Testing

Category: Leadership

  • Open letter to customers from the new CEO of Subex

    Open letter to customers from the new CEO of Subex

    Pioneering innovation that creates value for all our stakeholders, with an undeterred focus on customer delight is at the core of what Subex does. As its new CEO, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and communicate our continued commitment towards our vision of enriching lives through AI-led Digital Trust.

    First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for your loyalty and support towards Subex over the years. We are committed to providing you with the highest quality offerings that meet and exceed your expectations at every step possible.

    Serving as an independent non-executive director of Subex since 2015, I fully understand the company’s business, and its customers’ needs. Today, I am excited to step into the CEO role, with over 2 decades years of experience in the technology industry, and a track record of driving innovation and success across organizations of various sizes and dynamics. I am confident that my expertise in the area of Artificial Intelligence will help us significantly amplify our momentum with HyperSense, and other AI initiatives.

    As I take on this new role, I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the outgoing CEO, Mr. Vinod Kumar. His unwavering commitment and dedication to the company is an inspiration to us all, and we will continue to build upon the strong foundations that underpin Subex. Under his leadership, Subex has experienced tremendous innovation, branching out into newer areas of business, while maintaining market leadership in our core areas, all of which enables us to focus on the next chapter for the company.

    As we embark upon this next phase of growth for Subex, my priority will be to work with the talented Subex team to strengthen our offerings and ensure that we are creating immense value to our customers to become their most preferred partner in the areas of Revenue Maximization, AI, Cybersecurity, and Identity Analytics. I truly believe that Subex has enormous potential to grow and innovate, and I look forward to leading the company into a new era of success.

    We will continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies, collaborate with our partners, and listen to your feedback to ensure that we are delivering the solutions that will help you excel in your respective areas of business. I am excited about the opportunity to work with you, and I look forward to meeting with you in person over the coming months. Please feel free to reach out to me or our team with any questions or concerns.

    Taking over the responsibility of leading one of India’s earliest product companies into its next phase of growth is a matter of great honour, and I pledge my unwavering commitment to do everything possible to bring a great degree of success Subex, and all its stakeholders.

    Thank you for your trust in Subex, and I look forward to your continued support.

    Sincerely,
    Nisha Dutt
    CEO, Subex

  • Digitization and Revenue Streams for Tower Companies

    Digitization and Revenue Streams for Tower Companies

    Telcos have owned towers as part of their network infrastructure to deliver telecom services to customers. It has been the trend for decades however, stabilizing revenue growths and industry movements have introduced the need to reduce cost and expenses, the efficiency improvement and quicker deployments have pushed telcos to work on the strategy of divestment for their tower infra, which has resulted in the establishment of the Tower Companies.

    Conceptually, the conventional Towerco business model is straightforward. They acquire telecom infra- assets from CSPs and then lease them back to the CSPs with multi-year agreements. These agreements can vary in terms of O&M services, renting the space, and co-locating the tower for multiple operators. Towercos have their monitoring control systems and maintenance tools for managing the tasks. Such a model helps CSPs to move from Capex intensive model to Opex focused and provides a revenue stream to towercos, resulting in a mutually beneficial strategy.

    Different kind of tower companies:

    Different kind of tower companies

    Digitization need:

    In principle, Towercos are managing passive infrastructure however with changing digital environment and to deal with increasing market pressure, 5G rollout, new network technologies, and new business models, towercos also need to undergo a paradigm shift to modify their business strategy. Towercos need to act quickly towards digital transformation for their business to grow and sustain; and it will make them open to new revenue streams too. They will have to be more data-driven, include analytics and the use of the latest technologies to stand out in the competitive landscape.

    Telcos have developed solutions encompassing data-driven business intelligence (BI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) through machine learning. The towerco industry is still far behind in this area and still leveraging the legacy tools and manual efforts owing to their focus on increasing the tenancy ratio. Towercos need to build a proper data strategy and invest in data collection and data analytics to track detailed and accurate data about their infrastructure and enable decisions based on data intelligence. These are the primary steps for digitizing the foundation of a towerco business.

    The digitization strategy should focus on 4 pillars:

    1. Accurate data collection, with the use of a connected IoT platform that reduces physical site visits and ensures updated information such as location, faults are identified remotely.
    2. Integrated asset’s view, with the help of integrated platform providing the E2E view of assets including financial, project and network data, towercos can focus on critical areas and build cost optimization techniques.
    3. Use of ML models, using data-driven machine learning models for predictive maintenance, fault localization can improve the quality of services from towercos.
    4. Digital Twin: Digital Twins add value to the enterprise by:
      • Predicting “what is likely to happen” from “what has happened”.
      • Serving as a knowledge management framework.
      • Aspiring for strong interrogative (past) and superlative prediction (future) capabilities.

    Digitization:

    Based on Digital twin concept and integrated platform for E2E view of tower assets & deployments.

    site-inspection

    1. All relevant information for the site available in an integrated platform with updated data (Asset 360-degree view).
    2. Scheduled maintenance visits can be optimized using a virtual replica of assets (status, location, GIS data, etc).
    3. Digital view of site avoids multiple visits to the site for rollout, validate drawing with reality, simulate loading for co-location sites, and compare digital twin with the planned site for acceptance.
    4. With digital twins, the physical properties and data from the sensors and operating environment, are being combined with sophisticated prediction algorithms.

    Examples for such prediction/ analysis are:

    • Structural analysis.
    • Vibration analysis.
    • RF band mapping on each site based on info available.

    Simulations are more effective combining digital twin and historical data; it provides effective and more accurate predictions. The drill-down mechanism helps to understand the RCA for any fault that is recurring frequently and unable to be identified. A digital twin is enabled with IoT sensors and enriched data sets.

    Towercos need to incorporate modernization in their approach, moving away from the legacy business model of site leasing.

    New Revenue Streams for Towercos:

    1. ESCO – New business area for Towerco.

    ESCO is defined as an energy services company, that invests capital to acquire energy equipment for telecom cell sites, then sells that energy back to the site owner, whether they are an MNO or a towerco. There are various energy models ranging from pure power-grid-based to a hybrid model of using green energy from solar cells, wind turbines, etc. The ESCOs operate on different models depending on the geography and scale of sites. In most scenarios, they charge a fixed fee per month or even usage-based charges. Recently, some of these have partnered with CSPs to operate in managed services model where they ensure uptime of their active assets and have a percentage of revenue share or even guaranteed savings model.

    2.  Renting the space to surveillance companies for installing cameras for traffic monitoring, video surveillance, etc.

    In today’s connected era, monitoring traffic and other surveillance tasks play a major role. However, in most cases, getting an appropriate spot to install such devices for monitoring becomes a challenge. Using video surveillance for real-time traffic, weather forecast, congestion control, vandalism, etc are few use-cases. The traffic patterns can even be used for future study and observation or issuing challans/ tickets for violations. For the same, installing cameras or such devices should have sufficient visibility and a clear line of sight, along with a larger area to cover. Telecom towers provide such location which can be rented to regulatory bodies, agencies or even security services in some places.

    3. Providing the space for advertisements by camouflaging the infra.

    Do you remember when the Eiffel tower displayed the largest ever advertisement for Citreon in 1925? Telecom towers are huge structures that are visible from far-off and can be easily noticed by a passer-by. They can serve as one of the good sources for advertisement if used in an aesthetic manner. Monopoles, small cells, and even towers can be camouflaged with a nice cover, and they can be used for advertising by media companies. This can provide a very good source of revenue to towercos. Such places attract a lot of views and generate potential customers for the advertiser.

