Telecom executives are reacting slowly to the needs of
their business users when it comes to service quality.
IBM commissioned a
global survey of over 250 senior telecoms executives, and found
that although most realised they had to transform their business
model in reaction to the demand for new services, service quality
and assurance was less of a priority.
The survey found that 69% expect
business model transformation to be the primary source of value
over the next five years, compared to only 34% in the preceding
five years.
In addition, 60% who cited revenue growth as important believed
the growth could be influenced by improving the experience across
all channels, including online and retail operations.
However, although the vast majority of respondents (89%)
indicated that service quality is emerging as an important
differentiator, less than one-third identified service quality
management and assurance as an area of strong focus or investment
by their company.
Nearly half of the executives polled reported that their
organisations had no end-to-end service assurance capability.
IBM said, "If telecom providers are to realise growth through
converged telecom, IT and media services, senior executives will
have to pay more attention to service quality demands.
"Customers expect the same carrier-grade service quality for new
services as they get from providers today. This will require
investment in significantly more complex, fully integrated and
customer-oriented service management capabilities."