Technology Considerations for Telecom Providers Adopting the Cloud

Cloud technology enables telecom operators to reinvent their role and business at a time when technology is transforming consumerism, retail, marketing and customer retention norms. This applies to the niche of telecom operators. Conventionally, telecom operators are not too keen on reinventing how they conduct business. There is always this underlying fear about losing their consumer base. This applies to smaller, regional telecoms and carriers that have nationwide presence. However, there is a solution that seems to be the sweet point for telecom decision-makers and their sales teams, i.e. the Cloud. This data virtualization platform is taking away their worries, creating more scope for innovation, research and more penetrative marketing solutions. While usually, our discussions are about businesses who need telecom solutions such as voice and data solutions or broadband solutions, this time we are putting the providers under the lens. We are going to discuss how cloud adoption makes sense for carriers too. This discussion should help telecom operators get a reality-check about the relevance of investing in a public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or opting for services such as Database as a Service:

1. Understand the difference between the technology which you require and the technology which you already own:

Before you plan to adopt cloud you need to figure out your technical limitations and get rid of them. You need to keep your infrastructure updated so that cloud migration happens without any hassles. Address all the gaps that you have in your technology portfolio before making the move. Migrating to the cloud should not disrupt your critical business operations. This should not create any risk for sensitive consumer data. Don’t adopt cloud solutions in their entirety just because a technology vendor makes you believe that it will transform your business. Choose the ingredients that make sense for your business setup. You might want more SaaS tools along with a hybrid cloud rather than invest heavily in private cloud. IaaS has been losing some traction whereas hybrid cloud models empowered with analytical tools are creating a lot of noise.

2. Get best practices for service levels:

The technical team will have to ensure if the cloud platform is in right shape or not. This assurance includes back-up strategies, building resiliency and the scalability which offers enough capacity for customers. Ensure that your cloud vendor is not just another service provider. Cloud vendors are essentially collaborators. They need to work with you as partners, assimilating the best this industry has to offer and create a boutique solution for you. Try to be in tune with how this industry is evolving.

3. Know your technical strategy:

Know your approach so that you can provide necessary technological support to your business needs. The initial choice will be:

· Buy: If you want to implement your cloud business strategy, the easiest way is to purchase that product which is already ready to deploy and has the mandatory flexibility. If you are choosing this option, then you have to make sure that you choose a product which is as extendible as possible so that you can modify it and expand it in the future as your business progresses.

· Build: With a substantial influence on budget and timing, this choice will match your needs. The requirements might change by the time you release an application, so ensure that you do not start from the baseline that will put you at a serious disadvantage.

· Acquire: Look for those companies which are smaller but have achieved a lot in this space. Instead of excluding M&A as a way to get the cloud to work faster make sure that the acquired technology can be modified for your chosen target. A true cloud vendor will offer the ability to scale in accordance with your demands.

4. Conduct a technology assessment:

Have the knowledge of what you already have and what you require to fulfil your business needs with the appropriate technology platform. Ask these questions — will you offer highly available services versus customer design-for-failure? Will you use open-source or commercial products as part of your technology stack? How will you handle existing customer migration?

Telecom providers generally rely on huge computing infrastructure to deliver, manage and bill services which can be swiftly transferred to the cloud if they have the support of managed IT service providers. Apart from reducing the internal computing resource requirements, cloud can help carriers to increase the revenue streams. We play both sides of the equation, i.e. connect you with the most relevant telecom for business-relevant solutions and we also help carriers make their services cheaper and more agile by helping them adopt mainstream data migration and management platforms like the Cloud.