Insight

TNC has been tracking telecoms pricing for 15 years and in most of that time there has been a consistent decline in pricing across all service towers and most price points, with just a few exceptions such as regulated pricing and some international services. In most price categories, TNC is continuing to track reductions during the second half of 2020 and into 2021, and these reductions are often significant. Interestingly however, and perhaps influenced by the challenges of the pandemic, the last year has shown a number of key price points remain…

Down The Wire’s 7th podcast episode is hosted by TNC’s CEO, John Waterhouse, interviewing TNC’s CTO, Craig Northveth, on the topic of MPLS vs. SD-WAN vs. SASE. Over the last couple of years, we’ve been witnessing a technology revolution in the enterprise network market. The driving force behind this revolution can be tied into factors such as workload shifts to the cloud, demand for enhanced network and application security, virtualised infrastructure, network flexibility, and technology vendor disruption.However, the pace of these changes…

Introduction Over the last couple of years we have been witnessing a technology revolution in the enterprise network market. The driving force behind this revolution can be tied into factors such as workload shifts to the cloud, demand for enhanced network and application security, virtualised infrastructure, network flexibility, and technology vendor disruption. This revolution can be mapped out by looking at the following four transitional phases: Phase 1 – MPLS-Only Networks Typically a closed network with external breakout via a customer…

We are delighted to bring you Down The Wire’s 6th Episode. TNC’s CTO, Craig Northveth, interviews TNC’s Head of Consultancy, Adrian Joyce, on the topic of 5G, what is hype and what is reality? Adrian is our resident mobile guru and 5G is certainly a hot topic at the moment. 5G appears to bring lots of exiting opportunities for both the consumer and enterprise worlds. The question is, is the conversation around 5G all hype or will it be a reality?Craig and Adrian discuss the following crucial questions:What does 5G bring? How does it compare…

TNC's CEO, John Waterhouse discusses how organisations can achieve sustainable remote working with TNC’s CTO, Craig Northveth in Down The Wire Podcast’s 5th Episode. A huge topic for the “next normal” is going to be how, where, and when employees work. In pre-pandemic times, the majority of employees worked from the office and organisations built their network and telecoms infrastructure accordingly. For many organisations, this quickly had to change in the early days of the pandemic as they rushed to enable most of their employees to work…

Now we can see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, organisations are increasingly looking beyond what has become the “new normal” and starting to plan what comes next. One huge topic for the “next normal” is going to be how, where, and when employees work. In those halcyon pre-pandemic times, for the majority of employees working generally meant being at work, and organisations built their network and telecoms infrastructure accordingly. For many organisations, this quickly had to change in the early days of the pandemic as they rushed…

TNC's CEO, John Waterhouse interviews Matt Jago, Head of Information Systems Operations at Sightsavers, for the 4th Down The Wire Podcast Episode: How to Build, Deploy and Manage an Agile Global Network.Matt Jago is one of the highest profile IT leaders in the UK, both as a result of his work at Sightsavers, as well as his long term contribution to the Charity IT Leaders organisation, which brings together CIOs from the UK’s largest charities and NGOs.With the rise of cloud-based applications, a huge increase in the agility requirement…

As a result of Covid-19, almost all organisations have seen a seismic shift in the way they operate and organise their business and their workforce. For some organisations the transition to permanent home working was relatively simple as existing infrastructure, policies and processes were already in place. For others however, particularly retail, customer-facing, and manufacturing organisations, the shift to the new norm has been a far more difficult process with many challenges still to face. As we begin to see some light at the end of the Covid…

Hosted by TNC's CEO, John Waterhouse, and CTO, Craig Northveth, Down The Wire Podcast brings you Episode 3: The Future of Contact Centre and Customer Engagement. Contact centre leaders are facing a new set of challenges in order to fulfil their operational and strategic objectives. These challenges are driven by a combination of customer expectations, the evolution of technology and, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic.Throughout 2020 TNC has been tracking trends across the Contact Centre marketplace. The most interesting findings are the rise of…

With the launch of the iPhone 12 recently, there has been a huge amount of coverage about 5G and whether the arrival of these new handsets will kickstart an upgrade frenzy and much more widespread adoption of 5G. Given this is one of the hottest topics in the industry right now, the team at TNC felt it was the ideal time to consider the costs and benefits of 5G, and provide a clear answer to the question no doubt many of you are either asking or being asked – is there a business case for 5G? As our regular readers will know, we’ve already written…

