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The Data Domain – Why Modern Telecom Companies Need Data Products

With advancements in 5G technology and the increasing use of smartphones, telecom companies are looking to the future with renewed hope. The global shift to remote working has further contributed to the growth of the industry, with reports suggesting the global telecom market to reach $3.4 trillion by 2025. While this growth is encouraging – and seems sustainable – it also brings about its own challenges, like causing a massive amount of data to flow through telecom networks.

The Data Imperative in the Telecom Industry

Like businesses across other sectors, telecom companies are also increasingly relying on data to run their business and enhance profitability. They need to harness the power hidden in their data to provide elevated customer experiences, an emerging and ever-present challenge for telecom companies. Telecom companies are also waking up to the need to expand their service offerings beyond merely providing communication services. They recognize that they must make the most of the customer data at their disposal to enable a new generation of revenue opportunities by becoming digital service providers.

So, why do telcos need to capitalize on growing volumes of data?

Let’s look at all the things data helps telecom companies achieve:

Optimize networks: Live data analysis can enable telecom companies to get insight into performance issues and take steps to proactively resolve them. Active network data monitoring helps optimize network potential, reduce congestion, and achieve strategic goals amid increasing scale and complexity.
Enhance customer experience: Active data monitoring enables telecom companies to identify when and where to expand capacity for enhanced customer experience.
Improve security: Constant data analysis enables telecom companies to identify security gaps and loopholes, enabling prompt action to prevent fraud and theft.
Enable and ensure compliance: With the telecom sector exposed to regular scrutiny, the right approach to data can also aid companies in highlighting compliance gaps and bottlenecks. This can help them make the right decisions and adhere to growing regulations in a rapidly-changing environment.

But if companies want to act on this data, they need to find a way to rapidly store, process, and extract useful insights from the available data and use them to make critical business decisions like how to personalize offerings to drive customer engagement, retention, and loyalty. And the best way to do this is by investing in the right data products.

What This Means for Telecom Companies

Leveraging data to make intelligent business decisions and driving the business to the pinnacle of success is on every telco’s mind. But wanting to make the most of data is not just about adopting generic big data analytics solutions. Telecom companies have to relook at their existing tech stack and invest in data products that have been curated keeping the precise nuances of the sector in mind.

Designing and implementing forward-thinking telecommunication solutions can enable companies to exploit data-driven technology products that keep business needs at the centre of development. By uncovering detailed insights into every aspect of the business, telcos can deliver with speed, respond with agility, and drive competitive advantage. For instance, the right data products can enable telecom companies to gain insights into network capacity, effectively planning for trunk and route management.

They can also identify fraudulent activities in the network like revenue share fraud, roaming fraud, robocalling, VoIP & SIP fraud, and more.

Telecom-specific data products ensure seamless integration with the existing business ecosystem helping companies achieve the best results.

How To Build the Right Data Products

Despite various market tools, standard solutions can’t address the telecom industry’s unique challenges effectively due to its specific requirements.

To overcome issues around cybersecurity, network congestion, and complex operational processes, companies need highly tailored data products that can cater to telecom-specific needs. These solutions leverage human intelligence with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable enterprises to streamline tasks across fraud detection, network congestion, and revenue assurance.

If you want to build such products, you need to:

Make the most of AI-based analytical frameworks to boost confidence in the application of data-driven actions and avoid human errors.
Invest in the right skillsets across different profiles to develop and deploy robust data analytics programs using a low-code AI orchestration workbench.
Look at ways to complement existing technology systems and implement scalable solutions to optimize ROI.
Utilize human intelligence in tandem with AI to improve real-time monitoring, making it adaptable to future changes in business variables.

The experts at our group company GTS Tech Labs have been curating highly-tailored data products for the telecom industry. An example is the advanced product – Grentor, enabling network providers to access real-time data and gain insights on revenue reconciliation, fraud, telecom traffic, and more. It delivers interactive dashboards allowing companies to identify frauds in the network. It can also be used to track and analyze consumers, monitor network usage, and uncover ways to drive better customer experiences.