    4. High data speeds will require fiber-based connectivity, and this can be owned by towerco to generated additional revenue by sharing resources.

    With the advancement of 5G, every telco is focusing on having low latency use-cases with URLLC. This can not be achieved with a traditional transmission network and operators are focusing on fibre networks for the same. Towercos can play a vital role here by providing this connectivity layer and laying the fibre cables. Also, with the space they possess, it can act as amplifying spots, routing areas, or hubs for any fiber planning. They can generate revenue by sharing the fibre infra with multiple operators to serve as a common backbone network.

    The best asset management solutions in the market could be found among the leading analytics companies in the telecom sector. They apply their broad experience to digitize telecom sites providing tools like an end-to- end asset management solution, introducing digital twin, creating a virtual site as a service image of the physical site including all the data about the site and its assets. The tower, the site, the small cells become the digital assets of the towerco/ CSPs and provide a layer of analytics to enable accurate decision-making.

    In summary, it is time for towercos to act on their digitization strategy, build innovative use-cases and bring new solutions to the market that implement the latest technologies, artificial intelligence, and digitization enablement shared above. A few of those streams will become the new business models for the digital towerco that will result in building new revenue streams and increasing the value of towercos in the telecom industry.

    Meanwhile, if you’re interested to read about Digital Trust, you’ll find some useful material here.

    Read more

  • Adiós 2020 … 2021, ¡no puedes venir lo suficientemente pronto!

    Adiós 2020 … 2021, ¡no puedes venir lo suficientemente pronto!

    A medida que nos acercamos al final de un 2020 unánimemente desastroso, en Subex recordamos todo lo que habíamos presenciado durante el año pasado, con un renovado sentimiento de optimismo por lo que está por venir. En conclusión, ¡vaya, qué año tuvimos!

    Más allá de los asuntos personales donde muchos de nosotros nos tomamos el tiempo para renovar nuestras casas, comprar una bicicleta indoor para hacer ejercicio (que para muchos terminó siendo un perchero multifuncional) o aprender un nuevo instrumento, en el mundo de las Telcos sucedieron muchas cosas. Es emocionante analizar cuántos negocios nuevos y viejos se han consolidado y muchos proyectos pospuestos, pero este año ciertamente no pasó desapercibido ni será olvidado.

    Si tuviéramos que resumir las principales observaciones de este año en particular en el que vivimos, serían las siguientes:

    • Fue el año de la consolidación y expansión de la digitalización debido a la pandemia
    • Se sentaron las bases fundamentales para el despegue de tecnologías como 5G.
    • El ciberdelito y el fraude fueron testigos de un aumento en el número y la complejidad
    • En mitigación de riesgos, finalmente se inició la adopción del Business Assurance
    • El inevitable aumento de la relevancia de la confianza digital

    La Expansión Digital – Haga una virtud (de) la necesidad – Piense en el crecimiento de la tecnología dentro de los hogares. Uno de los operadores más grandes de EE. UU. Informó que los juegos en línea crecieron más del 257% y el uso de herramientas de colaboración más del 1200%. Hoy, todo el mundo le cantaría feliz cumpleaños a una tía o abuela a través de Zoom o WhatsApp. Esta tendencia está aquí para quedarse, y en 2021 seguramente veremos un crecimiento más significativo. Muchas oficinas dejarán de existir porque el teletrabajo es ahora una realidad. Empresas (y personas) se han dado cuenta de que se puede trabajar de forma remota, y este hecho afectará a varios sectores, como el inmobiliario y sin duda, el de telecomunicaciones. Quizás esta “nueva normalidad” creará un empujón final, el impulso que le da a la 5G el ímpetu para la consolidación.

    5G – Más allá de las promesas En nuestra región (CALA), el 5G, con más histeria que historia, avanza lentamente, pero al menos avanza. Ya se han registrado pruebas exitosas y algunas implementaciones pequeñas en Chile, Uruguay, Surinam, Trinidad y Tobago. Quizás la pandemia haya provocado retrasos en el despliegue en los países más poblados como México o Brasil.

    Aún así, todos albergan presupuestos, realizan pruebas iniciales u ofertan por espectro para implementar esta tecnología. También hay datos alentadores como el caso de Entel Chile y Ericsson, que realizaron una prueba 5G y alcanzaron una velocidad de transferencia de datos de 24,7 Gbps, un récord absoluto en Latinoamérica.

    Amenazas crecientes de la ‘digitalización forzada’: La pandemia esencialmente ha llevado al modo de operaciones fuera de línea a pasar a Internet. Con las empresas adoptando rápidamente los canales de venta en línea y los usuarios haciendo un uso intensivo de ellos, los ciberdelincuentes se han abierto a oportunidades para aprovechar la situación y nuevos consumidores digitales que tienen menos experiencia en la prevención de ataques. Según el informe IOCTA (Evaluación de la amenaza del crimen organizado en Internet) de Europol 2020, el grado de sofisticación de los ciberataques ha mejorado significativamente a raíz de la pandemia de COVID-19. Estos cambios han acelerado la confluencia que se ha visto en los últimos años entre la ciberseguridad y la gestión del fraude. 2020 fue testigo del aumento de amenazas de diversas técnicas que van desde Malware hasta Ransomware, IRSF, malware, DDoS, Spamming y Compromiso de correo electrónico empresarial. El fraude de pagos, especialmente el intercambio de SIM, se ha considerado una tendencia este año desde el punto de vista del fraude. Este aumento del fraude y el ciberdelito ha exigido una estrategia integral de gestión del fraude que debe incluir detección, validación de identidad y autenticación como un conjunto de capacidades integradas.

    Business Assurance – ganando adopción – Desde el punto de vista de Revenue Assurance, continuamos en transición hacia la consolidación de la práctica hacia Business Assurance. Business Assurance proporcionará una visión más holística de los indicadores comerciales que más afectan nuestras actividades. Quizás COVID-19, debido a elementos de mayor prioridad, ralentizó la transición y pospuso la implementación de muchos controles nuevos, modernizando la infraestructura de mitigación de riesgos o simplemente aliviando la curva de aprendizaje de los equipos de RA. Probablemente, la digitalización expansiva en el hogar, la alta demanda de recursos de red que requieren los usuarios empresariales o particulares hizo imperativo que las Telcos se centraran en esta nueva realidad, dejando de lado algunos proyectos que sin duda se tendrán en cuenta el próximo año.

    Esta avalancha de digitalización, donde ya están surgiendo servicios como video OTT, proyectos de IoT y 5G, creará muchas oportunidades de negocio para las empresas de telecomunicaciones, pero también traerá muchos riesgos asociados que tendrán que ser mitigados. Estaremos ahí para ayudarte.

    El auge de la confianza digital: con la colaboración de todas las formas en el ámbito digital, un aspecto clave ha surgido como la pieza central de cada interacción a nivel personal, social y empresarial: la confianza. En tal escenario, la confianza digital se considera el elemento vital o la moneda del negocio digital. La confianza digital es la capacidad de una organización para inspirar confianza dentro de su ecosistema digital sobre su intención y capacidad para brindar los servicios prometidos. La confianza digital se ha convertido en el habilitador fundamental para las interacciones digitales de alta calidad en el nuevo mundo digital valiente al medir y cuantificar las expectativas de una entidad, validando explícitamente quién o qué dice ser, y si se comportará como se espera dentro de una transacción comercial digital. En la actualidad, Digital Trust está ocupando su lugar como pieza central del éxito, desde la mejora de la imagen de marca y la adopción de nuevas tecnologías hasta la incorporación de inversiones, el despliegue de nuevas ofertas y la expansión del ecosistema de socios. Creemos que este concepto adquirirá mayor relevancia en los próximos años.

