Global study urges service providers to join forces to address enterprises’ increasingly complex IT requirements

Global study urges service providers to join
forces to address enterprises’ increasingly complex IT requirements

Research reveals a gap between enterprises’
expectations and solutions offered by telecoms service providers 

SINGAPORE, 18
NOVEMBER 2016 – A global study
commissioned by Tata Communications reveals that the solutions that network
service providers offer don’t always meet the expectations of enterprises, who
rank security (52%), cloud (43%) and mobility (32%) as their top technology
priorities. Conducted by IDC amongst enterprises and service providers across
32 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East and
North Africa, the research also shows that enterprises see partnerships as key
in their decision making process, indicating that by finding the right
partners, service providers could win more business from this market segment.

The global study shows
that enterprises consider service providers best equipped to increasing their
network capacity or reach (73%), or delivering hybrid networking (66%)
services, while around half (48%) of enterprises feel that their network
service provider is best suited to address their cloud needs. Approximately a
third (31%) of enterprises feel that having access to cloud services developed
by their service provider would help support them better on their cloud
journey.

“Through the right
partnerships, service providers are able to open up new revenue streams in
growth areas such as cloud and unified communication and collaboration (UCC),
without having to invest in developing their own solutions from scratch,” said
James Parker, President, Global Sales, Tata Communications. “By joining forces
with like-minded organisations, service providers are best-placed to address
their customers’ increasingly complex IT requirements and facilitate their
digital transformation.”

Around three-quarters
(76%) of service providers think that supporting employee mobility is key for
enterprises’ UCC strategy, yet only a quarter (26%) of enterprises rank this as
a top priority. While more than a quarter (27%) of enterprises cite lack of
employee readiness as a barrier for UCC adoption, the service providers
surveyed don’t see this as an issue for their customers.

“Our research
indicates that many service providers haven’t kept up with the rapid pace of
digital disruption in enterprises, which is jeopardising their ability to win
business in this segment,” said James Eibisch, Research Director, IDC. “In
order for service providers to be able to meet enterprises’ changing IT needs,
they should explore partnering with other like-minded players, complementing
their own solutions portfolio. The right cloud ecosystem, for example, makes it
quicker and more cost-effective for service providers to grow their revenues
from the cloud.”  

The research suggests
that close to a half (41%) of service providers don’t have a definite stance on
partnering. In contrast, more than half (57%) of enterprises say that when
choosing a service provider, it is important that they find the right partners
to fill gaps in their offering or extend their reach. Additionally, service
providers overestimate the importance of reputation in enterprise decision
making by a third (30%).

James Parker
continued: “Our go-to-market strategy is focused on enterprise enablement, and
we are seeing growing appetite for partnerships in the service provider
community globally. Partnering with Tata Communications allows service
providers to speed up time to market by offering our wide range of services on
a white-label or sell-with basis, without having to invest in developing these
capabilities themselves. That is one reason why we have established our global
partner programme, supporting our partners in delivering a full portfolio of
cloud, mobility, managed security and UCC services.”