[Survey]: Operators See OTTs as Fiercest Competitors in 2016

Openet announced that a "survey of more than 100 operator respondents reveals the extent to which the limitations of legacy technology are restricting the creation, targeting and distribution of revenue-generating digital services .. while operators want to target customers with personalised, relevant offers in real-time in order to drive upsell opportunities, they are let down by the inflexibility of existing systems.

Key findings:

• Operators now view VoIP and messaging OTTs as their fiercest competition in maximising the effectiveness of digital services

• 57 per cent of operators feel quite well prepared for the battle, citing their network as their key area of competitive advantage
   
• More than half the operators surveyed have tried to leverage real-time data to create targeted customer offers and services
   
• However the majority (70 per cent) confessed that they are either worse, or much worse, than OTTs at personalised customer engagement
   
• 63 per cent of operators think it should take between one and seven days to create and send targeted and personalised offers
   
• 64 per cent admitted it actually takes up to 6 months in reality
   
• Operators surveyed anticipate that their most lucrative new revenue sources in 2016 will come from providing multi-play offers. This is closely followed by selling digital life services (e.g. home automation, and security services) to their existing customer base – providing their BSS can keep up and monetise new offers.
  
  
• Operators recognise that there is a significant level of danger and a need for rapid BSS transformation, with 65 per cent fearing mobile data commoditisation in the next two years.

See "Operator survey: legacy technology a key inhibitor of digital transformation" - here.