Changing the telco world with intelligent connectivity

Today, it seems like the entire world runs on connectivity, and it’ll come as no surprise to hear that the advent of 5G has only increased this dependency. For many of the telecom companies I work with, finding opportunities to drive transformation, innovation, and exemplary customer experience with 5G is top of the agenda. Simply, it’s vital in helping them stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Transforming with 5G and fibre

It’s easy to think of 5G as just a bigger connectivity pipe with low latency. However, it has the potential to be so much more, transforming experiences across everything from B2B to the entertainment industries. So how can telcos—and wider society—prepare to take full advantage of 5G?

I recently took part in a Raconteur roundtable of industry experts, sponsored by ServiceNow. Talking to them reminded me of what I’ve heard many times before: 5G has the potential to revolutionise society, so long as we build the right ecosystems with the right technology partners.

As an industry, telecoms isn’t exactly known for its spirited collaboration and data sharing; a mindset that leaders are attempting to shift. The journey to 5G success will require even modern telcos to rethink their role in the digital ecosystem. And, more specifically, it will test their ability to forge collaborative relationships with technology partners.

Adopting an ecosystem mindset

Taking an ecosystem approach that’s based on openness and collaboration is key for telcos to create new, relevant solutions, leveraging complex technologies like AI, cloud, IoT, VR, and so on. This helps companies truly monetise the 5G opportunity, and enables them to deliver intelligent connectivity and seamless services to end users, with the potential of transforming the world of business.

Of course, no company can build a culture of collaboration overnight. Developing an ecosystem is a long-term strategy with many factors to consider, from open platforms, to company values , and requires a shift in mentality. In this sense, it’s a very human challenge: employees need to work together effectively, and must be convinced that using 5G to create new partnerships is worthwhile.

At the Raconteur roundtable, a leading view was that telcos that are more advanced in their own digital transformations are best placed to deploy ecosystems quickly and efficiently. Using agile, transparent processes, they can smoothy onboard new partners without severely impacting business as usual for employees, and build a collaborative mindset that’s protected by service integrators—there to ensure no partner is at risk—with data sharing across open APIs cementing trust between organisations.

Delivering an extraordinary customer experience

Partnerships are driven primarily by customer requirements, but are also key in anticipating what’s next. Telcos must work proactively to give customers next-generation connectivity for their next-generation demands.

Tailoring your ecosystem towards the end customer, with all partners working together seamlessly, creates the best possible conditions for success. As pointed out at the Raconteur roundtable, great employee experience—giving your people the best tools they need for the job—translates into great customer experience. Partners must work together to grow as a value chain. This way, they can deliver the service quality that customers demand, with complete transparency into data, inventory, and so on, to ensure that customer needs are at the heart of every initiative.

The rise of 5G and fibre is sparking transformation and innovation across the entire telecoms space. By uniting your operations end to end on a single platform, you can more smoothly build a trusted digital ecosystem of technology partners. This will enable your journey to intelligent connectivity—helping your telco stay ahead of customer demands, no matter how fast the wider world continues to change.

Learn more about how ServiceNow can help you accelerate digital transformation and deliver an exemplary customer experience, by visiting https://www.servicenow.com/uk/solutions/industry/tmt.html.

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