Source: STL Partners, based on a survey of 202 respondents (including operators, vendors and telco experts) between 21st April and 8th May 2020
STL Partners’ research into the impact of COVID-19 on telco enterprise expectations indicates that respondents are optimistic regarding enterprise services. Their view as to how specific enterprise verticals will fare is more divergent.
Most respondents agree that the digital health vertical will increase in priority as COVID-19 drives demand for digital health services that have been slow to gain traction to date (e.g. phone/video consultations, remote monitoring, diagnostics). Regulation in this field is changing, exposing opportunities for solutions to address immediate and longer-term healthcare market needs, progressing digital transformation of experiences for health care professionals and patients.
There is evidence to suggest that views on the retail and industrial IoT and manufacturing verticals were split on geographical lines: Asia Pacific and American respondents were more pessimistic about retail than those from Europe and MENA, Asia Pacific respondents were more pessimistic about industrial IoT than others.
In terms of services, COVID-19 has accelerated the ‘consumerisation’ of enterprise / business activities, as an increased number of employees work from home. Conferencing solutions are likely to remain in high demand to facilitate collaboration, as are security services to prevent data breaches and misuse.