A look at the opportunities for outsourcing in the telecoms industry.

As the telco industry works its way through some fairly revolutionary and fast-paced change, the roles of senior management aren’t getting any easier. The market is increasingly diversifying into infotainment (the convergence of information and entertainment services), ICT providers and combinations of both — and it’s raising difficult decisions about which to pursue and how far to progress.

The current winners appear to be those delivering higher proportions of content and data services. But disruptive new economic models are emerging, such as advertising-funded or content-based, that could undermine the way many telcos operate. Furthermore, core IT systems that have been repeatedly adapted and/or extended to keep pace with change are becoming fragile. Too much change too quickly is now complex and unsafe, and it’s making IT change slower at a time when the business needs to move faster.

In short, all large telco providers are facing the same new challenge with the development and maintenance of their IT applications: ensuring a larger capacity and higher flexibility whilst, at the same time, drastically reducing their IT expenditure.