Are telecom service providers in Asia Pacific slow in making their investment for the much needed digital transformation?
Main telecoms in Asia Pacific include China Mobile, Bharti Airtel, Telenor, Axiata, NTT, Maxis, Vodafone, among others. The report did not name telecoms which are going slow in digital transformation.
Telecoms in Asia Pacific will take more than five years for digital transformation, 47 percent of local C-level and other service provider decision makers predict. Digital transformation is not fast enough according to 76 percent of TSP respondents who believe that the communications industry will be outpaced by other industries.
The telecom research report was prepared by IDC on behalf of Amdocs.
“Digital transformation is a critical enabler for capturing digital age opportunities,” said Jatinder Ahuja, head of India and South West Asia business, Amdocs.
33 percent of telecom service providers do not have a digital strategy in place. While 90 percent of local respondents highlight the importance of having a chief digital officer (CDO) to drive digital strategy, only 29 percent have one. 85 percent is executing digital transformation projects as stand-alone initiatives without alignment to a technology roadmap or business strategy.
67 percent of respondents believe that the telecommunications industry has strong technology capabilities but will find it difficult to implement and bring to market digital transformation projects quickly enough.
Right skills (first) customer experience (second), financial capital (sixth) have been ranked to create and implement digital transformation strategies will help companies transform into digital service providers.
To deploy new digital capabilities and accelerate the pace of digital transformation, service providers are looking to share the challenge with partners.
43 percent invest in managed services as part of their transformation in order to enable solutions for new areas in the next 12 months.
IT services vendors are ranked as the valuable partners for the execution of digital transformation projects, ahead of specialist digital consultants (second).
Systems integrators ranked third together with third-party players specializing in standalone digital solutions. Strategy consultants ranked fourth together with managed services vendors and network equipment vendors ranked fifth. These findings suggest service providers are looking for partners who can deliver a wide range of expertise.
Providing an omni-channel experience across services is the critical capability for service providers’ survival in the digital age.
Business agility ranked second most critical capability together with the ability to drive business innovation.
Business agility also ranked second in terms of service providers’ digital transformation business priorities in the next 12 months (57 percent of respondents), with revenue from existing services ranking first (71 percent).
The IDC study surveyed decision makers at 81 telecom service providers operating in Asia Pacific (26 percent), Europe (25 percent), Latin America (23 percent) and North America (26 percent) during December 2015 and January 2016. 46 percent hold C-level roles, said Amdocs.
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