8 Services from Cablecos and Telcos that Could Transform Your Business

These aren’t your grandma’s service providers.

The companies we would traditionally call telecommunication providers or cable providers are pushing hard to offer partners a deep and diverse portfolio of products and services. Even if that means becoming managed IT providers.

It’s a whole new world out there.

Service providers are sticking limbs into several different markets. In many cases, carriers are filling out their portfolios to include more IT; for example, Sprint partnering with cloud security vendors. Sometimes they’re entering relatively new markets like SD-WAN to compete with specialists. And in other cases, carriers are paving the way for blossoming technologies like 5G and IoT.

These companies are transforming what they make and sell, and their transformation could well be a blueprint for channel partners. See their movements as a litmus as you seek to better serve your clientele. The carriers are simply moving in the direction customers are demanding.

Rob Moyers, Synnex‘s vice president of cloud, mobility and IoT, told us to “bet on” the companies that are investing big in new areas, because extensive research and development back up their investments. For example, service providers’ increased emphasis on public cloud helps confirm that public cloud is prevailing.

We’ve compiled several areas where partners can follow the lead of their carrier partners. What offerings are hot? What new technologies do customers think are important? What could change your bottom line for the better? We asked the carriers for an overview. The answers are broad; so you’ll get a few product plugs and much more discussion of the technological trends shaping the channel.

Scroll through the gallery below to see how telcos and cablecos have transformed this year.