Gartner defines the market of artificial intelligence (AI) in communications service provider (CSP) network operations as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products with offerings in the form of capabilities embedded in CSP-specific operational technology (OT) applications or industry-agnostic horizontal applications. These products enable AI/machine learning (ML)-based network operations in CSPs.
Gartner defines the market of AI in communications service provider (CSP) customer and business operations as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. They are either capabilities embedded in CSP-specific operational technology (OT) applications (such as channels, CRM and other business support system [BSS] applications) or industry-agnostic horizontal applications delivering AI/machine learning (ML)-based customer and business operations in CSPs. CSP customer and business operations refer to marketing, sales, customer acquisition, customer journey, billing and revenue management, revenue assurance, and related risk management. The scope of AI products covers data readiness, life cycle management of algorithms and their application to CSP customer and business operations. AI in CSP customer and business operations helps CSPs utilize AI/ML to generate insights and automate business processes across various customer and business operations areas. These areas include marketing, sales, configure-price-quote (CPQ), order management, product management, billing and revenue management, customer journey and care, revenue assurance, and fraud/risk management. Examples include intelligent chatbots utilizing natural language processing for customer interaction use cases to automate call center operations. These products assist with insights and automation and help CSPs manage the life cycle of AI/ML algorithms, gradually enabling ModelOps/AIOps.
Gartner defines communications service provider (CSP) customer management and experience (CM&X) solutions as commercial off-the-shelf software solutions that address all customer-facing operational requirements of CSPs. These include managing customer channels, customer information, incidents, products, pricing, quotes and offers, orders, customer care and partner relationships. CM&X solutions are part of business support system (BSS) solutions for CSPs and often work together with revenue management and monetization solutions as part of a complete BSS stack. Delivery options may include license and SaaS-based models.
Gartner defines communications service provider (CSP) revenue management and monetization (RM&M) as a part of a business support system (BSS). These are commercial off-the-shelf software solutions with functionality that enable CSPs to execute their revenue management (rating, charging, billing, payments, collections, partner settlement, revenue assurance and fraud management), and billing and payments associated customer care and monetization initiatives. Monetization here refers to revenue growth initiatives and activities using levers, such as solutions for mobile banking or any other new vertical, supporting as-a-service propositions and analytics enabling new business models.
Enterprise Networking and Communications refers to the products and services that enable secure, scalable, and high-performance connectivity and communication across distributed enterprise environments. This category includes markets that focus on core and edge networking, unified communications, private and public mobile networks, and managed network services—supporting digital transformation, and operational efficiency.
Gartner defines field service management (FSM) as modular software that manages work and commercial interactions for organizations whose workforces travel to remote locations. These workforces install, inspect, maintain and repair consumer, commercial or industrial equipment, assets and systems. FSM software may also help manage, maintain and monitor these under a predefined service or maintenance contract. FSM software is delivered primarily as cloud-based services and mobile apps; however, some FSM vendors also provide the option to deploy some or all components on-premises.
Finance refers to the products and services that support the planning, management, analysis, and optimization of financial operations across enterprises and financial institutions. This category includes markets that support core accounting, financial planning, treasury, tax, audit, compliance, investment management, and digital banking—enabling organizations to maintain financial integrity and ensure regulatory compliance.
An operational support system (OSS) is a set of programs that help a company in monitoring, controlling, analyzing and managing a computer network. OSS software is specifically dedicated to communications service providers and mainly used for supporting network planning, network provisioning, service fulfillment, and service assurance from a common core of service and resource management. Other functionality includes embedded analytics, correlation and aggregation, reporting, product life cycle management, multichannel support, resource and asset planning. OSS data is of strategic importance to measure the impact of operational technical processes on customer and business goals.