An IDC survey commissioned by Amdocs finds telecom providers lagging in digital transformation
BARCELONA, Spain – Service providers are not transforming fast enough to meet demands of today’s digital era. This was the main conclusion of a global survey conducted for Amdocs by research firm IDC.
The survey showed that despite strong technology capabilities, service providers are concerned whether they can implement digital transformation fast enough. Globally, 69% of executives believe the communications industry has strong technology capabilities, but will find it difficult to complete digital transformation projects quickly enough and 64% believe this transition could be outpaced by other industries.
The survey also noted business and IT leaders see things differently when it comes to a clear digital transformation strategy. The lack of a clear strategy is one of the biggest obstacles that could slow down or completely derail these efforts. Other concerns identified by the survey are low adoption rates of digital channels; multi-vendor system environments; too many manual processes; and legacy platforms holding back progress.
At this week’s Mobile World Congress event, RCR Wireless News interviewed Manuel Briseño, marketing director for Caribbean and Latin America at Amdocs, about the regional perspectives of digital transformation for LatAm carriers. Briseño also talked about Amdocs’ news from the MWC event, which include the unveiling of its latest CES 10 customer experience system said to now include a digital services portfolio designed to support and accelerate the transition to digital business models.
According to the IDC survey, 50% of C-level and other senior decision makers interviewed predicted it will take their companies more than five years to complete their digital journey. In North America, 35% of executives shared this prediction, while 68% in the Caribbean and Latin America predicted the journey would take at least five years.
Business agility, new digital skills and omnichannel customer experiences are seen as the most critical capabilities to survive in the digital age, according to the executives interviewed. According to the survey, the main drivers to enable the creation and implementation of digital transformation strategies are availability of the right skills to create the digital strategy; availability of the right skills to design and implement the required changes; and use of customer experience as a design principle for product and service development.
As for business priorities, respondents noted the need for business agility to increase revenue from existing services and products, and to provide an omnichannel experience across services and customer touch points and to improve customer experience.
Editor’s Note: Travel costs to Mobile World Congress were provided by Samsung.