3 Trends That Transform Telecoms

Telecoms is a huge and diverse industry and often, the services that it encompasses might surprise you. Despite this, business insiders are constantly identifying trends within the industry that underpin all these services, their profitability and shape their development. Like all IT industries telecoms has undergone drastic advances and technological improvements that have increased the scope for businesses to capitalise on their chosen market. With all trends, there are the accompanying opportunities and threats and so as a business operating in the current telecommunications market we’re taking the opportunity to walk you through the top 3 current trends, opportunities and threats as we see them.

1. High Data Consumption

As we have an ever growing array of smart telecoms devices available to us, the demand for data is growing in tandem with this. This stems from a huge increase in streaming services, especially video streaming (such as Instagram stories, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, etc) and on the business side from a growing trend in remote working and video conferencing. This surge in data consumption also translates into energy consumption and organisations such as Greenpeace

This sudden increase in demand has led to the rapid development of 3G, 4G and now 5G but there is still concern over the strain placed on telecoms infrastructure due to on-demand streaming. Additionally, the extra strain on resources results in higher energy consumption, leading to greater environmental concerns. As such, ways to accommodate consumer demand are constantly at the forefront of telecoms.

2. Data Privacy (Encryption)

With easy to use services like Google Authenticator coming to the fore there’s a growing interest in Data Privacy and security for online services. Encryption is the current focus of this interest. Encryption is of particular benefit to an industry that is becoming increasingly cloud-based and transitioning some of its hardware infrastructure to software.

In 2018 Encryption related EU Legislation (GDPR) will force companies’ hand in making Encryption a ubiquitous part of telecoms. With the legislation coming in next year you will see companies beginning planning and provisions for these changes now in 2017.

3. Integrated Services

We are seeing a huge surge in telecoms service providers diversifying their service range to offer their customers a fully integrated package of business services. In part, it stems from the difficulty in monetising certain telecoms services but also from the attraction of simplifying invoicing processes and support workflows for business customers and IT managers.

It can deepen customer loyalty and be a very profitable long term plan but in trying to be all things to all people some service providers become a jack of all trades and master of none. For customers, there is a loss of bespoke, knowledgeable support and a service designed by teams who know the user needs of that service extremely well.

These are the top three telecoms trends as we see them. Do they fit in with how your company sees upcoming threats and opportunities? How is your company preparing to adapt to these trends?