BSS vendor Openet has published some new research that suggests consumers have a better perception of operators as digital brands than had been feared.

While it should be stressed that Openet, as a digital transformation vendor, has a vested interest in encouraging operators to invest in their digital offering, the research was conducted independently and the results are deserving of consideration on their own merits.

Presenting the findings Openet expressed pleasant surprise at how many positive responses the survey got on the matter of operators as digital brands. Respondents from five countries around the world placed their operator above even Spotfy and eBay when asked to rank bands according to ‘digital leadership’. Meanwhile, as an industry, telecoms was relatively well regarded in that respect too.

The moral of the story, as far as Openet is concerned, is two-fold. Firstly operators should have the confidence to offer a nice lot of digital stuff to their customers, be that through partnerships with the dreaded OTTs or their own innovation. Secondly they should be further encouraged to do so by the latent demand for such products and services, as implied in the slide below, which shows that even respondents to view operators mainly as utility companies are receptive to being offered more.

“To achieve digital parity with many of the world’s most recognisable technology brands underlines the significant progress mobile operators have made,” said Niall Norton, Openet CEO. “The global operator community most certainly had some catching up to do in driving digital awareness and engagement in the face of new competition and approaches.

“Most operators launched strategic digital transformation projects to not only revolutionise how they create, offer and monetise new digital services, but also re-architect their networks. Our study reveals the significant value of these projects, and the exciting commercial opportunities that await them.”

“The global operator community should be congratulated for these survey findings. Many of them have had their world’s turned upside down over the past few years and entered a period of re-education and re-invention. Our survey clearly shows that most have successfully completed a period of digital re-invention to forge new customer relationships according to the same values, albeit across new channels and through new services.

“What is most exciting is that global operators have only scratched the surface in terms of unlocking the full potential of the digital technology that enables these new working practices. Lucrative new revenues await all operators that have completed or are completing their digital transformations – and seeing their CAPEX costs for enabling technology infrastructure slashed at the same time. The game has changed forever.”

Openet has gone all-in on this stuff and seems to be reaping the rewards after a couple of years of difficult adjustment. A focus on both offering operators bespoke BSS offerings and enabling them to offer more relevant stuff to their customers seems to be a t the core of this. Operators constantly fret about the dangers of commoditisation and it looks like there is market demand for them to add value to their core offering. Now they just need find the courage and determination to chase that business.