How Telcos can develop into Integrated Digital Service Providers

The majority of telcos have digital agendas to build multi-channel or omni-channel capabilities. However, their digital transformation is often only in the early stages.

Telcos to become Integrated Digital Service Providers

The objective for telcos should be to develop into Integrated Digital Service Providers, bringing together digital infrastructure, digital business operations & capabilities and digital offerings.

Telcos could become key players in the digital value chain by assuming new roles and offering new services such as: M2M enabler, Cloud Service provider, one stop IT service provider, smart city enabler or offer vertical solutions (digital home and home health care integrator, transport tolling partner, etc.).

Telcos need to take necessary actions

In order to do so, telcos must rethink their current customer operations and inherent BSS/ OSS landscapes. Core capabilities should be extended to campaign management, order entry, fulfillment, charging & billing, self-service user interface and other.

Operators should increase their strategic capabilities in the service market including omni-channel experience management, single order product catalog and entry function for all sales channels, integrated policy management & control. Partner enablement across the value chain must include M2M and over the top providers, Content, resellers, roaming, wholesale and other players.

The use of APIs and techniques next based action, Unified Marketing, social sentiment analysis, real time charging, can help.

Data need to be integrated with decision support and campaign management systems as well as the analytics engine to trigger context aware events in real time. Customer platforms need to enable marketing campaigns down to the micro and nano level of segmentation and customization. They must support a seamless omni-channel experience, including crowdsourcing. A key word is mass differentiation.

A Web and mobile Portal needs to effectively enable ecommerce, Mobile & Web care, Collaboration Community and order entry. Cloud based sales & services need to guarantee Social listening & Ads, Lead & Opportunity, management, forecasting, etc.

Such system needs to bring together all key parts such as Customers, Prospects, Partners, Social networks, Call Centers, Shops, Connected devices, etc.

How to bring things together for an overall solution

One approach is to split the production systems (Billing & collection, accounts receivables & payables, CRM) from the distribution systems (omni-channel, customer experience management, product catalog, order entry) and integrate those through a Hub.

This Hub could serve as a layer above the network and BSS/OSS layers and then enable digital marketing, online sales, eRetail, smart care and other functions.

Other initiatives could complement:

1)      Drive agile and design thinking across the organization.

2)      Simplify, minimize and standardize. For example, examine and address the overlapping boundaries and inefficiencies among business relationship, development & transformation, IT governance and maintenance.

3)      Leverage SaaS technologies or build virtualized software-based operational stacks.

4)      Move to cloud or outsource tasks such as commissioning, trouble ticketing, fraud & churn analysis, work force management, roaming settlements and partner management.

Work the architecture at two speeds

The backend and transactional core systems of records must be designed and operated for stability, resilience, scalability, reliability and high quality data management. All telcos, different to digital native companies, will need to build on their existing legacy systems. Release cycles will be longer here.

The customer facing front part of the architecture requires fast and highly agile software development and servicing. New micro services must be deployed within hours. Developers should be able to use a wide range of programming languages without being locked in by a stringent development frame work. Business users should be able to make immediate changes to automated processes. Time consuming integration work must be minimized. Decouple products from the processes. Enable work load balancing across private, public and other clouds.

Build a new organization and governance model in parallel with the technology.

The Enterprise Architect’s opportunity to play key role

The Enterprise architect plays a key role to help the CIO drive the digital transformation. The skill set of enterprise architects of the future will include business strategy formulation & execution, business innovation, stakeholder management and agile management. The EA needs to support both hunting and harvesting.

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To share your own thoughts or other best practices about this topic, please email me directly to alexwsteinberg (@) gmail.com.

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Keys to building your digital commerce platform right

Building effective commerce platforms are important to meet the sophisticated needs in the digital age. The undertaking is very complex as it requires work on the strategic, tactical and operational level. Looking only at technology is a frequent shortcut to failure.
Every larger company should consider working with a service provider that can ideally address all aspects of this complex undertaking.
Based on previous projects, I provide you with a check list of key areas and recommendations.

Vision, strategy and business model
Your service provider (SP) should be able to help you develop/ refine your digital vision, strategy and business model. Your SP should be able to help you build a roadmap for transforming your organization.

Management, business and technology consulting
Your SP should not only speak tech-language, but truly understand your business needs from top to bottom. Throwing technology at problems, before clarifying/ solving the business side, often only creates more problems.
The SP should provide true vertical domain knowledge, including customer behavior & 360 degree view, Omni-channel objectives, partner models, inventory, pricing and sales.

Operations
Many areas are obvious candidates for outsourcing. Your SP should be able to take you through various options such as hosted, managed services, performance based pricing models, staff outsourcing, etc.
As requested, the SP should be able to provide commerce infrastructure and operations services (advanced automated site testing, performance management, security testing on cloud platforms)

Systems
Often upgrades to ERP and order management systems are necessary. The SP needs to be able to integrate disparate internal client systems (legacy, home grown ecommerce systems, etc.) and advise on design and architecture.

