Empowering the techco revolution with BSS infrastructure

With rising competition and the roll-out of next-generation connectivity enabling new industry use cases, traditional CSPs are under pressure to provide more digital services and operate like a tech or internet company would.

To facilitate this transformation, CSPs must look under the hood of their business. True transformation starts with creating the foundations of a flexible network infrastructure. CSPs need a platform-based business, which can support zero-touch partnering, alongside industry and enterprise business models.

In this blog, Lejla Pljevljak-Rašidagić, Chief Product Officer at ZIRA, looks at how modern BSS solutions enable the transition from telco to techco, ensuring profitability for CSPs in the digital age.

Discover ZIRA’s All-in-One BSS solutions now

Read more

Traditional telcos must innovate

The communications industry is facing immense pressure to reinvent itself. As core services like calls and SMS continue to be taken over by OTT providers and VoIP calls, and consumer ARPUs reach all-time lows, the viability of a traditional telecoms business is decreasing. This is reflected in the gradual decline in B2C revenues: according to TM Forum, consumer revenues fell by 1.6% from 2021 to 2022. On top of this, high inflation is increasing business costs and making already hefty CAPEX network investments even costlier.

Under these circumstances, CSPs are also competing with new players in the market. Hyperscalers like Google or Amazon have vast amounts of cash available, giving them the ability to purchase or build their own network infrastructure. No longer reliant on traditional telcos for connectivity, hyperscalers can focus fully on innovation, gaining a significant strategic advantage over CSPs.

To keep pace with competition and thrive in the face of growing challenges, CSPs need to rethink the fundamentals of their business and shift away from traditional services.

Let’s look at how BSS makes this possible.

Unique considerations in the telco to techco transition

The transition from telco to techco is more than a change in technology or infrastructure. It requires a transformation of internal and external operations that can align the business to customers’ requirements in the modern era.

This process entails unique challenges for CSPs, such as:

• Integration of legacy systems. Traditional BSS and OSS systems do not correspond to the complexity of the modern communications ecosystem. However, simply eliminating current systems causes too much disruption to the business. CSPs embarking on large-scale digital transformation must endeavour to integrate existing systems into new solutions to ensure business continuity.
• Increase in customer-centricity. CSPs must reimagine their consumer approach. It’s no longer just about providing services. The Digital Service Providers (DSPs) work with key partners and third parties to create exceptional experiences, serving customers via digital touchpoints.
• Adapting to new business models. With the continued overhaul of core communications services, the traditional B2C/B2B models are also becoming obsolete. To future-proof their strategies, CSPs need to establish a B2B2X value chain, providing products and services to a larger variety of client types.
• Investing into R&D. Keeping pace with hyperscalers requires a commitment to innovation. Currently, the average telecoms operator spends only 08% of its revenues on R&D, compared to 23% for hyperscalers. CSPs must work towards closing this gap to remain competitive.

A modern, flexible BSS solution can help CSPs address these challenges for a gradual yet comprehensive transformation.

Core components of a techco BSS infrastructure

Here are some of the specific elements of a modern-day BSS solution that can support a transition to techco:

Everything you need to know about modern-day BSS

Discover

Scalability and integration

Modern BSS solutions can help CSPs scale reliably and flexibly with demand and serve a wide range of different customers within a B2B2X or digital marketplace model. Using open APIs and cloud-native approaches across the organization, BSS makes the implementation of new solutions and the creation of partnerships far easier.

Automation and integration

To enable cost savings and maximize efficiency, BSS solutions can introduce automation or artificial intelligence into CSPs’ day-to-day operations. By simplifying everyday processes such as invoice generation or rate sheet management, CSPs can liberate time and resources to focus on providing new and improved services to their customers.

Modular support

Modern-day BSS makes it possible for CSPs to enhance or replace components of their existing IT back-end selectively and gradually. This way, they can avoid disruption to customers while introducing new efficiencies.

Opening a world of opportunities

As well as enabling digital transformation and serving current customers better, these unique features and capabilities also make it possible for CSPs to enter new markets. With a flexible BSS infrastructure, CSPs can move beyond mobile, data, and broadband and unlock growth opportunities in fast-moving digital consumer services.

Categories such as digital gaming, online video, and digital music are set to be worth more than $513 billion by 2027, according to research by Omdia. The earlier CSPs step on the trajectory of digital transformation, the sooner they can get a slice of this enormous revenue opportunity.

Conclusion

In the current communications ecosystem, CSPs need to reconsider their business priorities in order to remain relevant in the digital age. Against a rising tide of technology companies, CSPs need to adapt their service offering and operations to retain their competitive edge. With modern, modular BSS solutions, they can create efficiencies, form new partnerships, and unlock business opportunities, ensuring they have a space in the market for many years to come.