New growth rules for the communications industry

Trash the Rulebook—flip to new growth models

Accenture’s Global Communications and Media Industry Lead, Francesco Venturini outlines the challenges—and the incredible opportunities—for the industry to build on its strong heritage and flip to a choice of new growth models.

The rules have changed

The industry is being squeezed from all sides. Top-line growth is stalling. Revenues have levelled off. Customers are finding new ways to engage, digitally and digital disruptors are undermining the traditional base of services.

Scaling new growth is a deliberate and perpetual change journey, not a single event

1. Transform the core business by building more competitive cost structures to improve flexibility, increase profits, and drive up investment capacity.
2. Grow the core business by redirecting some of that investment capacity to drive incremental growth in the core business.
3. Scale new business while identifying new sustainable business models which leverage and monetize key control points and scale them (at the risk of core business cannibalization).
4. Pivot wisely by keeping an eye on pace and balance. The “core” and “new” businesses usually need to co-exist for a substantial period of time.

New models for B2B and B2C growth

Success demands a departure from today’s models and competencies if CSPs are to scale new growth models. In the long term, we see there being two key growth scenarios for CSPS. Each scenario needs distinctively different skills and capabilities, as well as divergent investment priorities and value creation logic.