Final Thoughts

As telecommunication companies experience unprecedented growth, there is a lot they can achieve by building the right data products. By combining AI with human intelligence and low-code technologies, telcos can get all the insights they need to make the right business decisions.

It’s time to invest in the right data products today to predict your peak network usage periods, uncover ways to reduce congestion, improve demand forecasting, plan for extra capacity, and constantly act on live data to drive profitability and prevent customer churn.

Talk to us to understand the next steps in how to go about doing so.

The Future of Customer Experience in the Telecom Industry

Customer experience has emerged as a defining factor in business success, shaped by the trailblazing efforts of digital giants like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Uber. These industry disruptors have set new standards with their seamless and personalized interactions, raising customer expectations to new heights.

A recent survey revealed that 72% of customers switch brands because of poor customer experience (CX). Likewise, a 2022 survey found that 86% of customers will turn to competitors against the brand they trust after just two instances of poor CX.

The telecom industry isn’t a lot different when it comes to the need to deliver excellent CX. A study revealed that 70% of customersconsider customer experience as a pivotal factor in choosing a telecoms provider. This emphasizes the telecom sector’s urgent need to prioritize investments in customer experience and put it at the center of the business strategy.

To embrace the future, telcos must undertake comprehensive transformations that place customers at the core of their operations.

Latest Trends in Customer Experience in the Telecom Sector

“Mobile networks will be up to 100 times faster and have 1,000 times the capacity than we experience today,” outlines PwC while emphasizing the prominence of the 5G networks. For sure, the growth in the telecom sector is being underpinned by rapid technological evolution. But what impact can these changes and trends have on the consumer experience that telecoms facilitate? Let’s discuss.

Increased Focus on End-to-End Customer Experience Improvement

For successful end-to-end customer experience transformation in telecom, evaluating both short-term and long-term benefits is vital. It’s also important to refine commercial models. When we talk about “commercial models,” we’re looking at the metrics that telcos usually use for defining the success of their initiatives. These might include metrics such as weighted average cost of capital (WACC).

However, the trend now is to focus more on the customer experience aspect of things. The telecom sector is poised to make advancements in predictive capabilities for ensuring proactive issue resolution, personalized customer interactions, and overall higher ROI.

But for this to happen, there needs to be a shift in how telcos view their success. If they quantify it against the traditional metrics, they might miss out on the long-term value that customer focused initiatives can accrue.

AI for Customer Service

Telecom companies are adopting AI-powered chatbots to automatically address customer queries and issues, freeing human agents for complex tasks. For instance, an AI-driven virtual assistant can handle billing, service plans, and technical support questions. No surprise that the global AI in telecommunications market is projected to reach $19.17 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 40.6% between 2023 and 2029.

Telcos must also pioneer the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and voice-based customer care solutions to nurture more contextual interactions. This is certainly possible today, especially with generative AI solutions coming to the fore. The AI mix can help telcos deliver unparalleled customer service — all while catering to regions in their local languages and accommodating a very high frequency of requests.

This also paves the way for opportunities to adhere to the omnichannel shift. Today, customers demand consistent service across channels. With the help of data analytics and AI, telcos can ensure smooth transitions between channels while maintaining customer context. The result? Better personalization, increased loyalty, improved CX.

AI for Network Optimization

According to Nokia, networks will become exceptionally complex with the advent of 5G, growing by a whopping 73% in the next five years.

Favorably, implementing AI-powered self-optimizing networks (SONs) enables automatic network quality optimization based on traffic data, region, and time zone. This optimization based on AI technology can refine network resources and reduce operational costs.

