Last week, over 3,000 industry experts converged in Copenhagen to attend TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World 2022 (DTW), held in-person for the first time since 2019.
Attendees came from over 100 countries to share their successes and challenges as they seek to transform their networks, businesses, and mindsets to unleash growth and unlock value.
Here’s all you need to know from the event.
1. THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE
The opening words of TM Forum CEO Nik Willets were echoed throughout the event: The time for change is now, and the industry can’t afford to delay any longer.
The telecom industry understands the challenges faced in monetizing 5G, driving growth and improving customer experience. But the question that looms large is what exact steps need to be taken to move forward.
As we shared earlier this year in our predictions, there is no killer 5G use case, so telcos will need to find a blueprint for growth that includes moving to the cloud and embracing collaboration with partners and customers.
2. WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
Ahead of the in-person show this year, TM Forum announced Google Cloud as one of its newest (and biggest) members. The association’s warm welcome of hyperscalers signals that the telecom industry no longer views the cloud providers as threats, but as partners.
The cloud delivers the speed, agility, and flexibility which has been much spoken about but still to be realized for many CSPs. Instead of embracing a big-bang migration of existing platforms, CSPs are deploying full BSS stacks in the public cloud, then migrating subscribers in a phased approach while maintaining existing stacks.
Faster time to market and the ability to digitally engage with subscribers are must-haves. Just be wary of potential cloud-vendor lock ins; once you pick your cloud partner, it may be difficult to change horses later on.
3. COLLABORATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
Throughout the event, CSPs and vendors alike agreed that many key 5G use cases are still to be realized. But delivering complex B2BX use cases is challenging. CSPs need to realize that existing legacy systems and B2C business models will hinder their 5G success, not help it.
At a panel featuring CSG COO Ken Kennedy, industry experts agreed that partnerships go beyond large enterprises, and that scale and automation are key to address customer needs quickly and drive results.
It’s clear that CSPs need to expand their portfolios by building specialized partnerships and ecosystems to evolve from connectivity providers to problem solvers, continuing the journey from network-centric to customer-centric. As discussed on the panel, CX is still the main driver of growth, and getting it right is where the opportunity is.
4. THE ODA TOOLKIT IS ESSENTIAL
The TM Forum describes its Open Digital Architecture (ODA) as replacing “traditional OSS/BSS with a new approach to building software for the telecoms industry, opening a market for standardized, cloud-native software components, and enabling communication service providers and suppliers to invest in IT for new and differentiated services instead of maintenance and integration.”
This standardization and interoperability will be essential for managing the complexity of creating and managing 5G and B2B2X and platform ecosystems. Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and others were announced as early CSP adopters. CSG is a proud advocate for ODA and you can find more details here.
5. THE COMPETITION FOR TALENT CAN BE WON
TM Forum unveiled the launch of the world’s first comprehensive score to improve industry-wide diversity and inclusion. The Inclusion and Diversity Score (IDS) is a benchmarking tool designed to assist in the retention, nurturing, and improvement of talent and culture through greater diversity and inclusion.
Cindy Parsons, Executive Director of Social Impact at CSG, reiterated the importance of inclusion at a Fireside Chat at DTW, saying that employee feedback needs to drive engagement, actions and innovation. Collectively, companies can have an impact and change the narrative for a more inclusive, open and collaborative future.
CSG chairs the TM Forum IDS initiative, and we are actively looking for companies to participate in the initiative. You can submit your interest here.
Wherever you are on your digital transformation journey, CSG can help. Find out more from our latest eBook on why B2B2X will drive 5G revenues.
