No one buys AI

Omdia's Roz Roseboro provided a look at the value that AI is bringing to a number of telecom IT software categories such as monetization, orchestration and assurance.

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Kelsey Ziser, Phil Harveyand 1 more

November 19, 2024

At a Glance

  • How does Omdia put a value on AI's role in telecom IT software? (01:39)
  • Omdia's forecast for the value of AI in telecom IT software. (06:20)
  • Which AI capabilities will be in demand from enterprises and service providers in the near future? (23:07)

Roz Roseboro, principal analyst for Omdia, a sister company to Light Reading, revealed how Omdia has put a value on AI's role in telecom IT software in her most recent appearance on the Light Reading podcast. She also shared Omdia's forecast for this market segment over the next five years.

"No one buys AI; they buy outcomes," said Roseboro. That reality made it all the more challenging to answer the question of how much of the value of a given type of software is attributable to AI in the Telecoms IT AI Software Market Forecast Report: 2024‒29 (subscription required).

Value of AI across IT categories

Omdia's Roseboro examined the value AI is bringing to several telecom IT software categories, such as monetization, orchestration and assurance. Roseboro said the value of AI can come from "automation, correlation or prediction. " For example, AI can automate tasks to help service providers move more quickly or provide brand new insights from data analysis.

Roseboro also joined the podcast in June to explain the differences between predictive AI and GenAI and discuss how AI has historically been used for telecom operations, such as OSS/BSS.  

Show me the money

Omdia estimates that the value of AI in telecom IT software was $1.8 billion in 2023 and forecasts that it will be $2.3 billion by the end of 2024. "From 2024 to 2029, the overall value will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% to reach $5 billion," the forecast stated.

Related:Omdia on the infiltration of AI into telecom services and infrastructure

"That's big," said Roseboro. "If we could have revenue growth of 17%, the industry would be doing a big happy dance."

Use cases for AI in IT software

Telcos will also likely do a happy dance if they can use AI to better understand how the network impacts customer experience and churn, said Roseboro. For enterprises, if AI can help ensure network performance and security, that will be a boon when an important demo or investor meeting is on the line.

About the Authors

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

Roz Roseboro

Consulting Analyst, Light Reading

Roz Roseboro has more than 20 years' experience in market research, marketing and product management. Her research focuses on how innovation and change are impacting the compute, network and storage infrastructure domains within the data centers of telecom operators. She monitors trends such as how open source is impacting the development process for telecom, and how telco data centers are transforming to support SDN, NFV and cloud. Roz joined Heavy Reading following eight years at OSS Observer and Analysys Mason, where she most recently managed its Middle East and Africa regional program, and prior to that, its Infrastructure Solutions and Communications Service Provider programs. She spent five years at RHK, where she ran the Switching and Routing and Business Communication Services programs. Prior to becoming an analyst, she worked at Motorola on IT product development and radio and mobile phone product management.

Roz holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA in marketing, management, and international business from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She is based in Chicago. 

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