Unlocking Success in the NaaS Era

Partnerships for enhanced customer experience.

In the fast-evolving telecommunications industry, customer expectations are reshaping the competitive landscape, emphasizing the significance of customer experience (CX). With telcos and service providers offering similar solutions, the focus on CX presents an opportunity for differentiation and a competitive advantage.

The increase of cloud-based applications adds complexity to network management for organizations across the board. To address this, automation, AI, and zero-touch engagement models are gaining traction. Telco investments in network automation software have surged to $6.21 billion, reflecting a 42% growth since 2020, according to Appledore Research.¹

While automation and zero-touch solutions offer efficiency, overlooking CX poses a significant risk to businesses. Many enterprise customers still value human interaction for guidance and support.

Network as a Service (NaaS) platforms offer a blend of automation and human support to enhance CX. This market is expected to reach $46.6 billion by 2027, as predicted by MarketsandMarkets.² It equips businesses with the tools and support they need to improve their global connectivity.

In this dynamic landscape shaped by NaaS, prioritizing CX is paramount for telcos and service providers to maintain competitiveness and deliver fresh value for enterprise clients.

Navigating CX in a Competitive Market

Service providers often face challenges in keeping pace with competitors who swiftly adopt new technologies at competitive prices. To stand out, providers must excel in CX, and balance where customers still seek the personal touch of a human-guided assistance alongside automation.

While some enterprise customers appreciate the efficiency and convenience of self-service and automation, this does not mean they do not want to interact with their service provider at all.

For service providers venturing into the NaaS market, delivering high-quality customer service can prove daunting, particularly without internal expertise. However, acknowledging the pivotal role of CX in customer retention and satisfaction can enhance their chances of success.

NaaS Success Through Strategic Collaboration

In an era of increasing networking demands, service providers can achieve success through strategic partnerships with NaaS experts. These collaborations offer a pathway for service providers to rebrand and resell NaaS platforms as their own, leveraging external expertise to meet the evolving needs of enterprises and navigate the market effectively.

Collaborating with NaaS specialists enables service providers to provide enterprise customers with a much wider network ecosystem, including Data Center Interconnection (DCI), access to world-leading cloud service providers (CSPs) and internet exchanges (IXs), and other networking and voice solutions. Expert guidance ensures optimized CX and business success at every stage of the journey, providing a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded market. By streamlining operations through automation and orchestration self-service tools, service providers can reduce procurement workloads, speed up provisioning, and enhance service delivery, thereby ensuring a seamless CX for their customers.

Additionally, offering a wider range of solutions enables providers to attract and retain customers, improving network performance and visibility from the application through to the network layer. By adopting a cost-per-usage OpEx model, service providers can mitigate the risk of fluctuating traffic patterns, paying only for the services and bandwidth customers require. This flexibility allows for easy scaling of network solutions and bandwidth according to customer demands, ensuring that resources are optimally utilized.

Leveraging a white-label model enables service providers to resell services as their own, creating new revenue streams from on-demand network services and private global connectivity.

Finally, by balancing CX and automation, providers can deliver a superior CX with fully managed end-to-end services for customers’ data transfer and cloud deployments globally, while still offering self-service options for those who prefer more autonomy.

By capitalizing on these benefits through strategic partnerships with NaaS specialists, service providers can optimize their operations, differentiate their offerings, and deliver exceptional customer experiences, thereby solidifying their position in the competitive telecommunications landscape.

Elevating Networking Journeys

There is a growing opportunity for service providers to foster a loyal base of enterprise customers by prioritizing exceptional customer service, while efficiently utilizing automation and AI for certain tasks. In turn, NaaS is reshaping the connectivity landscape with full control, visibility, and customer-centricity.

In a fiercely competitive market, service providers who place CX at the heart of their NaaS strategies will emerge as front-runners.

REFERENCES

1. Appledore Research (TelecomTV), https://www.telecomtv.com/content/network-automation/telcos-ramp-up-spending-on-network-data-management-report-47755/

2. MarketsandMarkets, https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/network-as-a-service-market-94208411.html