Utilizing AI/ML in IoT for improving network performance, maintaining service levels, and protecting data privacy is also gaining momentum. AI algorithms can also analyze vast network data to:

Provide real-time insights into performance and issue resolution
Enhance network reliability and customer satisfaction

The 5G-Led Experiences

By 2025, 5G networks are projected to serve one-third of the world’s population. 5G promises to deliver much faster speeds, lower latency, and increased bandwidth than previous generations of cellular networks. This paves the way for reliable connections and spells the advent of more connected and personalized experiences.

To succeed in the 5G era, telecom providers need to be cognizant of the value of the entire distribution channel, Business Support System (BSS) platforms, etc. Collaborating with startups, technology companies, Communications Service Providers (CSPs), etc., can help curate innovative 5G product offerings for better CX.

How Can Telecom Providers Prepare for This Future?

The telecom sector is undergoing a major transformation, and customer expectations are rising. To stay competitive, telecom providers need to prepare for this future by:

Powering Data Analytics Initiatives

Data analytics is essential for telecom providers to understand their consumer needs. By collecting and analyzing data, telecom providers can identify trends, patterns, and insights that can be used to improve the CX. For example, data analytics can be used to:

Identify customer pain points: By understanding customers’ challenges, telecom providers can develop solutions to improve their experience. For example, customers may have complaints about network coverage. The data analytics team can use historical call records to identify areas with poor network strength.
Optimize network performance: By analyzing data about network usage, telecoms can identify areas where the network can be optimized to improve performance.
Personalize the customer experience: McKinsey’s research outlines that organizations that excel at personalizing CX generate 40% higher revenue. However, the consulting giant also mentions how only 5% of telcos capably unlock the potential of data-driven personalization. It’s imperative that telecom providers monetize their data assets to ensure this percentage goes up. After all, their personalization initiatives can help retain customers, build loyalty, and improve CX.

Partnering with a Telecom Solutions Provider

The future of customer experience in the telecom industry is bright, but it requires telecom providers to embrace the latest trends and partner with a telecom solutions provider that can help them implement the requisite technologies.

For example, at GlobeTeleservices, we help telecom companies implement anti-fraud solutions and drive seamless connectivity with uninterrupted voice solutions. We further help telcos realize higher ROIs via the use of the cloud. The idea is to help telecom companies deliver a superior CX and alleviate challenges related to service disruptions. Contact us to learn more about how we can help.

The Security Imperative for Telcos Providing Enterprise Solutions

In the pursuit of digital transformation, there is a growing industry demand for enterprise solutions and services from the telecom sector. In the “new” post-COVID economy, existing enterprise solutions do not meet the changing market demands. And mobile apps like Facetime enable innovative communication capabilities, thus impacting the “traditional” telecom industry.

Hence, we are seeing more telecom companies offering enterprise solutions in the form of managed services, storage solutions, and small business services. The latest reports estimate that the telecom enterprise services market is expected to reach $237 billion by 2025.

With the continuous growth of 5G services and IoT connectivity, the telecom infrastructure and services could be targeted by hackers. A successful breach can seriously impact internet connectivity and compromise sensitive information.

In the face of cybersecurity challenges, communication service providers (CSPs) are looking at security-related services as an opportunity for revenue growth. In fact, for CSPs, the revenue for security services grew by a healthy 20% in 2020.

That being so, what are the major security challenges that telecom companies must address, and how? Let’s discuss.

Security Challenges in the Telecom Sector

For major economies, the telecom sector is often the “gateway” for cyberattacks. The growing use of telecom networks and sensitive information is highly attractive to cybercriminals. As online threats grow more complex, the telecom industry must develop higher resiliency against external and internal threats.

Here are some of the leading security challenges in the telecom industry:

1. IoT Security Threats

With over 16 billion connected devices, Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks create more entry points for smart hackers. According to recent reports, security cameras in home networks are the most vulnerable IoT devices, followed by smart hubs like Amazon Alexa.

2. Insider Threats

In the post-pandemic environment, a good portion of the organizational workforce is operating from remote locations. This has increased the number of unsecured networks. The challenge is that most employees are unable to detect insider threats.

