The telecommunications industry is expected to spend $57 billion on IT in 2025, of which an estimated 30 percent of the budget will be on software. Introducing new SaaS platforms or any digital technologies into the IT stack can be costly. Itโs also resource-consuming, requiring a lot of hours from IT manpower to fully integrate.
Before investing the time and resources, itโs important to know who the technology vendor you are teaming up with is. The uniqueness, innovativeness or disruptiveness of a technology and value proposition is one thing, but the ability to partner, and not merely provide a solution, is what counts. Itโs a journey, not a sprint to ROI. Here are what mobile operators must consider before bringing on a technology vendor.
Proof in the Pudding First
The first step to searching for and partnering with any vendor is the business case, because integrating a SaaS solution at scale is costly. In fact, some large-scale enterprise integrations can cost as high as $27.5 million, according to an IDC study.
One of the challenges for mobile operators in identifying the right partner is knowing what the right business case is that the vendor should deliver on. Vendors typically market their solutions, SaaS platforms, as delivering several economic or operational benefits, which can be nebulous. But being able to hit on several objectives or even just one can take anywhere between 6-12 months to prove ROI. Given the resources required to onboard and integrate, the timeline for expected returns leaves an operator playing a waiting game and at financial risk in the event the project is unsuccessful.
In order to demonstrate the value of or validate the decision to onboard a solution or platform in a more cost-effective manner, mobile operators should first pinpoint a specific problem or desired outcome within the parameters of their business goals. In other words, start with a highly specific use-case but one that can also be expanded and scaled to achieve positive ROI long-term.
For example, if the long-term goal is increasing revenues from retail outlets, a mobile operator can propose a pilot program that leverages the carrierโs on-device app in a customerโs phone in order to encourage customers to visit a retail store.
Minimal IT Lift
Because integration is so cumbersome, proof of value must come at minimal or no integration expense. Vendors offering solutions that require full integration to demonstrate success pose serious risks to a mobile operator โ such realizing low ROI in the end after a costly integration. What mobile operators should strongly consider in a vendor is a proof of concept or pilot that does not require full integration into backend systems.
What a non-integration proof of concept entails is setting up the solution outside of the confines of the operatorโs infrastructure. This a zero or near-zero burden on the IT department, but may require resources from other departments such as marketing, cybersecurity and/or legal. A minimal lift implementation like this should be relatively low cost yet still function almost as if it were integrated.
Examples of non-integrated proof of concept architectures are standalone apps โ built to resemble the mobile operator app in design and feel but without the full integration โ or a branded SaaS application. The medium of running the use case proof of concept is entirely dependent on the vendor and the operatorโs agreement and needs, but ensuring minimal IT lift to deploy it is essential.
The Long-Term Vision
From an initial proof of concept use case to scaling across the enterprise, the journey to deployment is one of both partnership and long-term investment. As such, itโs critical that telecommunications technology vendors project confidence with a long-term vision and a product roadmap that matches the business strategy and objectives of the operator.
For example, increasing revenue generation may be the long-term goal, but the initial step toward it is to generate more engagement with the operatorโs mobile app. So while a pilot around engagement could prove to be successful, the roadmap to reaching increased revenue generation would need to be clearly laid out โ i.e. first increasing engagement on the app, then improving marketing promo engagement, then converting more sales.
Improving business operations, margins and customer lifetime value (CLV) through technology is a partnership. With two decades of experience working with mobile operators, MCE has partnered with global tier-1 mobile operators to deploy solutions of different sizes and for unique use cases. MCE specializes in helping during this journey, starting out solving specific pain points and growing together โ from something as specific as driving more customers to retail volumes to a nationwide trade-in program. Learn more about the power of MCEโs digital device lifecycle management (dDLM) platform to elevate your mobile operatorโs capacity to enhance CLV.
