Migrating Service Providers to the Cloud

On this special episode of The Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series host Daniel Newman welcomes Yaron Sverdlov, General Manager of SmartOps Division at Amdocs to discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on digital transformation and cloud migration of service providers and where we go from here.   Yaron and I explored how COVID-19 has impacted digital transformation within the telecommunications industry. Compared to companies in other industries, telecom companies were already well into digital transformation, providing the infrastructure we all need to stay connected. But almost overnight there was a greater demand for connection. Yaron shared that we are seeing telecom companies becoming more advanced, more digital, more open, and enabling a different level of support. Companies have had to move to a cloud environment that enables them to react much faster than before. And we likely will keep building on this moving forward.   Cloud adoption trends. Yaron shared that previously many telecom companies were laggards when it came to cloud adoption. The two biggest barriers to adoption were security risk and operating costs. Companies were used to storing everything on-prem where you could guarantee security and you had a capital expense. But now, these issues are becoming less relevant as it becomes more imperative to operate in the cloud. Yaron also shared that every company plans their journey differently and many now are in the middle of their migration process. It’s an exciting time in the market.   Hybrid cloud management. Yaron explained that the immediate future for many telecom companies will be some sort of Hybrid IT architecture. These large enterprises have an extensive list of applications and programs that will be costly to migrate completely to the cloud so for the foreseeable future many will use on-prem and off-prem solutions including multiple public clouds. Managing the migration and the operation of this new architecture will be complex. Amdocs offers a Hybrid Cloud Management Platform which allows companies to manage all parts of the migration process.   The financial side of cloud migration. Yaron and I discussed that in addition to moving to a hybrid cloud architecture, service providers are moving FinOps tools to the cloud to be able to better serve customers. Companies are starting to build FinOps tools that use AI to determine how resources are being used and how that relates to KPIs. This will likely change the way we operate, helping companies be more efficient from end to end.   Building infrastructure on public clouds. Lastly, we explored the recent AWS Amdocs partnership announcement and their ability to run on any public cloud. By working with AWS and Azure, Amdocs understands how to get the most out of the cloud in a cost-effective way. These partnerships eliminate the barriers to adoption that many companies were dealing with. It’s a smart move for everyone involved.   If you’d like to learn more about Amdocs, their partnerships, services, and product offerings, be sure to check out their website.   Disclaimer: This show is for information and entertainment purposes only. While we will discuss publicly traded companies on this show, the contents of this show should not be taken as investment advice.