2015 – The Year of Digital and Cloud for Communications Providers? 79% of communications providers held back by their current IT systems but next year they must focus on building the right foundations for future success.
Despite the hype surrounding trends such as the Internet of Things and wearable technology, telecommunications companies need to focus their 2015 investments on building the foundations for a digital future, according to a new survey commissioned by global cloud technology company, CloudSense. The survey polled decision-makers across Communication Service Providers with over 400 employees across Europe and the US.
The results show that over three-quarters of respondents (79%) are dissatisfied in some way with their current IT systems. This legacy infrastructure is obviously holding them back from effectively selling new products as the majority (82%) say they cannot easily bundle across all products and services – a major disadvantage in such a competitive and fast-moving marketplace.
When asked which technology will most impact their business in 2015 the answers spanned a range with no one clear winner. The most popular answer was the cloud (29%) followed by digital services (21%), whereas the Internet of Things and wearable technology only scored 13% and 6% respectively. Big data was cited by only 10%.
“According to Ovum, the telecommunications sector will be one of the top industries for IT spending over the next 12 – 18 months. But the challenge for the vast majority of Communication Service Providers globally is that their current systems are not built to deliver future success. With a number of technologies impacting their company in 2015 their commercial success will be dependent upon how they sell and deliver those new technologies to customers. The numbers are clear; 79% of communication provider decision-makers admit their systems are holding them back when selling new products and 82% acknowledge they are limited in how they can bundle their products and services,” says Richard Britton, CEO, CloudSense.
“47% of our survey respondents say that ‘winning new business’ will be a key challenge for 2015, closely followed by 46% saying ‘reducing operational overheads’. However, it is impossible to increase new business whilst reducing costs without a significant change in approach. Continuing to rely on ageing systems which undermine the order to cash journey impacts revenue, costs and customer experience.”
The survey showed that a vast range of issues continue to impact the customer journey negatively. For example, 35% were concerned that their customers still had a different experience depending on channel. The next two most significant concerns for businesses were the continuing use of manual processes (highlighted by 31%) and the fact that order capture and management systems are not fast enough to change, leading to increased time to market for new products or services (30%).
CloudSense Communication Providers 2015 findings
For a detailed infographic demonstrating the breakdown of results please see: cloudsense.com
Andrew McLean is the Studio Director at Disruptive Live, a Compare the Cloud brand. He is an experienced leader in the technology industry, with a background in delivering innovative & engaging live events. Andrew has a wealth of experience in producing engaging content, from live shows and webinars to roundtables and panel discussions. He has a passion for helping businesses understand the latest trends and technologies, and how they can be applied to drive growth and innovation.
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