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The connectivity-as-a-service key to revenue continuity and revenue generation

Shubham Kochhar, Manager, UKI Consulting (Communications, Media and Technology)
Elaine Haher, Director, Business Solutions Architect, Cognizant
12 Jan 2023
The connectivity-as-a-service key to revenue continuity and revenue generation

The connectivity-as-a-service key to revenue continuity and revenue generation

Regardless of the type of service provider you are, revenue continuity and revenue generation from new avenues are the two essential goals for the survival of a future fit telco. Leaders who act now and sacrifice short-term incumbency benefits to capitalize on untapped growth will define the next wave of telecom growth.

Communications service providers (CSPs) are looking to the B2B2X market to help them generate new business by expanding their reach with partnered offers. CSPs may also use their current Enterprise relationships to grow new business for connectivity-based services. To supply these end-to-end solutions, CSPs are engaging global systems integrators like Cognizant.

The current situation necessitates a comprehensive solution to enhance connectivity go to market by growing a digital ecosystem and by making four or five key operational changes.

These include, implementing zero-touch partnering, introducing ai/ml intent driven zero touch operations, moving from products to software components, utilizing MEC to deliver at the edge in real time, taking advantage of cloud native and simplifying with Open APIs.

These operational changes are being implemented at CSPs across the globe to improve new product introduction intervals, to enable enterprises to select, mix and match connectivity components and to improve time to market for collaborative connectivity solutions.

Without revenue continuity or revenue generation the pre-eminence of the model telco provider will fade, and others will capitalize on the digital economy.

Competition for Connectivity++ offers are rising for example from hyper-scalers, who are already making inroads into the digital economy and getting closer to the end users by creating their own private 5G solutions with an ecosystem of partner offers. But again, they also partner with CSPs to deliver 5G/MEC solutions from their recent product launches like Wavelength from AWS, Azure edge Zone from Microsoft, and Anthos for Telecom from Google cloud to enable end to end capabilities beyond public clouds.

Connectivity is table stakes as long as its secure and fast but the massive volume of data that flows across telco networks is up for grabs when it comes to monetization and growth. Telecom leaders are currently in a prime position to have it all but need to ensure that the right focus is given to both revenue continuity and generation.

As CSPs look to become Digital Service Providers and Digital Ecosystem enablers they will need to take a lego-like component approach where each component stands on its and can be easily mix and matched to provide end to end solutions for beyond connectivity.

How CSPs might approach Connectivity as a Service to drive revenues

1) By delivering CaaS++ multi-party composed solutions with real-time automated intent-based service ordering to offer new B2B2X enterprise market revenues.

2) By enabling closed loop operations with service discovery for intent-based business models to ensure revenue continuity.

Operational Example #1

In the first instance, an intent-based order is typically placed through natural language processing, where an intent handler takes the request and finds offers that match it based on a pre-defined intent expression from a catalog of CSP and Partner supplied components.

To make such intent-based requests possible, TM Forum has developed Open APIs for intent management and a suite of open APIs for delivering both ZTP and CaaS to enable the order response with the best fit or a selection of connectivity services to meet the customer needs.

For example, Cognizant has utilized connectivity on demand offers, the existing TM Forum open APIs and an intent-based approach for ordering to deliver Connectivity as Service. The customer order gathers non-connectivity attributes for the required solution and the intent of the order is utilized to discover the appropriate connectivity offer(s).

CaaS Rev

The plug and play IT and connectivity components enabled a suite of Industry 4.0 solutions

to be delivered end to end seamlessly to the Enterprise e.g., Stadium, Hospital, Hotel

through an intent-based experience.

Operational example #2

In the second situation, a fully composed solution is up and running on the network and some form of failure has occurred. The failure may require the CSP to scale or heal a service and allow for an on-demand modification request. These operational requests can be readily handled as intent based requests to an intent handler. Closed loop operations would enable a new intent request to be made for service discovery of a similar connectivity offer, through the CSPs AI enabled intent handler. This service discovery spans both CSP and third party supplied components to deliver the best fit solution all without human intervention.

Why is this unique?

CSPs are striving to deliver Connectivity to Enterprises in more and differentiated ways, e.g., Industry 4.0 use cases to expand the relevance and revenues from existing and new enterprise customers. Any type of connectivity may come into play from mobile connectivity of 5G to enable latency reliability and availability to, Wifi6, SD-WAN, IOT and MEC.

The digital ecosystem play moves the CSP offers beyond connectivity to enable composable offers.

The uniqueness is the ability to enable zero touch partnering with zero touch operations to deliver best fit connectivity with value added services to drive both Operator and partner revenue streams using new as a service business models.

Some examples where new approaches to market are being enabled can be seen at tier one CSPs in the Americas where MEC is enabled with Hyperscaler capabilities and combined with value added capabilities from software partners (video analytics, building management systems, digital twins, ar/vr) and systems integrators for end-to-end delivery.

In EMEA, together with AWS and Microsoft Azure, Vodafone, Proximus, and Telefonica are bringing video analytics, real-time asset inspection, augmented reality, drones, and AI-powered media editing throughout the UK and Europe. *[G(1] [KS(2]

The multi-party revenue-based scenarios are greatly aided by operational adjustments. CaaS is connectivity that depends on a shift in the business model to an on-demand "as a service" offer and an improvement in operational efficiency to autonomous operations with intent-based logic. Any number of services that are not provided by the CSP may need to be found as part of a CaaS intent request. Enabling service discovery, choosing the greatest fit, instantiating the service, and monitoring for closed loop operations are the key steps to be managed with cloud native capabilities.

To meet customer and business expectations for real-time runtime requirements, CSPs will need to deliver composed solutions, on demand, from a digital ecosystem of services. They will also need zero touch partnering, CaaS, and autonomous intent-based operations.

Why is this crucial?

Some of the factors driving CSPs to become Digital Ecosystem Providers include cloud native and on-demand operations. The capacity to zero touch partner for cloud-based virtualized/containerized services and to own or participate in a marketplace both enable the CSP to generate new revenue streams for connectivity ++ solutions.

The objective is to transition the CSP into the digital economy by facilitating access and providing unique services using any connectivity type e.g. 5G, IoT, and MEC.