Today’s consumers aren’t just browsing; they’re seeking thrilling in-the-moment, tailored experiences. Brands, retailers? They’re not just advertising; they’re crafting unforgettable moments that make consumers sit up, take notice and purchase – whether in a retail, event management or social media context. This evolution places significant demand on digital infrastructure and new technologies like immersive and augmented reality.
Enter telecommunications. Communications service providers (CSPs) continue to expand investment in 5G SA (standalone) and edge networks. As these investments gain traction, they’re poised to enhance interactive digital commerce services by embedding network capabilities into groundbreaking partnerships.
As part of a TM Forum catalyst project, Aria joined forces with leading tech companies to create the POP! Marketplace, a blueprint for a B2B2X marketplace environment. In our catalyst story, CSPs emerge as superheroes. They act as bridges linking retailers, influencers, and advanced technology solutions (like augmented reality), providing digital experiential services as frictionless as-a-service offerings, supercharged by high-performance networks. This places all stakeholders directly within an exhilarating revenue-sharing journey.
However, our hero faces obstacles. CSPs are challenged with onboarding the right partners to their network and creating an environment conducive to mutual growth and value sharing. The telecom industry requires a CSP-managed platform where edge-based or network performance dependent products shine and monetization models are collaboratively curated, allowing businesses to access them in a cost-efficient and seamless manner.
At Digital Transformation World 2023 in Copenhagen, the catalyst team demonstrated their vision for the POP! Marketplace. This innovative platform enables CSPs to collaborate with technology partners, offering an intuitive B2B2X marketplace to introduce new edge and network-enhanced services. Harnessing the TM Forum Open API standards, the team showcased how the POP! Marketplace can deploy and monetize these partnered solutions, sparking new revenue streams and maximizing returns from 5G and edge investments.
On this platform, enterprises can effortlessly explore and procure products from CSPs, as-a-service. Order-to-cash cycles, provisioning and monetization of applications – including utilizing Amazon’s supply chain APIs for tangible product deliveries – are all automated to scale the marketplace. The marketplace notably facilitates zero-touch order and deployment, network-as-a-service (NaaS) application QoS management, efficient supply chain management, real-time service metering, and new dynamic monetization models.
Moreover, the POP! Marketplace’s potential extends to more than just experiential commerce. It offers live tutorials, enabling consumers to familiarize themselves with new products, fostering trust and building transparent, long-term relationships.
Aria played a significant role in the creation of the POP! Marketplace blueprint by crafting revenue-sharing and market monetization models, positioning CSPs as intermediaries between enterprises and application vendors, enabling them to move up the value chain. We partnered with some of the largest brands in the industry, including AWS, Bell Canada, Concertia, Lightstorm, Nokia, Salesforce, Summit Tech and Vodafone, to deliver an end-to-end operation marketplace demonstration.
The experiential commerce market is expected to reach nearly $300 billion within the next five years. By demonstrating the POP! Marketplace’s capability to empower CSPs to derive value from their network investments and connect partners with businesses eager to digitalize consumer experiences, the catalyst team earned the Outstanding Catalyst for Business Impact Award. They were also nominated for the Outstanding Catalyst for Business Growth Award.
To delve deeper into how the POP! Marketplace can assist CSPs in curating edge digital services markets, and to explore Aria’s contributions to this award-winning catalyst initiative, visit the catalyst project page.
