The digital telco: Addressing customer demands

Network connectivity is no longer just access. Customers of all types are seeking seamless experiences and take for granted their ability to utilise services that sit on top of the network when, where, and how they choose.

For communications service providers (CSPs), the challenge is to be adaptable enough to adopt new technologies to meet customer needs while remaining agile enough to deal with shifting user demands promptly.

Keeping up with customer expectations

Such transformation cannot be accomplished through the traditional method of building and scaling networks – where customers wait for services to be provisioned or changed. Instead, both business and residential customers now expect on-demand experiences and near-immediate delivery for all types of services. Automation at the enterprise level also requires holistic network experiences to support business operations and facilitate communications with maximum efficiency.

To meet these changing expectations, CSPs must effectively deploy and leverage network functions virtualisation and software-defined networking. They must also utilize intelligent and programmable service-delivery platforms that allow for the delivery of new use cases – such as 5G, edge-to-cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT) – while also supporting existing services and applications.

A shifting technological landscape also means a churning customer base and by 2030 – when 5G technology is expected to mature – CSPs must find innovative new ways to manage their networks and customer relationships while continuing to grow revenue.

However, moving forward is not as simple as ripping and replacing legacy systems.

CSPs are trying to consolidate the number of products they offer and support to drive business efficiency – including grandfathering legacy products – while also reducing the complexity of customer delivery and revenue generation.

In this landscape, we’re seeing CSPs continuing to support key legacy systems while evolving their infrastructures to create virtualised and distributed core networks and leverage service orchestration and automation. Such networks can configure, optimise, and self-heal themselves – with little-or-no need for human intervention.

These innovations provide CSPs with improved visibility on their network operations along with the ability to gather data on network performance and customer preferences on a more granular level. AI-driven analysis of this information will help CSPs better understand what their customers require, make further adjustments to ensure customer loyalty, and identify potential issues.

Keeping nimble

A shifting technological landscape also means a churning customer base and by 2030 – when 5G technology is expected to mature – CSPs must find innovative new ways to manage their networks and customer relationships while continuing to grow revenue. By this point, they must have created a reliable and automated network that provides seamless services across multiple technologies.

By maintaining a close eye on customer requirements, keeping a lookout for new opportunities, and adopting new tools and technologies as they become available – while also communicating effectively with their customers – CSPs will be able to find continued success in the decades to come.

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The future may seem far away, but it will be here sooner than you expect. Download the latest white paper from Ciena and IT News to gain valuable insights on the changes and challenges CSPs must face to ensure continued success.