Telecommunication companies need to focus their 2015 investments on building the foundations for a digital future, according to a new survey from CloudSense.
79% of respondents are dissatisfied in some way with their current IT systems, indicating that legacy infrastructure is holding companies back.
82% said that they are not easily able to bundle across all products and services – a major disadvantage in such a competitive and fast-moving marketplace.
There was, however, no clear winner when it came to the technology which will most impact their business in 2015.
The most popular answer was the cloud (29%) followed by digital services (21%), whereas the Internet of Things and wearable technology only scored 13% and 6% respectively. Big data was cited by only 10%.
Richard Britton, CEO, CloudSense commented: "According to Ovum, the telecommunications sector will be one of the top industries for IT spending over the next 12 – 18 months. But the challenge for the vast majority of Communication Service Providers globally is that their current systems are not built to deliver future success."
"With a number of technologies impacting their company in 2015 their commercial success will be dependent upon how they sell and deliver those new technologies to customers."
"The numbers are clear; 79% of communication provider decision-makers admit their systems are holding them back when selling new products and 82% acknowledge they are limited in how they can bundle their products and services."
"47% of our survey respondents say that ‘winning new business’ will be a key challenge for 2015, closely followed by 46% saying ‘reducing operational overheads’."
"However, it is impossible to increase new business whilst reducing costs without a significant change in approach. Continuing to rely on ageing systems which undermine the order to cash journey impacts revenue, costs and customer experience."
Commissioned by CloudSense, the survey polled decision-makers across Communication Service Providers with over 400 employees across Europe and the US.