Over the past two years, the adoption of new technologies has accelerated to unprecedented levels, and there is no sign of it slowing down as individuals and businesses prepare for a new era of hybrid working.
For service providers enabling this transformation to happen, equipping themselves with a portfolio of products and services relevant for the digital age is key.
Service providers have undoubtedly proved their worth in helping businesses get to the stage they’re at now — not least through helping them adjust to remote working through the pandemic — but now is not the time to rest on their laurels, with a number of challenges looming on the horizon.
“Service providers need to address an onslaught of priorities,” said Brian Beutler, CEO at Alianza.
“These priorities are spread across compliance, with regulations like RAY BAUM’S Act, and higher-level priorities like network longevity, how to secure their business, and revenue growth”
Alianza builds and markets a platform designed specifically for service providers with its cloud-native solutions including Unified Communications, Business Text Messaging and SIP trunking.
As such, it is in a strong position to assess the overall service provider landscape and help its customers ready themselves for upcoming challenges.
Beutler was speaking to UC Today as Alianza releases its Top 4 Service Provider Predictions & Trends for 2022 report, which highlights these challenges and outlines how they should be addressed.
The full report can be viewed here
One crucial, high-level task for service providers is to evaluate their entire portfolio and ensure they feature the technology that businesses are going to be asking for in the future — if they aren’t already.
Alianza’s report states that many service providers need to shift away from a reliance on selling traditional voice and data connections and towards selling cloud-based services.
Meanwhile, many businesses are in the process of abandoning hardware and complex on-premises solutions in favour of cloud communications, meaning a strong unified communications as a service proposition is paramount.
Beutler explained: “Consumers are now more open to adopting advantageous cloud-based solutions and will expect their providers to deliver new subscription models for customised solutions that increase team collaboration and offer seamless interoperation between both work and personal devices like smartphones, desktops, and tablets, to make working from home more seamless and productive.”
POTS on the Out
Looking more specifically at the opportunities for service providers, the retirement of plain old telephone service (POTS) lines cannot be overlooked.
In 2017 the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revealed plans to sunset POTS lines, which Alianza said has left service providers in “the difficult position of either significantly increasing prices to maintain their legacy copper POTS lines or finding an alternative solution”.
Alianza expects most businesses to opt for a cloud-based replacement for their POTS offering, largely because they do not require large capital investment and are future-proof.
Beutler said it’s important that these cloud products complement other areas of a service providers product portfolio rather than compete with them.
“Service providers need to be doubling down on the right technological investments,” he said.
“A resilient company that is well set to grow post-pandemic will be characterised by its digital agility more than anything else, which means shifting investment and resources away from legacy technologies to the cloud in 2022 and beyond.
“The very nature of a cloud-native platform delivers agility in a way that on-premises networks cannot keep up with, including innovation of new products, adoption of enhanced security measures, and the ability to comply with government mandated regulations.
“We think a service provider’s approach should be to leverage the cloud, not build one.”
That said, there will be some businesses looking to realise cost savings without writing off on-premises hardware that is only a few years old, or are perhaps still hesitant about moving to the cloud for a number of reasons.
In these cases, a strong SIP offering can give service providers a high-margin opportunity, whilst also simplifying the solution for the customer and allowing them to retain their on-premises PBX.
“All companies, regardless of size, market, or industry must embrace evolution and implementation with enthusiasm,” Beutler concluded.
“A resilient company that is well set to grow post-pandemic will be characterised by its digital agility more than anything else”
View the full Top 4 Service Provider Predictions & Trends for 2022 report here https://info.alianza.com/2022-top-predictions-trends
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