    Feliz 2021: ¡será un año emocionante! – Después de la tormenta, sale el sol; aquí en Subex, también tuvimos un año desafiante como todos los demás, pero lo aprovechamos muy bien. Hemos estado muy cerca de nuestros clientes, creando los mejores planes posibles para mejorar sus prácticas y brindándoles el apoyo que merecía esta situación excepcional. Y una cosa superlativa fue que desafiamos nuestra cartera de productos para modernizar nuestra plataforma de mitigación de riesgos con un enfoque esencial en la confianza digital. Este equipo, a través de la innovación y el esfuerzo -el talento por sí solo no es suficiente- está creando la plataforma tecnológica del futuro que actuará como catalizador entre las demandas del mercado y las necesidades de nuestros clientes. El año que viene, esperamos unirnos a usted y contarle (con suerte, cara a cara) más sobre el progreso de este proyecto, que está destinado a interrumpir nuestra industria tal como la conocemos.

    ¡Te deseamos un muy buen 2021 y esperamos que esta experiencia que vivimos nos ayude a tener otra perspectiva de las cosas y de la vida!

    Habilitar la confianza para ofrecer experiencias digitales inspiradoras

    Descargar punto de vista

    Adrian Plohn
    Adrián es uno de nuestros especialistas de Gestión Fraude y Business Assurance en Latinoamérica. Él es responsable de asesorar a nuestros clientes en la implementación de las mejores soluciones tecnológicas para la gestión de riesgos y maximización de beneficios. Adrián posee más de 26 años en el área de Tecnología de la Información y Gestión de Riesgos en el mercado de Telecomunicaciones.

  • Un rebobinado de la evolución de 1G a 5G

    Un rebobinado de la evolución de 1G a 5G

    De 1G a 5G

    El viaje de 1G a 5G parece reciente y el tiempo realmente ha volado. Por medio del blog a continuación, he intentado proporcionar un resumen rápido del viaje y cómo nos fue.

    Hacia el final, también puede ver el impacto de los ingresos en unas pocas empresas de telecomunicaciones seleccionadas cuidadosamente de todo el mundo con la evolución de cada generación de telecomunicaciones.

    Capture

    “Fue FENOMENAL pero no fue suficiente”.

    ¿Qué pasó aquí?

    • El ingeniero Neil Papworth envió el primer SMS el 3 de diciembre de 1992, cuando escribió “Feliz Navidad” en una computadora y lo envió al teléfono celular del director de Vodafone, Richard Jarvis.
    • Inicio de la tecnología AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) a partir del IMPS (Sistema de telefonía móvil mejorado) preexistente para la transmisión de voz.
    • La conectividad estableció una conectividad móvil fluida que introdujo servicios de voz móviles.
    • 1G introdujo la voz analógica.

    ¿Qué salió mal?

    • Mala calidad de voz
    • Poca duración de la batería
    • Teléfono de gran tamaño
    • Sin seguridad
    • Capacidad limitada
    • Poca confiabilidad

    El impacto en los ingresos:

    En 2018, casi 300 millones de personas se conectaron a Internet móvil por primera vez, lo que elevó la población total conectada a más de 3.500 millones de personas en todo el mundo. Los ingresos no experimentaron un aumento drástico para los operadores, especialmente en los segmentos de nivel 2 y 3, ya que los consumidores exigían una mejor conectividad, mayor capacidad y menor latencia. Esto solo lo podrían permitir los operadores de nivel 1, que simplemente podían permitirse derrochar en la mejora de su red.

    Era 5G 2019 y más allá:

    “5G es más que una generación, es una promesa al país de las maravillas”

    • 5G nos mira con una nueva experiencia en velocidades de datos más rápidas, mayor densidad de conexión, latencia mucho menor, entre otras mejoras.
    • 5G no es una actualización a 4G, pero está en una liga propia, porque nos brinda la capacidad de conectar miles de dispositivos a la vez, lo que brinda al usuario la verdadera sensación de experiencia en “tiempo real”.
    • Esto significa que la informática y el procesamiento pueden pasar a la nube y dar como resultado dispositivos de IoT más pequeños, lo que reduce el costo de fabricación y mantenimiento al optimizar la red para el operador de telecomunicaciones.
    • IoT tendrá un significado muy diferente con el crecimiento de 5G, ya que los vehículos autónomos pueden convertirse en una realidad incluso en India.
    • Dado que el aumento de la base de suscriptores en las ciudades de nivel 1 ya no es una perspectiva atractiva para las empresas de telecomunicaciones, buscarán generar nuevos flujos de ingresos con la madurez de MU-MIMO y lograr velocidades de datos de hasta 35 Gbps.
    • La tecnología 5G puede utilizar una variedad de bandas de espectro, incluido el espectro de radio de onda milimétrica (mmWave), que puede transportar grandes cantidades de datos a corta distancia.
    • La tecnología móvil 5G puede marcar el comienzo de nuevas experiencias inmersivas como la realidad virtual y la realidad aumentada con velocidades de datos más rápidas y uniformes, menor latencia y menor costo por bit.
    • 5G puede habilitar nuevos servicios que pueden transformar industrias con enlaces ultra confiables, disponibles y de baja latencia, como el control remoto de infraestructura crítica, vehículos y procedimientos médicos.

    Aquí hay algunos casos de uso revolucionarios que traerá 5G:

      • Alimentando la agricultura de precisión: incluso el algodón que se encuentra en un vestido simple usa 5G.
      • Habilitar una conectividad IoT inalámbrica confiable en los centros de transporte
      • Esencial para los vehículos autónomos del futuro con V2X y logística inteligente a nuestro alcance.
      • Para colaboraciones más estrechas en el lugar de trabajo utilizando información en tiempo real y XR.
      • Ofrecer al consumidor experiencias de compra personalizadas virtuales inmersivas en cualquier lugar.
      • Impulsando la próxima revolución industrial con fabricación flexible con ejecución guiada XR, vigilancia inteligente, visibilidad de la cadena de suministro en tiempo real usando blockchain y mantenimiento predictivo.
      • Con seguimiento de activos en tiempo real y entrega eficiente mediante drones.

    chart

    revenue

    Valor de ingresos representado en millones de USD

    Referencias:

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/226065/global-mobile-subscriber-forecast/

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/advanced-mobile-phone-system

    https://mse238blog.stanford.edu/2017/07/ssound/1g-2g-5g-the-evolution-of-the-gs/

    https://www.gsma.com/aboutus/history

    https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Documents/WTDC_1994_FINAL_REPORT.PDF

    https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/wtdr_99/material/wtdr99s.pdf

    https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-WTDR-2006-SUM-PDF-E.pdf

    https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/download-the-evolution-of-mobile-technologies-1g-to-2g-to-3g-to-4g-lte-qualcomm.pdf

    https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/5g/economy

    https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/5g/what-is-5g

    https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/evolution-technologies-standards-deployment-networks/17444

    http://protei.me/blog/telecom-news/the-mobile-wireless-communication-technology-journey/

    Informes de ingresos anuales oficiales:

    Verizon: 1993-2019
    Telstra: 1993-2019
    Sprint: 1993-2019
    Batelco: 1993-2019
    Tigo: 1993-2019

    Shankar Roddam

    Chief Operating Officer  (Director de operaciones)

    Shankar es el C.O.O, responsable de Ventas, Marketing, Ingeniería y Entrega. Aporta cerca de dos décadas y media de experiencia en Telecomunicaciones, Cloud y PaaS. Tiene una amplia experiencia internacional y capacidad para escalar negocios en entornos competitivos, particularmente en el espacio SaaS. Shankar se unió a nosotros procedente de Plivo, donde era el Jefe de Crecimiento. Tiene un título en administración de IMDR Pune, con una especialización en ventas y marketing con especialización en sistemas. Es licenciado en Ingeniería Electrónica de Telecomunicaciones y licenciado en Triple Matemática.

