Published on September 14, 2021
A message to tech service provider CEOs
If you’re not bold enough in your transformation plans, you risk the danger of holding back your achievements, restricting the capability of the organisation to support growth and it will cost more in the long run as you attempt to put things right that could have been addressed holistically far sooner. The traditional sequential and siloed approach to transformation is no longer an option for ambitious MSPs (Managed Service Providers) or investors looking to capitalise on them.
"A blueprint for telecom’s critical reinvention" - by McKinsey
A recent McKinsey report supports this view and discusses how next generation telcos, or Smart MSPs, will be defined by leaders who act now. These trailblazers may even risk short-term advantages to seize untapped growth with a wider reaching holistic approach to transformation.
While most CEOs may be looking at the right areas - simplification, digital customer experience, automation, consolidation, integration, agile, managed services etc. - few are moving quickly or deeply enough as the current environment requires.
Bold transformation moves to consider for your telco and MSP
- Create a scalable, digital-native customer experience.
- Automate repetitive tasks and processes.
- Deploy a greenfield IT stack/platform.
- Deliver a zero-touch service model.
- Simplify the product offering.
The CEO's conundrum
The scale and pace of change, as well as the complexity of making transformation happen means CEOs have to let go of conventional approaches and even their closest advisors and leadership team may not be the best place to find the right answers. Asking an organisation’s internal teams to conduct its transformation is likely to be constrained by a lack of creativity, an aversion to perceived risk taking and group think that has a narrow view of the world and what’s possible, or even worse an institutionalised view. Chances are, they are being asked to do something they know is important but have never done before.
CEOs must be aggressive in setting a course and forging ahead. Real change depends on the leader to bridge the differences in stakeholder’s views and expected time horizons, testing the determination and will of everyone involved. However, like any change management, these are just things to be overcome. It is the CEO’s vision, energy, coaching and motivation that will take people on a journey and the leadership team is the catalyst that needs to work together at greater speed and effectiveness than most are used to.
Transform your cobbled together legacy stack into a high value platform
Transforming a legacy stack cobbled together over many years of evolution and M&A can be extremely costly and slow, so many telcos and MSPs are choosing to decouple and deploy a greenfield IT platform that is fully cloud native. However, doing all the work alone, even using open-source technologies, means turning into, and underwriting the costs of, a software development house. And it will need to be a significant one.
Thankfully, this is unnecessary as there is now a better way to access a fully managed and integrated Smart MSP Platform. POPX is affordable, run and maintained for you and can accommodate quick changes.
Be the catalyst for change, not the expert!
Now is the time to be the catalyst for change without the need to also be the experts. Leading through uncertainty, setting the direction and empowering those with the greatest expertise to guide the way is the pragmatic approach to transformation success.
What to do next
The telco and MSP landscape of the next decade will be shaped by the extent to which today’s leaders can recognise the magnitude of change that is already underway. CEOs must act with speed and conviction to truly reimagine how their organisation can thrive in this new reality.
Take the first step in streamlining your operations through service automation and increasing EBITDA by contacting us now to find out how we can help.