RESEARCH REPORT

In brief

2022’s Fjord Trends focus on the need to respond to relationship changes - all relationships.
For the communications industry, the past year reiterated the continued need for digital and seamless experience.
While the changing technological and customer experience landscapes unlock opportunities, these are only open to players willing to innovate.
Here, we outline the key Fjord Trends pertinent to the communications industry: The next frontier and This much is true.

The new fabric of life

The dominant theme throughout 2022 Fjord Trends is about the need to respond to changes in all relationships. Challenging times continue for the communications industry, but we believe there are also great opportunities to design new systems, and new ways of being. The past year reiterated the continued need for digital and seamless experience. While the changing technological and customer experience landscapes unlock opportunities, these are only open to players willing to innovate and explore, swiftly.

Companies resistant to change, banking on their existing business models will find the new terrain difficult to navigate.

Key trends for the communications industry

The disruption in the industry over the past couple of years have shown us that Communication Service Providers (CSPs) need to explore new paths to grow and play a more valuable role in consumer’s everyday lives. The focus is to reinvent, be flexible, respond faster and deliver intelligent solutions. CSPs are challenged to go beyond the role of enablers and take a more central part in these trends, with the help of differentiated business models and data-driven culture.

We have highlighted the core Fjord Trends that will have a significant impact on the communications industry - The next frontier and This much is true.

Explore key trends for the communications industry

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The next frontier

The buzzword of the moment is metaverse. The metaverse is showing promise beyond its gaming roots to offer people and brands a new place to interact, create, consume and earn. Its true potential is yet to be seen, but it has the makings of a new cultural evolution. Finding success here will rely on brands’ understanding of their customers in this new world.

One Accenture Park - Accenture's office in the virtual space

For communications players, the metaverse is the next generation of the internet for the next generation of customers. The main metaverse opportunities will be around enabling experiences, community engagement, back-office operations and new products and services. It is a great place to foster interactions for communities, based on shared and immersive experiences.

CSPs are poised to be more than just connectivity providers.

Participating in the metaverse will require CSPs to rethink their strategy and operating models, including their approach to ecosystems and partnerships and think beyond connectivity. Exploring the metaverse value chain of infrastructure, security, spatial computing, end-user devices, software & platforms, marketplaces and experiences will identify the right potential opportunities for each CSP.

People and businesses who engage in the discussion around the metaverse now, and play an active role in exploring its possibilities, will most likely to reap the rewards of this new environment.

This much is true

Asking questions and having them answered immediately has become part of everyday life. For brands, the range of customer questions and the number of channels for asking them is growing constantly. How to answer them is a major design challenge, a critical driver for trust, and a future source of competitive edge.

The better communications companies become at designing information layers that build on the trusted brand story, the higher their chances of success and more trust from customers.

Information layers—how they’re designed and communicated—are a critical and complex place for a brand owner to build trust. Through an omnichannel approach that orchestrates multiple points of contact, CSPs can embed data and intelligence across every channel and touchpoint of the customer journey.

It’s important to note that the communications industry holds a position of trust when it comes to data, as people tend to trust them more than organizations in some other sectors. The industry is setting standards for how best to handle and take care of customers’ data.

Fjord Trends 2022: The new fabric of life

The future

The disruption in the industry over the past couple of years have shown us that CSPs need to explore new paths to grow and play a more valuable role in consumer’s everyday lives. The focus is to reinvent, be flexible, respond faster and deliver intelligent experience. They need to adopt a data-driven open culture and prepare for 5G, cloud and edge technology advancements to gain competitive advantage and become industry orchestrators.

With strategic transformation, CSPs’ role in the society can impact our relationships, the way we interact with each other, with businesses, with nature – all the threads that weave the new fabric of life.