The growth of mobile subscribers, mobile data, mobile applications, and mobile commerce has exploded over the past decade. Hyperconnectivity has changed everything from the way we communicate to the way we work, shop, pay, and play.
Paradoxically, telecommunications operators risk becoming front-line casualties of the digital revolution they have helped create. They are disrupted by aggressive, new, over the-top (OTT) players such as Apple or Google, which deliver services on the operators’ network infrastructure and siphon off core revenue . Operators are restricted by regulations that bind them to domestic rules in an increasingly global world. Their core services are completely commoditized, putting pressure on their margins. They are engaged in an endless round of network upgrades, causing capital expenditures to skyrocket and making return on assets unpredictable.
To succeed in this competitive market, telcos will need to put in place a coherent digital vision with clearly articulated offensive and defensive strategies. In particular, they will need to ensure they are maximizing their operational efficiencies while defining and delivering new revenue generating services to drive profitable growth. To execute on this, telcos will not only need to reengineer their business processes, but they will also have to evaluate if they have the right technology platform that can deliver on that vision.
This platform requires an IT architecture that provides both stability and long-term reliability for core enterprise processes, and, at the same time, allows for flexibility in areas where change is happening on a constant basis. The digital core is the foundation for the core processes that need to run consistently and flexibly. It provides uninterrupted, real-time transactions and analytics; the ability to work with Big Data; and the delivery of new services such as connected cars, smart transportation, connected health, and much more.
SAP S/4HANA was specifically developed to represent the digital core in this “bimodal IT architecture.” It provides telecommunications companies with a proven framework to adopt industry best practices while attaining operational excellence – specifically across core financial and engagement management processes.
Process simplification SAP S/4HANA provides reengineered and simplified business processes that can yield significant benefits. Financial processes are transformed by using central finance functions that integrate all ledgers into a single source of truth. Disparate close processes can be consolidated into a universal journal for more-efficient processing, enabling telcos to close more quickly. Support for new revenue accounting and reporting (RAR) add-on for IFRS 15 compliance enables telcos to view multiple ledgers comparing traditional, local GAAP results with new IFRS 15 results.
An end-to-end solution for telecommunications companies
Telecommunications companies need to manage the end-to-end lifecycle of bundle and service definition, marketing, delivery, and billing. This includes segmenting customers, defining thousands of unique bundles, efficiently delivering services and devices, analyzing margins on services, and managing the demands of customers through building the workforce and talent pools both internally and externally to meet these demands, and then efficiently and profitably delivering services to delight their customers.
The capabilities delivered with SAP S/4HANA and the prebuilt, native integration with LoB solutions help ensure processes run smoothly and efficiently across the end-to-end service delivery lifecycle, allowing telcos to deliver personalized and profitable services and drive sustainable revenue growth.
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