7-ELEVEN: my highlights from DTW Copenhagen

Here are my key trends and highlights from a week in Denmark at TM Forum's Digital Transformation World.  Skip to the end for my (nearly) disastrous attempt to meet up with a colleague at Copenhagen airport!

7 trends shaping the future of telecom

1. Cost efficiency trumps all: Let's face it, the economic climate isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows right now.  Unsurprisingly, operational efficiency and how to drive cost savings were central to most discussions at DTW.
2. The Autonomous Network Odyssey: The journey to level 5, fully autonomous networks might be a marathon, but the industry continues to make steady progress (example: Telstra winning the TM Forum Excellence Award in this category).
3. Reusability is king: TM Forum's Open Digital Architecture (ODA) appeared to be gaining further traction with positive sentiment from service providers keen to show that their software was "running on ODA".
4. Generative AI: from hype to reality: Last year there seemed to be a lot of hype about #GenAI, without too much substance.  This year it was clear that the industry had progressed – for example, Nokia demos showcasing the use of #GenAI across security operations, service orchestration, and service assurance.
5. Collaboration is key: We’re all in this together!  There is now a recognition that we cannot solve the challenges our industry faces alone.  We need open collaboration between service providers, hyper-scalers, software vendors, SIs, enterprises and application developers.  Which leads nicely onto the next trend …
6. Digital ecosystems take flight: API exposure and digital ecosystem plays were hot topics as service providers sought to experiment with new business models to increase value for shareholders.  Nokia for service providers made several announcements related to this during the event.
7. And of course, Football! Because Europe was celebrating the European football (or soccer if you insist) championships during #DTW24.

11 Customer and Partner Highlights

Over four incredibly hectic days, we had more than 250 meetings with customers, partners and industry analysts. Here are some success stories that caught my eye:

1. Fireside chat with TT-Netværket: Jean Lawrence and Henrik Brogaard discussed the journey to autonomous networks, including TT-Netværket P/S shared RAN network modernization and the impact of AI on customer experience.
2. China Mobile wins big with AI: TM Forum’s “Excellence in AI Innovation" award recognized China Mobile for the use of generative AI to speed up daily operations across 3 provinces serving 190 million subscribers.
3. AI-powered operations at scale: Jitin Bhandari and Deutsche Telekom Gergely Mihalka took to the stage to discuss scaling AI across networks, highlighting data governance, MLOps, and LLM Ops for optimized deployment and management. Real-world examples showcased the transformative power of AI for improved efficiency and customer experience.
4. ODA for growth: Nitin Mishra and Numan Sherazi from TPG Telecom explored how leveraging ODA creates modular, reusable components, streamlining operations and driving revenue growth. Harmonizing ODA with service assurance for enhanced experiences was a key takeaway.
5. Orange Poland share their experiences: Emil Kowalczyk shared the transformation journey that Orange are on with industry analysts and customers at Nokia’s ‘AVA eXchange’ workshop on 17 June.
6. Telecom Argentina transforms: in a video interview Veronica Caste discussed Telecom Argentina’s OSS/BSS transformation program, how her team was overcoming the challenges they faced and highlighted the benefits delivered to customers.
7. Developing a winning NaaS strategy: Atul Purohit and Alex Reichl shared their thoughts with the audience in Copenhagen on open APIs and Network as a Service (NaaS). The Port of Antwerp case study, where Network as a Service enables remote ship control, was a captivating example.
8. Accelerating innovation with Open APIs: Nokia and Google Cloud made a public announcement on expanding developer access to network capabilities through Nokia's Network as Code platform. This will fuel faster 5G application development.
9. Microsoft and Nokia - a powerful partnership: Silvia Candiani and Kal De met up to explore collaboration, touching on cybersecurity and the enormous potential of generative AI.
10. Qvantel and Nokia - the low-code monetization powerhouse: Gustavo Duarte Jukka Heiska showcased a joint 5G digital monetization solution, leveraging a no/low code approach for greater agility and faster time to market.
11. Red Hat and Nokia - a match made in (Cloud) Heaven: Marcelo C. Madruga facilitated a discussion with Ian Hood (RedHat), discussing the expanded collaboration with Red Hat now the primary reference platform for Nokia's core network applications, offering customers choice and flexibility.

Airport woes

Thursday afternoon, bleary-eyed I head to Copenhagen airport ready to fly home.  Craving caffeine, I arrange to meet a colleague for a coffee.  I check my bag in, and find a fancy looking Danish café.  But my colleague is unable to understand my butchered pronunciation of the café’s name. 

"Okay, new plan," I declare, channeling my inner MacGyver. "There's a 7-ELEVEN right across from me, let's meet outside!" Simple, right? Wrong.

I wait patiently, and then my phone starts ringing.  It’s my colleague: “I’m outside the 7-ELEVEN" she says "but I can’t see you anywhere”.  Then her voice takes on a triumphant note: “Aha! I see another 7-ELEVEN further along the terminal, you must be there."  At this point I’m looking around trying to spot my colleague … but, as you might have already guessed … there aren't just two 7-ELEVENs in Copenhagen airport … there's a whole ecosystem of them.  Full-size stores, mini-kiosks: there seems to be one on every corner with enough sugary snacks to fuel a small nation (Denmark!).  7-ELEVEN certainly seems to have their monetization strategy nailed down - perhaps there’s a lesson here for telecoms?

Anyway, if you’re watching the football this summer, I wish you and your team the best of luck - although as an England fan I have to say “don’t get your hopes up too high" :)