Despite telecom operators frantically seeking to enter new enterprise markets and create new business opportunities, data from a recent ABI Research B2B technology survey indicates that technology implementers predominantly rely on telcos for connectivity and not for value-added, vertical specific services. 55% of implementer respondents expect to use telcos for connectivity alone, while 31% favor Connectivity+, which is an opportunity for telcos to bundle value-added, vertical-specific services on top of connectivity. Only 13% of survey respondents expect telcos to create new ecosystems for IoT, data-related, IT, and cloud services.
“While telcos aspire to soon become technology enablers for several end markets, more than half of the actual technology implementers surveyed show limited interest beyond basic connectivity,” says Dimitris Mavrakis, Research Director at ABI Research. “The connectivity market is, and will, remain, profitable for many telcos worldwide, but our survey indicates that there is some interest by technology implementers in more than pure connectivity. This is what we refer to as Connectivity+.”
Connectivity+ involves bundling vertical-specific services on top of connectivity. Telcos take advantage of their existing assets, like data, devices management, applications and services management, security, and analytics to add value for implementers. Survey results also indicate that telcos cannot, and should not, compete with Web-scale companies for cloud computing services.
A discouraging 4% of implementers aim to utilize telcos for cloud computing services today, and this will drop to 1% in the next five years. On the contrary, 12% of respondents are using hybrid cloud today. This will increase to 38% in the next five years, as the industry emphasizes the growing importance of using more than private and public cloud services on a standalone basis.
“Verizon has done well to offload its cloud businesses and other Tier One telcos will follow,” concludes Mavrakis. “Competing with Web-scale companies in their own field is impossible for telcos. Implementer requirements and telco strategies seem to be disparate for the moment. For example, telcos are focusing on the automotive vertical, but our survey indicates that the retail, government, and logistics markets are very interested in telco services.”
These findings are from ABI Research’s Industry Survey: Transformative Technology Adoption and Attitudes – Implementers’ Perspective of Telco and Cloud report.
About ABI Research
ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology solution providers and end-market companies. We serve as the bridge that seamlessly connects these two segments by providing exclusive research and expert guidance to drive successful technology implementations and deliver strategies proven to attract and retain customers.
ABI Research 是一家全球性的技术情报公司,拥有得天独厚的优势,充当终端市场公司和技术解决方案提供商之间的桥梁,通过提供独家研究和专业性指导,推动成功的技术实施和提供经证明可吸引和留住客户的战略,无缝连接这两大主体。
For more information about ABI Research’s services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific, or visit www.abiresearch.com.
Americas: +1.516.624.2542
Europe: +44.(0).203.326.0142
Asia: +65 6950.5670