It has been a tumultuous year for many organisations and whilst mobile telecoms has not escaped the impact of the pandemic, there’s been lots more than Covid happening. The Network Collective is tracking eight key trends and headlines affecting both customers and the suppliers; Covid - Significant roaming usage reduction Covid - Difficulties hitting Minimum Revenue Commitments Covid - Significant reduction in data usage as many users stay at home on Wi-Fi Covid - Mobile Broadband used to supplement poor Wi-Fi for some home workers Market remains…

It has been a tumultuous year for many organisations and whilst mobile telecoms has not escaped the impact of the pandemic, there’s been lots more than Covid happening. TNC is tracking eight key trends and headlines affecting both customers and the suppliers;Covid - Significant roaming usage reductionCovid - Difficulties hitting Minimum Revenue CommitmentsCovid - Significant reduction in data usage as many users stay at home on Wi-FiCovid - Mobile Broadband used to supplement poor Wi-Fi for some home workersMarket remains very competitive Tariff…

Hosted by TNC's CEO, John Waterhouse, and CTO, Craig Northveth, Down The Wire Podcast brings you Episode 2: 'Key Actions to Make Network Transformation Cost Effective'. The world is divided into those who have started to transform and those who know they need to transform. However, the reality is developing this type of strategy is hard – balancing the complex demands and complex technologies to come up with a coherent strategy, and then being able to execute it is very difficult.We are delighted to have our special guest and transformation expert,…

In the current challenging economic climate, many organisations face an urgent need to secure costs savings in all areas of their business. As a major cost element within the IT budget, network and telecoms costs are a key area to seek these cost savings. The key question is how to unlock these cost savings, and quickly.As the UK’s largest independent network and telecoms consultancy, TNC has delivered hundreds of cost saving programmes for some of the UK’s leading organisations.The purpose of this article is to explore in depth one of the…

Introduction For many organisations, 2020 and 2021 will be historic for all the wrong reasons. As a result of lost trading days during lockdown, ongoing employee health and safety concerns, and a slower than expected economic recovery, organisations are rightly scrutinising every pound they spend or plan to spend in the coming years. With revenues by and large down, and uncertainty around the future trading landscape, CFOs will be challenged to make cuts in all areas of the business. One area that is traditionally top of the list when it comes…

Watch the video recording of TNC's Down The Wire Podcast below. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced an almost-immediate switch to remote working for many organisations. Despite most of these companies already having a secure remote access solution, the majority of them were not designed to cater for their entire workforce, therefore we have seen our customers needing to replace, or supplement, their existing capabilities with interim solutions.It is very likely that increased home working will become the “new norm” for many businesses, therefore…

For most network and telecoms services, TNC has continued to see downward pressure on price points for several years with only the retirement of services or floors imposed by regulation preventing some services from being impacted. Whether it’s the cost of Ethernet circuits, SD-WAN overlay, mobile data, or traditional pence per minute voice costs, there is always an opportunity to reduce costs to align to the market, if you are not constrained by your contract.For many businesses, the impact of the pandemic on revenues means the usual desire…

As part of TNC’s continuing series of articles exploring strategies to drive cost savings in network, telecoms, and mobility services, this article will focus on benchmarking, with all its costs, risks, and opportunities. For organisations in mid-contract, benchmarking is one of the best ways to secure cost savings, particularly given that pricing for most network, telecoms, and mobility services is falling fast. However, executing a benchmarking process can be very challenging. Therefore, we are going to focus this article on how to benchmark…

The New Normal The COVID-19 pandemic has forced an almost-immediate switch to remote working for many organisations.  Despite most of these organisations already having a secure remote access solution, the majority of them were not designed to cater for such a large percentage of their workforce, therefore we have seen our customers needing to replace, or supplement, their existing capabilities with interim solutions.  Although the move to mass home working has largely been an unplanned activity, many of our customers have observed a number…

The current COVID19 situation has shone a light on many an organisation’s ability to fulfil its customer contact centre obligations due to a lack of resilience, accessibility and capability to adequately operate under the unprecedented circumstances. Almost every customer-facing organisation has some form of contact centre offering. In fact, a recent study indicated there are approximately 6,000 contact centres housing 700,000 agents in the UK alone.