Technology
Ability to implement the technology flawlessly has become a basic requirement. The SP need to implement a solid commerce technology infrastructure able to meet the expected demands in the future. It involves upgrading and optimizing existing sites and integrating diverse technology programs to enable a comprehensive digital experience. As needed ecommerce, call-center, in-store and other areas need to be fully brought together; applications, mobility wisely integrated.
Big Data & Analytics increasingly drive the marketing of the digital age. XaaS and Cloud enable faster, better and more efficient business and operations. The SP needs to understand these areas and incorporate those effectively into the overall solution.
The SP should offer accelerators and own of the shelf software and solutions to minimize time/ cost to market and maximize value of the new commerce applications. Further the SP must be able to provide solid post-implementation support.

Organizational alignment and Program Management
Markets, Customers and Competition are rapidly evolving. Realignment of the organizational structures, roles, processes, policies, procedures and metrics is unavoidable. The SP should provide guidance in organizational design, transformation & change management. Solid Program management and project execution should support all efforts.

Innovation and agility
The SP should be able to drive innovation and offer best practices from across the industry; leverage insight and solutions from its own innovation labs.
The SP should practice agile methodology and should drive agility throughout the organization.

Price/ Costs
Be aware that the price quoted is not the total cost! Some service providers may be considerable cheaper, but also come with substantial burden on the client organization in terms of increased management time and other overhead. The biggest – often unaccounted - expense – is that of missed revenue and business opportunity.

Engagement
Last but not least the SP should really support a collaborative arrangement and offer various pricing and operating models in line with the client’s needs and performance metrics.

Finding the right Service Provider
Not all Service providers (SP) obviously have breadth and depth of experience to provide the mentioned necessary service. Nevertheless, a good number of companies, also called Global Commerce Service Providers, are able to address most of those needs and provide full client solutions.

Accenture Digital, Sapient Nitro, Deloitte Digital, Razorfish Global, Cognizant and IBM GBS are among the leaders of GCS Providers. Strong contenders are Tata Consulting Services, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and others.

Finding and selecting the right Service Provider for your company is both a science and an art. This guide has given you some key pointers. For questions and thoughts, please let me know.
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To share your own thoughts or other best practices about this topic, please email me directly to alexwsteinberg (@) gmail.com.

Alternatively, you also may connect with me and become part of my professional network of Business, Digital, Technology & Sustainability experts at

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Guiding thoughts for CIOs in digital times

Digitalization has a major impact on roles & responsibilities within the organization. There is much pressure on CIOs to perform. While CIOs have been struggling to keep up with a myriad of demands, new roles have evolved, often filling gaps that CIOs failed to fill.

Many organizations have assigned Chief Digital Officers to develop the digital vision & roadmap and drive the role out. Chief Data Officers lead on building governance & capabilities and managing data. Chief Innovation Officers drive innovation, often with a strong focus on technology. Chief Customer Officers define customer personae and journeys, improve experiences with existing and emerging technologies. Chief Marketing Officers experiment and deploy tools to reach, win and retain customers. Heads of Marketing, Sales and Service groups deploy latest technology to provide a full solution to the customer that generate revenues, brand loyalty and growth.

What is left for the CIO?

Well, many CIOs may have missed a chance to drive some really exciting areas. Mentioned CXOs above will continually grow their roles, often supported by clear customer need and business support.

At the same time CIOs still have the opportunity to add value to the company and evolve their roles overtime.

CIOs are responsible for providing and assuring the full IT operations necessary to meet the demand of business - meaning expectations of customers, market, technology and other stakeholders.  The sheer number of requirements – at times even in conflict with each – creates a complex challenge, where traditional MBA text book methodology increasingly breaks down.

CIOs are expected to deliver relevant, reliable and increasingly agile IT operation services in a fast, increasingly agile manner. It is a fundamental, core expectation that CIOs must meet even to keep their jobs.  Performing well here, CIOs earn the right to engage more with business and can take advantage of many opportunities for CIOs to shine and add value to company.

It is vital for CIOs to reduce unnecessary complexity, streamline efforts and manage IT operations in a systematic way. A solid IT portfolio view can help better understand existing programs, projects, initiatives, people, capabilities, budgets, assets, hard & software, stakeholders, relationships, etc. and those with strategy, operating models and metrics.

CIOs must continuously drive operational excellence. They need to innovate, experiment with latest tools & technologies and engage closely with all key stakeholders within and outside the organization. It is no longer enough to only work with partners and suppliers to generate ideas for growth & improvement. CIOs must proactively engage with research institutes, academia, startups, incubators, and drive complementing initiatives where necessary. They could help their companies build an effective ecosystem that generates competitive advantage.

CIOs have the opportunity to drive a culture of excellence with focus on continuous learning and improving. The CIO should drive key initiatives such as DevOps, knowledge management, Innovation, crowdsourcing across the organization. Thinking and working agile are not only for software development, but also important to the entire IT organization.

CIOs must identify and procure the necessary technical, problem-solving and interpersonal skills of their staff. This must include the forward thinking of including automation, robotics and artificial intelligence into staffing decisions.

Smart CIOs will play their cards well: They will deliver excellent core services, while continuously seeking additional opportunities to provide distinct value to the business. The more CIOs demonstrate value, they will be able to assume the role of an orchestrator that brings previously mentioned CXOs roles together.


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To share your own thoughts or other best practices about this topic, please email me directly to alexwsteinberg (@) gmail.com.

Alternatively, you also may connect with me and become part of my professional network of Business, Digital, Technology & Sustainability experts at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwsteinberg   or
Xing at https://www.xing.com/profile/Alex_Steinberg   or
Google+ at  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AlexWSteinberg/posts