logo_header
  • Topics
  • Research & Analysis
  • Features & Opinion
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Event videos
Article | 5G

5G as an enabler for digital transformation

Sponsored by: WeDo Technologies As ecosystem partners incorporate connectivity into the products and services they sell, it will be essential to provide accountability for revenue flow across the value chain.

News Room
24 Apr 2019
5G as an enabler for digital transformation

5G as an enabler for digital transformation

Sponsored by: WeDo Technologies
Download the related report - 5G: Evolution and revolution

The role of the operator will vary widely in this brave new world. At the most basic level, it may simply act as a connectivity provider – leveraging extensive networks assets – although this also limits the potential revenue opportunity. With an eye on the bigger prize, many are instead looking to act more as enabling platforms, offering a broad set of value-added services.

As a result, operators will find themselves working closely with multiple partners, in order to serve shared customers and generate shared revenue.

With this ecosystem-driven model, the range of services available will be more complex, with a wide set of product and service combinations supported across value chains, with billing and transaction information distributed across multiple partner systems.

Partners will demand the ability to order, consume and deactivate services seamlessly, without intervention from providers. To support this, operators will need to offer components including real-time, policy-enabled rating and charging, and self-service customer care.

Provisioning also becomes more complicated, as device and network data is held and accessed across multiple platforms that may not be designed to synchronise with each other, creating the potential for inconsistencies. Add in a complex set of service models, and the potential for data discrepancies is only increased further.

In this environment, it will be essential for operators to be able to accurately track, analyse and bill for services, however they are created or consumed.

While there is something of a belief that a flat-rate charging structure will dominate in IoT, the diversity of applications and use cases means this is unlikely to be the case. Certainly in some instances a simple flat rate model will be appropriate, but where an application has more complex requirements around quality of service or bandwidth demands, it will not be up to the job.

Some IoT services, particularly in the consumer space, will be managed and delivered end-to-end by operators. In this case, risk management follows more closely to the established regime, in that all the necessary data resides within the telco systems.

By far the most likely scenario is that operators will deploy a mixture of these models, acting as connectivity partner, value-added partner, and end-to-end service provider at the same time. This means their IT platforms will need the flexibility to support all of these, taking into account the additional complexity when partners are involved in service delivery.

As ecosystem partners incorporate connectivity into the products and services they sell, it will be essential to provide accountability for revenue flow across the value chain.

5G network slicing impact on the new business models


Perhaps the most exciting innovation, which will come with the deployment of 5G, is network slicing. Put simply, this enables networks to be segmented to meet the requirements of specific services, such as guaranteed resilience, bandwidth or low latency.

For example, one slice could be configured to support low latency applications such as augmented or virtual reality, while another is created to ensure the highest levels of availability, for applications in healthcare or for autonomous cars. By moving away from the one-size-fits all approach of current networks, slicing gives operators greater flexibility to meet specific service needs while still using the same underlying network infrastructure.

While this flexibility will be vital in order to support the catalogue of new enterprise and consumer applications enabled by 5G, it comes with accompanying complexity. Different service level agreements will apply to different slices, with different pricing depending on specific slice requirements, all of which will need to be tracked in order to enable accurate billing.

In order to flexibly create slices, operators will need to be able to control a range of different parameters. Virtualised network functions may be placed in different locations for each slice – for example edge or core cloud – depending on service requirements, while other controls may be necessary for some slices, but unneeded in others.

Service providers will also need to be able to apply rules to slices in real time, for example to throttle usage or provide guaranteed bandwidth depending on service and contractual requirements, while charging accordingly. For services which place high demand on a network, faults or performance issues could cause a failure that has wider implications from an SLA or contractual viewpoint.

The ability to collect performance data from 5G networks and network functions will therefore be of critical importance for revenue assurance, in order to address the more complex operating environment, contractual and billing arrangements.

Alongside this, dynamic slice assurance will be necessary for operators to monitor the services they are providing customers to ensure SLAs are being met, and to bill customers accurately.

Leveraging the data boost for risk management purposes


The explosion of data generated by IoT and 5G applications creates a number of opportunities for operators. The availability of real-time data and the increased number of interactions can enable a much better view of the customer, enabling improved customer experiences and retention. And this improved view of the customer can also be central in improving risk management.

For all of the complexity that comes with new business models and a partner-driven ecosystem, at the same time the digitalisation of new services will provide operators with access to data that can be used for billing and risk assurance. This data can also enable more tasks to be automated, which could prove critical to ensuring profitability when dealing with low-margin IoT services.

Growing use of techniques such as machine learning and artificial intelligence will be useful in leveraging this data. The ability to use data from multiple sources to drive risk-management decisions can be a key asset in assuring the 5G and IoT value chain.

Of course, in an era where privacy is at the top of the news agenda, putting it front-of-mind for enterprises, regulators and increasingly consumers, the concept of sharing data between partners has become more complex. The introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – with its accompanying fines – has also made many companies more cautious in the way they use data. That does not mean that there are not ways in which data can be used to the benefit of those in the IoT and 5G ecosystem, particularly around concepts such as fraud management.

A new approach to risk management


What is clear is that to support the potential offered by 5G and IoT, service providers will need to adopt a new approach to risk management. Obviously a good place to start is with the extension of existing revenue assurance and fraud management platforms to support new services as they are added. The

Early 5G use cases – eMBB and FWA – are already familiar to operators, and as such can be addressed using existing tools and techniques. Securing the connectivity portion of IoT and 5G services is an excellent base. Beyond this, operators are almost starting from scratch, and moving into a scenario where much customer data resides beyond their own BSS/OSS platforms.

In an ecosystem-led environment, all parties have a role to play in managing and mitigating risk. But with so many moving parts across the various participants, with business process and systems that may not have been designed with a partner based model in mind, the potential for discrepancies – and complex and time-consuming resolution processes – is massive.
For service providers, the ability to accurately monitor the contributions of the various partners could prove key to whether a service can be delivered profitably or not. With many IoT services falling into the low margin category, the ability to monitor and control costs will be a critical factor in this.

Enabling flexible, real-time monetisation models will need risk management systems that meet the requirements of business analysts, without being limited by what is possible with scarce IT resources. Looking to manage risk across the whole value chain out-of-the-gate is likely to lead to disappointment and frustration. A better approach would be to use risk consulting services to review the value chain and identify where additional controls can be added to extend the risk management reach.

Making the most of the data generated by IoT and 5G applications will be core to evolving risk management. The ability to collect and analyse massive volumes of data from multiple sources across multiple locations will be essential to meet ever changing requirements and to enable preventative action to address previously unforeseen issues.

With such complex ecosystems and value chains in place, the ability to take an integrated risk management approach, connecting information from devices, edge processing and IoT gateways to the service provider network will be an important way to manage the evolving risk profile.

For all of these challenges, operators remain well placed to act as the glue in the risk assurance chain, bringing together the various participants and building on existing capabilities and experience. The key will be fully exploring the value chain to identify and mitigate against risks, and deployment of flexible tools that enable service providers to monitor risk while still offering the flexibility need to meet changing, and diverse, customer demands.

About WeDo Technologies


WeDo Technologies is the global market leader in Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management through Risk Management software solutions. WeDo Technologies provides software and expert consulting to Telecom Operators and Communication Service Providers worldwide.

Currently we count with over 200 customers, spread across 108 countries, with a network of 600+ highly skilled professional experts. Our offices are geographically spread in the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Central and South America.

If you want to know more on WeDo Technologies Risk Management offer for 5G, please visit: www.WeDoTechnologies.com.