views of more than 200 senior IT professionals in the UK across a broad range of industry verticals revealed that more than half of all businesses today (53%) are still using either an in-house-developed system or manual processes to bill their customers.