  • A rewind of the evolution from 1G to 5G

    A rewind of the evolution from 1G to 5G

    From 1G to 5G

    The journey from 1G to 5G seems to recent and time has really flown. By means of the below blog, I have attempted to provide a quick summary of the journey and how we fared.

    Towards the end, you can also see the revenue impact on a select few Telcos handpicked from across the globe with the evolution of each Generation of Telecom.

    1G Era 1987-1991

    “It was PHENOMENAL but was not enough.”

    What Happened Here?

    • Engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS on December 3rd, 1992, when he wrote “merry Christmas” on a computer and sent it to the cell phone of Vodafone director Richard Jarvis
    • Inception of AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) technology from the pre-existing IMPS (Improved Mobile Telephone System) for voice transmission.
    • Connectivity established seamless mobile connectivity introducing mobile voice services.
    • 1G Introduced Analog voice.

    What went wrong?

    • Poor voice quality
    • Poor battery life
    • Large phone size
    • No security
    • Limited capacity
    • Poor reliability

    The Revenue Impact:

    Since the call rates were too high & the users too less, this was only the beginning of the Telecom revolution and at this point, service providers were focused on technological strides as success stories over revenue generation or acquiring subscriber base. This was essential for the operators as it defined their level of readiness to capture the market faster and better in the coming days.

    2G Era 1991-2001:

    “A revolutionary milestone in telecommunication sector”

    What Happened here:

    • 2G: First Wireless digital transmission came with 2G in 1991.
    • GSM – Global Systems for Mobile Communication enabled Data transfer on top of voice at a speed of 30-35 kbps (A joke in modern telecommunication terms).
    • 2G was developed, primarily, to transfer voice, fax, MMS and SMS services.
    • By use of digital voice compression, the TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) standards supported three times as many voice channels in the same bandwidth as the old analog systems.
    • The ‘E’ & ‘G’ Symbols on the mobile network were seen first during the 2G era.
    • Data was responsible for constant spike in revenues in telecom operators in addition to the voice revenues. 40% of the revenues were collected for Data.
    • 2.5G saw the introduction of GPRS as enhanced Data services. GPRS can be viewed as a boosted data service for GSM users, but using packet switching and multiplexing techniques. The maximum transfer speed that can be reached via GPRS is approximately 170 Kbps.
    • 2.75G saw the entry of EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology.
    • Data transmission rate saw 4X increase from 170kbps to 500kbps (practical application). In theory it was said to be 1mbps.
    • EDGE transferred data in fewer seconds if we compare it with GPRS Technology. For example, a typical text file of 40KB was transferred in only 2 seconds as compared to the transfer from GPRS technology, which was 6 seconds.

    What went wrong?

    • Required strong digital signals to help mobile phones work. If there was no network coverage, digital signals weakened.
    • Systems were unable to handle complex data like videos.
    • As the generation moved towards 3G, the user requirement was too complex for 2G to satisfy.

    The Revenue Impact:

    While the biggest highlight of the era may have been the introduction of data transfer capabilities on a mobile device, the maximum revenue impact seems to be created by SMS services. Telecom operators across the globe saw multi-fold increase in their revenue in this period, with some operators reporting 5X growth.

    3G Era 2001-2009

    “Showed us the unending potential of Data yet did not fulfil its own potential”

    What Happened Here?

    • 3G network was introduced in 1998, we saw its establishment in the early 2000s.
    • The max speed of 3G was estimated to be around 2 Mbps for stationary devices and 384 Kbps in mobile phones. The theoretical max speed was 21.6 Mbps.
    • It was based on CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access) & EDGE technologies. (EDGE was superior enough to support 3G on its own).
    • 3G introduced media streaming.
    • Data in 3G was broken down into small pieces or packets and then sent to the destination, unlike 2G which used circuit switching.
      • This was revolutionary as users paid only for the data they spent rather than the time spent online.
    • “Data is money” probably started its inception in the mid-2000s as there was a surge in data utilization by consumers.
    • Multimedia, navigation, mobile apps, browsers, conference calls, mobile TV all saw their inception in the early 3G era.
    • 5G was conceptualized and released with HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) marking the iconic ‘H’ symbol on the mobile network.
    • It was all about data in the 3.5G. Data transmission rates went up to 14mbps
    • Saw the release of HSPA+ or as we know it ‘H+’ symbol on the network.
    • Data speeds went up even further with max speed of 42mbps
    • Although 3G did not see operators exponentially increase revenue as the 2G era, tier 1 operators saw significant growth as Data consumption increased.

    What Went Wrong?

    • Messy Architecture
    • Demanded 3G compatible handsets
    • Cost of upgrading to 3G device was too high
    • Power consumption was high

    The Revenue Impact:

    During the mid-2000s towards the dawn of 4G, operators focused on increasing their subscriber base. From 2002 to 2009, they saw an increase of ~4.1Bn. But since data dominated over calls, the spike in revenue was not satisfactory. This period turned out to be a huge revenue booster for device manufacturers as the need to have a 3G compatible device/handset became a necessity as it enabled the transformation of phones into smart phones.

    4G Era 2010-2019:

    “4G introduced us to a faster world with a greater Data capacity”

    What Happened Here?

    • 4G saw an overlap of itself with the 3G as in 2008, 4G technology started to roll out but had issues to commercially announce the then communication system as 4G due to minimum standard requirements which were not fulfilled.
    • The speed of 3G quickly became insufficient as technology & smartphones evolved resulting in heavier files and bulkier data flows.
    • It provided a quality that enriched user experience with advancedgaming services, HD mobile TV, Video Conferencing, 3D TV, IP telephony and other services that demand higher speeds.
    • With the implementation of 4G, some 3G features are removed, such as the radio spectrum technology.
    • A term MAGIC is used to explain the 4G technology.
      • M – Mobile multimedia
      • A – Anytime Anywhere.
      • G – Global mobility support
      • I – Integrated wireless solution
      • C – Customized Personal Service
    • 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) was a complete redesign and simplification of 3G network architecture, resulting in a significant reduction in transfer latency and thus, increasing efficiency and speeds on the network.
    • Users encountered a problem in accessing data while on a voice call with the 4G LTE, hence the inception of 4G VoLTE which simply meant voice over LTE enabling users to access 4G data and still be able to make calls.
    • 4G carries 3X the data 3G UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) carried and 6X the data 2G GSM network carried.
    • 4G bandwidth is 200 Mbps, which meant that one could download a full-length movie in under 10 minutes!

    What Went Wrong?

    • 4G LTE network needs complex hardware
    • 4G technology use many antennae & transmitters resulting in poor battery life.
    • In areas without 4G coverage, consumers downgraded to 3G while still paying the cost of 4G.
    • Higher Data consumption

    The Revenue Impact:

    In 2018, almost 300 million people connected to mobile internet for the first time, bringing the total connected population to more than 3.5 billion people globally. Revenues did not see a drastic increase for the operators especially in the tier 2 & 3 segments, as consumers demanded better connectivity, greater capacity & lower latency. This could only be afforded by the tier 1 operators, who could simply afford splurging on improving their network.

