Telecom Organizations’ Strategy to Generate Revenue from Security Services
2 min read
In this digital age, with telecom service providers’ revenue per bit falling every year, network operators are clearly being forced to consider expanding their catalogue of services to something beyond basic voice connectivity. Providers need some way to unlock the full value of their investment in the network and to expand into new and profitable applications and services.
For a decade or more, Western European and North American telecommunication companies have focused on capturing growth in the consumer market, as mobile phone usage became nearly universal and telcos sold broadband, TV and other data services to users at home and on the go.
The challenge for many telecom executives is how to identify the opportunity that lies beyond the market that historically fueled their profit pool and reshape their companies and priorities to capitalize on the situation.
To win in the expanding market for business telecom and IT services, telcos will need to prioritize the B2B opportunity and embrace newer capabilities.
Cybersecurity Ventures projects $1 trillion will be spent globally on cyber security from 2017 to 2021. Cybercrime is predicted to cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021.
Traditionally, operators had security services in B2B such as managed firewalls, intrusion and prevention systems, email security, web gateway, security information and event management, vulnerability and penetration testing solutions, risk assessment and end-point protection.
But the digital business needs something unique that can protect their organizations from cyber-attack and data breaches.
The important areas that operators need to focus on in order to generate revenue are:
- Internet of Things
- Software-defined networking
- Big data and analytics
- Cloud
- Intelligent breach response management
A dozen cyber security startups have each raised $100 million or more in funding since 2014, according to Dow Jones VentureSource – a database that reports on companies globally that receive venture capital and private equity funding.
Hundreds of billions will be spent on securing PCs, mobile and IoT devices, corporate networks, and the cloud over the next five years.
The time has come for operators to generate revenue from these cyber security offerings, and it is up to the service provider to define strategy in developing the capabilities and targeting the market.
References
Rasool Kareem Irfan, CISM, CEH, ISO/IEC 27001, Senior Manager – Security Practice, Tata Communications Transformation Services
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