As more and more technologies have become reliant on wireless capabilities, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) grew to be one of the most important industries on the planet. But the industry that led to the initial creation of these providers is evolving rapidly to refocus its efforts and priorities.
To keep up with the demands and changes within the industry, CSPs continue to enhance their cloud services to allow for wireless communication of data and resources. Unfortunately, this revolution might have the unintended consequence of rendering your firm obsolete, that is if you don’t keep up.
Are CSPs Switching to Cloud?
Despite a common perception that CSPs can’t use the cloud for their services, more and more companies are switching to the cloud. Cloud services enable several benefits for CSPs across the board.
Earlier this year, it was announced that a Canadian IT provider, TELUS, joined teams with Google to use their cloud services to revolutionize several services, including communications. The 10-year agreement could easily change the face of the CSP industry.
What Benefits Can The Cloud Offer?
When it comes to telecommunications service providers, cloud-based computing allows them to offer a wide array of services at rapid speeds. However, many users are hesitant to go “all-in” with the cloud. Naturally, they’re unsure of what clouds can offer that you can’t already achieve with the equipment they’re already using.
The shift to cloud-based service is often avoided due to the potential cost such a transition might impose on your firm and resources. However, the initial cost of early cloud-based systems was mitigated using network function visualization, which allowed the transfer of appliance-based functions to network equivalents, allowing the removal of equipment expenses. Contemporary systems have shifted to highly advanced hybrid systems that allow increased speeds for data transfers. For CSPs that use cloud-based tools, the cost of keeping their systems operational remains low as a result.
Another tool used by cloud-based services is containers. Containers are digital files that allow for the ease of transferring applications between systems without compromising their functionality. For CSPs, this allows workloads to be run with ease across multiple systems and offers support functionality to hybrid Network Function Virtualization (NFVs).
The final tool added to CSPs via cloud-based tools is microservices. These decompose network functions into easily updatable, granular systems. For a CSP, microservices allow for rapidly deployed updates to systems and making it simpler to provide rapid, up-to-date services to their clients.
How to Handle a Transition to the Cloud
With all this upheaval in cloud computing, many businesses who depend on this technology are scrambling to transition an established Communications Service Provider into a cloud-based system.
But the solution is actually simple: having the right talent will be the key.
Cloud computing is so highly advanced, often it requires its own division of IT services specifically skilled toward the cloud’s systems. You can hire these cloud data engineers to begin the transition of all hard-stored data to a cloud service of your choice and manage the system after the transfer to mitigate any issues that might arise.
Your CSP can retain cloud data engineers in one of 3 ways:
- Hire a full-time engineer to permanently cover the needs of your IT department for any cloud-based maintenance.
- Hire a part-time engineer who only comes in at certain times of the year for updates and to attend to the “housekeeping” needs of the cloud.
- The third and most common method is to employ a freelance firm to outsource your cloud IT needs and call on them for steady, reliable talent for maintenance or when issues arise.
Each of these options has pros and cons, which will be unique to your business model.
Work with Anistar Technologies for your CSP and Cloud Needs
Cloud-based services are an incoming wave that is changing the face of the technological world. As the need for rapid service increases, cloud access and maintenance become a more desirable commodity.
If you need to find someone who can help you through the transition, contact us at Anistar, and we can light the way to a universe of potential experts.
