By: Soumya Nair– Marketing Specialist at Tecnotree,
Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest connectivity event of the year, was held live in Barcelona from 28 February to 3 March 2022.This year it was a hybrid; combining the rich experiences of an in-person event with the convenience and reach of a virtual conference. Though with 60,000 plus visitors, the event still only had about half of the usual number of attendees seen in the pre-pandemic era. The positive and exciting energy of the event along with the smiles on people’s faces was an affirmation of how the world is getting back to normal.
Due to the pandemic, life as we know it has changed. Although the world has embraced the new reality, this year’s MWC made it clear that events are far better in person than virtual. This also poses the question of what the future is going to be like? Whether we fully go back to normal or the new normal stays somewhere in-between, remains to be seen.
MWC2022 – A glimpse
MWC this year was all about cutting-edge innovations and next-generation technologies. The theme of the event included 5G, Cloud, AI, Fintech, and the Internet of things (IoT) -among many others. The event attracted the digital industry’s most influential, including disruptive start-ups in the tech industry, new brands and customers. Experts and organisations shared their knowledge in summits, networking events, virtual workshops and partner programmes. The heartbeat of the event involved the incredible art, architecture, music, and great food, in the breakout zone pulsating with fun and excitement.
Discussions were held around telcos needing innovative solutions to monetise their investments, especially post the pandemic. Here we highlight the several observations we had at the event and how these insights are going to shape the industry moving forward.
Creating connections through partnership ecosystems
It is important to create partner ecosystems to produce multi-experience products with advanced capabilities. Building partnership ecosystems to create new revenue streams is the future for the telecom sector. There are opportunities to launch products and services in healthcare, banking, education- and more – through partnerships. It is therefore essential that telcos partner with other industries, governments, tech developers, and cloud partners, to collectively make progress and create new innovative customer-centric offerings.
At MWC 2022, various vendors agreed that the partner ecosystem model is becoming increasingly relevant with several companies having started developing cross-sectoral ecosystem offerings. The availability of a wide variety of businesses and monetisation models enable operators to spread their investments into different areas of the 5G ecosystem and avail greater choices in terms of services and pricing. Partnership ecosystems will allow all participants to customise their service offerings and capitalise on upcoming technology trends. It will enable companies to generate products and solutions with a quicker time to market. The variety of options also means that pursuing and establishing the right partnership strategy will need some experimentation.
The future of work is state-of-the-art network infrastructure closely linked to cloud
The future of work is undergoing a transformation and organisations need to collaborate and design their workplaces and technology choices according to this new era. The way IT organisations operate has gone through a major shift due to evolving trends and disrupters. Organisations need to leverage technology and redesign current work processes, closely linked to the cloud.
The pandemic and the ability to work from anywhere has made cloud computing even more important. The technology has grown tremendously over the last decade and continues to outpace other sectors. The message at MWC 2022 was very clear: cloud is a critical enabler for work from anywhere, online learning, tele health, and more. The global pandemic has brought a major change in the way we work, do business, and live our lives. Therefore, cloud computing, secured networks, mobile technologies and business resiliency is the backbone of an empowered remote work environment.
Growth in cloud computing has been continuous, especially considering the increased demand with lockdowns and work-from-home culture. Flexible consumption models or XaaS (everything as a service) have become an important strategic shift for a lot of companies. Even post-pandemic, companies making cloud-driven decisions will experience more financial predictability and lower costs. They will become more agile, driving innovation and enhanced customer relationships. Telcos need to take advantage of cloud capabilities, especially since there is too much at stake with 5G strategies rolling out and the world becoming more hybrid.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will help telcos drive customer experience monitoring
Good customer care is critical for the success of any organisation. The telecommunications industry today takes a customer-centric approach by monitoring and managing all processes in real-time. Advanced technologies like AI and Machine Learning (ML) are helping them to meet those needs. Sophisticated AI/ML solutions with the help of Natural Language Processing (NLP), can be taught to respond to customer questions through chat bots. The technology is constantly evolving, and deep learning techniques are helping machines understand the rule-based models of human languages and respond to written and spoken words accordingly.
AI tools will help telcos with smarter detection and anomaly prediction for optimised network quality. It will also help respond to changing conditions through assisted capacity planning and self-optimisation. Using historical data for predictive maintenance, AI/ML will ensure more reliable services. It will also help reduce fraud by applying AI/ML for location analysis of devices and services, detecting abnormal accumulation of credit, top-ups based on stolen codes, and more.
5G will continue to have a major and expanding influence over everything
5G opens many new doors for telcos, they just need to decide what is the best customer-centric strategy to make the customer journey even richer. Technology advances including 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing present telcos with compelling revenue opportunities to expand beyond traditional telecom services. 5G has the potential to change how consumers interact and consume content and shift the dynamics of various industries.
The present requirement for 5G involves the ever-increasing video streaming, with growth in subscribers and viewing time. Advancements in mobile phones, screen resolutions, and mobile edge computing are all placing increased demand on greater volumes of data transfer and improved connection speed. The rise in use cases for 5G with upcoming digital services and new applications continue to increase the demand for 5G efficiencies and innovation.
Overall, MWC 2022 met all expectations and proved to be a highly engaging event that established a clear view of where connectivity is heading and how the telecom industry needs to focus on its investments for the future. Events like these play an important role in showcasing various technologies and their potential. It allowed operators to talk to each other and find out what has been working for them, as well as discuss their successes and failings, playing a vital role in moving the industry forward.
Jesse Pitts has been with the Global Banking & Finance Review since 2016, serving in various capacities, including Graphic Designer, Content Publisher, and Editorial Assistant. As the sole graphic designer for the company, Jesse plays a crucial role in shaping the visual identity of Global Banking & Finance Review. Additionally, Jesse manages the publishing of content across multiple platforms, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune.