From service infrastructure to the way brokers quote prices to their customers, digital transformation is touching every part of the telecom industry. As the calendar year changes, the disruption taking place on multiple fronts is going to affect both day-to-day telecom business operations, and the services and performance your customers expect.
As 2021 unfolds, here’s a look at the most significant changes taking place in telecom—and how it might affect carriers, solutions providers, and telecom brokers.
Managing Complexity Through AI
Telecom sales solutions are gradually leveraging AI tools to enhance the performance capabilities of the configure, price, quote (CPQ) process, realizing new efficiencies and optimizing the value of these services. From algorithm-based tools to advanced solutions using machine learning and AI, this ability to manage complexity plays a crucial role in:
- Setting advanced business rules
- Delivering service with consistency
- Scaling your customer base without compromising quality in your service
Expanding the 5G Network
5G network infrastructure is rolling out across the United States, and consumers are eager to access this new wireless signal with devices capable of 5G connections. Telecom businesses will be poised to capture market share in services areas where 5G is available, converting customers eager to be early adopters. When telecom carriers make this service available in local areas, solutions providers and agents should be aggressive in promoting and selling all of the complimentary applications and services that become enabled through such a powerful and ubiquitous network, increasing their market share at a crucial early stage.
Streamlining Operations Through the Internet of Things
Internet of Things (IoT) technology is helping telecom businesses collect new types of data that support data-driven decision-making, as well as enabling more efficient resource management and other operational benefits, including optimized supply chain management. IoT is a launching pad to better synchronicity in your business operations, including better resource management across your organization. Ultimately, the data from IoT can be used to strengthen the insights and processes supported through algorithm-based and AI-enabled automation.
Leveraging Business Rules Through Robotic Process Automation
Telecom businesses are using robotic process automation (RPA) to enforce business rules that automate complex but repetitive tasks, including stages in the CPQ process, to reduce employee labor and expedite customer service. RPA can accommodate thousands of business rules at once, which helps telecom businesses manage complexity in their operations with efficiency and precision.
Utilizing a Smarter Sales Strategy, Thanks to Big Data
The intelligence generated by access to “big data” will continue to help telecom businesses optimize the following:
- Customer engagement
- Product offerings
- Pricing
- The ability to ensure quality control—among other benefits to the sales process
Over time, this can lead to more efficient marketing spend, a better allocation of sales capital, and higher ROI from your marketing and sales strategy.
Maximizing Cloud Computing
Cloud computing solutions will expand the capabilities and options offered in the telecom CPQ process, particularly when helping business/enterprise clients make the right decisions related to their use of public, private, or hybrid cloud architecture. Cloud solutions can:
- Support a remote and dispersed workforce
- Enable or improve software applications
- Expand the functionality of mobile devices
- Leverage access to internet connectivity
- Improve enterprise security
- Facilitate greater interoperability between systems
As a whole, the telecom industry is taking a leadership role in accounting for a complex and ever-changing cloud environment when determining how to configure and price solutions and services.
Emphasizing Cybersecurity
As innovative CPQ solutions and other telecom tools gain traction as specialized tools to integrate into your existing tech stack, cybersecurity will become a more prominent feature of these solutions, and a greater focus of the ever-evolving telecom tech stack. The more telecom transforms to embrace digital and cloud-based solutions, the greater emphasis cybersecurity will receive—and the higher customer expectations will be around security for their own sensitive data.
Keeping Pace with the Changing State of Telecom
The telecom industry’s fast and multi-faceted transformation should put all businesses in that industry on alert. To keep pace with your competition and meet rising customer demands, your business needs to embrace this transformation and lean on innovative solutions to push your business forward.
Ready to leverage these telecom trends in 2021 and beyond? Contact us today.
