Harun Hasić
Product Manager
Trading and routing processes need to be reconsidered. In this blog, we look at how AI can help CSPs make them more efficient – and profitable.
In our previous blog, we talked about the revolutionary potential of AI in the communications industry and hinted at some of the significant use cases that are yet to be explored. Trading and routing management is one of the most impactful and least talked-about segments where the introduction of AI can make a difference.
A notoriously complex process involving many moving parts, trading and routing relies heavily on CSPs’ ability to anticipate changing conditions. With the help of AI, CSPs can have access to valuable insights, giving them the confidence to act at the right time, protecting their margins and allowing their interconnect business to grow. At a time when AI in the communications industry, improvements like this can make all the difference when it comes to growth.
Let’s explore how.
AI For Your Business: Exploring Current Use Cases of AI In Wholesale Telecoms
The current state of telecom routing and trading
As operators already know, telecommunications trading and routing is an interconnected and complex segment of the business. CSPs are linked through their global infrastructure, coexisting in a tightly knit network of partners, suppliers, and customers.
Picture the typical scenario for trading and routing. At the moment, it relies heavily on manual processes and constant human intervention. Trading processes are dependent on partners exchanging price sheets for various traffic destinations. It is the sales team’s responsibility to generate prices and load received rate sheets onto their system, all the while endeavoring to keep a healthy margin between buy and sell prices.
In a similar vein, routing decisions are made by people, based on a combination of dynamic data, from supplier prices to traffic information. Within each CSP, a single routing or network optimization team is responsible for selecting the path of outbound communications traffic according to their evaluation of these criteria and making periodical choices between as many as hundreds of different suppliers.
This system is in place in the vast majority of CSPs. However, it is far from failproof, and several aspects need reconsideration or transformation to unlock higher growth potential with the help of AI.
Challenges driving the need for change in trading and routing
What problems can be addressed in trading and routing processes?
Automatization
Manually loaded supplier price sheets are prone to errors, preventing network optimization teams from accurately determining price margins, leading to significant losses by the CSP.
Inability to predict data changes
In the dynamic telecom industry, information that influences trading and routing processes changes daily, such as supplier prices and traffic amounts in a given geographical area. CSPs that only use traditional methods are unable to forecast changes in the data and, therefore, have an impaired ability to make changes in good time.
Delays in trading data implementation
Once the correct routing decision is identified, CSPs need to implement it in a timely manner. Otherwise, the supplier prices that formed the basis of the decision might change, and CSPs will lose out on an attractive profit margin. In fact, in our recent audit of CSPs, ZIRA found that 27% of routing orders were implemented in more than 3 days; with telco profits under threat, delays as long as these must be eliminated.
Negative impact on customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is another important factor in trading and routing. Routing choices have to be made and implemented with as little friction as possible, avoiding post-dial delays (PDD) so that the end-user is unaware of the complex processes that take place behind the scenes.
Regulatory issues
CSPs’ interconnect business is under heavy scrutiny by regulatory bodies. From the EU’s regulations in 2020 fixing maximum voice termination rates between networks to the Nigerian Communications Commission beginning a new pricing regime in 2021, regulations are an important factor which CSPs must take into account.
How AI can revolutionize telecoms trading and routing
The complexity of trading and routing processes in modern telecommunications is such that CSPs can no longer handle them successfully with traditional methods. BSS tools like ZIRA’s Trading and Routing Management can add great value by automating manual tasks like rate sheet validation, verification, and management, and giving sales teams profitability insights and sales simulations to accelerate decision-making.
Now, the arrival of AI means there are even more sophisticated methods available to help CSPs anticipate dynamic changes in the industry and position themselves better. AI and machine learning-enhanced algorithms can process and analyze vast quantities of data, unearth valuable insights for sales and network optimization teams, and accurately forecast future changes. This is a revolutionary use of AI in telecommunications, making it possible for CSPs to essentially see into the future and gain unprecedented confidence in decision-making.
