Sponsored: Every industry, from traditonal to internet-based sectors, needs to change and evolve to stay viable and avoid business stagnation
In the telecom realm, the promise of 5G presents a significant opportunity to develop new types of business that capture the upstream value by leveraging their investment to launch useful new – and perhaps even-game changing – products and services.
In my role of working closely with CSPs over the past 10 years, I have learned that innovation is not just about launching new products and services, hoping that a new business results. Innovation takes place when a fundamental new business model is tested, tried and the organization behind it adapts in ways to make it possible to be successful. This is what will make CSP business lines stand out as they try to enter new market segments.
The innovation engine concept
At LotusFlare, we believe that the only innovation that is important are the innovations our customers carry out to create valuable business outcomes for their customers. With that in mind, we were pleasantly surprised to learn in mid-2022 that one of our customers uses our LotusFlare DNO™ Cloud as the technology foundation for what they dubbed their “innovation engine.”
The innovation engine concept is a digital BSS environment that’s a “safe space” for new business line experimentation, testing and quick roll-out. It’s like a laboratory that can be converted into a manufacturing facility quickly.
What’s inside the engine
LotusFlare has helped CSPs set up innovation engines which can be seen as commerce and monetization platforms that provide a haven for business model innovation. This idea of a “haven” is important – innovation engines exist in parallel or next to to core systems (those older, on-prem stacks that lie deep in the backend) so that they can maintain agility to enable CSPs to test, pilot and rollout new products and services quickly.
In my experience, an innovation engine has the following high-level attributes:
● Cloud-based and cloud-native
● Microservices based
● Highly configurable by business personnel
● Open and modular
● Built-in Hyperscaling
● End-to-end with all traditional “BSS” capabilities
● Functionally independent from, but easily integrated with, old-stack core systems
There are some other attributes that warrant a deeper mention.
Primacy of data
The prime position of data must be built into the core of the commerce and monetization service because innovation engines are system environments within which you conduct experiments. When you’re experimenting with a new product or emergent business, the data the product gives you is the feedback to honestly assess the potential – good or otherwise – of the business line. Without actual data, you don’t know where to experiment and the best ways to iterate.
Cost-effectiveness
An innovation engine should also be cost-effective. Experimental products and emerging businesses don’t make money right away. Hence the lower the cost, the easier it is to justify the investment in the innovation engine service.
The right partner
An innovation engine needs to come from a provider that is a proven innovation partner. A large, traditional technology provider of old stack technology is probably not the right partner, as they might come back and say it will cost millions of dollars and many months to realize a new business on their technology. The right partner is also one that will impart knowledge around customer experience design and development since the experience delivered is a key determinant of business line success.
More on innovation engines
I have been lucky enough to work with some of the leading CSPs on their innovation engines and I think it will be a concept that will be more and more accepted going forward. I firmly believe any business leader within CSP would benefit from having access to systems environments that let them configure, test, try and refine new business lines at lower risk – a haven for innovation.
If you want to learn more about innovation engines, LotusFlare recently surveyed 50 CSPs in EMEA on the innovation engine concept so please click here to find out about the results. Also, if you want to hear the lessons I learned from creating these engines in partnership with leading CSPs, please have a look here.