Independent service providers can bring additional value to customers in comparison to third party brand communications service providers. They just need to focus on the ways in which their platform can deliver tailored solutions to customers that more closely meet their needs and reflect the demands of their businesses. This added richness is enabling service providers to differentiate themselves from the hyperscalers, the offerings of which are increasingly seen as similar, and strengthen customer loyalty by delivering web-based self-service in their markets.
Service providers face several challenges in demonstrating that they can add more for their customers than a direct deal with a hyperscaler. A significant challenge for most service providers is that they are not global players so they don’t have the scale or resources to invest in developing their own platforms. Service providers are therefore adopting platform as-a-service (PaaS) offerings which enable them to provide in-depth features and a wide range of capabilities to their customers.
The platform is an essential component of service delivery but is not a differentiator in itself. Therefore, it makes sense for service providers to access the platform as-a-service and focus on their core strengths, customer service and brand identity.
“The experience the service provider gives the customer is as important as the technology we provide to line up behind that experience,” confirms Iain Sinnott, the Head of International Carrier Sales at Enreach for Service Providers. “We see a future where our customers invest more development time in their customer interfaces and use our technology to support their customers. The balance of investment is moving away from platform and application development and more towards front-end accessibility and experience development.”
Enreach for Service Providers has developed a series of options for service providers to engage with its PaaS offerings which it thinks will appeal based on the position of each service provider in its market. Service providers have the option to fully deploy the Enreach UP platform themselves where Enreach for Service Providers supplies the software to the platform owner who will install it in at least two datacentres and own and manage everything, including the control of upgrades. This model is appealing to service providers that have the infrastructure, personnel and experience to manage this type of solution.
Next, Enreach for Service Providers offers Enreach UP on a PaaS model under which Enreach sets up and hosts VMware infrastructure on the service provider’s behalf. This managed approach is well-suited when the network operations capability of the service provider is less developed, and they want to keep the new product running alongside their existing infrastructure for the time being.
