The Evolution to the Cloud Native CSP

All it takes is a quick look at any CTIO presentation from a leading CSP to see that the energy and innovation in telco transformation is becoming increasingly focused on moving towards a cloud-native architecture. CSPs have recognized that, while the end goals of digital transformation are both performance- and economics-based, how they can achieve those specific outcomes isn’t strictly defined. For success in cloud, all one has to do is look to the hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft, but the question remains: Can telcos transform using the same ‘Cloud Native’ principles and tools that the public cloud providers have built out and continue to use to drive their own growth?

The industry has watched these cloud giants transform their companies from slow-moving hardware and manual labor-driven organizations into software-centric, fast-paced and highly automated businesses. This has been a consistent goal of leading CSPs for at least the last ten years, as outlined in a recent HardenStance white paper entitled “A Blueprint for a Cloud Native Telco.” What has changed in the last year or two is the sector’s assumptions about what specific application and network architectures, organizational structures and processes, tools and partnerships are needed to gain the full benefits of digital transformation. CSPs have embraced the reality that while the end goals of digital transformation remain the same—focused on performance and cost improvements—the new direction of going cloud native introduces its own unique set of challenges they must overcome. First, they must take into consideration the uniqueness of the CSP, but not so much that they get bogged down in the details and slow down progress. Second, leadership must come from the CEO, with targeted messaging of goals and outcomes so that the organization knows what to expect. Third, they must invest in their people with appropriate training and refocusing. And fourth, they must set the goals of cloud-native development, which, while it might seem to be revolutionary, can be achieved strategically with evolutionary processes.

To read more about cloud-native evolution, click here to download your own personal copy of the HardenStance whitepaper, “A Blueprint for a Cloud Native Telco.”