DTW 2022: TM Forum Excellence Awards
This year's TM Forum's Excellence Awards recognized digital transformation, business and IT agility, advances in customer centricity, cross-industry partnering and collaboration, as well as product and service innovation by telcos and their partners worldwide.
Some of the winning entries include AI-based replacement for conventional 4G/5G field tests, automation of the delivery of complex edge solutions, financial services and work to make data centers and networks greener.
The winners in each category were:
- AI, data & insights - Nokia & China Unicom for an AI-driven Smart Wireless Analysis Tool (SWAT), an AI-based replacement for conventional 4G/5G field tests yielding impressive benefits.
- Autonomous operations - Telstra & Ericsson for an Orchestration (Ordering and Orchestration Management) of hybrid services in a NaaS Architecture, automating the delivery of complex edge solutions for enterprise customers, demonstrating the power of Network-as-a-Service.
- Beyond Connectivity - Viettel Money for bringing mobile payments and financial services to the unbanked, with 20 million users.
- Cloud native IT & networks - Axiata Digital Labs for Axonect Hybrid/Multi cloud orchestrator, which enables Axiata Digital Transformation by providing a consistent platform to generate efficiencies and create monetization opportunities across multiple Axiata Group operating companies
- Customer Experience and Trust - there were two joint winners i) Openserve for its Connect App, which gives consumers direct access to support on the wholesale broadband network. and ii) Nokia & China Mobile for Proactive home broadband customer experience management, which improves broadband services by using AI to optimize and customer experience-based KPIs.
- Human Factor - Vodafone Turkey, which used customer Experience to improve employee engagement and grow business value, including organizational innovations to support digital transformation and optimization of network operations using common customer experience KPIs across departments.
- Sustainable development - Huawei & China Mobile, for making networks and data centers greener with a wide range of innovative applications.
TM Forum also recognized the outstanding contribution of three individuals:
- Guy Lupo of Australia's NBNCo won the Distinguished Fellowship award for his work in Cloud Native Networks projects.
- Steve Harrop of Vodafone took home the Distinguished Engineer award for his important work in rolling out the Open API Project, making Vodafone ODA compliant.
- Lester Thomas of Vodafone took home the John P Reilly Award winner for his innovative contribution to TM Forum for the past ten years, including Open Digital Architecture (ODA).
You can also listen to Camille Mendler, Chief Analyst, Service Provider Enterprise, Omdia, and head external judge of this year's TM Forum's Excellence Awards, who gave her behind-the-scenes insight into the judging process and shares which category provoked the most debate between judges.