How AI can revolutionize telecoms trading and routing
The complexity of trading and routing processes in modern telecommunications is such that CSPs can no longer handle them successfully with traditional methods. BSS tools like ZIRA’s Trading and Routing Management can add great value by automating manual tasks like rate sheet validation, verification, and management, and giving sales teams profitability insights and sales simulations to accelerate decision-making.
Trading & Routing Management and the opportunities it can create for your business.
Now, the arrival of AI means there are even more sophisticated methods available to help CSPs anticipate dynamic changes in the industry and position themselves better. AI and machine learning-enhanced algorithms can process and analyze vast quantities of data, unearth valuable insights for sales and network optimization teams, and accurately forecast future changes. This is a revolutionary use of AI in telecommunications, making it possible for CSPs to essentially see into the future and gain unprecedented confidence in decision-making.
Introducing ZIRA Telco AI Platform
At ZIRA, we have combined our decades of experience helping CSPs become more efficient with the expertise of Haris Hasić, Consultant and Research Engineer in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Together, we created an industry-first product that can bring actionable insights to CSPs using the power of AI.
The platform can be integrated anywhere time-sensitive data is utilized, ranging from partner behavior to profitability analysis. While trading and routing management is a key example, it is not the only application. The platform can be used in a number of ways to enhance trading and routing processes:
Supplier forecast
The platform analyzes historical price data and implements AI to predict supplier prices up to six months in advance. To ensure accurate and actionable forecasts, the platform also factors in customer accounts, purchased products, and destinations. CSPs using the platform in this way can benefit from improved margins, unearth new deal opportunities, and develop a better understanding of their partners’ position at all times, allowing them to deepen their relationships.
Traffic forecast
Using customer, supplier, and destination parameters, the platform allows CSPs to accurately predict traffic patterns, maximize profitability, and retain their competitive edge through better revenue and traffic partner monitoring.
Routing forecast
CSPs can greatly enhance their routing prediction capability through the platform’s actionable insights regarding margin risks. This allows CSPs to unlock new routing opportunities, protect margins, better anticipate revenue leakage, and take corrective action as soon as necessary.
ZIRA’s Telco AI Platform fills a significant market gap for AI-enhanced forecasting tools in wholesale telecoms, including allowing CSPs to address the inefficiencies weighing down their trading and routing management. The introduction of AI into this data-heavy and complex segment is a revolutionary step for the communications industry.
Want to learn more about ZIRA’s industry-first solution?
Join our product demo at DTW Copenhagen, taking place at 11:45AM on 19 June 2024. Click here to add the event to your calendar.
Won’t make it? Book a meeting with ZIRA at DTW.
Conclusion
AI could ring in a golden hour for CSPs. It has become sophisticated enough that CSPs can introduce it into their data-heavy segments, such as trading and routing, which has become so complex that it can no longer be managed using traditional methods and manual processes.
At ZIRA, we are proud to introduce a solution that allows CSPs to apply AI to their wholesale business. With the help of our Telco AI Platform, CSPs can gain valuable insight, make better-informed decisions, and protect their profit margins, realizing AI’s true potential in the communications industry.
Telecommunications Sector Routing AI FAQs
AI enhances trading and routing by automating manual tasks and providing real-time insights. In telecommunications networks, AI can forecast expected price points to identify new deal opportunities, helping CSPs make better decisions about routing voice traffic, reducing errors, and increasing profitability.
AI addresses several key challenges in the telecommunications industry, including the automatization of manual processes, timely implementation of routing decisions, and accurate forecasting of changes in supplier prices and traffic volumes. This helps CSPs manage voice traffic more efficiently, improving overall service quality and customer satisfaction.
ZIRA’s Telco AI Platform offers advanced features such as supplier price forecasting, traffic pattern prediction, and routing risk analysis. These capabilities allow CSPs to anticipate changes in the telecommunications networks, optimize their trading and routing processes, and protect their margins in the highly dynamic telecommunications industry.
