90% of telecom providers believe cloud-based platforms improve competitiveness

According to the latest statistical study by Frost & Sullivan in collaboration with BroadSoft under the title “Service Providers: Are You Prepared for the SaaS Revolution?”, nine out of ten telecom providers are convinced that integrated cloud-based platforms and unified communications accelerate time to market and this, in turn, enables these companies to maintain a high degree of competitiveness through improved offerings, reduced sales cycles and new revenue opportunities in a market in rapid and constant evolution.

Multiple benefits of managed cloud-based platforms

Elka Popova, Director of the North American Connected Work Program at Frost & Sullivan, stated that “the UCaaS market is experiencing accelerated adoption and intensification of competition, and service providers are in a unique position to capitalize on and lead this transformation. This survey provided us with an insight into the priorities, challenges and strategies of service providers, concluding that a managed cloud-based platform simplifies and reduces the cost of service delivery and ensures a complete and continuously updated offer.”

Frost & Sullivan’s report, whose data and conclusions have been based on in-depth interviews with two dozen senior executives from major global telecom providers in the fourth quarter of 2016, finds that integrated cloud-based platforms offer the following benefits:

• 90% of the respondents consider that they allow accelerating the commercialization.

• 63% think that they reduce dependence on scarce resources.

• 52% of respondents believe that it allows them to move from a CAPEX to a more profitable SaaS OPEX model.

• 45% plan to deploy a turnkey, hosted and operated by a third party solution to enhance their own ability to deliver innovative solutions. In addition, most of them expect to effect the change over the next twelve months.

• 80% believe that they are faced with a culture that encourages rapid innovation, although only 40% agree that their internal processes make it a reality.

• 75% wants to increase awareness of their solutions, but only 55% support online ordering today.

• 55% perceive as a significant challenge the integration of multiple technologies from different vendors to develop their own solution in the cloud.

According to Taher Behbehani of BroadSoft, “telecommunications providers recognize that rapid and profitable product innovation is a key factor in the dynamic and highly competitive UCaaS market and are looking for vendors that offer flexible and innovative delivery options.”