We had the honor to present our new division, Necto Telecom, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. More than 100,000 professionals from all over the world attended the MWC. The congress is a place to see how technology and telecommunications are addressing the digital transformation of the world: from new apps and consumer devices, to advanced analytics and a smart world. It is the place to see how telecom acts as a catalyst to enable the digital transformation of all other industries.
Here are 5 key takeaways we learned at the MWC 2018:
1. Natural evolution wont continue:
The natural evolution of telecommunications, which has gone from voice to text, to data, cannot continue. Connectivity is now commoditized, consumers are switching from one provider to the other without even blinking, and OTT is taking over. This means that profits will erode unless telecoms reinvent themselves. Instead of just providing connectivity, they need to act as enablers of the worlds digital transformation.
2. OTT is taking over:
OTT players are everywhere, in communication, TV, music, content, technology, and productivity. They are commoditizing the market in areas such as music services, content, and more; think about Spotify, Whatsapp, Skype, YouTube, and Netflix. The solution is not to fight them, they are here to stay. The solution is to find ways to analyze data from OTT apps and share insights to improve customer satisfaction and offer customers with the most attractive deals and services.
3. 5G is the change we need:
Telecoms need to undergo a business transformation. The biggest technology enabler for such transformation is 5G. We saw at the MWC that 5G is right around the corner. Service providers in North America and Asia are planning rollouts by late 2018 or early 2019. 5G technology will pave the way for IoT adoption and the Smart World. A couple of interesting numbers: the GSMA estimates that the investment to fully enable 5G technology will be around $500 billion between 2018 and 2021. It also estimates that by 2025, there will be a total of 1.2 billion global 5G connections.
4. The Smart World revolution is a 0.5T$ opportunity:
Smart Homes, Smart Cities, Smart Buildings, Smart Health, Smart Industry all part of the Smart World revolution. Telecom providers can choose to stay in the connectivity route, but their profits will erode over time. Or they can revolutionize the industry and own the Smart World revolution. We see a roadmap where in the short-term, telecoms should focus on omnichannel, cross-sell and retention. To succeed, they will need automation and data insights into those key processes. In the mid-term, telecoms will have to provide IoT services, using data applications and monetize their data with the industry. In the long-term, telecoms need to become the digital transformation catalyst for the industry and evolve from a B2C focus to a B2B focus, enabling other industries to digitally transform themselves.
5. Insights fuel digital transformation:
Telecoms need to choose the right KPIs to transform themselves. Digital transformation is fueled by analytics getting insights based on customer engagement, workforce management, investment strategy, and the supply chain, that help telecoms create new business processes that make their business more profitable.
This year MWC was as interesting as ever, showing us that the industry trends are heading towards automation, smart lives, and revolutionary technologies. This digital transformation will be fueled by data insights obtained from analyzing the right KPIs and processes. That is where Necto Telecom, from Panorama Software, comes in. We help telecom carriers and service providers make sense of their OSS and BSS data, automatically, helping them in their digital transformation journey. It was a pleasure participating in this years Mobile World Congress and presenting our new telecom specific offering to the worlds telecom professionals.