FORECASTING THE FUTURE
These are busy times for the global telecom space and 2017 promises not to be an exception . Mahindra Comviva ' s leadership team shared their views on the trends expected to make a splash in their respective portfolios . Excerpts ...
ADITYA DHRUVA
Chief Technology Officer and Head , Messaging and Broadband Solutions
The mobile messaging , internet and broadband spaces are likely to witness several significant trends in 2017 .
MOBILE MESSAGING
• Enterprise-Customer Engagement over Multiple Channels One can expect greater engagement with enterprises via chat applications . Meanwhile , the deployment of A2P SMS by enterprises will continue to be on an upswing .
• Monetization of Application-to-Person ( A2P ) SMS By end-2017 , 23 per cent of global operators would have invested in next-generation SMS revenue assurance platforms . A2P is already monetizing over-the-top ( OTT ) communications through authentication . This , in turn , presents mobile operators with a ready-made , revenue-generating opportunity by capitalising on already deployed messaging infrastructure .
CHAT APPLICATIONS Contextual commerce and chat bots will rule in 2017 : An enterprise ' s ability to interact with consumers on chat applications allows consumers to purchase goods , contact customer care and even access information services on their chat applications . It is clear that the chat application has moved well beyond being a pure communications platform , to becoming a digital hub for the consumer ' s life .
INTERNET AND BROADBAND
• 2017 will be the year of enterprise digital engagements over data channels . This will enable enterprises to use data to incentivize , reward and promote services . Data will soon become the next form of currency .
• Global network providers are likely to plan for a virtualized future . Network Functions Virtualization ( NFV ) will finally arrive .
• Forward-looking operators will deploy Machine-to-Machine ( M2M ) communications and a framework for the Internet of Things ( IoT ). They would also chalk out a blueprint to manage IoT subscribers .
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