Connect-World’s Digest – Issue 86 – May 2019
Editorial Manager’s Eye, by Anthony Weaver, Editorial Manager Connect-World publications.
Welcome to the Connect-World eDigest, which provides a summary of the ICT trade events and news items that have recently caught my eye as Editorial Manager.
For more information on the news items, please visit our press releases webpage detailed below. https://connect-world.com/category/page-content/press-releases/
_____________________________________________________________________
Trade Events
TM Forum Nice, 14-16 May
TM Forum 2019 explored these opportunities and challenges and more across 6 dedicated tracks:
- 2025 Digital Operator: Capturing Value in the 5G Era
- Cloud Native IT: Cutting the Complexity to Deliver Business Agility
- Network Transformation: Building and operating an agile and dynamic virtual network
- AI and Data Strategy: Making Intelligent Decisions
- Digital Customer Experience: Accelerating the Digital Customer
- Global Architecture Summit
2600+ senior telecoms industry peers attended from across the world
Press Releases
Friday 31st May 2019
KOFAX Launches Intelligent Automation Software Platform and Marketplace to advance
Future-of-work Initiatives for Hyper-Connected Entreprises
Kofax®, a leading supplier of Intelligent Automation software to digitally transform end-to-end business operations, today announced it has launched the industry’s first Intelligent Automation platform and marketplace, advancing future-of-work initiatives for hyper-connected enterprises. The AI-enabled platform and marketplace ecosystem automate end-to-end business operations at scale – allowing digitally transformed organisations to harness automation to make customer, supplier and employee interactions more productive and gratifying.
“Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s (MUFG) Center of Excellence is leading intelligent automation efforts and driving digital transformation throughout our bank. We’ve empowered our business units to propose automation opportunities, and their daily workloads have been reduced significantly. Our employees are happier, more satisfied, and empowered – all due to automation,” said Yoshiaki Nishita, Digital Transformation Division Director at MUFG. “Kofax’s Intelligent Automation platform has driven excitement, and more energy around further adoption and expansion of the program. In addition, our employee mindset is changing as well. They’re no longer concerned automation will replace them. They see it as an extension of themselves. Ultimately it’s become a fundamental shift in their thinking.”
Monday 20th May 2019
Tata Communications Transformation Services partners with Africa Development Solutions to bridge the digital divide in Africa
Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS), a leading Telco transformation and managed services provider, is partnering with Africa Development Solutions (ADS Group) to facilitate building the fibre infrastructure backbone across Africa and enable a digital economy that can empower societies and communities, in line with the Smart Africa vision. TCTS will perform pre-feasibility assessments with ADS for African nations, studying existing as well as planned fibre infrastructure and deploy a strong multi-country connectivity infrastructure backbone.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled innovations can drive economic opportunities across industries, benefitting consumers, businesses and governments. The Smart Africa initiative prioritises ICT as a key enabler and the pivot to drive the continent’s socio-economic development agenda. The initiative works towards improving scalability and accessibility of connectivity within and to urban, suburban and rural areas in Africa. This partnership between TCTS and ADS aims to drive deployment of ICT in the continent with the aim to promote equitable and sustainable development across African nations.
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zaev and EU Commissioner Hahn as guests at A1 Telekom Austria Group
- Vienna Economic Talks on „New Perspectives for the Republic of North Macedonia“
- Economy meets Politics“ with high-level attendees at European and regional level
- Arnoldner: digital transformation as a motor of progress for the economy and society
On the occasion of of the Vienna Economic Forum under the motto “Economy meets Politics”, today leading European, Austrian and regional personalities discussed at the Viennese headquarters of the A1 Telekom Austria Group – on the example of North Macedonia – how intensified cooperation can positively influence economic and social perspectives.
Thomas Arnoldner, CEO of the A1 Telekom Austria Group, together with Günther Rabensteiner, President of the Vienna Economic Forum, welcomed a high-level delegation on this subject, such as Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, and Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
93% of Organisations Committed to AI but Skills Shortage Holding Businesses Back
Most organisations are fully invested in AI but more than half don’t have the required in-house skilled talent to execute their strategy, according to new research from SnapLogic. The study found that 93% of US and UK organisations consider AI to be a business priority and have projects planned or already in production. However, more than half of them (51%) acknowledge that they don’t have the right mix of skilled AI talent in-house to bring their strategies to life. Indeed, a lack of skilled talent was cited as the number one barrier to progressing their AI initiatives, followed by, in order, lack of budget, lack of access to the right technology and tools, and lack of access to useful data.
