The GSMA has reported that CSPs can generate $400bn by selling 'beyond connectivity' enterprise technology services including cloud and data centres, cybersecurity, IoT, analytics, AI and many more.
In 2023 enterprises spent $250bn with CSPs on core telecom solutions such as SD-WAN, unified communications and mobile voice and data. This figure represented about 70% of all B2B revenues for CSPs. These core telecoms solutions have a flat compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3% to 2030.
Compare this to enterprise spending on technology services. In 2023 enterprises spent approximately $1.16tn on services including cloud, data centres, cybersecurity, IoT, analytics, AI and blockchain. This is 5x more than they spend on traditional telecoms services and the CAGR is a healthy 14% to 2030.
According to a GSMA Report (The opportunity for operators in B2B technology services, October 2024), CSPs can capture as much as 35% of the $1.16 trillion spend on enterprise technology services. This represents a $406 billion opportunity. CSPs already have a substantial B2B customer base that they can upsell to, and they have the networks that form an essential element of technology solutions and services. By ensuring that the networks and their high-speed, low latency and security capabilities are a vital component of the technology solutions offered, CSPs can better monetize their networks. These solutions will be based on partnerships and will come from a combination of technology partners, application developers, CSPs, hyperscalers and system integration companies. By having their networks embedded into 3rd party technology solutions, CSPs are opening more resilient revenue streams. The CSPs can then sell these solutions directly, or they can be sold by their partners. Additionally, by using Network APIs CSPs can further monetize their networks by charging for QoS-based speed boosts and for each API call that can be used in technology solutions.
To transform to be able to sell technology solutions and services many CSPs are creating new enterprise business units and implementing the systems that will enable them to capture this $400bn opportunity. Several CSPs are using this move to beyond connectivity services as a catalyst to get rid of legacy. This is very relevant for BSS, as the legacy systems that some CSPs still use to sell connectivity services will not be able to support the advanced sales, partnership and offer management models and processes that are needed when selling and providing enterprise technology services.
Five Building Blocks to Enable Success in Selling Beyond Connectivity Enterprise Offers
There are five building blocks that CSPs need to consider when developing their business to sell enterprise technology solutions and services. These are:
1. Ability to quickly develop winning offers
This sounds obvious but when dealing with a diverse market of varied sizes and types of enterprises that serve different vertical markets, CSPs will need to be able to have fast and flexible offer creation for versatile B2B and B2B2X solutions.
CSPs will need to develop and manage many more solutions, with many different pricing and delivery variables than they did when just selling core telecoms services. This will mean changes to the product catalog, CPQ (configure, price, quote), and partner management functions in BSS, plus the introduction of new features such as support for dynamic pricing.
Qvantel has developed enhanced functionality in Qvantel Flex BSS to enable CSPs to rapidly develop new beyond connectivity offers. The product catalog supports CSPs to model any physical or digital offers and use dynamic pricing to give more choices to their customers. In addition, the partner management function enables the selling of partner services as well as managing commission payments, and advanced CPQ capabilities ensure the management of complex offers.
2. An innovative approach to demand generation
CSPs will need to consider how they generate demand for their enterprise technology solutions and services as it will be different from nurturing and managing leads for traditional telecoms offers. This will be a new area for CSPs and as such the approach to sales and marketing will be different.
This will mean much richer SFA (sales force automation) in BSS, as solutions will be more complex, there may be more people involved in buying decisions, and sales lead times may be longer. Also, new advances are starting to appear for CSPs to use AI to generate demand and capture B2B sales leads for enterprise technology solutions.
The advances in B2B SFA in Qvantel Flex BSS ensure that CSPs can manage leads for complex enterprise technology sales.
3. Increased sales efficiency
Selling enterprise technology solutions is different from selling core telecoms services. CSPs will be selling many more services with many more components to more people, as there will be an increased number of decision-makers, influencers and gatekeepers involved in the sales process.
This requires a new level of agility in CPQ software in BSS to enable sales agents to quickly build offers based on a wide range of enterprise technology solutions and services as well as the connectivity services required. Also, SFA will need to enable sales agents, supported by AI, to be responsive to change and be able to create new proposals quickly to facilitate faster closing of sales opportunities.
The advanced CPQ and B2B SFA functionality in Qvantel Flex BSS is designed to support complex sales processes involving multi-party solutions.
4. Master complex deliveries
Leading CSPs are currently selling the following enterprise technology solutions and services: cloud and digital infrastructure, data and AI solutions, IT and business processing outsourcing, customer experience solutions, solutions to automate enterprises and digital transformation consultancy.
These are complex solutions and the delivery capabilities and skillsets to implement and manage these solutions may be different from the current skillsets in CSPs’ delivery teams. As such the systems needed to provide project management for these deliveries will be more advanced and flexible than current systems designed to support telecoms services.
To support these complex deployments Qvantel has developed an advanced project management function which creates an integrated workflow that connects project management with CPQ and sales management systems. This integration will streamline the creation, customisation, and execution of project templates tied to sales proposals and orders, ensuring a seamless transition from sales to project delivery for large enterprises.
5. Take customer care and account management to new levels
In current telecoms business models, large enterprise customers have dedicated account managers. But most enterprise customers may have an account manager who covers 200 other customers, or in the case of most SMEs (small and medium enterprises), they must go through call centres. This approach will not work if CSPs are looking to become technology solution and service partners to their enterprise customers. At the very least they need to provide B2B self-care to let customers select, configure, and manage solutions as well as provide support capabilities. The use of AI-driven customer care copilots can assist this process and provide operational gains to the CSPs as well as providing a better care experience for B2B customers. This will also extend to partner management to enable self-care for partners.
The AI customer care copilot and B2B self-care capabilities in Qvantel Flex BSS helps CSPs deliver better and more cost-effective customer service to their B2B customers. The addition of partner self-care enables improved service for partners which helps create increased levels of partner loyalty.
The move to selling beyond connectivity solutions and services means that BSS must enable CSPs to create anything, sell anything and bill for anything. Increasingly this means a move towards no/low code systems that are built on the foundation of configuration over customisation. CSPs do not know which specific solutions and services will be most successful for different enterprise segments and verticals. Having the ability to experiment with innovative ideas, new partnership models, and new revenue models without the prohibitive cost of failure hanging over them will be important for CSPs.
Summary
Enterprises spend five times more on technology solutions than they do on telecoms. CSPs are entering this market looking to get a significant slice of the substantial revenues on offer and they are doing so knowing that they have key advantages over other new entrants to the enterprise technology market. They have the networks that many enterprises rely on to deliver their technology solutions, and they also have large B2B customer bases.
The opportunity is to take a partnership-led approach and expand their enterprise services offering from core telecoms services to enterprise technology services. To turn this opportunity into commercial reality will involve breaking free from the constraints set by legacy systems and vendors. Their inflexibility and inability to accelerate growth is holding back operator innovation. Turning the beyond connectivity opportunity into significant operator revenue will require change, but there is a $400 billion opportunity out there.
Download the Qvantel White Paper – Turning the Beyond Connectivity into Revenue and Break Free from Legacy:
At MWC 2025, Qvantel will be demonstrating the new functionality in Qvantel Flex BSS that will enable CSPs to enter the enterprise technology solutions and services market. To book a meeting, click here.