Four Strategies to Accelerate Digital Service Provider Revenues
Communication service providers (CSPs) are pushing to embrace new digital service provider models, where delivering connectivity is just one part of an extended value chain. Operators are looking to introduce new digital products into their offering to enhance their competitive edge and play an increasingly important role in consumers’ lives, providing everything from video streaming subscriptions, personal finance, home security, healthcare and other 5G-enabled services.
The objective? Transforming your business into a subscriber-centric technology company - or ‘techco’ - with a range of compelling partners that create unique, value-added experiences for subscribers.
But here’s the tricky part: many operators are currently deeply entangled with legacy billing and customer management systems which are slow, inflexible and massively curb innovation. Kickstarting your transition from telco to techco requires highly flexible BSS, monetization, and customer relationship technologies that unlock emerging marketplaces while delivering intuitive, self-driven user experiences. It’s time for innovation. But while typical BSS transformation can be risky, complex and expensive, there’s another approach operators can take to accelerate digital service provider transformation and unlock techco revenues.
CSPs need to modernize to monetize in a new digital arena
Boardroom and investor pressures to increase revenues, subscriber acquisition and retention are mounting as competition intensifies in a digital-first market where consumers have more choice than ever before. The truth is that many operators are facing an uphill struggle if they continue to rely solely on rigid, legacy BSS systems. To survive, operators need agile tools to scale and respond to market demand by implementing new features, service bundles and digital products on the fly. Outdated systems – many of which have been in place for decades – stifle their ability to do this, limiting revenue generation across new revenue models and falling short of consumer expectations for user-centric, digital experiences. With an entire generation of digital-first subscribers at stake, it’s game-on for forward-thinking operators. The winners will be those who can create a compelling digital proposition that fulfills the promise of the ultimate customer convenience option, providing a myriad of digital services and personalized offerings.
A digital commerce bridge for new techco revenues
New telco-techco business models driven by hybrid monetization strategies, encompassing 5G-enabled network slicing, B2BX offerings, and network-as-a-service (NaaS) models, require robust partner systems and intelligent, automated billing systems. Operators need to find ways to simplify and streamline multi-partner billing for service bundles that include complex pricing models such as usage-driven and tier-based pricing.
Here’s the good news: early adopters among CSPs are unlocking new techco revenues by harnessing a cost-effective, low-risk digital enablement layer, which sits deftly above existing BSS systems with a modern interface and digital-native capabilities. The even better news: this complementary monetization layer integrates seamlessly with in-place tech stacks, enabling businesses to maintain their core BSS while sidestepping the costly and time-intensive processes associated with typical system overhauls.
A digital enablement layer empowers telcos to wow their customers with personalized, self-driven customer experiences while unlocking partner revenue streams. Benefits include a cloud-based approach which supports cost-efficient scalability based on evolving workloads, along with rapid experimentation and iterative implementation that enables operators to test and double down on new features to capitalize on success. Embracing a cloud-native, consumer-centric BSS layer allows operators to deepen consumer engagement with digital sales tactics and flexible subscription options while lowering operational costs and optimizing revenue.
Four strategies for accelerating digital service provider revenues
The clock is ticking for CSPs as they tackle existential challenges and forge new bold strategies in a fast-evolving market. Businesses are growing out of old-school, legacy systems that fail to support the requirements of new techco transformation strategies. Future-focused telcos that embrace a digital enablement layer to power key tactics such as strategic partnerships and AI to enhance customer engagement and combat churn, will be primed for success. Technology leaders can emerge as revenue champions if they embrace a fresh, low-risk approach to BSS transformation that makes business sense and delivers fast results.
Our whitepaper, ‘Transforming Telcos into Techcos: Four Strategies to Accelerate Revenue for the New Digital Service Providers,’ explores these strategies in more detail and shares a range of actionable takeaways to help drive revenue growth while navigating the telco-to-techco transformation.
Related media
