The pace of innovation in telecoms is relentless. Even before new technologies are fully operational, their successors are already being discussed and developed as is the case in Europe with the shift from 5G to 6G, says Mark Brewer, VP of Service Industries at IFS.
The ongoing march of technology creates myriad opportunities for ambitious telcos. Not just to modernise and enhance their existing offerings but also to develop new products and business strands which can significantly impact the business bottom line.
This has been very apparent in recent years as the surge in demand for broadband services during the Covid pandemic forced telcos in a constant cycle of increasing output to meet the growing demand for video conferencing and content.
Why asset management has become pivotal for telcos
One of the key ways in which telcos can stabilise their operations, increase efficiency and ultimately deliver the new innovations is by ensuring that asset management systems run smoothly.
Yet while many telcos are pioneering new technologies and solutions, often their back-ends are compromised by the ongoing cycle of reinvention which has left a patchwork of contemporary and legacy systems to support the business.
The roll out of the 5G system has in some ways exacerbated this problem, in that, when compared with earlier networks the technology demands many more transmitters, which unlike their 3/4G predecessors are ostensibly based in urban settings. Once the initial investment is over telcos are then under great pressure to ensure they run smoothly. This process has been further complicated by the changes in equipment suppliers with Scandinavian based companies stepping up to fill the gaps left by the Chinese companies that many of the original 5G networks installations agreement were signed with.
Yet even the most successful telcos don’t have the luxury of turning out the lights and rebuilding from scratch. Instead, they must rely on innovation and technology to integrate the old with the new.
With a backdrop of global challenges in the mix, maintaining a high-quality customer experience that delivers new personalised services and applications in real-time is no easy standard to meet. Macro-economic issues such as the rising costs of equipment, talent gaps and supply chain disruption make internal service management even more challenging for projects like 5G rollouts to perform without any barriers or obstacles.
In addition, ever decreasing technology cycles have placed the telecom industry under huge pressure to make smart Capex investments in order to stay competitive in today’s market. This in turn creates new issues as the assets that power those networks, however, have to be refreshed more frequently than most other industries.
Significant investment in a fleet of assets means they require continual management to ensure optimum maintenance and performance. Often, operating 24/7 365 days per year, the need for assets to perform reliably and safely is mission critical. Having a proper maintenance strategy in-place with supporting systems can protect against unplanned outages that create major problems for asset owners and operators and can lead to regulatory intervention, penalties and fines.
There are pressures beyond making those teams run more effectively and efficiently too. Sustainability has become a key for many enterprises and ensuring that field service staff make only necessary trips has become one way companies attempt to reduce their carbon footprints.
Harnessing technology to improve efficiency
In many ways telcos can take inspiration from the way they are operating in other parts of their business. Take customer service, which has in recent years been transformed by technology to address the requirement of demanding consumers who want to communicate with telcos using their chosen method and at a given time.
One of the ways that telcos manage these processes is by enlisting technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate many of these workflows,
By using automated workflows and real-time data, the telco can send the customer reminders and other important details (technician’s name, estimated arrival time, etc.), enhancing the experience. They can harness the technology to harvest customer feedback and then use this data to optimise the service.
Yet replicating this type of innovation in asset management is complex as knitting together an asset management system, service management and scheduling system, and a separate set of contract warranty management systems has until recently meant operating multiple diverse systems.
There are many issues for telcos to resolve from managing maintenance budgets and attaining ROI insight into their Capex investments through to obtaining a 360 vision across all of their platforms.
These can only be addressed by integrating infrastructure management solutions so that internal processes and operations can move away from silos across asset, workforce and service management to support new business models.
By breaking through the silos that are in many ways the root of telco’s operational challenges, and creating unified field asset management systems, companies can start to smash the efficiency, productivity and sustainability targets that are so important for them.
The author is Mark Brewer, VP of Service Industries at IFS.
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