    5G Era 2019 and beyond:

    “5G is more than a generation, it is a promise to wonderland”

    • 5G looks at us with a new experience in faster data rates, higher connection density, much lower latency, among other improvements.
    • 5G is not an upgrade to 4G, but is in a league of its own, because it provides us the ability to connect thousands of devices at once giving the user the true sense of ‘real-time’ experience.
    • This means the computing & processing can move to cloud and resulting in smaller IoT devices, reducing the cost of manufacturing & maintenance by optimizing network for the telecom operator.
    • IoT will mean a lot different with the growth of 5G, as self-driving cars may yet become a reality even in India.
    • Since increasing subscriber base in tier 1 cities is no longer an enticing prospect for Telcos, they will look at generating new streams of revenue with the maturity of MU-MIMO and achieving data speeds of up to 35Gbps.
    • 5Gtechnology may use a variety of spectrum bands, including millimetre wave (mmWave) radio spectrum, which can carry very large amounts of data a short distance.
    • 5G mobile technology can usher in new immersive experiences such as VR and AR with faster, more uniform data rates, lower latency, and lower cost-per-bit.
    • 5Gcan enable new services that can transform industries with ultra-reliable, available, low-latency links like remote control of critical infrastructure, vehicles, and medical procedures.
    • Here are some revolutionary use cases 5G will bring in:
      • Fuelling precision agriculture — even the cotton found in a simple dress uses 5G.
      • Enabling reliable wireless IoT connectivity at transport hubs
      • Essential to the future autonomous vehicles with V2X & smart logistics within our grasp.
      • For closer collaborations at the workplace using real time insights & XRs.
      • Bringing immersive, virtual customized shopping experiences anywhere to the consumer.
      • Driving the next industrial revolution with flexible manufacturing with XR guided execution, smart surveillance, real time supply chain visibility using blockchain & predictive maintenance.
      • With real-time asset tracking and efficient delivery using drones.

    The Revenue Impact:

    As per Qualcomm, 5G will extend its arms out into the enterprise and will see a massive growth. 5G is driving global growth.

    • $13.2 Trillion dollars of global economic output
    • 22.3 Million new jobs create
    • $2.1 Trillion dollars in GDP growth

    Penetration into OEMs, operators, content creators, app developers, and consumers) could alone support up to 22.3 million jobs, or more than one job for every person in Beijing, China.

    Here is a revenue gradient chart for Tier 1, Tier 2 & Tier 3 operators for comparison.

    Revenue value depicted in USD $ Million

    References:

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/226065/global-mobile-subscriber-forecast/

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/advanced-mobile-phone-system

    https://mse238blog.stanford.edu/2017/07/ssound/1g-2g-5g-the-evolution-of-the-gs/

    https://www.gsma.com/aboutus/history

    https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Documents/WTDC_1994_FINAL_REPORT.PDF

    https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/wtdr_99/material/wtdr99s.pdf

    https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-WTDR-2006-SUM-PDF-E.pdf

    https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/download-the-evolution-of-mobile-technologies-1g-to-2g-to-3g-to-4g-lte-qualcomm.pdf

    https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/5g/economy

    https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/5g/what-is-5g

    https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/evolution-technologies-standards-deployment-networks/17444

    http://protei.me/blog/telecom-news/the-mobile-wireless-communication-technology-journey/

    Official Annual Revenue Reports:

    Verizon: 1993-2019
    Telstra: 1993-2019
    Sprint: 1993-2019
    Batelco: 1993-2019
    Tigo: 1993-2019

  • What is a Microservice Architecture? Why is it important now?

    What is a Microservice Architecture? Why is it important now?

    We have been building software applications for many years using various tools, technologies, architectural patterns and best practices. It is evident that many software applications become large complex monolith over a period for various reasons. A monolith software application is like a large ball of spaghetti with criss-cross dependencies among its constituent modules. It becomes more complex to develop, deploy and maintain monoliths, constraining the agility and competitive advantages of development teams. Also, let us not undermine the challenge of clearing any sort of technical debt monoliths accumulate, as changing part of monolith code may have cascading impact of destabilizing a working software in production.

    Over the years, architectural patterns such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Microservices have emerged as alternatives to Monoliths.

    SOA was arguably the first architectural pattern aimed at solving the typical monolith issues by breaking down a large complex software application to sub-systems or “services”. All these services communicate over a common enterprise service bus (ESB). However, these sub-systems or services are actually mid-sized monoliths, as they share the same database. Also, more and more service-aware logic gets added to ESB and it becomes the single point of failure.

    Microservice as an architectural pattern has gathered steam due to large scale adoption by companies like Amazon, Netflix, SoundCloud, Spotify etc. It breaks downs a large software application to a number of loosely coupled microservices. Each microservice is responsible for doing specific discrete tasks, can have its own database and can communicate with other microservices through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to solve a large complex business problem. Each microservice can be developed, deployed and maintained independently as long as it operates without breaching a well-defined set of APIs called contract to communicate with other microservices.

    What are the advantages of Microservices architecture?

    1.Development Agility: As large complex software applications are decomposed to a number of small microservices, each microservice can be developed by small “one-pizza” or “two-pizza” teams independently. The teams can plan, build, deploy and maintain their microservices independently as long as the service boundaries are well-defined, and no breach of contract is ensured. The teams become more responsive to changes.

    2.Technology Stack Independence: In a typical monolith, the constituent modules have “compilation or build dependency” and share capabilities as “libraries“. Any changes in one module triggers compilation and/or linking of the whole software application. So, it basically implies and mandates to standardize the technology stack (such as programming language, database etc) to develop a monolith software application.

    In contrast, a microservice can be developed, deployed and maintained as a small independent application without any compilation or build dependency with other microservices. Its dependency with other microservices is handled through well-defined APIs or contract. It means that each microservice can be developed by choosing any technology stack (programming language, database, etc) best suited to realize its functionality instead of being required to take a more standardized, one-size-fits-all approach.

    3.Managing Technical Debt is easier: Let us say we find that one microservice is not vertically scaling in production. We can localize and fix the issue by modifying specific implementation part of that microservice code. Alternatively, we can choose to rewrite the microservice with a different technology stack best suited for meeting the vertical scaling goals. In either approach, as long as the consumer contracts the microservice shares are upheld, the development team is free to change the implementation without impacting the larger system.

    4.Improved Fault Isolation: In case of an error, a whole monolith application can crash and disrupt business as usual (BAU). However, microservices architecture offers improved fault isolation whereby in the case of an error in one service the whole application doesn’t necessarily stop functioning. When the error is fixed, it can be deployed only for the respective service instead of redeploying an entire application.

    For example, in a typical eCommerce application, let us say, the “product review service” is down; as a result, users will not able to read product reviews or write new reviews. But it has not impact on other services such as “product catalog management service”, “order management service” etc; as a result, users can still search, add products to cart and check-out.

    5.Scaling of Hot Services: Once developed, microservices can be deployed independently of each other. It helps in identifying “hot services” and design to scale them independent of the whole application. Similarly, microservices architecture enables auto scaling of different services resulting in optimal usage of precious computing resources. In contrast, a monolith hogs computing resources, as the whole application keeps running even though some modules are dormant.

    What are the limitations of Microservices architecture?

    If not designed carefully, microservices architecture also can become complex. Hence, certain design principles and practices must be considered.

