The News: Qvantel, a supplier of digital business support systems (BSSs) announced the latest BSS innovations that it showcased at Digital Transformation World 2023 (DTW23). Read the full press release on the Qvantel website.
Qvantel: Faster Times for CSPs Through Generative AI and No/Low-Code
Analyst Take: At DTW23, Qvantel adroitly showcased how rapidly and straightforwardly communications service providers (CSPs) can build new offers and processes to expedite time to market. To fulfill the CSP strategic imperative of accelerating time to market for new services and applications, Qvantel Flex BSS is built using the no/low-code approach of configuration over coding to deliver new levels of agility.
Qvantel invoked a recent TM forum report, “Transforming BSS – Racing to a Flexible, Customer-Focused Future,” to illuminate CSP strategic BSS priorities. The research looked at the plans of agile CSPs and compared them with the rest. For agility and time to market, a definition was indispensable. In the survey, TM Forum defined an agile CSP as being able to launch products and offers in less than a week.
Qvantel No/Low-Code: The CSP Data Speaks Volumes
The findings indicated that 81% of CSPs want a faster time to market, with only 17% responding that they are satisfied with the present speed that they can get new offers launched. Notably, of the most agile CSPs (those with time to market of one week or less), more than two-thirds (67%) still want to speed up time to market, with just 33% content with their current speed.
Plus, with nearly half (49%) of CSPs rolling out more products and offers in 2023 compared with 2022, the goal is more offers delivered in a shorter timeframe. As such, there is mounting pressure on IT teams as a massive 91% of CSPs indicate that they have missed out on business opportunities due to not being able to launch products fast enough.
Of key importance, the report showed that 78% of agile CSPs are planning to invest in no/low-code as a top three investment priority. Specifically, through Gold Level TM Forum Open API certification, Qvantel Flex BSS can be integrated with third-party systems, enabling CSPs to create new revenue streams beyond vanilla connectivity and invigorate CX at key customer touchpoints.
Among all CSPs, the top five investment areas encompass catalog-driven BSS, open application programming interfaces (APIs), microservices architecture, no/low-code configurability, and a separate stack for specific business lines. Such CSPs have time to market ranging from 1 week to 2 months. I believe it is important to note that when we view the investment priorities of agile CSPs, there is a significant contrast. The majority of agile CSPs have already invested in catalog-driven BSS, open APIs, and cloud infrastructure. Catalog-driven BSS and open APIs will continue to be areas of new investment.
However, currently, only 8% of agile CSPs have invested in no/low-code configurability, but a considerable 78% have assigned no/low-code within their next three priority investment areas. Accordingly, the TM Forum spotlights no/low-code configurability as the next big thing across the CSP realm. These findings align with my discussions with BSS decision makers that indicate CSPs are continuing to prioritize operational expenditure (OpEx) savings and improved operational efficiencies as integral to their increasing adoption of cloud native and software-defined network architectures.
Also, CSPs are expanding their assessment of generative AI technologies to help support the transformation of their telecom operations, strongly correlating with no/low-code configurability. This assessment includes looking at using combinations of generative AI and no/low-code to improve developer productivity, enhance the customer care experience, and streamline content generation.
I am encouraged that Qvantel is directly addressing the growing CSP interest in using generative AI for customer service with its Customer Care Co-Pilot solution debut at DTW23. By analyzing customer data and interactions, the Customer Care Co-Pilot provides the information needed to assist care agents in delivering an improved customer care experience through improved first-call resolution rates and a more streamlined next step support approach.
Equally important, Qvantel unveiled Qvantel Flex Billing service at DTW23. The service brings together the advanced flexibility of billing functions from Qvantel Flex BSS with Qvantel’s proven managed services, which include billing management professional services to run continuous operations under a service level agreement (SLA)- and key performance indicator (KPI)-governed model.
Key Takeaway: Qvantel Flex BSS Fuels Innovations Key To Spurring CSP Growth
From my view, CSPs now have the opportunity to prudently explore no/low-code, cloud-native systems in a low-risk environment that can enable optimization of both their greenfield and existing software stacks. Overall, I see that the Qvantel Flex BSS portfolio is better positioned to help accelerate CSP adoption of no/low-code configurability and generative AI capabilities in the fulfillment of top strategic objectives such as increasing agility, augmenting the customer experience, and improving business outcomes.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Qvantel Makes Flex BSS Available in AWS Marketplace: Boosts No/Low Code BSS Cause
DTW23: Netcracker and Microsoft Put ChatGPT in GenAI Telco Use Cases
DTW23: Amdocs and OCI Provide Telcos More Cloud Agility
Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