Additionally, most user applications do not implement security measures like data encryption. Cloud-powered authentication (including biometric security) can protect user data from insider threats.

3. External Cyberattacks

Cyberattacks like DDoS and DNS attacks continue to grow each year. In 2018, telecom companies were the target of nearly 65% of DDoS attacks. Going by global estimates, DNS attacks exposed 79% of business enterprises in 2020. Additionally, reports state that the telecommunication sector was the most targeted industry for DDoS attacks in the first half of 2021. Recent ransomware incidents have been large and wide ranging in scope.

Telecom companies continue to use dated network protocols like SS7 (Signalling system 7), which make their networks vulnerable to external cyberattacks. The good part is that the majority of telecom companies have implemented security measures for SS7 attacks.

Besides these security challenges, telecom companies must address third-party risks arising from external parties like vendors, partners, hosting companies, and contractors. Attackers can access telecom infrastructures using third-party tools as the “backdoor.”

How can Telecom companies meet these security expectations? Let’s discuss it next.

How Telecom Companies Can Meet Security-Related Expectations

With millions of global customers, the telecom industry is probably the largest collector of customer data, including financial and personal information. Additionally, telecom companies are required to protect sensitive data under various regulations like GDPR (in the EU) and APPI (in Japan). Any compliance failure can result in heavy penalties and loss of business trust.

To fulfil their increasing security-related expectations, telecom companies can consider the following actions:

Protecting Sensitive Data

As discussed previously, the human factor is responsible for most of the insider threats. Using data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, telecom companies can limit human involvement and damage. Effectively, DLP solutions directly protect sensitive data. These solutions can monitor files with sensitive information and limit any data transfer.

Cross-Platform Security

Security solutions mostly focus on a particular operating system or platform. However, the reality is that any IT infrastructure in any telecom company comprises a mix of operating systems and platforms.

Cross-platform security solutions provide all-around protection across multiple operating systems and platforms. With cross-platform security, telecom companies can protect sensitive data stored in all IT environments.

Additionally, telecom service providers can implement a holistic approach to security across the following four key areas:

Telecom standardization process consists of secure protocols, storage, and algorithms.
Product development process includes securing the hardware & software components, development process, software updates, and version control.
Deployment process includes a secure network design, security parameter configuration, and hardening measures.
Operations process consists of securing operational procedures and monitoring the security performance, vulnerabilities, and external attacks.

Conclusion

As more telecom companies provide enterprise solutions, they must integrate the security aspect. However, there is no quick fix to safeguard applications and sensitive data from external threats. Telecom companies must go beyond basic measures like firewalls and anti-malware tools to address their security needs.

At Globe Teleservices, we are partnering with a host of telecom companies and empowering them to meet their security requirements.

We can help you achieve optimum efficiency. Reach out to us with your business needs.

A Look Back at the Movers and Shakers at MWC 2022

The MWC Barcelona 2022 welcomed 61,000 physical attendees this year and we are happy to report that we contributed to this number. It was a phenomenal experience being a part of all the buzz and excitement and witnessing it as we used to in the past.

The conference saw thousands of companies from across the globe represent the different facets of the industry. We received the opportunity to sponsor an event organized by Mobile Ecosystem Forum and are happy to report that our event saw great participation.

One of the largest and most influential events for the connectivity industry, this year’s edition saw over 1000 speakers, 1500+ exhibitors, 37 country pavilions. Here is a look at what the key highlights of the event were:

The Metaverse is all around

The tech world has latched on to the Meta concept ever since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta. The conversation around the metaverse has only increased since and it is now being positioned as the next big thing with platforms and services rendered in 3D virtual environments. MWC 2022 saw a rising crescendo with many companies announcing different kinds of Metaverse collaborations. FC Barcelona’s club president Joan Laporta, for example, announced that the sports club would “build its metaverse as part of a strategy to attract new supporters” and leverage the technology to support growth. For telecom companies, this means new opportunities as innovative and immersive solutions emerge and demand robust, quick, and highly-available bandwidth as the enabling infrastructure.