    1.Boundary of Microservices: We need to be careful while defining boundaries of microservices. They should neither become monoliths nor be so small that it results in exchange of large volume of API calls, choking the network and degrading the performance of whole application. Domain driven design helps in defining the boundaries. Also extend Robert Martic C’s “Single Responsibility Principle” which states – “Gather things together that change for the same reason and separate things that change for different reasons”.

    2.Build and Deploy: Once boundaries are defined, a microservice should be built by a single team that can decide the best technology stack to realize its functionality. The dependencies among microservices are defined through well-defined APIs or contract. Ideally, they should run perfectly as long as the contract is upheld. However, the ideal scenarios are far off from ground reality. APIs or contracts evolve continuously in the form of different API versions and it may lead to break down of the application. Hence it is essential to setup CI/CD pipelines with any of the available CI servers (like Jenkins) to run the automated test cases and deploy these services independently to different environments (Integration, QA, Staging, Production, etc)

    3.Monitoring and Logging: Microservices are distributed by nature and monitoring and logging of individual services can be a challenge. It’s difficult to go through and correlate logs of each service instance and figure out individual errors. So, it makes a lot of sense to implement a common “log & statistics aggregation service” to monitor and control all the microservices centrally from a control panel.

    Microservices architecture and Agile software development have a lot in common.

    Just as microservice architecture is frequently defined in contrast to monolithic architecture, the agile software development approach removes the overhead and risk of large-scale software development by using smaller work increments, frequent iterations, and prototyping as a means of collaboration with users.

    Agile software development with continuous delivery, devops culture and microservice architecture are all bound by a common set of goals – to be as responsive as possible to customer needs while maintaining high levels of software quality and system availability; in other words – to be agile.

    Have you built software applications using microservice architecture? Have you decomposed a large monolith to a number of microservices? If so, please share your challenges and best practices in the comments.

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  • Thoughts from the trenches

    Thoughts from the trenches

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It is just another usual day for the telcos. The industry has weathering so many metaphorical storms for so long, that resilience has become its permanent virtue.

    Over the last 45-60 days, we have all seen numerous research reports and thought papers talking about how the COVID-19 crisis has changed the world, and what it means for telecom operators. This is perhaps one of those rare instances when every industry is trying to draw inferences, make forecasts, finetune strategies and prepare for weathering the storm. Like all other businesses, we too made diligent notes, brainstormed with our brightest minds, and came out with sophisticated presentations on what this situation means for our customers, and how we can add value. However, we did one additional thing. Instead of going by just the reports and studies that were published online, we decided to take firsthand inputs from our customers, and truly understand what the impact means to them. So, we interviewed a dozen or more of our customers, and here are our top 10 takeaways.

    And oh! Just to make sure this doesn’t end up being yet another strategy-heavy blog on “What COVID-19 means for telcos”, we have tried to keep it light. Because, these are observations based on real conversations beyond PowerPoint slides and Excel sheets.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]1. Capacity is a problem, but addition is not easy

    It is true. People are now dependent on connectivity more than ever. This means, more load on the network, demanding capacity expansion to service existing customers. The only problem is, given the circumstances, adding new capacity by way of additional infrastructure isn’t an easy option. Operators may have purchased infrastructure prior to the lockdown, but with the lack of resources to deploy these on field, capacity addition is not easy. Reallocation of capacity is one option, but some operators are hesitant to do it, thinking it may have to be soon reversed.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23829″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner el_class=”planning_5g_wrapper”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23832″ img_size=”350×332″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]2. Enterprise focus shifting from latency to bandwidth

    Enterprise business for telcos has always been a different ball game. The customer needs are different, the pricing strategy is different, and even the landscape of offerings is different. The recent report from GSMA highlighted that Enterprise business might finally be able to overtake consumer business for telcos in the next 1-2 years (a big part of this attributed to 5G), and that was good news. The low latency of 5G was meant to redefine the term ‘real-time’, opening up a host of new possibilities for businesses. Enter COVID-19, and all of this is set to change. Well, not all, but at least the low latency part. The crisis has made businesses rethink what ‘essential’ means, and it appears like latency is not as essential as bandwidth and availability for enterprises.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]3. Consumption is increasing, but revenues aren’t

    This one almost seems borderline unfair but sadly is the reality. With most people working remotely, the dependence on data and connectivity has risen multi-fold for the average consumer. Their usage patterns have also show severe spikes, with some of our customers reporting up to 40% increase in 2 weeks. The usage of fixed broadband has also significantly increased due to the large number of video conferences, virtual events and webinars happening. Even for leisure, the only sources of entertainment seem to be the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu etc., all of which are bandwidth heavy. Furthermore, as a social responsibility, many operators are partnering with governments to roll out online learning programs, which further increase data consumption. While this kind of increase in usage would have been generally seen as good news, in the current circumstances it is not the case. The general economy is not conducive for price-hikes of packages, and operators will struggle to justify it. While operators will try to roll out innovative bundles, the impact of these efforts are yet to be seen.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23834″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]4. Cost pressures to continue till the end of the year

    Barring a handful of industries, this statement is probably applicable to all other businesses for the next few months. While the telecom industry is fairly resilient to the COVID-19 crisis, it is not spared of uncertainty. And, what do we do in such times? We hold on to what we have, and make sure every Dollar spent is extremely thought through. Over the next few months, some reductions in Opex will be inevitable for telcos. Further, Opex optimization might become a more stringent practice, leading to increased dependence on automation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23835″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner el_class=”planning_5g_wrapper”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23840″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]5. Capex remains same, but priorities change

    An interesting observation that came out from multiple operators is that their Capex spends may largely remain the same, with minor reductions if any. At first, this might seem surprising, but given the fact that lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease out, telcos are looking at ways to meet the increasing demand from customers. The priorities of Capex however seem to be changing from value-add (like 5G) to essentials (capacity enhancement, higher availability, etc.). An important point that became evident is that Capex allocations are now being reassessed and restructured to align with corporate goals in light of the COVID-19 crisis.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]6. Accelerated Digital Transformation due to COVID

    Over the years, there have been several continued efforts on pushing for digital transformation across telcos, but it appears like COVID-19 has single-handedly acted as the tipping point. Customer expectations have changed permanently, and consumers will now seek a richer omni-channel digital experience and demand higher level of self-service. Be it the use of intelligent algorithms to aid call center agents or the creation of digital stores, telcos are forced to think digital in every aspect. An interesting outcome of this transformation will be the significant increase in the emphasis on trust, because of multiple unknown entities operating behind ‘digital curtains’.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23841″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner el_class=”planning_5g_wrapper”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23843″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]7. 5G rollouts will slow down

    Last year’s MWC was a 5G jungle. Anyone who had been there would come back believing that within a couple of years, we would have doctors performing remote surgeries, autonomous cars becoming common, industrial automation going in full throttle and many more things. However, if you haven’t realized it yet, here is some bad news for those. 5G rollouts will slow down. The reasons are multi-fold, starting with the realignment of Capex priorities, to inability to support additional buildout, the pause in the production of 5G handsets, and the lack of complete clarity on some of the standards. While 5G and related services will eventually benefit from the increased adoption of digital services, in the short term 5G deployments are expected to slow down.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]8. Functions are keen to utilize allotted budgets

