Navigating Netco vs. Servco: TM Forum Q&A With Chad Dunavant

What strategies should operators use to evolve into network companies and platform-driven service companies? What role do you see AI playing in the realization of those strategies?

Chad: Let me start with the service side first, or what we call Servco. This is not a new business line for them [operators] but they need to think about the realities as they approach the new consumer demand. On the Servco side specifically, they need to look for flexibility and cost avoidance. They need to look for opportunities that allow them to launch new digital services more quickly at scale, leveraging applications that run in the cloud natively. Applications delivered through SaaS really allow the operator the flexibility to launch these new services more quickly, more cost effectively and targeted at those consumers.

On the Netco side, it's interesting as we see the network services become a focal point for that side of the business. [These include] ways that [operators] can launch new partner ecosystems to onboard new services quickly, ways that they can configure complex services within those ecosystems to maximize revenue and really take advantage of those network investments [from] over the last several years.

And as it relates to AI, I think AI will find its way across both opportunities-so on the Servco side, AI is going to play a role in how you engage with customers both in the call center and online. And more specifically, on the network side, we're going to see network optimization through new AI strategies.