The telecom industry is going through a sea change due to AI opening doors to a plethora of opportunities, says Lt Gen Dr SP KochhaR (Retd)
Like any other industry, the telecom industry is also going through a sea of change today. The industry has come in the forefront of the digital transformation and has made a remarkable shift in terms of newage technologies. The advent of these emerging technologies has allowed millions of people to experience new ways of acquiring information as well as carrying out interaction and communication, which somehow has created a long-term impact on the human lifestyle.
There are many communication service providers (CSP’s) that have started adopting a multi-channel approach to provide a great experience to its customers. From customer service to delivery, from personalisation to product quality, from dealing with complaints to social responsibility, customers mainly expects the top-quality service from the service providers.
However, in case, if the customer does not get the services up to the mark, then he looks after another provider who meets up to their expectations. To lessen the growing complexities in the communication networks, the telecom companies can enhance their service quality with the help of automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) while reducing their operating costs. In addition to AI, Business Intelligence & Data Science, Cyber Security, Block Chain, Internet of Things, Android, Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality and Robotics are some of the most influential technologies that would help telecom companies.
The AI is the automation of tasks that requires human intelligence to execute. The machine is programmed in such a way that it thinks like humans and mimic their actions. The goal is to execute the functions that are most simple to those that are even more complex to perform. Surprisingly, we all use AI in our day-to-day activities via digital voice assistants. The AI allow users to interact with their devices and services without using hands by simply asking them to carry out the well-defined tasks such as playing music, setting up an alarm or turning lights on or off.
The benefits:
nEnhancing customer network experience: By building an AI platform, the companies can easily evaluate the customer experience. It helps telecoms to comprehend which customers faced a bad experience caused by the network. The AI-powered analysis provides insightful data to the telecom companies to understand which customer issues are in their control and what can be done to remove those issues.
nAutomating customer service: The AI-powered bots can communicate with thousands of people at once, without any human intervention. AI models allow the telecom companies to take proactive actions when the customer raises a query. AI-powered chatbots automate the replying to simple questions where the customer needs a quick response from the service provider.
nIncreasing sales: To achieve a higher closing rate in sales, it’s important to offer an apt solution to the customer at the right time. The AI-powered sales tool enables the telecom sales department to achieve this. An AI model gives recommendations to the telecom salespeople for the next best offers.
The role of AI within the telecommunication space is inevitable. The technology has paved the way towards other areas of the telecom networks beyond the customer service. It helps operators to enhance network efficiency; lower operating costs and improves service quality and customer experience.
Seeing the importance of emerging technologies and the growing demand for automation in the telecom industry, there is a need to train the future workforce in accordance with these technology-based skills. As technologies like AI, Big Data, Machine Learning, and IoT have started expanding its wings in the telecom space; the existing jobs in this industry will face a strong upheaval. Therefore, the strategic focus is to create a demand for young talent pool in the new-age technology world. Today, AI, Big Data, Machine Learning, and IoT have become the vital skills that the telecom sector is looking for and these technology-based skills will bring a big change in the telecom sector.
The telecom industry is committed towards strengthening the goal of making India digital. Keeping in mind the changing job opportunities in the telecom sector due to the emergence of these technologies, Telecom Sector Skill Council is preparing the future workforce that will not only catalyse the industry transformation but also create more opportunities. The council is planning to develop emerging technology-based job roles (AI), provide them with skill training and make them job-ready.
The writer is CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council