    While newer budgets are not being allocated, or are being scrutinized before approval, functional heads of various departments seem to have the ability to make use of already allotted budgets. These are budgets allotted for strong use cases that remain important and are expected to contribute to the corporate objectives. With the looming threat of budget cuts and cost optimization, there is a sense of urgency to take decisions and move forward on putting some of the already allotted budgets to use. After all, no one wants the already allotted budgets to be rolled back, because they were unutilized, right?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23844″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner el_class=”planning_5g_wrapper”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23845″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]9. Telcos looking at vendors that can think ‘beyond normal’

    They say necessity is the mother of invention. A corollary of this could be to say that crisis is the mother of innovation. It is in situations like the current one that businesses are required to bring innovation to the forefront, in order to survive and thrive. While telcos are certainly on the right track to innovate and improvise, their strength lies in carrying out their business in the best way possible. This is where they expect vendors and partners to bring in interesting perspectives and value propositions to help them do things that are outside the spectrum of normal. So, a clear advise from most telcos to partners like ourselves is “Do not engage with us if you are only talking about what we are doing today. Come to us if you have propositions that differentiate us.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]10. New business models are being explored and adopted

    Well, this point may not be a direct impact of COVID-19, but it is certainly happening. The reasons could be multiple, ranging from digital disruption, to OTT services, to non-traditional competition, but the current situation seems to have brought in an urgency to reimagine business models for telcos. At a time when connectivity is of utmost importance, if telcos remain simply as network providers, they’re losing out on tremendous opportunities that will be picked up by hyperscalers like Amazon and Google. The need of the hour – think like disruptors, get into spaces that were earlier ignored, and hack your way into a growth path. Case in point: JioMart[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”23853″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]So, there you have it, folks. Those were the 10 key observations from our recent conversations with customers. If you are in the telecom space, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, and add any points that I might have missed in this blog.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Optimize. Energize. Improvise. Riding the COVID-19 storm

    Optimize. Energize. Improvise. Riding the COVID-19 storm

    The global pandemic, COVID-19, has halted life as we know it. As of writing this, the number of cases has risen to over 2,000,000, at the cost of more than 100,000 lives. Governments across the world have rightly taken steps to ensure social distancing. The global emphasis at the moment needs to focus on containing and mitigating this disease. However, beyond the disruption of day-to-day lives and the unfortunate human toll, the implications on the economy and businesses are as damaging and far-reaching.

    In this situation, organizations need to cope by finding the right balance between assuring the safety of their employees while ensuring the smooth running of their operations. The circumstances beckons for an approach towards demonstrating resilience while being cognizant of external factors that are likely to cause disruption. Here are my thoughts on three key things businesses need to do, in order to deal with the situation, and come out stronger.

    Optimize: 

    Indeed, a global event as this will come with multiple challenges. Still, successful businesses can look at this as a wake-up call to how the business runs and what can be improved. For instance, some of the questions I ask myself today would be:

    • What changes to the business model can be made for the short term? How would this be applied in a post-Covid-19 world?
    • How is my customer behavior changing, and how do I cater to this new customer mindset?
    • How do we find new ways to take our products and services to the customer?

    Optimization for a pandemic has a lot to do with finding a balance between spending money to keep things going and knowing when to pull back. On the one hand, investing in products and services which have a long selling cycle may use up much-needed cash reserves. Leaders will need to assess whether spending or not spending will hamper the business. On the other hand, it also is essential to take stock of what you own already and understanding if it is being utilized effectively. Inventory management will be necessary for businesses across different domains. Many companies, including telecom operators, tend to have money tied into unproductive inventory, which could be liquidated into useful cash.

    Manpower planning is also an essential part during such a situation when everyone is working from home. There can be issues like internet, family commitments that need to be accounted for when your workforce operates from home. How efficiently you can manage help your employees navigate through these challenges while ensuring transparency will define the success of this exercise. Moreover, you can spend this time to invest in your employees by helping them build additional skills that increases productivity and efficiency in the long run

    Energize:

    Energizing the business by improving efficiency to deliver success, despite the hurdles, is what differentiates good companies from great ones. A situation like this demands a level of efficiency which surpasses what would be typically required, considering the adjustments (physical and psychological) which need to be made. The entire workforce is now remotely located, and meetings are virtual. This kind of work environment demands a different level of resilience, commitment, and teamwork to operate smoothly to deliver efficiently.

    Of course, this also demands a balance of perfection and agility, and what I mentioned in an earlier blogpost, takes greater meaning now. Agility has to become the norm, and while it should not be at the cost of perfection, the former needs to take the front seat now.

    Improvise:

    Vince Lombardi, the American football coach famously said, “It is not about whether you get knocked down, it is about whether you get up”, and the quote fits in perfectly with the current scenario. Yes, most businesses seem to have taken the metaphorical punch in the chin, but the ones that will emerge out of this situation are those who planned ahead. This is the time for asking the right questions, a phase of introspection, and an opportunity for validation of age-old processes and practices. There is no doubt that the playing field will be altered drastically post the pandemic, and businesses need to critically look at areas to improvise, in order to succeed in an arena that is not very familiar or even favorable. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that surviving this crisis will not necessarily guarantee thriving in the post-pandemic era, unless businesses have the foresight to improvise their plan of operations for the short term and the long term.

    Silver linings:

    The coronavirus crisis is a story with an unclear and indefinite ending. The pandemic will remain in the annals of history as one of the most tragic and devastating events in the modern era. The impact it has on human lives is catastrophic, but I am hoping that this makes us stronger and wiser when we return back to our normal lives. The same can be said from a business context as well, as the onus lies on leaders to help their companies learn from this crisis and innovate while protecting their employees, addressing business challenges and risks, and helping to mitigate the outbreak in whatever ways they can.

    Until the time we bounce back, please stay safe, and look out for the ‘silver linings’.

  • Why Trust Matters In The Digital World?

    Why Trust Matters In The Digital World?

    Digital preferences

    Our lives stand ‘appified’ today with most aspects of it being fully controllable by our phones and tablets by way of a few applications. Be it buying groceries, dealing in real estate, seeking health advice, finding life partners or even the security of the houses we live in, everything is digital and remains accessible at the click of a button. However, despite the wide range of apps and services available at our disposal, there are a few that are widely adopted. Others exist, but without being of much importance to you. Isn’t it?

    If we take a closer look at your digital activities, we can uncover an interesting phenomenon. Each of us have a single ‘preferred’ app for every purpose, and seldom use any other alternative application/service for that purpose. For instance, while there might be two or more e-commerce giants operating in a region, we all have that one app amongst the two where we always buy from. There might be multiple platforms that provide cab aggregations services, but we book our cabs from one of them, always. There might be multiple payment apps that are popular, but we always have our preference of one app over the rest. Have we wondered why?

    The secret ingredient

    The immediate answers could vary from being as simple as “great design” to something as complex as “compatibility with other downstream processes”. However, there is an underlying element that determines what apps one adopts, and that is ‘Trust’. We adopt an app/product/service because we trust its ability to deliver a great experience. We adopt it because we trust it to be secure. We adopt it because trust their delivery to be reliable. We adopt it because we trust their prices to be fair. The reasons for developing this trust might be numerous, but that fact remains that those apps/products/services that are able to infuse the necessary trust are the ones that make it big. The rest just exist.

