As digitalization continues to accelerate across virtually every industry, modern carriers are uniquely positioned for their own transformation into B2B services. #sponsored

March 24, 2023

5 Min Read
How Carriers can Boost B2B Services Growth

As digitalization continues to accelerate across virtually every industry, modern carriers are uniquely positioned for their own transformation into B2B services.

In fact, that evolution has already begun: Leading carriers are already capitalizing on the massive market for digital transformation services by evolving into digital managed network service providers, according to Steven Zhao, Vice President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line.

Zhao described this trend in depth at Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona recently, where he introduced Huawei’s new Digital Managed Network Solution and related products to help carriers catalyze the transition from ISP to MSP and B2B services-led revenue growth.

Figure 1: Steven Zhao, Vice President of Huawei Data Communication Product Line Steven Zhao, Vice President of Huawei Data Communication Product Line

As more and more businesses gravitate toward multi-cloud IT models, Zhao noted that their network service requirements are also changing. Approximately two-thirds of businesses say they need management services and private line security.

Zhao told the MWC audience that there are two driving forces behind the growing market for managed network services. First, cloud-based enterprise service applications extend from office systems to production systems – a reality that requires stronger quality assurance and a more secure network environment.

Second, enterprise networks are evolving away from wired access towards a fully wireless enterprise campus model. That in turn means network management is shifting from static to dynamic, which increases complexity and creates a new requirement for real-time management.

Both of these trends are occurring in the context of a highly complex security landscape, one in which ransomware and other targeted threats have become commonplace.

Small and midsize enterprises aren’t especially well-equipped to adapt for these trends. That’s creating an enormous business opportunity for carriers – assisted by Huawei’s expertise and new solution for digital managed network service. Zhao says carriers have unique in-roads to the burgeoning market for managed network services, including the fact that they already have a large base of private-line customers.

Because of that, carriers have three clear advantages in the managed network services market:

  1. They already have strong, trusted customer relationships.

  2. They offer the best possible network connectivity.

  3. They boast deep professional services experience and expertise.

As a result, Zhao said, carriers are already well-positioned to deliver managed network services to enterprise customers – and it just got easier because of Huawei’s new product portfolio designed specifically to help carriers build their B2B services business.

Huawei’s Digital Managed Network Solution includes more than 52 products – which run on top of IP private lines – to enable them to get to market fast with new managed digital network services.

Zhao highlighted five crucial categories across the portfolio: Managed LAN, Managed WAN, Managed security, Managed DCN, and private line upgrades.

Private Line + Managed LAN

This solution relies on cloud-managed Wi-Fi to transform traditional private lines into wireless campus networks, extending services to LANs, WLANs, and IoT. This enables more efficient network construction and cloud-based management. Zhao notes that the benefits include: Fast plug-and-play delivery, simplified O&M with minute-level fault diagnosis, and 85% less field support required, and 20% shorter time to return on investment (ROI).

Private Line + Managed WAN

This solution leverages SD-WAN and 5G technologies to enable hybrid networking of private lines for more differentiated use cases and requires. Among other benefits, this helps enterprises quickly migrate to the cloud or move between multiple clouds, as well as ensuring IT departments can balance service requirements and user experience with costs. For carriers, it also increases the average revenue per user (ARPU) of private lines 15% or more.

Private Line + Managed Security

As noted earlier, security is among the greatest needs of today’s enterprises – and one of the greatest new business opportunities for carriers delivering managed network services. Zhao says Huawei’s QianKun cloud security service enables carriers to offer affordable cloud security service packages to enterprises to deliver border protection, endpoint protection, ransomware protection, and other security improvements. Carriers in turn can increase revenue from private line services by 20%.

Private Line + Managed DCN

This cloud-network synergy relies on Huawei's hyper-converged DCN solution that unifies general-purpose computing, high-performance computing, and storage networks into all-Ethernet. This can reduce service provisioning from days to minutes, while offering greater visibility, simplified management, and enhanced network protection. Moreover, it reduces Total Cost of Ownership more than one-third (36%) while speeding up an enterprise’s cloud strategy.

Private Line Upgrades

Given the critical importance of private lines to both carriers’ and their customers’ digital transformations, Zhao also announced three private-line upgrades to ensure the best possible service experience. These include device upgrades that deliver 30% TCO savings; connectivity upgrades featuring the industry's first tenant-level network with slicing capability Mbps-level slice granularity and service SLA assurance, enhancing network monetization; and automation upgrades that include an industry-first digital network map of physical links to services.

With 52+ products launched at MWC, Huawei’s Digital Managed Network Solution and related products essentially give carriers a way to more rapidly take advantage of their natural strengths in the managed services markets. “This is just the beginning, too”, Zhao says the company will continue to invest in this arena and work on innovation initiatives with customers and partners, with a particular eye toward delivering tailored solutions for industry-specific digital transformations in the future.

This content is sponsored by Huawei.

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