OpenCloud Reveals Enterprise and Cloud Services Critical Revenue Opportunities for Operators

M2M and mobile payments also seen as increasingly important to bottom lines by global CSPs

Cambridge, UK – 28th February 2012 – Enterprise and cloud services are viewed by global Communication Service Providers (CSPs) as the leading new sources of revenue over the next three years, according to a survey conducted by Heavy Reading and telecoms software innovator OpenCloud.

Nine out of 10 CSPs agree that the economy, competition and development of consumer and business markets over the last three years have completely changed their role, and position, in the value chain. As the market develops, enterprise and cloud services rank in the top five in terms of importance by 77 and 61 per cent of respondents, respectively, in a survey of nearly 100 global CSPs. M2M and mobile payments also rate highly as potential new sources of revenue. Both were picked by around half of the CSPs surveyed as being in the top five for new revenue streams over the next three years. The value of exposing network APIs, which can bolster service innovation, was underlined by operators, with 42 per cent seeing this as a top five source of revenue.

However, cost reduction emerges as the one of the most influential forces driving CSP service innovation, with 40 per cent of seeing lower costs as a top three issue; second only to the need to respond to competitors – a top three issue for 76 per cent of CSP respondents. The competitive threat from traditional CSPs is viewed as a greater incentive to service innovation than rivalry from Over The Top (OTT) players; with traditional rivals rated as a top three issue about 50 per cent more often than OTT players. Social networks were dismissed by operators as a major service innovation opportunity, with only three per cent of CSPs agreeing they were influential.

Customer demand for new services remains a key factor influencing CSP innovation, rating as a top three issue for 39 per cent of operator respondents. This also reflected by the fact that the top three goals for CSPs considering making service innovation more efficient are the amount, speed and cost of innovation. Service layer technology is also important; with more than 50 per cent of CSPs seeing migration to open-standards based platforms a critical, or significant, target when improving service innovation.

“The survey results clearly show that competitive pressure, cost pressure and customer demand are driving operators to focus on new innovative services,” says Jeff Gordon, CEO of OpenCloud. “It’s clear that independent innovation based on flexible and cost effective technology will play a huge role as operators look to diversify their services and achieve effective ROI.”

Contact:

Rufus Jay

Babel PR

+44 (0)20 7434 5550

opencloud@babelpr.com