    Why trust matters

    Digitalization has changed our lives in more ways than we can imagine. What makes it even more interesting is the pace of these changes and their impact on businesses. Today, status quo is transient and does not ensure security or leadership in the market. Businesses face the risk of obsolescence if they fail to innovate or adapt and hence there is a need to be ahead of the curve in every aspect of business – be it technology, business models, strategy or customer engagement. In this backdrop, the one aspect that lies at the intersection of opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities is Trust. Trust is the centerpiece for every interaction on a personal, societal and business level — in both traditional and digital business models. With the lines blurring between the digital and physical worlds, multiple disparate elements like people, processes and products come together to work in tandem. Digital Business revolves around agile and ephemeral digital interactions and leverages digital supply chains that are established dynamically to enable each interaction. In such a scenario Digital Trust becomes the key enabler for high quality digital interactions by measuring and quantifying expectations of an entity – specifically validating who or what it claims to be, and if it will behave in an expected manner within a digital business transaction. Digital Trust is viewed as the lifeblood or currency of digital business, and it wraps around every aspect of digital business.

    This article was originally published on Entrepreneur print magazine.

    why trust matters in the digital world

  • What are the Evolving Paradigms of Open Source Software in Engineering Services

    What are the Evolving Paradigms of Open Source Software in Engineering Services

    This blog was originally published on LinkedIn by Panchanan Pradhan

    Open source software use in business has come a long way since the first LinuxWorld Conference & Expo was held in San Jose, California, in March 1999. Linux had been around as an operating system since its invention in 1991 by Finnish-American developer Linus Torvalds, but its use in business computing was just beginning to germinate by the early 2000s. Today, open source software powers the Internet, much of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure; and has permeated the engineering services space in unimaginable ways.

    Technical teams are gradually shifting focus towards open source projects to achieve business outcomes with increased efficiency and agility – two critical operational benchmarks in high-growth engineering organizations. Open source is the future of the engineering business – a recent report by Gartner and Forrester indicates that between 80%-90% of software developers use open source components within their core applications. With more organizations leveraging open source as a “foundation or complete solution” in building enterprise grade software applications, this number is only expected to surge in the coming years.

    Benefits of Open Source

    Open source software licensing doesn’t impose any restrictions on copyright and offers several benefits to the global engineering community.

    1. No need to re-invent; simply adapt and integrate: As open source components written by an experienced software engineering community are readily available, there is no need to re-invent the wheel to develop code from scratch; however, it is necessary to adapt and integrate the code to suit application specific use cases. For easier and seamless integration, an integration layer can be created to easily integrate multiple open source components keeping the interfaces separate from the implementations.

    2. Cost-effective solution leading to faster time-to-market: As the code is readily available, there is relatively low investment required as compared to writing code grounds up. This helps in creating an open source based cost-efficient solution leading to faster application deployment and time-to-market.

    3. Assurance of quality, stability, security: The code is developed by an international community of experienced software developers with stringent quality assurance processes in place. As the community becomes more and more vibrant, developers keep adding and improvising functionalities. Developers and users review and fix bugs and security lapses to make the code highly stable, secure, and reliable. After all, how can the bugs hide from millions of eyes!

    4. Better support from the user-developer community: Open source community of developers and users creates a nice ecosystem to give and receive technical support and advice. Knowledge sharing across the community enables users to benefit from the expertise of skilled developers, resulting in a symbiotic relationship among all users of open source software. Also, as more users start using open source components, the roadmap eventually evolves to have newer features and functionalities for the benefit of all users.

    5. Enhanced coding skills and sense of excellence: Open source projects set high standards in coding best practices and provide a platform for engineers to hone their code writing skills. Reviews by the global software community leave room for further improvements, challenging engineers to critically check their own code and write better in future. By writing new capabilities and bug fixes in the code, in-house developers get a sense of excellence when they are presented a chance to rub shoulders with world-class developers and their brilliantly written code snippets. Open source imbibes a sense of giving back to the community when engineers passionately work on code that is used by other users across the globe.

    6. More than just code: When engineers write open source code and contribute to the community, they bond with the community of software developers and forge important global partnerships in the process. These collaborations fuel knowledge sharing and staying abreast with the current technologies and trends across the industry. Apart from continuous innovation, this presents opportunities to engineers to position themselves as thought leaders in this space. Open source collaboration often creates opportunities to share software knowledge at industry conferences, thus upping the motivation quotient for engineers to learn and share. Also, a sense of contributing to the community and helping in creating a better world serves as a big morale boost.

    7. Top talent: The global community of smart engineers is very passionate about open source projects and prefers to be associated with organizations that promote the use of open source software. Open source empowers engineers to innovate and showcase their software development and coding skills in addition to writing just vendor-specific code. Organizations that use open source are more likely to attract top engineering talent who look for challenging and interesting opportunities.

    Future of Open Source

    With open source technology having been around since quite a long time now, a thriving global community has grown around it; so, code is shared among developers and everyone can test, re-build, and learn from one another. As the industry has begun adopting open source technologies in almost all verticals, many new technologies have used open source as their very foundation. The next few years are likely to witness certain key trends in the global open source ecosystem:

    • A Growing Focus on Security, Performance, and Innovation

    Critical open source deployments across enterprises will be governed by comprehensive security protocols given the increase in vulnerabilities and breaches across industries. The future will witness the introduction of automated tools to identify and repair open source security lapses. Also, the community will put in efforts to make the code more performant to cater to different use cases across various industries.

    • Open Source Cloud and Rise of Open FaaS

    Open source cloud computing is increasingly being deployed by enterprises to achieve transformational growth in their digital journey. Public, private, or hybrid cloud models built using open source provide IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS services that operate totally on open source technologies and offer more agility, scalability, and flexibility to engineering organizations looking to drive growth.

    One of the trending open source technologies is serverless computing including Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS). According to Gartner, OpenFaaS – the open source project for this technology – is a revolutionary cloud agnostic ecosystem that helps developers write code based on a specific standard without worrying about the underlying virtual servers or cloud providers. FaaS is evoking heightened industry interest owing to its capability to keep the lock-in potential low and help in leveraging new technologies with minimal risk and low cost.

    • Convergence of Mature, Disruptive Technologies

    The growing thrust on open source has led to the rise of new technologies built on this very foundation, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Blockchain, Big Data Analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR), etc.

    Machine Learning engines – both supervised and unsupervised, frameworks, and various tools are available as open source code. ML engines that have been open sourced by various IT giants include Google Cloud Machine Learning Engine, TensorFlow by Google, Amazon’s ML engine for AWS, Unity ML Agents, Apache PredictionIO, Microsoft Distributed Machine Learning Toolkit, etc. As the adoption of ML grows across all verticals and industries, ML technologies innovation based on open source will be on a rapid growth path.

    Blockchain technology is rapidly undergoing intense development as it provides an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value. There are various Blockchain platforms based on open source such as HyperLedger for cross industry interoperability, Etherium as a centralized platform for running smart contracts, OpenChain for distributed ledger technology, etc.

    Like open source technologies powering the Web, IoT requires the same level of ubiquitous common access in its core functions and to the Web for shared accessibility. With IoT deployments in the near future expected to connect and integrate globally with billions of devices, assets, sensors, and end points, open source IOT platforms such as Kaa IoT, ThingSpeak, DeviceHive, etc. will witness increased adoption.

    Open source software and Big Data go hand in hand these days as today’s applications can handle diverse data in an effective manner, even as it grows exponentially in variety, volume, velocity, and veracity. Various open source based platforms and tools such as Apache Hadoop, Cassandra, KNIME, RapidMiner, AVRO, etc. are widely adopted in the Big Data analytics domain.

    Open source is fast becoming mainstream with organizations leveraging the benefits of increased agility, cost savings, innovation, and engaged talent offered by the system. Open source technologies drive success today and will continue to do so in the future in reshaping the digital transformation and makeover of tech enterprises from “digital immigrants” to “digital natives”, further fueling their business growth and competitive advantage.