Partner Article

It’s Not Too Little, Too Late: Telcos Can Still Dominate the Cloud

Telefonica exec suggests operators take managed services approach to make the most of cloud opportunities

Mobile operators are arriving late to the cloud market, but it’s not too late for them to dominate the space, according to Eduardo Mendez Polo, Head of IT Cloud & Low Cost at Telefonica. Gearing up to speak at Broadband World Forum, 21-23 October 2014, Amsterdam, he is speaking out about the opportunities available, and urging mobile operators to act now if they want to play an integral part in the arena.

“We may be late to the table but, like all operators, we have had different priorities,” Eduardo explains. “The cloud market is very complicated – there isn’t a single market and the tough fight is for telcos to provide a single solution that will lure businesses away from the internet cloud providers”.

“Things are changing, though, and we are now starting to have a strong presence in the big enterprise. Telecom operators provide managed services for communications, so should be providing managed services for the cloud too.”

This managed solution is the way forward as it will allow telco companies to adapt to the needs of their customers and build on the established relationship. Knowing about customer needs already puts telcos in an advantageous position compared with internet players and is the most important strength that mobile operators have in the arena.

“We understand their business already and are therefore in a great position to identify the best solution from the right service through to the right technology. In order to dominate the cloud market, operators will need to look to collaboration. This can often be best for the business and customer. Our own solutions can work, but going via a third party or acquisition might make more sense, and be more effective, for other operators that may not have the capabilities themselves.

“In addition, telcos would do well to really shout about all the things they can offer in order to differentiate themselves from the competition. By highlighting the flexible, modular and adaptive cloud systems available, they can show that they are reliable, supportive and up-to-date.”

Telefonica has taken a managed services role approach to the cloud market, by offering an end-to-end, whole-level service to businesses. It offers important factors such as security, service level and ability, as well as the provision to offer customers services above and beyond pure infrastructure.

In Spain, Telefonica acquired hosting services provider Acens in 2011 to increase the company’s ability to offer hosting and cloud computing services in the SME segment. Since the acquisition, Telefonica has been pushing cloud services for the mid-size business and residential market, which has contributed to the company’s growth. At the end of July, Telefonica revealed its financial results for the first half of 2014. The statement showed that revenues from the cloud business continued growing at double digit rate - above 20% year-on-year in organic terms.

“We now have a strong platform but the biggest challenge has been convincing the CIO, and there is still a way to go for any cloud services provider,” Eduardo explains. “We were talking about the cloud seven years ago but we are still seeing that many companies are not going ahead to cloud, or just pushing small pieces of IT to the cloud. The job for operators is to convince CIOs and give them confidence that operators can be their first option. As a comms customer, they already know they put responsibility in the hands of telcos, so why not with the cloud?”

Cloud opportunities for telcos will be high on the agenda at this year’s Broadband World Forum, and Eduardo will be discussing what these are during his session. Specifically, he will talk about how providing a managed services solution will enable telcos to dominate in the cloud market, and he hopes to convince other operators to use this model.

Broadband World Forum 2014 takes place in Amsterdam from 21-23 October 2014 and will bring fixed, mobile and cloud connectivity to life with confirmed keynotes from Telkom SA, Deutsche Telekom, Telstra, Telenor and the United Nations. Identifying the latest trends in hot topics such as NFV, SDN, the Internet of Things, Big Data and 5G, Broadband World Forum will identify how network innovation is powering the global connected society. For more information and to register for event news updates please visit: www.broadbandworldforum.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Joseph Rutter .