Mobile World Congress returned to form this year, welcoming over 88,500 attendees from 202 countries. The CPaaS Acceleration Alliance team braved the crowds last week, making sure we got our daily step counts in as we connected with members, partners, and other leaders in the communications industry.
Here is what we heard from over 36 combined hours of meetings and booth conversations during the week:
Infrastructure and Operational Investments – Open is Key
Open RAN, Cloudification of Operations, and Project CAMARA / Open Gateway Initiative were hot topics this year as operators continue to drive scalability, upgradeability, and profitability in their networks.
With Microsoft (Azure for Operators) and Amazon (Telco Network Builder) throwing their hats in the cloudification ring, and thought leaders like TelcoDR challenging the industry while committing to large investments, there is no doubt things are going to accelerate in this space.
Project CAMARA and Open Gateway Initiative look to address some of the global integration and provisioning challenges we have struggled with for years in the CPaaS industry. These initiatives have been a long time coming, and promise to create all sorts of new opportunities for developers and the entire CPaaS ecosystem.
Looking a few years down the road, it will be interesting to see how operator cloudification via Microsoft and Amazon, existing developer-focused Azure and AWS services, and CAMARA come together to allow anyone to develop applications across global telecom networks.
Show Me the Money – Meet Customers Where They Are
Strong consumer demand for mobile-first experiences and increasing investor demand for profitability have created a perfect opportunity for communications and technology providers to team up and win together.
The technology providers we met with last week have made tremendous strides in creating ready-to-use CPaaS-enabled solutions. Companies such as Radisys, Enabld, and Bics are delivering complete solutions such as business messaging tools and AI-enabled drag-and-drop communications workflow builders. These solutions are ready for prime time and technology providers are looking at MNOs and CSPs to reach more buyers.
At the same time, every communication provider we met with is looking for ways to monetize their investments in network, operations, and 5G. The latest batch of CPaaS-enabled solutions we saw this year are already helping some communications providers create new revenue streams. We expect to see partnerships and sales heat up in this space as technology providers and communications providers continue to team up.
We will be digging into more of these revenue opportunities with our research and analyst partners including Arthur D Little, S&P Global, and IDC.
CPaaS, IoT, AI & AR/VR – Monetizing 5G
This space is really getting hot. We met with a number of different IoT and AR/VR vendors in particular, and CPaaS was part of many presentations and demonstrations. IoT was also a hot topic at the inaugural MVNO summit during MWC 2023. These technologies loom large for communications providers looking to monetize their networks by delivering mobile-first experiences over 5G.
In the world of CPaaS, the combination of IoT and AI-enabled communications workflows is particularly exciting. These technologies will work together to create more immersive and better customer experiences, improve operations, and increase organizational intelligence.
A Parting Thought – Drink Your Own Champagne
This slide showing poor telecom net promoter scores was presented by Danielle Royston during the inaugural MVNO Summit which Totogi sponsored. Telecom providers have always been equated with poor customer service. But some providers like T-Mobile (82 net promoter score) and MTN South Africa (75 net promoter score) prove it doesn’t have to be like that. Digital and mobile-first customer experiences are key contributors to their great NPS scores.
CPaaS at its core has always been about mobile-first and creating better customer experiences. As we talk about communications providers offering more CPaaS-enabled services, there is an opportunity for these providers to use those same services to improve their own customer experiences. Communications providers using the same CPaaS-enabled services they sell to their customers… it would be a win-win-win.
Conclusion
The launch of Open Gateway Initiative, albeit still young and with many steps to go, is a good example of the efforts the mobile industry is making to add value to 5+G beyond speed. And clearly they need all the help they can get, so it’s great to see how CPaaS is growing beyond simple messaging and becoming a standard tool in the CSP’s toolbox!
With vendors like Microsoft, Radisys, Amazon, Ericsson, Cisco, Enabld, EnableX, BICS, 2600Hz, Braidio, Sinch, TelcoDR and many many more stepping up to help, we’re looking at an exciting meeting of minds and technologies over the next years.
This week was another big boost to the Alliance, and the program with activities we have scheduled across the globe the next months will bring more technology vendors, CSPs (incl carriers and MNOs), analysts and industry experts together to spread the word and make meaningful connections to accelerate innovations. Next stop: Enterprise Connect!