The Internet of Things is by no means a single entity. According to IoT Analytics , this network consisted of seven billion devices in 2018, and is set to increase more than threefold by 2025. Obviously, the IoT is a powerful tool, but will deliver real rewards only with integration, automation and flexibility.

Not so long ago, every telco was jockeying for position as the best communications service provider (CSP) on the market. IoT, 5G, AI and the cloud have radically altered those aspirations, and each serious player is now striving to undergo the transformation into digital service provider (DSP).

Digitization, 5G and the Internet of Things place demands on telecommunications systems that would be impossible to address by the human brain alone. Thus, artificial intelligence and machine learning are growing in importance as telcos seek to automate their network management and maintenance processes and move towards intelligent assurance.

Mobile World Congress 2019 brought the telecommunications industry together to discuss high-speed 5G networks, IoT, AI and big data. They discovered not only how the near future could look for telcos, but also the great leaps forward that 5G and IoT technologies have facilitated.

Telcos are facing a major challenge: today’s “always on” customers are demanding more, and they want it faster. OTTs such as Amazon are in prime position to meet these demands, but that doesn’t mean that CSPs can’t re-imagine the game and transform into winning digital service providers

It should already be obvious to anyone involved in telecommunications that digitization has radically altered the relationship between CSPs and their customers. In order to adapt successfully to the new, customer-centric reality, telcos must examine and re-invent their approach to BSS.

Technological advances are bringing new challenges and opportunities for telcos, along with a great deal of uncertainty. CTOs and CIOs must find the best way forward for their companies’ IoT, virtualization and assurance strategies, but a new survey shows that they are far from unanimous in terms of the specifics of future development.

In the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning might look like the difference between success and failure for a business. Broadly speaking, that’s correct – but only when these technologies are used wisely in conjunction with human skills and know-how.

Back in 1989, when Poland was only about to begin its painful transition to market economy, professor Janusz Filipiak was already laying foundations of tech firm Comarch, the company that has gone on to win respect for an innovative culture and by now has established itself at the forefront of the ongoing telecommunications revolution – and earned Poland a reputation as a major player in emerging technologies in the process.