AI’s pivotal role in transforming operations - Service Providers/Operators Survey

Service providers/operators - have your say on AI

Dear Survey Participant,

Thank you for agreeing to take part in this important AI survey that will support a new research report we are launching in January ‘AI and its pivotal role in transforming operations’.

For many CSPs artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly shifting from being an interesting technology innovation to an essential business tool. The importance of AI in delivering the flexibility, efficiency and personalization that will underpin future services and operations is becoming clearer. However, what will be created and deployed, where and by whom is far from certain. The drivers and barriers are many, and solutions can be fragmented. AI is raising as many questions as it provides answers, and the industry requires more information to define a clearer roadmap for AI development.

Exclusive Access to Anonymized Survey Data - all survey participants will be sent exclusive access to the anonymized survey data in December, in advance of the official report due to launch in January. We will also send you a link in January to download the official report a week before it is released in the public domain. However, please note that survey results will only be presented in aggregate and individual responses will be kept anonymous.

Thank you for your insights and contribution.

Mark Newman

Chief Analyst, TM Forum

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* 1. What is your organization’s primary region of operation? (choose one)

a. North America

b. Latin America/Caribbean

c. Europe

d. Russia

e. Middle East and/or Africa

f. Asia/Pacific

g. Global

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* 2. What is your organization’s primary line of business? (choose one)

a. Fixed operator

b. Mobile operator

c. Converged operator (come combination of mobile, fixed voice and data and TV)

d. Data center/cloud provider

e. Cable operator

f. Digital services provider (e.g. IoT, smart cities)

g. Other (please specify)

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* 3. Please indicate the number of customers served by your organization (choose one)

a. Fewer than 5 million

b. 5 million – 25 million

c. 25 million – 50 million

d. 50 million – 100 million

e. 100 million – 150 million

f. More than 150 million

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* 4. Are you deploying AI?

We are taking a wait-and-see approach

We have started proofs of concept

We are working with suppliers who are building AI into some products and services

We have already built some internal AI expertise and are incorporating it into our product and service roadmaps

Other (please specify)

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* 5. Please identify the three biggest drivers of AI in your organization

Reducing OpEx in the organization by driving automation and closed loop systems

Delivering a better customer experience

Upselling new products to existing customers

Creating new services or service flexibility (e.g on-demand)

Creating new products and services (e.g. automatic voice translation as a service)

Improving efficiency, agility and transparency

Predicting performance and prevention of outages and failures

Identifying market trends and assisting in investment decisions

Identifying services and timing for decommissioning

Supporting decision making in operations teams

Improving revenue assurance

Other (please specify)

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* 6. What is the main driver for introducing automation into operations in the next year?

We are introducing new technology (e.g. virtualization) that necessitates operations at speeds not feasible for manual processes

We need to change processes or settings (e.g provisioning) more often and more quickly than manual processes can allow

We have new process requirements that are more complicated and change more often (e.g partner on-boarding for IoT) than manual processes can cope with

We would like to introduce new services that require faster and more complicated responses from operations (e.g. on-demand services) than manual processes can provide

Other (please specify)

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* 7. Rank the following challenges to deploying AI (1 = biggest challenge, 9 = smallest challenge)

Lack of maturity of network components and support systems

Lack of software expertise within the organization

Overcoming fear that automation will limit control and result in outages

Lack of data analytics expertise with the organization

Lack of standards for end-to-end management

Inconsistent and fragmented data

Concerns about security

Concerns about displacing staff

Explainability (explaining the decisions that your algorithms are making)

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* 8. What AI activities are you deploying in which operational domains now and in the future?

	AI activities you have already deployed	AI activities you expect to deploy in next 2 years
Customer experience	Customer experience AI activities you have already deployed menu	Customer experience AI activities you expect to deploy in next 2 years menu
Revenue creation, billing and assurance	Revenue creation, billing and assurance AI activities you have already deployed menu	Revenue creation, billing and assurance AI activities you expect to deploy in next 2 years menu
Service creation and management	Service creation and management AI activities you have already deployed menu	Service creation and management AI activities you expect to deploy in next 2 years menu
Network planning, optimization and management	Network planning, optimization and management AI activities you have already deployed menu	Network planning, optimization and management AI activities you expect to deploy in next 2 years menu

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* 9. Which AI technologies are you deploying in which operational domains now and in the future?

	AI technologies you have already deployed	AI technologies you expect to deploy in the next 2 years
Customer experience	Customer experience AI technologies you have already deployed menu	Customer experience AI technologies you expect to deploy in the next 2 years menu
Revenue creation, billing and assurance	Revenue creation, billing and assurance AI technologies you have already deployed menu	Revenue creation, billing and assurance AI technologies you expect to deploy in the next 2 years menu
Service creation and management	Service creation and management AI technologies you have already deployed menu	Service creation and management AI technologies you expect to deploy in the next 2 years menu
Network planning, optimization and management	Network planning, optimization and management AI technologies you have already deployed menu	Network planning, optimization and management AI technologies you expect to deploy in the next 2 years menu

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* 10. In which areas is your company most likely to implement analytics solutions in the next 12 months (choose all that apply)?

