The business drivers for developing and deploying cloud-native software are clear. Communications service providers (CSPs) want to gain the flexibility and speed advantages that webscale companies have when bringing new products and services to market. Adopting their cloud-native way of building software is key to achieving this goal. In addition, CSPs’ vendors, from BSS/OSS suppliers to network function owners, are developing their products using a cloud-native approach. CSPs need to become both familiar with cloud-native software and skilled in its production and deployment so that they can rapidly introduce innovation to their customers, regardless of whether they have developed such software in-house or procured it from a vendor.

The use of cloud-native software accelerates the rate at which a business can respond to the market. Cloud-native software therefore represents the next big wave of change for CSPs’ employees, processes and technologies. CSPs need to ensure that their approach to cloud-native software development and deployment is right to minimize their risk. It is not feasible to adopt a new way and velocity of working overnight, so instead they must start small and transform their development and operational teams gradually, applying best practices from the outset. On the other hand, CSPs cannot afford to delay. Their peers and competitors outside the telecoms industry already have, or are acquiring, cloud-native software capabilities. Without these capabilities, CSPs will be unable to maximize the benefits of the next generation of operations and network-based software components that are already available to them today and which will underpin 5G service opportunities in the future.