The new research, conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of SnapLogic, studied the views and perspectives of IT decision makers (ITDMs) across several industries, asking key questions such as: where is your organisation in its AI/ML journey, what are the top barriers your organisation is facing when executing your AI initiatives, does your organisation have employees in-house with the required skillset to execute your strategy, and what are the top skills and attributes you are looking for in your AI team?
Wednesday 15th May 2019
Untethered Hearables Offer New Monetisable Opportunities
A hearable is defined as an intelligent in-ear audio product that uses wireless technology to connect via a smartphone or other device that streams content from the Internet. Hearables improve the listening experience through application of noise cancellation and audio enhancement technology, or through advanced features such as translation and voice assistant integration. Unlike headphones, hearables are designed to be worn comfortably even when no content is being consumed.
The worldwide forecast for hearables, headphones and hearing correction products is positive, presenting a market with a combined retail value of over $73 billion by 2023. The thirst for technology integration, notably voice assistants, exhibits potential to build a unique class of innovative hearable products. The anticipated cross-over with hearing aids creates an opening for a new range of “smart hearable” products, able to amplify and enhance speech whilst filtering out ambient background noise. Meanwhile, changes in US regulation next year will permit a new category of over-the-counter hearing correction products. Though it’s too early to speculate on what may be permitted under the new regulations, this may widen the market to a broader range of hearables.
Monday 13th May 2019
Cerillion to demonstrate agile cloud billing solution as enabler for new IoT services at Digital Transformation World
Cerillion, an innovator in digital monetisation and customer management solutions, today announced that its cloud billing and subscription management solution, Cerillion Skyline, will be showcased in a pioneering ecosystem catalyst project at the TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event in Nice from 14-16th May. Following the company’s award winning catalyst with Nokia in 2018, Cerillion is collaborating with Nokia again on the Driver Connect project, alongside visual customer engagement specialist TechSee, demonstrating how automotive companies and the Communications Services Providers (CSPs) who serve them can leverage advances in AI to proactively provide frictionless service to their customers, creating a 360-degree view by connecting the network to the business and generating new revenue opportunities.
Customers today are digital and always connected, and they are using different channels to research, buy and consume services from their favourite brands. Automotive companies and CSPs can benefit from the digital transformation of every aspect of the customer experience lifecycle by creating an integrated and personalised connected driver journey that incorporates proactive diagnostics and cognitive analytics, integrated with 5G-enabled features like mobility services and vehicle telematics to ensure a seamless vehicle usage experience and to upsell new subscription-based services.
Sunday 12th May 2019
Ericsson Industry Connect: Accelerating Industry 4.0 Through Reliable Wireless Connectivity
Ericsson has launched Ericsson Industry Connect, an easy-to-use cellular connectivity solution to accelerate Industry 4.0 digital transformation.
Ericsson Industry Connect enables communication service providers to offer dedicated cellular networks at factories and warehouses starting with 4G/LTE, with a clear path to 5G.
The offering strengthens Ericsson’s private networks and IoT portfolios by making 4G and 5G technologies accessible to new industrial markets.
Purpose-built for industrial environments such as factories and warehouses, the dedicated cellular connectivity solution enables secure, reliable coverage with high device density and predictable latency.
Friday 10th May 2019
Amdocs to Present Future of Optimized Roaming with 5G, and Phase II of Open AI Business Assurance at TMFDigital
At TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World 2019, Amdocs will showcase how it is driving industry innovation in the latest technical advancements including 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Open Networking, to enable the effective and efficient managed digital and network transformation of communications and media companies. The event is taking place in Nice, France from May 14th, in which Amdocs will be presenting and demonstrating on the solutions that will accelerate the industry’s most important growth drivers.
Catalyst: 5G Optimized Capacity & E2E Experience
CSPs plan to offer specialized, Quality of Experience (QoE) differentiated services using 5G Network Slicing technology. Effective roaming support is one of the key features of mobile communication that will be impacted. The 5G Optimized Capacity & E2E Experience catalyst project will focus on the Planning and Optimization of 5G network resources in support of network slice instances. The catalyst will also focus on the management of slices in a roaming scenario across CSP boundaries. Blockchain technology will be explored for use in facilitating inter-CSP Network Slice Fulfilment and Assurance, and SLA enforcement and verification.
For more information on the news items, please visit our press releases webpage detailed
below. https://connect-world.com/category/page-content/press-releases/
Anthony Weaver
Editorial Manager
Connect-World Magazines
United Kingdom
Email: anthony.weaver@connect-world.com
