A global study commissioned by Tata Communications reveals that the solutions that network service providers offer don’t always meet the expectations of enterprises, who rank security (52%), cloud (43%) and mobility (32%) as their top technology priorities. Conducted by IDC amongst enterprises and service providers across 32 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East and North Africa, the research also shows that 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, Global Sales, Tata Communications. “By joining forces with like-minded organisations, 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.

“Our research indicates that many service providers haven’t kept up with the rapid pace of digital disruption in enterprises, which is jeopardising their ability to win business in this segment,” said James Eibisch, Research Director, IDC. “In order for service providers to be able to meet enterprises’ changing IT needs, they should explore partnering with other like-minded players, complementing their own solutions portfolio. The right cloud ecosystem, for example, makes it quicker and more cost-effective for service providers to grow their revenues from the cloud.”  

The research suggests that close to a half (41%) of service providers don’t have adefinite 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%).

James Parker continued: “Our go-to-market strategy is focused on enterprise enablement, and we are seeing growing appetite for partnerships in the service provider community globally. Partnering with Tata Communications allows service providers to speed up time to market by offering our wide range of services on a white-label or sell-with basis, without having to invest in developing these capabilities themselves. That is one reason why we have established our global partner programme, supporting our partners in delivering a full portfolio of cloud, mobility, managed security and UCC services.”