Telecoms industry steps up to lead digital transformation

Muscat: The telecoms industry is fast emerging as a digital transformation and application services trailblazer, according to new research from F5 Networks.
Against a backdrop of 5G imminence, the fifth annual State of Application Services report indicates that as many as 80 per cent of telecoms professionals are currently executing on digital transformation plans. This is well ahead of 69 per cent in all other examined industries.
Telecom respondents are also pulling out the stops to re-evaluate their structures, processes, and workflows to reduce total cost of ownership, as well as embrace more agile methodologies. For example, 58 per cent claim to be migrating away from single function, siloed IT teams compared to 55 per cent of the total survey sample.
“The telecoms industry is fast emerging as a digital transformation and application services trailblazer,” said Cindy Borovick, Business Intelligence Director, F5 Networks.
“With 5G around the corner – and in a world where network resources expand and contract based on demand – a profitable service will only be achieved with cloud-based micro-services, automation, and orchestration.”
A key SOAS report discovery is that telecom respondents are ahead of other industries for container adoption. Three out of five (60%) are actively engaged with the technology, compared to 56 per cent of the total survey.
Furthermore, telecom respondents are starting to stand out for embracing newer application services. The top four application services planned for deployment in the telecoms space are SDN gateway (37 per cent, compared to 22 per cent in all other industries), IoT gateways (29 per cent, compared to 20 per cent), service mesh (28 per cent, compared to 13 per cent), and compression (28 per cent, compared to 15 per cent).
The SOAS suggests that the rise of containers has boosted deployment plans for the latter three. The popularity of compression also indicates a growing need to maintain positive customer experiences while reducing network costs.
“Application services enable telecom providers to meet the responsibilities they have to consumer, commercial, and government customers to deliver always-on network services with a keen understanding of applicable regulations, as well as broader social environments,” Borovick explained.
Once again, telecom providers are further ahead in the breadth of application services they deploy compared to their peers. Across all verticals, only 27 per cent deployed more than 20 application services. However, 40 per cent reported deploying over 20 application services in the telecom sector. The global average stood at 17 application services.