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5G is an agent of change for IoT- Drive the BSS evolution for the IoT revolution

5G is transforming many industries by enabling innovative IoT use cases. In this blog, we’ll consider important questions that we as an industry must tackle to ensure our BSS is ready for the IoT opportunity. For example, how can CSPs partner effectively in the IoT ecosystem that 5G enables? How can IoT sustainability solutions be best supported? And what is the role of BSS in all of this?

Nov 17, 2022 | 5 min.

Rayane Chahine

Solution Marketing OSS/BSS

Nov 17, 2022 | 5 min.

Rayane Chahine

Solution Marketing OSS/BSS

Rayane Chahine

Solution Marketing OSS/BSS

The world’s first IoT device was invented in the early 1980s at Carnegie Melon University. A group of students created a way to get their campus Coca-Cola vending machine to report on its contents through a network to save them the trek if it was out of Coke… and to report on how many Coke cans were available and if they were cold.

Source: History of the Internet of Things (IoT)

Now, four decades later, IoT has been dramatically empowered by technological advances, such as 5G, that are revolutionizing every aspect of our modern lives and businesses. This revolution is bringing about exciting new use cases, such as smart homes and cities, smart manufacturing and utilities and more efficient healthcare and transportation.

The Internet of Things (IoT) provides an opportunity for communication service providers (CSPs) to grow revenues by providing 5G-driven IoT connectivity and solutions transforming different fields of applications. CSPs must co-create key 5G uses cases with IoT partners, enabling the agile capabilities required for efficient partner management and robust ordering, orchestration, monetization and fulfilment. CSPs must consider how to be effective partners in this emerging IoT ecosystem, and what it takes to succeed in IoT use cases.

Choose how you engage: Be flexible in the IoT ecosystem

According to Analysys Mason’s IoT partner enablement in BSS: Readying CSPs for new IoT market opportunities report, an evolution in Business Support Systems (BSS) needs to occur to optimize positioning in the IoT value chain. It’s time to think beyond the simple provision of connectivity services. Upgrading the BSS infrastructure is essential if CSPs want to maximize revenue from IoT use cases.

To capitalize on exciting IoT opportunities, it’s important to accelerate adoption of modern BSS partner management platforms to attract and retain the best IoT partners and effectively monetize offerings. The report’s main findings include:

CSPs must consider support for IoT ecosystem business models to be strategically crucial to their survival and relevance.
CSPs must prepare to transform their BSS partner management platforms specifically for IoT within the next 2 years to improve their support for emerging IoT applications and business models.
Enterprises must consider CSPs’ BSS platform capabilities vitally important to supporting tech-forward IoT-based business models.

John Abraham, Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason, and Jason Keane, Head of BSS Product and Solutions, Ericsson Digital BSS, discussed these findings and other challenges facing CSPs and IoT partners during a recent Light Reading webinar IoT opportunities demand better partner enablement in BSS.

Jason showcased Ericsson’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) which contains a partner management module that supports partner onboarding, verification and authorization, as well as profile / role-based access control.

In addition to the partner portal dashboard with a 360-degree view, DXP’s profile, account and partner interaction information enables CSPs to empower their partners by providing full control and visibility of revenues and other key data.

Figure 1: Ericsson DXP Commercial reporting and performance dashboard

Source: Ericsson

The Ericsson DXP solution also lets partners create their own offers directly in the product catalog using an intuitive offer manager portal. Based on easy-to-use tools, the DXP user interface (UI) lets partners define and update their offers, as well as apply relevant commercial attributes to them.

Having an omni-channel digital platform like Ericsson DXP lets CSPs provide advanced customer management and product configuration capabilities. And with these tools, CSPs can assume the service enabler role, extend complex offerings to the enterprise segment, and facilitate profitable IoT business monetization. Streamlined partner reporting and reconciliation makes it easier for CSPs and partners to track timely information, such as revenues and service performance.

