In the wake of Covid-19, the demand for bandwidth and digital services reached an all-time high. And yet, despite the indispensable role the CSPs played during the pandemic, they continue to face commoditisation challenges and competition from hyperscalers and platform companies that are upending the value chain. This has driven an immediate need for a reinvented industry positioning.
The good news is that, by building on their core strengths (trust, relationships, data, network and skilled B2B workforce) and taking advantage of openings provided by new & convergent technologies, CSPs are uniquely positioned to become the orchestrator of a wide range of services by connecting a complex ecosystem of new digital offerings, says Andrew Walker, senior managing director and global communications & media industry lead at Accenture. These could range from offering cloud-based ‘as-a-service’ solutions, helping small businesses rebound from the pandemic, or becoming the ‘concierge’ of the smart home.
One of the biggest growth opportunities for CSPs lies in the Large Enterprise segment. The evolution of the network toward software-defined 5G, combined with the ability of edge to deploy key horizontal software functionalities, can unlock new and powerful industrial IoT use cases that need a high degree of personalisation and mission criticality. Now is the time for CSPs to think big and think bold on applying the combined impact of 5G and edge – here are my top tips for doing so.
- What can we learn from 4G?
The advent of 4G required significant investment from CSPs worldwide, whether it was in time, tech, talent, or capital. But did they see the greatest ROI from this upgraded network? No, they did not that mantel went to OTT players, which cashed in on the connectivity that 4G unleashed with a continued bull-run of subscribers and share price performance.
It’s imperative, therefore, that in the roll out of 5G, CSPs don’t follow in the footsteps of the network that came before it. CSPs must see this as more than a network upgrade. Rather, they need to evolve their role from wholesaler to an intelligent service orchestrator, leveraging 5G as a critical control point to not only provide enhanced connectivity services, but to go beyond to open new demand on top for horizontal services and vertical solutions. If CSPs fail to take on this mindset, the ROI will be minimal, as yet again the businesses to reap the rewards of 5G will be those that overlay more innovative services on top.
- Connect 5G with the edge…
True disruption within the CSP market will come from combining 5G and edge computing. For instance, by combining with cloud services on mobile edge networks rather than remote and slower public cloud networks data is collected, analysed, and actioned locally. In turn, this allows the low latency of 5G to live up to its true potential by delivering capabilities in real-time.
This requires an investment in building a platform with key edge engines through which CSPs can orchestrate and deliver their own and third-party horizontal software functionalities (e.g. network decisioning and scaling, real time analytics, data transmission & caching, context based security etc.) that can become the foundational elements of vertical industry solutions and use cases.
- …. To create vertical market opportunities
By leveraging APIs to onboard a cross industry use case supply chain (from service creation to delivery) on top of the horizontal edge platform, CSPs can truly gain a new centrality in the connected industries revolution.
This entails closely working with the ecosystem partners to drive continuous innovation, requiring high-value industry services together with the ability to industrialise the onboarding, certification, and orchestration of vertical use cases.
With smart manufacturing applications for example, computing comes closer to data, driving data storage in equipment itself, providing better predictive maintenance, and ultimately greater energy efficiency and productivity.
Connecting the dots as the X-industry orchestrator…
CSPs, more than others, are well positioned to grab this “cross industry orchestrator” badge that requires very specific carrier grade assets and capabilities that only they have built progressively over the years. Meanwhile, investments in 5G, cloud and networks modernisation are now increasingly at the core of public strategy programmes globally, which also augurs well for CSPs.
The opportunities are limitless but CSPs need to act quickly to capitalise on them. A pure connectivity and wholesale play in 5G or a mere re-seller approach to the edge will see CSPs once again cede the most promising ground to software and platform giants. With this threat, CSPs must work out where they sit in the 5G ecosystem alongside those competitors. Building on equal terms with perspective on the respective strengths they and their competitors hold is what will drive real value for the industry and wider society.
This is one of four key ways in which CSPs can break free of their stalled growth, with my next article set to explore the role CSPs can play in connecting the smart home.
The author is Andrew Walker, senior managing director and global communications & media industry lead at Accenture.
Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @VanillaPlus OR @jcvplus
