Service providers failing to meet enterprise expectations

Solutions that network service providers offer don’t always meet the expectations of enterprises, a global study commissioned by Tata Communications reveals.

Conducted by IDC amongst enterprises and service providers across 32 countries in Africa, Americas, APAC, Europe and MENA, the research also shows that enterprise customers rank security (52%), cloud (43%) and mobility (32%) as their top technology priorities.

Enterprises see partnerships as key in their decision-making process, indicating that by finding the right partners, service providers could win more business from this market segment.

The global study shows that enterprises consider service providers best equipped to increasing their network capacity or reach (73%), or delivering hybrid networking (66%) services, while around half (48%) of enterprises feel that their network service provider is best suited to address their cloud needs.

Approximately a third (31%) of enterprises feel that having access to cloud services developed by their service provider would help support them better on their cloud journey.

“Through the right partnerships, service providers are able to open up new revenue streams in growth areas such as cloud and unified communication and collaboration (UCC), without having to invest in developing their own solutions from scratch,” said James Parker, president of global sales at Tata Communications.

“By joining forces with like-minded organizations, service providers are best-placed to address their customers’ increasingly complex IT requirements and facilitate their digital transformation.”

Around three-quarters (76%) of service providers think that supporting employee mobility is key for enterprises’ UCC strategy, yet only a quarter (26%) of enterprises rank this as a top priority.

While more than a quarter (27%) of enterprises cite lack of employee readiness as a barrier for UCC adoption, the service providers surveyed don’t see this as an issue for their customers.

The research suggests that close to a half (41%) of service providers don’t have a definite stance on partnering. In contrast, more than half (57%) of enterprises say that when choosing a service provider, it is important that they find the right partners to fill gaps in their offering or extend their reach.

Additionally, service providers overestimate the importance of reputation in enterprise decision making by a third (30%).