Digital transformation for Telecoms
This white paper details why Communications Service Providers (CSPs) must respond to a rapidly evolving market to stay competitive.
We’ll also investigate the challenges and opportunities ahead and how Thales can contribute to creating the ultimate digital customer journey.
Thales Trusted Digital Telco, in particular, addresses the telecom digital transformation.
It is designed for CSPs that want to offer digital natives and digital immigrants a trusted, end-to-end digital experience for purchasing, using and managing their mobile plans.
Here is a summary of the report.
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Enabling CSPs to deliver a 100% digital customer experience
The Telecom digital transformation is advancing fast.
Physical stores may remain a significant touchpoint for many consumers, but a significant shift occurs.
Needless to say, customers have also developed an appetite for a different experience: a fully digital, Uber-like journey defined by a personalised and seamless portfolio of services.
But there's more.
CSPs must catch up with pure digital players, as in many other markets.
The result?
CSPs will therefore need to launch their digital brand adapted to a profound change in both markets and consumer behaviour.
In the consumer domain, the end-user will increasingly take control of the digital experience.
CSPs must transform their capabilities to support new use cases and offer marketing teams an agile and responsive tool to frequently interact with customer databases and provide resilience in an age of uncertainty.
This highly flexible model must embrace the diverse interests and lifestyles of the 'new customer'.
In other words, that means high volume data consumption in the shape of ultra HD video, gaming and video-calling, and unpredictable spikes in demand created by events such as the pandemic and sudden switch to home working.
What are the three key factors driving the telecom digital transformation?
#1. Online is the new normal for Telco
Many consumers no longer want to spend time visiting stores.
Instead, they are switching exclusively to digital channels to purchase and manage services.
Moreover, this new generation of consumers is looking for an Uber-like experience, using their entire service through a mobile app.
For CSPs, enhanced customer expectations have become the new normal.
#2. Digital onboarding becomes a critical part of the digital experience
The customer experience is crucial for a successful digital onboarding process.
Online ID verification and enrollment systems (eKYC) are critical enablers for the digital experience.
The rapid adoption of eSIM and 5G fundamentally reshapes the operating environment and opens many new possibilities for adding value to the customer's offer.
#3. Digital transformation is an opportunity to streamline operations, repurpose stores and increase resilience
- CSPs are also grasping new opportunities to streamline their operations. Recognising that current systems and processes are often complex, slow and costly, they are investing in digital transformation to create lean and agile organisations underpinned by high levels of automation.
- An uncertain environment is further accelerating digital transformation and reducing store footfall. In some cases, acceleration of change is also related to the repurposing of retail stores, such as collection points.
- In common with all enterprises, CSPs are revisiting their digital strategy in search of greater resilience.
Three technical key enablers for digital transformation
#1. Online ID verification has a pivotal role to play.
In line with local regulations, this process represents the foundations of any 100% digital experience, allowing customers to confirm their identity via a mobile device.
Indeed, one of the critical steps of the digital customer journey is a digital subscription.
#2. Also significant here is the emergence of the eSIM.
In terms of technology, digital customer experience is enabled by online ID verification and enrollment and is supported by the rapid adoption of eSIM (embedded SIM).
Increasingly, this enables remote connectivity and subscription management solutions that eliminate the need for customers to go in-branch to activate their subscriptions.
As a result, many operators adapt their subscription distribution strategies and establish a trusted digital customer experience.
#3. 5G is a powerful force for change too.
And behind these trends, 5G rollout is further powering change, with benefits such as low latency, high data rates, reduced energy use and cost savings sparking new digital revolutions throughout the commercial domain.
#4. Digital BSS
A digital BSS (Business Support System) enables Marketing organisations to launch a new offer quickly, optimising the Go-To-Market time.
They also provide the tools for users to flexibly change their services, add new products and access any customer care they may require through their mobile.
Open space for digital experiences
Going forwards, traditional CSPs need to reinvent themselves.
They must meet heightened expectations and directly address consumer pain points. Services must be personalised to individual requirements and extend beyond traditional telecoms' boundaries.
Moreover, these services must be near-effortless to select and adapt.
They need to focus on every stage of the digital customer journey and address each customer pain point. This process goes from digital subscription to digital customer service.
Investigate new dimensions with Thales.
Our latest ebook investigates the challenges and opportunities for the telecom digital transformation and our approach to digital customer experience management, enabling CSPs to launch their digital brand and deliver a mobile-first intuitive customer experience.
It relies on a complete suite of digital bricks that can be built on legacy systems to ensure full and efficient deployment in a short timeframe.
Thales Trusted Digital Telco offers a systematic approach built on innovative digital methodology and enables CSPs to leverage their legacy telecom BSS.
Thales Digital Telco solution is also wholly modular: CSPs can select individual elements per their specific strategic and operational requirements. The digital bricks include:
- A digital BSS: this is the digital platform that manages customer-facing business operations: contracts, product portfolio, real-time campaign billing, orders and loyalty.
- Fluid and secure verification and enrolment processes with Thales Trusted Digital ID, a one-stop services platform for secure digital onboarding and biometric authentication.
- Instant cellular connectivity activation with Thales eSIM Management platform.
- Solutions that are pre-integrated into the CSP's back-end system.
Thales can help CSPs become faster, more productive and more responsive to consumer needs, adapting their service on a day-to-day basis and being present for their consumers at any time.
More resources on digital transformation for CSPs
Fully digital customer journeys could prove a game-changer for CSPs of all sizes, drastically improving satisfaction levels and bringing them in line with big-name disruptors in other industries. Mobile World Live discussed their Trusted Digital Telco service with Nicolas Chalvin, Thales VP of marketing, connectivity and embedded solutions, and triPica founder and CEO Mathieu Horn.
Soon, eSIM is expected to achieve remarkable growth in the consumer and IoT sectors.
eSIM forms a central part of digital operator strategies and opens many new use cases.
Here, Mobile World Live speaks to Thales' Marketing Manager Marylene Arnoux-Roetynck about the technology and operator opportunities brought about by eSIM.
Thales' Strategy and Marketing Director Emmanuel Legros exchanged with Mobile World Live about the importance of digital offerings and provided insight into how CSPs use new technologies to generate market gains and improve customer service.

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