Customer care

RAN operations

Predictive maintenance

Cybersecurity

Other network operations (please specify)

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* 11. Which AI use cases are you currently working on for network and service management? (select as many are are relevant)

Big data handling and pattern detection to identify issues and inform reactive action more quickly

Trend analysis to predict and proactively prevent outages

Trigger automated resolution to self heal

AI technologies used by the network itself to automatically and proactively provide the best customer experience

Other (please specify)

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* 12. How are you currently deploying AI to automate operations?

Automating a single process within a single domain or business unit

Automating multiple processes within a single domain or business unit

Automating a single process across multiple domains or business unit

Automating multiple processes across multiple domains or business units

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* 13. What is the most significant barrier to the effective exposure of operational data needed for the development of network automation and efficiency(choose one)?

Inability to access the data needed across operational silos

The lack of clear standards for exposing data streams

The lack of relevant APIs for exposing data streams (e.g open event streaming integration APIs)

Lack of provisions for/concerns about security

Lack of provisions for/concerns about privacy

Other (please specify)

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* 14. How are you developing AI solutions? (choose as many as apply)

With an existing technology partner(s)

With new technology partner(s) that has also has a traditional telecoms-orientated product portfolio

With a new technology partner(s) that specializes in AI

With existing internal resources

With newly recruited internal resources

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* 15. Which suppliers are you turning to for AI solutions? (choose as many as are relevant)

Accenture

Amdocs

Blue Prism

Ericsson

Guavus

Huawei

IBM

Infosys

IPsoft

Microsoft

Mycom OSI

Netcracker

Nexign

Nokia

Oracle

SAS

ZTE

None

Others (please specify)

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* 16. Which of the following best represents the way AI developments are being developed in your organization?

AI solutions and technologies are being developed centrally and pushed out to business and operational units

AI solutions are solely being developed to meet specific requirements within a business unit/operational unit

AI solutions are being developed to meet specific requirements within a business unit/operational unit with lessons and solutions shared with others informally

AI solutions are being developed to meet specific requirements within a business unit/operational unit with lessons and solutions shared with others formally through structured processes

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* 17. Who is responsible for AI solutions within your organization?

CIO

CTO

Chief architect

Innovation/Research and development

Individual division heads (e.g operations, or customer experience)

Don’t know

Other (please specify)

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* 18. How useful would the following collective activities be for your development and deployment of AI solutions in the next three years?

	Not at all useful	Slightly useful	Moderately useful	Very useful	Essential
The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams	The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams Not at all useful	The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams Slightly useful	The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams Moderately useful	The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams Very useful	The development of an AI data model for sharing data steams Essential
The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes	The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes Not at all useful	The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes Slightly useful	The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes Moderately useful	The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes Very useful	The creation of a repository of anonymized data sets for training and validation purposes Essential
The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively	The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively Not at all useful	The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively Slightly useful	The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively Moderately useful	The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively Very useful	The development of AI management standards that enable AI to be structured, monitored and managed effectively Essential
The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations	The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations Not at all useful	The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations Slightly useful	The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations Moderately useful	The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations Very useful	The creation of an AI maturity methodology and model that enable CSPs to assess how far along the journey they are in implementing AI in their company, networks and operations Essential

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* 19. Please provide your contact details (for verification purposes only - results will only be presented in aggregate and individual responses will be kept anonymous.

Name

Company

Address

Address 2

City/Town

State/Province

ZIP/Postal Code

Country

Email Address

Phone Number

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* 20. Would you be prepared to talk to the author of this research about some of your responses?

Yes

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* 1. What is your organization’s primary region of operation? (choose one)

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* 2. What is your organization’s primary line of business? (choose one)

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* 3. Please indicate the number of customers served by your organization (choose one)

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* 4. Are you deploying AI?

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* 5. Please identify the three biggest drivers of AI in your organization

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* 6. What is the main driver for introducing automation into operations in the next year?

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* 7. Rank the following challenges to deploying AI (1 = biggest challenge, 9 = smallest challenge)

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* 8. What AI activities are you deploying in which operational domains now and in the future?

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* 9. Which AI technologies are you deploying in which operational domains now and in the future?

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* 10. In which areas is your company most likely to implement analytics solutions in the next 12 months (choose all that apply)?

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* 11. Which AI use cases are you currently working on for network and service management? (select as many are are relevant)

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* 12. How are you currently deploying AI to automate operations?

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* 13. What is the most significant barrier to the effective exposure of operational data needed for the development of network automation and efficiency(choose one)?

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* 14. How are you developing AI solutions? (choose as many as apply)

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* 15. Which suppliers are you turning to for AI solutions? (choose as many as are relevant)

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* 16. Which of the following best represents the way AI developments are being developed in your organization?

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* 17. Who is responsible for AI solutions within your organization?

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* 18. How useful would the following collective activities be for your development and deployment of AI solutions in the next three years?

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* 19. Please provide your contact details (for verification purposes only - results will only be presented in aggregate and individual responses will be kept anonymous.

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* 20. Would you be prepared to talk to the author of this research about some of your responses?

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* 21. NA/Internal Reference only