With investments geared towards telecom infrastructure (Cloud platforms, server virtualization and BSS/OSS systems to support LTE implementations) and online channels to support customers’ increasing digital lifestyles, the telco IT spend is expected to reach US$60.7 billion by 2017. This has been revealed by global analyst Ovum. According to Ovum’s ICT Enterprise Insights, customer experience management (CEM) has emerged as the top driver of telco IT investments in 2014.
Ovum also revealed a long-term shift in spending towards customer-oriented systems and on improving customer satisfaction within the telecoms industry. Survey respondents identified multi-channel integration and service personalization as top areas of focus in the next 18 months, with 67 per cent and 61 per cent planning to increase spending in these two areas, respectively.
After many years of cost reduction, senior telco IT executives clearly see the need to invest again in CRM projects that will support overall customer experience. Over the next 12 months, consolidating and developing integrated multichannel CRM systems and business processes will be top of the priority list for operators. However, to succeed, networks need to be smarter, said Shagun Bali, Analyst, Ovum.
Telcos need to get their IT, network operations, and marketing departments on board to fully take advantage of the policy management tools. Meanwhile, vendors need to provide actual metrics to back up their performance claims, as telcos will look for concrete examples and use cases that demonstrate cost savings and revenue-generating opportunities, added Bali.
Ovum further suggests that telcos will need to deploy new optimization and monetization tools to run their networks and services more efficiently, creating new opportunities in turn.
