Is your BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G services?

The importance of BSS readiness

Given the immense potential of providing enterprise 5G services for enterprises, communication service providers (CSPs) are strategizing how best to upgrade their 5G networks and business support systems (BSS) to handle upcoming operational challenges and effectively monetize new enterprise 5G services to enable revenue growth. 

Without sufficient 5G and telecom BSS readiness, CSPs risk losing out on monetizing advanced enterprise 5G use cases, such as smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, robotic laser welding and remote equipment inspection, and leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Providing and managing these specialized services requires complex technological capabilities far exceeding what 4G and legacy telecom infrastructures can support.  

However, only 10 percent of CSP professionals believe their BSS are ready to support 100 percent of advanced enterprise 5G services, with roughly 44 percent stating that they are less than half ready. As a result, many CSPs now consider it ‘urgent’ to take the necessary steps to be able to effectively deliver BSS and monetize enterprise 5G services. Failing to do so risks falling behind their competition by not being ready to respond to customer demand.

What does 5G BSS readiness look like?

“BSS has long provided the backbone for largely manual and often phone-first business processes, particularly in B2B settings. Systems supporting enterprises have not been first in line for digital transformation, but many CSPs now consider improving them and expanding their capacity to support 5G services an urgent requirement.” This is one of the revelations uncovered by a recent TM Forum benchmark survey.  The survey analyzed responses from 173 CSP employees—working inside 61 CSP organizations worldwide—who assessed their company's enterprise 5G and BSS readiness.

In surveying professionals working at the world’s top CSP organizations, it’s clear that globally there’s a sense of urgency when it comes to preparing for the upcoming enterprise 5G wave. The figure below shows how these TM Forum survey respondents are distributed across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Figure 1: TM Forum Benchmark survey respondents by region. Source: ‘Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’

Sponsored by Ericsson, these important survey findings have been reported in ‘Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’ a TM Forum report authored by contributing analyst Ed Finegold.

The report states: “CSP’s 5G visions—particularly in B2B markets adopting IoT devices, robotics, and remote diagnosis and control—require advanced 5G capabilities that depend on the deployment of standalone 5G.”  

These 5G capabilities include network slicing to deliver ultra-reliable low latency communications for real-time responsiveness, and large-scale IoT to support specialized and diverse machine-to-machine communication protocols.

Readiness also encompasses all the components that comprise the operations support systems (OSS) and BSS fabric—including modules for functionality such as:

• Real-time revenue management
• Zero touch end user account management
• Granular charging
• Automated serviceconfiguration
• Eco system and partner management, and an
• Integrated digital experience

All this functionality is vital and relevant regardless of the market vertical CSPs wish to target. And the end-to-end solution they implement must be extremely scalable and flexible to maximize revenue growth.

Figure 2: TM Forum BSS urgency for CSPs targeting verticals. Source: ‘Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’

Get ready for smart manufacturing

One of the emerging trends in enterprise 5G is smart manufacturing, which relies heavily on the latest, most robust 5G services to revolutionize factory floor operations through the automation and digitization of production lines.

In the ‘Industry 4.0’ manufacturing use case, 5G speeds coupled with low latency will enable the deployment of advanced capabilities, such as augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and automation that will make the digital transformation of manufacturing a reality.

These cutting-edge smart factory capabilities enable remote inspection and diagnosis of problems impairing complex factory machinery, without the costs and delays of bringing expert technicians and specialists to the manufacturing site. 

According to the Ericsson eBrief, ‘Full steam ahead for Industry 4.0: Exploring BSS for smart factories’: “5G-enabled AR can provide virtual guidance from experts to troubleshoot and repair equipment remotely. AR headsets and cameras can share audio, video and instructions in real-time for fast, precise support from remote experts.”

Figure 3: Use case flow - AR for inspection and remote support in smart factories. Source: ‘Full Steam ahead for Industry 4.0: Exploring BSS for smart factories.’

This approach would decrease labor and travel costs, while boosting equipment uptime and work efficiency, the eBrief explains.

Manufacturing target action plan

“The global smart factory market is projected to grow from USD 140.4 billion in 2020 to USD 214.2 billion by 2026,” states the TM Forum report,’ Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’ This figure is based upon Global Industry Analysts projections.

However, the same TM Forum survey reveals that only a third of the TM Forum survey respondents consider their end-to-end 5G BSS to be at least 75 percent ready to support enterprise 5G service plans. Concurrently, more than a third of respondents believe their end-to-end 5G BSS is less than 50 percent ready to support 5G services. 

Getting ready for enterprise 5G service provision involves a great deal of forethought, preparation, and capital investment. The TM Forum report explains that CSPs must consider new and different business models, such as performing as the end-to-end service provider, connectivity provider, or platform developer.

Figure 4: TM Forum Regional view of significant opportunities for growth. Source: ‘Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’

Building on the TM Forum functionality readiness listed earlier, the Ericsson eBrief on smart manufacturing breaks these functionalities down further, calling out specific OSS, BSS and core network capabilities that must be addressed. These include, but are not limited to: 5G connectivity, network slice management, enterprise management, and B2B2X enablers, B2B time-to-market and partnership monetization.

All the OSS/BSS and core network action steps that CSPs must implement to deliver enterprise 5G services are detailed in the figure 5 below.

Figure 5: At-a-glance view of enterprise 5G capabilities needed across CSP’s OSS, BSS, and core network. Source: ‘Full steam ahead for Industry 4.0: Exploring BSS for smart factories.’

Describing this revamping process as a transition, the Ericsson smart manufacturing report concludes: “The CSP’s role will expand to offer more sophisticated 5G services to enterprises… Soon, CSPs will be able to deploy more BSS capabilities to enable more value-added services, including software, applications and licenses.”

The bottom line on 5G readiness

Manufacturing is but one of many intriguing verticals that can benefit from enterprise 5G service plans. The TM Forum report also ranks the following sectors as ‘promising for revenue growth’: healthcare, financial services, media & entertainment, public sector and energy & utilities. Directly following are education and automotive and transportation, which also have strong interest.

However, even though CSPs are anxious to focus on multiple vertical industries, the TM Forum report makes it clear that “it is risky to try to play in too many”. For example, Sofiene Kamoun, Videotron’s General Director of Strategic Initiatives is quoted as saying: “It is very hard to start in many verticals all at once and have the domain expertise to do it. If you’re going after a vertical, you better do it through a holistic value proposition, with a holistic and deep understanding of the customer needs and its supporting value chain.”

Besides integrating digital OSS with BSS resources, today’s CSPs need to formulate a clear value proposition for enterprise 5G customers in a particular vertical. They must also enlist the help of ecosystem partners whose expertise in that specialization will allow CSPs to successfully provide an end-to-end enterprise 5G service. 

One of the most important findings of the TM Forum report is that nearly one-third of CSP respondents report that: “their growth strategies are pinned to 5G; and close to 60 percent say 5G is important to their future revenue growth, but along with other capabilities.” While CSPs have underinvested in technical solutions, there is now an urgency to make strides in digital OSS/BSS investment in time to provide and monetize emerging enterprise 5G services.

Want to know more?

Check out the following publications to learn more about issues and strategies related to BSS readiness to provide enterprise 5G services:

Read the TM Forum report: ‘Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G?’ by contributing analyst, Ed Finegold.

Read the Ericsson eBrief: ‘Full steam ahead for Industry 4.0: Exploring BSS for smart factories.’

Read more about Digital BSS for the 5G era in telecom BSS

Read more about 5G monetization

Is BSS ready to monetize enterprise 5G? - TM Forum Inform webinar, Nov 11