Small and Medium Enterprise is a Fast Growing Market for Telcos
At well over 50% of the overall enterprise market, the small and medium enterprise (SME) represents an excellent growth opportunity for Communication Service Providers (CSPs).
Because these businesses are time-poor and typically lack internal IT resources, they embrace OPEX-financed, managed services. But they are a diverse market and cannot be served with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Engaging this market requires solutions that flexibly address different needs through a mix of automation, self-service, strong support, and real time insight into usage and billing.
According to a survey of over 250 SMEs conducted by Analysys Mason, the top three factors rated highest in the commercial engagement with telcos are:
Access to transparent and commercial engagement where spending and usage can be tracked in real-time
The ability to configure new products or services and spending limits
Pay-as-you-use or usage-based commercial model
Growth in B2B ICT services is a strategic imperative for telcos. Addressing the current shortcomings in customer experience and commercial agility delivery are foundational to delivering that growth. This report surveyed 400 enterprises and CSP’s for their reflections on where that commercial relationship is in need of improvement.
The current postpaid, monthly billed commercial model for SME-managed services offers limited to zero differentiation for service providers. This approach lacks dynamism and flexibility; it’s a model born of a different era, not suited to today’s on-demand digital world. SMEs are looking for a new model of digital engagement that delivers self-service, customizable options, and transparency.
An enterprise digital marketplace combines CSP services as well as third-party SaaS offerings within a self-serve platform offering flexible scale and payment options.
The concept improves today’s semi-manual service experience and future-proofs the business by enabling a delivery channel that can support new services and technologies.
Crucially, it puts the customer in control of the experience. Evidence shows that trust, advocacy and increased lifecycle spend across the portfolio are the results of getting it right.
A self-service digital marketplace enables customers to tailor services to their needs.
A CSP can win SME business by offering a marketplace of products and services that include technologies critical to their business, including a wide range of partner offerings with real time insight and control of spend levels and utilization across the entire IT ecosystem.
With consumer markets relatively flat, the growth spotlight of telco executives and shareholders is focused on the enterprise market. With B2B business expected to contribute some 50% of telco revenue by 2025, the key question is where will that growth come from?
