SEPTEMBER - 2021CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM9on their income statements, while catering for a larger capital investment on their balance sheets. This is not exactly the ideal climate and playground for investors and shareholders. Their response in the last decade was predominantly focused on creating synergies and economies of scale through mergers and acquisitions, and industry consolidation at local and global levels. While it certainly served its purpose, as the opportunities for such transactions become scarcer, it is imperative for the industry to reinvent itself at a systemic level. Today we find ourselves at a juncture where the dichotomy between consumers benefits and shareholders' can be reconciled. With our post pandemic new way of work, the increased relevance of connectivity and higher demand for digital services, there is an opportunity for the Telcos to rebuild their business model in a way that ensures sustainability for all their stakeholders. With the advent of greater technology ubiquity and openness, and the development of Cloud Telco, Open Networks, Network Virtualization and Slicing, Software Defined Networks, Cloud Services, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, IOT applications, Microservices, Containerization and Software as a Service, Telcos stand the chance for the first time in the history of the industry to become a platform for innovation in the emerging digital ecosystem. This innovation platform has to be built on an open network architecture that promotes a broader participation between Telcos, Enterprises, Service and Application Providers across the ecosystem. While the continuous modernization of their network infrastructure is inevitable to remain relevant, Telcos have to devote more time in modernizing their application infrastructure landscape to support the development of new business capabilities that can be decoupled from their underlying vendor specific solutions, and expose such capabilities for internal or external consumption through open interfaces. These capabilities can be assembled by the Telcos themselves, or jointly with other application providers, to create, co-create or just promote new digital services that can be taken to market solely or jointly using different business and commercial models.All the technologies are already there and developing at a faster pace than their adoption rate, but the openness of the Telco model is a paradigm shift at all levels in the organization in order to embrace a broader ecosystem that promotes innovation internally and externally. This Open Business Model for Telcos requires bigger investments in people and skills as opposed with more investments in technology kits in the networks and data centres. Telcos who are able to crack this nut while ensuring compliance with security and regulatory standards, will continue to inspire the generations to come with new digital services that improve our lifestyle and promote a better and more sustainable world. Telcos stand the chance for the first time in the history of the industry to become a platform for innovation in the emerging digital ecosystem
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