AI’s pivotal role in transforming operations - Suppliers Survey

Suppliers - 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

Question Title

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

a. Hardware supplier

b. Network function software supplier

c. OSS/BSS supplier

d. Systems integrator

e. AI specialist

f. Consultant

g. Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. Are your CSP customers deploying AI?

They are taking a wait-and-see approach

They have started proofs of concept

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

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

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 3. Please identify the three biggest drivers of AI in your CSP customers

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

Question Title

* 4. What is the main driver for the automation of your CSP customers' operations in the next year (choose one)?

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

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

They 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

They 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)

Question Title

* 5. Rank the following challenges to your CSPs in their roll-out of 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 algorigthms are making)

Question Title

* 6. What AI activities are you involved with, and in which operational domains, both 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

Question Title

* 7. Which AI technologies are you deploying with customers, and 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

Question Title

* 8. What percentage of your products are AI ready?

1% to 10%

10% to 25%

25% to 50%

50% to 75%

75% to 99%

100%

Question Title

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

Customer care

RAN operations

Other network operations

Predictive maintenance

Cybersecurity

Question Title

* 10. 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)

Question Title

* 11. How are your CSP customers 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

Question Title

* 12. What is the most significant barrier that CSPs face in 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)

Question Title

* 13. What is your most effective route to market for AI solutions targeting CSPs

Direct to the CSP customer

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

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

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

Question Title

* 14. Which job functions within CSPs do currently sell to?

Question Title

* 15. What are the biggest barriers to selling AI solutions to CSPs (1 = biggest barrier, 6 = smallest barrier?

Understanding specific requirements for CSP businesses

Identifying the correct customer job functions

Getting access to decision makers and budget holders

Overcoming CSP concerns about losing control

Difficulties in working with CSP’s legacy systems

CSPs developing their own AI solutions

Question Title

* 16. How useful would the following collective activities be for the development and deployment of AI solutions for your CSP customers 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

Question Title

* 17. 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

Question Title

* 18. Would you be prepared to speak to the author of this report about some of your responses?

Yes