One of CSPs' Toughest B2B2X Marketplace Problems Solved
Most communications service providers (CSPs) aren't ready to capitalize on B2B2X services—not with their current BSS stacks. Over 50% of respondents in a recent TM Forum survey stated that their current BSS stacks would be able to handle less than 50% of the 5G and B2B2X services they plan to sell—in terms of charging, billing, digital commerce, etc. This highlights that CSPs are still struggling with existing issues of legacy and siloed systems, manual processes, and, ultimately, poor customer experiences.
A few large or forward-looking CSPs are on track to build fully functional digital marketplaces within the next two to three years. However, many CSPs will struggle to launch such platforms; reducing their ability to bundle third-party services and solutions with their connectivity offerings and impeding their quest for growth.
CSPs understand the endgame: cloud-native, programmable networks and intent-based automation. The ability to expose parts of the network and systems to partners and customers is arguably the key benefit of adopting a programmable open standards-based architecture. It enables all stakeholders in a digital ecosystem (including end-customers, software and hardware vendors, cloud service providers, etc.) to build, launch and monetize their offers, applications and services. It opens the door to previously unimagined services and applications. While many are still chasing the 5G killer use case, the market leaders are looking to transform their networks and BSS stacks into operational frameworks that can pivot to any use case as and when it arises.
The key question is where to start
More and more CSPs are expanding their portfolios to include third-party products and services to tap into the alluring promise of a lucrative B2B market. With enterprise customers now accustomed to frictionless, B2C-style, end-to-end experiences from online marketplaces (such as those run by AWS and Google Cloud), CSPs are feeling the pressure to deliver equally seamless and attractive experiences. However, for CSPs, the onboarding, delivery and maintenance of these bundled solutions and services is complex—sometimes overwhelmingly so.
CSPs must respond to customers’ expectations for consistent purchasing experiences to maintain their B2B and B2B2X base. Yet, CSPs struggle with siloed or poorly integrated systems, multiple product catalogs and legacy BSS stacks, creating poor customer experiences.
For many CSPs, adding third-party products and services to their portfolios is a long, expensive and error-prone process—that needs to be repeated for each and every partner and each and every product that a CSP wishes to ingest. In addition, most CSPs struggle with inconsistency in product rendering, pricing or configuration between channels. Ultimately, this all leads to confused and unhappy customers.
