Research Report | Skills transformation, Culture transformation, Cloud Migration, Cloud native, DevOps

Finding skills for the future: inside the telco talent revolution

The telecommunications industry's shift to cloud-native architectures demands new skills, but what does this mean in practice?

Dawn Bushaus

30 May 2024

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Finding skills for the future: inside the telco talent revolution

Communications service providers (CSPs) are embracing modern, cloud-native architectures as they aim to become techcos capable of engaging easily with customers and partners via digital platforms.

But it means CSPs have to fill new roles from software and DevOps engineers, to data analytics and AI specialists, to cybersecurity experts. The problem is, every other company is desperate for these skills too. And they also have to change their culture.

In our latest report we draw on extensive interviews with CSPs worldwide and a TM Forum survey to explore today's skills landscape.

Read this report to understand:

Why telco culture requires a cloud-native revolution, and why Agile, DevOps and GitOps are so important
Which skills CSPs are insourcing and why – and which are hardest to find
What the difference is between insourcing and outsourcing (it’s not as straightforward as you might think), and how CSPs’ relationships with suppliers are changing because of skills
The potential impact of AI and automation on skills and jobs
The changing relationship between IT and networks and how it impacts skills
Why reskilling and upskilling are essential
How some major operators are approaching the telco-to-techco transformation from the perspective of skills and culture
Why talent is an important new focus for TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture.

Dawn Bushaus

Contributing Editor

Dawn began her career in technology journalism in 1989 at Telephony magazine. In 1996, she joined a team of journalists to start a McGraw-Hill publication called tele.com, and in 2000, she helped a team at Ziff-Davis launch The Net Economy, where she held senior writing and editing positions. Prior to joining TM Forum, she worked as a contributing analyst for Heavy Reading.