5G connections to witness record growth

The GSMA reported that 5G connections would surpass 1 billion in 2022. This number is expected to reach 2 billion by 2025. By the end of 2025, 5G is expected to represent one in five of the total number of mobile connections.

5G accounts for a larger share of global mobile connections than 3G or 4G has at the same point in their lifecycles. Innovative plans, an increasing number of 5G handset sales, video streaming, and network coverage expansions are some of the key contributors to this growth.

We can now expect to see a greater focus by telecom companies on network capability initiatives to support consumer and enterprise use cases across 5G including 5GmmWave, 5G Advanced, Private networks, etc.

AR, VR, and XR gain momentum

The MWC 2022 also pointed out the rising interest in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications. Supercharged by meta, AR and VR are seeing increasing interest in the consumer space. Advances in computing power and consumer-friendly devices and applications have contributed to the rise of these technologies. These technologies are also finding applications in improving worker safety in industries such as manufacturing, oil, and gas, automobiles, etc where workers need unobtrusive, and hands-free devices to work.

The conference also revealed that Extended Reality (XR) will also come into the AR/VR mix and will roughly generate around generate $1.5 trillion in GDP by 2030, especially as the focus on user experience increases. This is a massive opening for telcos looking to layer business applications on top of their services for greater value add.

Service provider trend updates

The results of the study commissioned by Cavell Group revealed the lasting impact of the pandemic on service providers. The report revealed that one-third of the enterprises would be looking at changing service providers in 2022 as enterprises look at improving ‘band-aid’ responses and move towards enabling a hybrid work environment. Some of the major trends the report identifies are:

Service providers are under increased pressure to create new revenue sources and buttress margins and drive differentiation and retention with unified communication assuming strategic priority across enterprises.
Distributed video, Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Centre as a Service, and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) services will see increased demand as the need to recreate in-person experiences continues
Service providers will have to increase service offerings in data, voice data, and other analytics

The hyperscale and OTT market is expected to become even more competitive in 2022

Enterprises will be looking at tightening up across infrastructures including communication infrastructures to navigate the compliance, security, governance landscape. Ransomware and risk-mitigation solutions will also grow in prominence. These developments will need service providers to become more agile and develop capabilities to deliver new and differentiated service offerings.

The global service provider industry will have to grow and adapt to the changes brought on by the distribution of workforces over the last two years and as threats and opportunities demand a rethinking of the traditional role of the service provider.

In Conclusion

We showcased some new-age solutions in areas like messaging, security, and even AI-led solutions that simplify onboarding for a new age of mobile service provider.

Powerful conversations around edge computing were also a highlight of the event as edge cloud enables architectural innovation to effectively build and evolve the 5G network cost-effectively.

Along with this, there were some major announcements such as Cisco’s Private 5G as-a-Service offer to enterprises to fuel productivity with mass-scale IoT adoption. The MWC also saw a number of product launches and a few big press conferences. Mobile was also at the centre of policy debates as political, regulatory, and telecom leaders debates issues challenging the telecom world and had pertinent conversations regarding economic recovery and creating a more digitally inclusive world.

The MWC 2022 saw some powerful discussions and keynotes and some phenomenal innovations. There was, however, a resonating theme across conversations amongst industry leaders – that mobile technology has been driving transformation. The MWC provides those operating the mobile and communication space a fabulous platform to collaborate, share insights and deliver innovations to drive positive business environments and societal change.

The Coming Roller Coaster Ride for Private Networks

The chorus of industry voices is now drawing our attention to the rise of private networks. As the world becomes increasingly smaller owing to rising connectivity, private networks offer the opportunity to further shrink the world of business while ensuring elevated interactions and seamless communication.

