Digital services dominate the current and future strategies of telecoms and enterprise companies across industries, according to a new Oracle Communications survey. In the Digital Services: Disrupt or Be Disrupted report, Oracle found nearly all organizations surveyed (96 percent) have already implemented, or are planning to implement, digital services in the next 12 months. Almost half (45 percent) are looking to deploy digital customer engagement tools within their mobile apps and websites to further advance their digital transformation in the same timeframe.

In September 2018, Oracle surveyed 292 individuals with decision-making authority for IT and communications software in their companies. Seventy-three percent of respondents were at the President/CxO or Director/Department head level. A total of 18 industries, from 14 countries, were represented, with half of those surveyed from telecom and the other half from computer software/equipment, education, healthcare, and manufacturing.

"The digital opportunity is clearly recognized by companies across all industries," said Doug Suriano, senior vice president, general manager, Oracle Communications. "While telecom companies have significant experience providing digital services, they face the challenge of delivering differentiated new revenue streams in an agile manner. Other industries, who in many cases are beginning to offer digital subscriptions and services enabled by physical products, also find they need more sophisticated and modern digital services monetization systems to capitalize on their digital opportunity."

Racing to Deliver Improved Digital Experiences

5G will accelerate opportunities: When looking to the future of high-speed, real-time, sensor-enabled digital services, respondents indicated that sensor-driven services such as those for smart cities and connected and autonomous vehicles are the top two opportunities for digital service ecosystems enabled by 5G technology. The number of non-telecoms companies exploring smart cities opportunities will rise from 34 percent today to 50 percent when 5G is enabled. The connected and autonomous vehicle opportunity will rise from 29 percent today to 46 percent when 5G is enabled. This illustrates the cross-industry value for such digital service ecosystems enabled by 5G adoption.

Speed and agility are key: Ninety-one percent of respondents prioritize speed to market over a fully integrated IT environment, with 69 percent preferring a lightweight solution that can be deployed quickly over a fully featured solution that takes much longer to deploy. Speed to market is critical, with half believing that launching new digitally enabled services should take days – not weeks or months.

Not launching services reduces competitiveness and risks disruption: Almost two-thirds (65 percent) reported reduced revenue growth as the greatest concern of not launching digitally enabled services, followed by 55 percent who said they will be unable to competitively differentiate in the market. Half are concerned about loss of brand perception and relevance.

More sophisticated pricing models are essential: For companies to drive sustainable market differentiation and revenue growth, the survey indicated that more sophisticated pricing models for digital services beyond simple subscriptions will be essential. Companies recognized the importance of packaging and bundling multiple products and/or digital services to create more compelling propositions. Respondents also emphasized the importance of usage/consumption-based charging followed closely by outcome/performance-based charging for such propositions.