Is it harder to see the nuances and changes in the tech world these days? We can all compare a floppy disk to a USB and a landline to a smartphone, but the cloud, AI, and 5G probably cause more confusion.
New technologies equal new opportunities. But new technologies also equal new skills. Keeping up with consumers and their demands is a constant challenge and the telecommunications industry is no different.
Digital transformation is no longer a choice, it’s an imperative. So, what’s coming next and how can you prepare for it?
What is digital transformation in telecommunications?
Digital transformation is how we adapt and update businesses using new digital technologies. It’s how we future proof. Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent rise of remote working, video conferencing, and gaming, there was a sudden surge in the daily bandwidth usage by people. This spurred on the process and market for adaptation.
Telcos must embrace new technology and revamp traditional services to provide a more efficient and positive experience for customers. They must thrive and become a hub for connectivity and innovation.
Why is digital transformation important for telcos?
Technology and the internet are seeping into almost every aspect of our lives and transforming them. Telcos are at the heart of this change. But to stay relevant, they need to adapt.
How often do you make a phone call on a landline or through your minutes? Send a text message? Internet-based communication has the top spot now. This is just one example of how traditional revenue streams are declining. Telcos now more than ever need to diversify their income streams to stay afloat.
Tech giants are also stepping up their game. You can now buy service bundles for your internet, phone, and streaming services through them. This adds fierce competition for traditional telco companies that need to innovate and shift their strategies.
New technologies are opening up a world of possibilities. 5G boasts lightning-fast speeds, cloud computing offers flexibility and scalability, while the Internet of Things (IoT) allows for an ever-growing number of devices using more data. These are just a few examples of tech that telcos need to adopt.
The challenges of telco transformation
The journey for telcos isn’t just about cool new tech. It’s about fundamentally reshaping their operations and delivering value to customers.
Some of the challenges they currently face are:
- Legacy systems: Relying on outdated infrastructure that is expensive and time-consuming to upgrade. Switching from copper to fibre? That sounds great until you have to dig up roads.
- Culture shift: Large organisations can’t transform overnight. There needs to be a shift in company culture as well as tech. We all shifted from paper maps to GPS, but there was definitely some stubbornness along the way.
- High competition: The telecommunications space is heating up with competition from big tech companies. Constant evolution and innovation are high on the list for attracting and retaining customers.
Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. The future of telecommunications is brimming with possibilities. You can expect network slicing, artificial intelligence (AI) integration, the metaverse, and even more new technologies to rise to the game.
What’s to come in telco hiring in 2024?
We asked Daniel McCarthy, Senior Talent Partner, who recruits for telecommunications companies what he thought 2024 would look like:
“Due to large mergers and acquisitions currently ongoing in the market, we are seeing a large increase in work being outsourced to smaller providers and usually offshore. However, from a large carrier point of view, we are still very much seeing a busy market with multiple roles being required. The alt net market has also seen quite some turbulence lately, leading to a lot of redundancies.
In terms of skills, we are seeing more and more of a merging of digital and infrastructure skill sets, leading to network engineers often having experience in not only programming but also containerisation and open-source technologies. These are specific skill sets being looked for by the carriers and the vendors. We are often being told python is a must before beginning any search.
Currently as it stands there is a huge talent gap in the UK, with over 59% of telecom’s engineers’ being over 50, but only 5% being under 35. Meaning we are losing talent faster than we are growing it. So for this we are seeing a lot of teams accepting digital skill sets into network teams and creating cross-disciplinary teams. With the hope of fostering mutual skill sets as well as looking to the future in onboarding apprentices and graduates.”
Building your workforce for the digital age
The telco industry hinges on technology and the people who drive it. Traditional skillsets are no longer enough and telco hiring will show that.
To evolve with the transformative landscape, telcos need to attract and retain talent with specific expertise. Nowadays, every business needs people who are tech savvy, work alongside AI, and understand the need for cybersecurity, and telcos even more so. There has been an increase in hiring for digital and multi disciplinary skills.
It’s not just about technical skills. Adaptability, collaboration, problem-solving, and other typically ‘soft skills’ are increasingly important to ensure telcos successfully fly through the next steps.
Attracting top talent for telcos
While you adopt new digital technologies, you need to adapt current recruitment strategies.
- Showcase innovation: Promote your commitment to digital transformation and cutting-edge technology. This will resonate with tech talent who want to be at the forefront.
- Employer branding: Build a work environment that fosters creativity, learning, and agility. Candidates now more than ever want to be part of a company making a real impact.
- Meet talent where it is: Find the job boards and platforms the people you want actually use. Expand your network and think of new ways to target new talent.
- Modernise your methods: Focus on more than technical skills with candidates. Evaluate the soft skills and culture fit.
Investing in the right talent now means it will be easier to build for the future.
How we’ve helped BT
We’ve worked with BT over the last 18 months to help them engage with external candidates, improve their value proposition, and effectively sell the opportunity for growth. Following our strategies, they saw a 20% increase in external hiring. Our case study shows exactly how we help telcos with their hiring.
