2016 the Year of ‘softwarisation,’ and data for social good

By Digital News Asia January 26, 2016

The current digitisation will transform all aspects of the telco industry
Will also change the way consumers use and rely on mobile technology

2016 the Year of ‘softwarisation,’ and data for social good

THIS year will be marked by smarter machines and customers as co-creators, as well as data for social good and ‘softwarisation,’ according to Telenor Group’s Research arm, which just published the key global telco trends identified for 2016.

These trends will invariably have the greatest effect on Asia, which has 60% of the global population, nearly half the world’s Internet users, Telenor Research said in a statement.

Consumers are experiencing digitalisation in many parts of their daily lives, from buying bus tickets with a mobile phone to monitoring heart rate or getting GPS (global positioning system) directions – and the smartphone is at the centre of it all, particularly in a region boasting more than one billion smartphone users.

The current digitisation will transform all aspects of the telco industry and the way consumers increasingly use and rely on mobile technology.

“The trends we have highlighted are not radically new, but we believe that 2016 is the year the adoption or the application of these will start to be felt, and nowhere more than in the leapfrogging economies of Asia,” said Bjørn Taale Sandberg, head of Telenor Research.

“2016 will be an exciting year for telecoms as we face evolving customer expectations, competition, regulation and accelerating technological change – a change that, in our opinion, brings more opportunities than it does challenges,” he added.

Telenor Research has identified six important trending areas for 2016:

Customers will co-create services

Customers are increasingly digital savvy, demanding and empowered, Telenor Research said.

This puts demands on companies to deliver superior digital customer experiences, and be more aligned with the customer’s changing behaviour than ever before.

There has been a shift from companies defining their own services, to customers making their needs heard and translated into the market through active feedback.

This year, the transition will be more evident.

Data for social good

Telecom big data will be used more in 2016 to tangibly help society – for the purpose of social good, Telenor Research said.

As data develops, so does the capacity to use it to address and monitor issues such as health and safety.

Big data currently is being created in just about everything we use and do. From phones, cars, business, infrastructure and much more – the constant accumulation of data will now will be finding applications to help society at large.

Softwarisation

Networks as software rather than hardware will take off as technologies such as network functions virtualisation (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) will enable new ways of designing and operating networks.

Deep learning

This year has been marked as the phase that machines will understand more digital content as they get more deeply integrated into digital services and devices.

Consumers will experience this through new services, better digital assistants, search results and suggestions, and more relevant ads.

More IoT services with LPWA

Future Internet of Things (IoT) devices need low cost and low power-consuming networks. Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks will enable a future smart society with many new and exciting IoT services and platforms, Telenor Research said.

Levelling out the playing field

In 2016, governments and regulatory authorities will have to deal with an intensifying debate on how to adjust the traditional legal frameworks to the new competitive digital environment and a growing sharing economy.

An e-brochure with the full trend analysis by Telenor Research can be viewed here. Click infographic below to enlarge: