Customer event in Munich: How to turn key market trends for Germany and Europe into business
At the Munich customer event in September this year the discussion circled around some key questions: What are the trends that shape our short and medium term future? How can we create new business in a challenging market? What services push the button for our end users?
These questions drove the agenda of the day as well as the conversations between BT and its customers from the fixed and mobile operator segment and from the service provider and reseller perspective. The “Bonn report”, a traditional session on new regulatory and market developments delivered by Dr. Matthias Ernst from BT, put the spotlight on the trends.
Trends without end – is there a market more dynamic than telecoms?
M&A continues and changes how a lot of market players approach their future against a background of unregulated competition from OTTs that pressures the telecoms industry. Especially through IoT we see new market entrants beyond the classic over-the-top player as vertical industries battle to retain their dominance over energy, mobility and transport.
Looking at one of Europe’s biggest markets, mobile access numbers in Germany remain pretty stable illustrating market saturation. SIM based revenues are stable as well, but have to cover voice on a stable basis, SMS clearly in decline and data transport with exploding growth. In 2015 the revenue baseline had to support 5 times as much traffic compared to 2011 with much higher speeds requiring heavy investment into mobile networks. Fixed network access numbers are stable as well, but the huge transformational shift towards IP continues as sum of all VoIP end points now clearly surpass traditional TDM based end points.
Security is a hot topic – how can you prevent it becoming a burning issue?
Another agenda item covered new regulation and legislation on security and privacy creating challenges and opportunities for service providers in all segments. A new IT security law in the German market on critical infrastructures, including communication, requires operators to put measures in place that ensure organisational and technical preparation and adherence to new security standards – all covered by audits and certifications. Operators need to establish a contact facility and also reporting of listed incidents is now mandatory. For data integrity and privacy new EU legislation increased penalties as well as reporting requirements and details new organisational requirements for a risk-based approach that has to be clearly documented by the operator. Mapping out the complex requirements and creating a feasible approach that is cost-effective and delivers market differentiation is not an easy task. BT is supporting its wholesale customers based on the knowledge and experience of the BT Assure security portfolio team – from internal process design to adhere to the law and regulatory requirements, spanning the actual implementation of security systems, up to how operators can turn this into customer benefits to win new business or increase loyalty in their existing base. For more information on this topic you can contact Bernd Kohler, Head of Security Germany, from BT.
UCC is redefining how we need to serve SME and SOHO customers
The aforementioned market trend of IP migration for voice end points drove the third topic of the day: the requirement for SME and SOHO customers to follow the market and migrate their PBX solutions from TDM/ISDN to IP. They have to evaluate alternative technologies and how to fully leverage the new functionality provided by VoIP. Especially in the German market with its huge SME base this creates a challenge for resellers who have to defend their PBX customer base, migrate it to IP successfully and create new business on top of significantly different business models dictated by the cloud. Transforming an existing PBX customer into a full UCC customer opens up new revenue segments as additional services can be pulled over from OTT services. This includes instant messaging, video collaboration, file storage, access and sharing under new commercial models that mix capex and opex approaches. The reseller has to build the know-how and experience to provide scalable UCC solutions. BT supports this with a range of underlying services and products that enable UCC through wholesale or reselling options. In addition BT can provide access to the expertise in managing large scale UCC projects for existing customers to prevent resellers hitting barriers or facing challenges with successful customer implementations. As UCC touches a larger number of customer communication processes, even in smaller organisations, a consultative approach has to replace the “out of the box” method for PBX systems. At the same time a number of legacy services have to be migrated or replicated, ranging from facilities systems to security features to regulatory requirements or simply to remodel legacy processes. For more information please contact Dr. Ludwig Zink, Head of BT Advise One, from BT.
We enjoyed the in-depth discussions with our carrier and reseller customers that provided a lot of feedback on how we can evolve successfully in the market. If you want to take this conversation further, I am looking forward to your mail or phone call – or by any other UCC means at your disposal.
Best regards,
Frank
Frank Grosse Kleimann Head of Wholesale, BT in Germany
Biography
As the head of wholesale for BT in Germany, Frank is responsible for the Partner, Reseller & Carrier business in Germany. Frank worked for BT since 10 years in different roles in the wholesale portfolio team. Before that Frank work for Verizion several years. Frank has a degree in Electrical Engineering Frank is married and has two children. In his spare time Frank enjoy time with his family and friends and he likes skiing and football.