The blog IoT partner enablement and monetization demand more automation in BSS provides an interesting view of what it takes for CSP's to attract, retain, and effectively monetize their IoT partners’ services. It explains the lifecycle of value for IoT partners and really challenges us to understand what makes attractive IoT partners want to work with a CSP rather than the other way around. And the bottom line, how is this lifecycle value chain fully realized by BSS support?

IoT is an agent of change: How BSS supports the CSP’s sustainability journey

There are many examples of how IoT solutions drive sustainability, such as smart energy and water management, and smart agriculture. But which BSS capabilities are required to support these sustainability use cases? How can CSPs benefit the most from the IoT ecosystem that 5G enables? How can CSPs attract, retain, and monetize IoT partners? And how can CSPs help enterprises harness the power of IoT data?

The BSS for sustainable choices: Exploring Electric Vehicle (EV) smart charging eBrief spotlights an important use case for the energy sector: Electrical Vehicle (EV) smart charging. It goes on to investigate the associated business models and roles of BSS.

Here, an IoT based EV smart charging solution can optimize when and where EV drivers charge their vehicles, shifting energy demand to off-peak times when utility grid demand and costs are lower.

The BSS capabilities explored in the eBrief include digital partner management, network slicing, BSS service exposure for 5G and IoT, with touchpoints on OSS and network capabilities. It also discusses billing-on-behalf and wallet payment solutions created through an ecosystem of partners.

The water challenge and pressing need for digitization of water utilities

In Smart water solutions - a new frontier for IoT and BSS blog, 5G and IoT-based solutions along with specialized BSS capabilities can enable a water utility to set up an efficient multi-partner solution to help monitor, manage and monetize water distribution effectively in regions impacted by water scarcity.

5G, IoT solutions and BSS capabilities can promote many sustainability use cases in the water industry, including smart water grids, remote support and geo-visualization, augmented reality (AR) and digital wallets in conjunction with automatic meter reading solutions. Most importantly, advanced BSS partner management capabilities make it possible for CSPs to onboard and manage partners effectively, design and offer services with complex commercial agreements, and capture revenue streams across B2C, B2B and B2B2X, among other business models.

Data matters more than Things: monetizing IoT through data-driven use cases

With 5G, advances in artificial intelligence (AI)/ machine learning (ML), and the growing complexity and number of IoT applications generating high volumes of data from IoT devices, businesses are being transformed. Deriving value from aggregated data, automating business processes, and generating new revenue streams constitute the new imperative. Modernizing BSS platforms becomes a key milestone in achieving that objective!

The future of IoT ecosystem will fuel monetization of data driven use cases blog, shows how BSS can support CSPs and IoT partners in enabling their customers to make data-driven business decisions and generate value from the data collected from the IoT ecosystem.

It also showcases stream mediation: a new capability in Ericsson Mediation which collects, manages and processes in real-time a massive scale of continuously produced data from the network and the IoT ecosystem.

Empowering CSPs to build IoT solutions that revolutionize business operations

5G IoT solutions can support enterprises and impact business outcomes favorably, while helping CSPs realize optimal financial returns. The challenge is to establish viable business cases—including pricing strategies and total cost of ownership (TCO)/benefits—and successfully bring new services to market to innovate use cases across industries.

It’s time for CSPs to ensure that their BSS solutions are ready to support the new value being created by 5G. CSPs can now optimize 5G monetization models, engage the ideal partners, orchestrate robust transactions, and support the advanced, data-driven decision-making vital to fueling emerging IoT opportunities and use cases.

IoT statistics – Key Findings

Every second, 127 devices hook up to the internet for the first time
83% of organizations have improved their efficiency by introducing IoT technology
It’s estimated that global IoT spending will total $15 trillion in the six-year period between 2019 and 2025
The amount of data generated by IoT devices is expected to reach 73.1 ZB (zettabytes) by 2025

Source: Internet of Things statistics for 2022 - Taking Things Apart