Today, high-speed, ultra-reliable, low-latency, high-density, power-efficient, wireless connectivity has become essential for enterprises. As such it hardly comes as a surprise to see enterprises looking for solutions that help them manage their sprawling wireless LAN ecosystems.

Data has also become an essential commodity in the wake of a growing appetite for 5G and WAN connections. Safeguarding data also now emerges as a top priority.

Private networks are becoming uniquely positioned to offer a solution to these challenges. They promise enterprises the capability to keep their data protected while providing the capacity and superior connectivity needed to realize the advantages of technology applications such as M2M and IoT.

What are private networks?

A private network is a telecommunication network that is built and operated by a telecommunication provider and is built specifically for an individual enterprise. These networks are usually deployed on a single site and extended across the length and breadth of the enterprise. Private LTE/5G networks can also help address wide-area network requirements, such as a utility’s need to monitor a transmission network.

While a private network needs similar elements as a public network, these networks are different from public mobile networks in some specific ways. That said, they can capably manage and provide support to the wide-area network requirements of the enterprise while supporting tools acquired from the consumer smartphone market.

The private networks, however, need spectrum. The spectrum can be leased from a carrier or another spectrum owner. These networks also need a virtualized core, be it as proprietary equipment from a vendor or disaggregated hardware and software from one or more different vendors. The core can also be commodity hardware that runs open-source software.

Apart from containing the database of subscribers and SIM management, the core ensures complete control over how and which users connect and their usage parameters. The other functions of the core include traffic shaping, billing and data plan rules, quality of service rules, and network monitoring-related parameters.

Private networks improve speed, latency, privacy, and security for enterprise network operations. This is so because the network traffic stays bounded “on-premise” and does not need to be sent back and forth to a core network in a distant location.

With the world moving towards becoming even more connected than it is today, the growing value of data and increasing data needs of technologies such as IoT, leveraging private networks seems like an attractive next step for enterprises. For telecom providers, this spells tremendous opportunity. They stand to gain as enterprises lean towards high-performing and reliable wireless networking solutions to drive business outcomes.

New factors contributing to the continuing rise of private networks

The role of private networks in enterprise operations is well understood. As we have seen, the use-cases are many and the benefits clear. The interesting thing now is the many new application scenarios, use-cases, and prospective user segments that are emerging to further drive up the buzz around private networks.

The conversation around digital transformation has become increasingly louder. This has changed how data is viewed, stored, collected, and analysed. This is compelling regulators to contemplate and help create an environment that enables responsible usage of data and other public resources in enterprise digital transformation paradigms. Given this, regulators across the globe have to look at models to drive spectrum licensing by taking inspiration from the existing licensing models across Germany, the UK, or the US (shared licensing) model.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic also cannot be ignored in contributing to the rising demand in private networks. Schools, districts, municipalities, and other segments that do not fall under the addressable market associated with private networks need digital capabilities. As such they are now looking at deploying private LTE networks to add and leverage digital capabilities that will increase their reach and improve accessibility.

For telecom providers, the focus, so far, has been towards enabling enterprise mobility and WAN networks. However, with telecommunications becoming the lifeblood of the modern enterprise, telecom providers now have ample opportunity to increase their service portfolio and help enterprises embrace digital transformation and keep pace with technological transformations.

However, before we realize the true potential of private networks, telecom providers will have to address the existing network slicing challenges. Network slicing is one of the most compelling capabilities promised by 5G. Telcos will have to identify how to apply different slices to different enterprises connecting to their core network while ensuring that the same is not implemented among different application types and device groups within the same enterprise. As such telcos will now have to understand enterprise IT needs better and build compelling programs to address the enterprises’ communication needs.

Enabling technology adoption, driving digital transformation, and cloud-enabled/driven everything is table stakes now for enterprises. For telecom providers, this spells tremendous opportunity. Talk to us to understand more about the possibilities and challenges of adopting such next-gen technologies.