Latest news with #Amdocs
Finextra
a day ago
- Business
- Finextra
Why do customers and business leaders diverge on client experience views?
0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. Customers aren't 'buying' companies' improved customer experience (CX) claims or promises, and company leaders aren't buying the value of spending more to delight the customer. At least not in large percentages on either side of the commerce spectrum, according to a recent global study. When it comes to the leaders of the companies surveyed, responses to another question revealed a fundamental lack of understanding by many of them of the main purpose or definition of customer experience itself - prompting observers to ask: Do most business leaders even know what CX really is? How effectively current and future leaders respond to this question will likely determine how successful and mutually profitable a company - and its client relationships - will be. Not just differences, but pronounced disconnects shown in survey results There were substantial differences in viewpoints regarding client experience perceptions, effectiveness, and the importance (as judged by business leaders) of investing in and providing fulfilling experiences to their customers. These were just a few of the key findings that emerged from a recent survey by cloud consulting, digital engineering, and customer experience design firm Amdocs Studios. The company commissioned the outreach to almost 1,000 business leaders across 14 industries and 2,000 consumers in 14 countries in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North America to ask them a number of questions. All queries centred more or less around expectations and performance when it comes to client experience as detailed in the survey results, entitled 'CX20 Report: CX Without Illusions' and published a couple of months ago. Of course, this isn't the first such survey or analysis of client experience attitudes, needs, and trends. In addition to, for example, Forrester's annual CX Index and report, a recent Finextra community article by Chris Brown noted just how important focusing on customer experience can be for regulated industries like financial services with constantly changing rules. Especially for 'digital-first' clients from Gen Z age groups and likely those to follow, Brown wrote that 'By modernising CX strategies with the right tools, financial service providers can strike the right balance between meeting complex compliance needs and delivering standout customer journeys.' Digital transformation not really delivering for clients, with most AI tools yet unproven This may be true. The problem is, client surveys don't yet bear out that people using companies' products across many industries – no matter what their generation – truly feel better served by the 'modern' technology and tools that have been introduced. That applies to both financial services companies and organisations in other fields. In fact, many of these studies show that today's digital, online customer experience is perceived to be getting demonstrably worse than it used to be in 'standard' non-electronic interactions and environments. In financial services, early Gen AI applications, notably chatbots used as alternatives to speaking to a human for assistance or guidance, are appreciated by some and exasperate many others. Beyond such first-phase, often limited-scope and reduced-capability implementations of customer-facing AI technology, it's too soon to see how now-emerging Agentic AI solutions will fare in the marketplace. Agents are being tested and actively planned for rollout in many organisations. Their purpose in general is to supplant or aid humans to support many use cases and client interactions, ostensibly to enhance and extend traditional generative AI to enable 'autonomous decision-making, collaboration, and learning to revolutionise financial services.' Gaps across the board, more like chasms between perceptions of same issues As far as the Amdocs CX 20 report goes, it's not just about financial services, and in fact, Nikola Klacar, a senior researcher for the company, confirmed in an interview with Finextra that only around 10% of the company leaders it surveyed for the 2025 report were from the banking and financial services sector. However, given the frequent client interactions required and how prominent financial matters are in nearly everyone's lives, the findings of the survey are nonetheless searingly instructive. Individually and collectively, they raise powerful questions about client experience myth vs. reality - in an ever-evolving financial marketplace and amid ever-increasing customer expectations. The huge variances between group responses are the most fascinating part of the study. The CX20 framework narrowed down 20 gaps between companies and their customers into what they call five core 'experience gap' categories where differences found 'systematically undermine CX' of these relationships. Perceptual: when companies and customers see the experience differently Operational: Internal inefficiencies that negatively impact CX Technological: Innovation that fails to drive real outcomes Communication: Poorly managed touchpoints and messaging misalignment Data: Missed opportunities to leverage insights for CX measurement and improvement. To start with, the survey found that 80% of business leaders believe they're delivering a great customer experience, but only 24% of consumers responding agreed. This is puzzling, because while 92% of companies say CX is a "priority' and 88% say that positive client experience is critical to revenue growth, many of these same companies are clearly 'overlooking critical gaps that drive customers away.' Amdocs claims that this – per a 2024 study by Qualtrics - puts $3.8 trillion in sales at risk. Poor customer experiences, according to the same estimates, directly result in more than a third as much in annual business losses, and 'very poor CX' drives away hundreds of billions worth of customer revenues every year. Companies aren't convinced on how to fix things, even if they say they agree on the why It seems like the obvious solution – if it's judged to be so important to their revenue growth – is for companies to plan and invest to improve client experiences. Yet, astoundingly, of the same leaders asserting how vital a positive client experience is to their organisations' financial (and reputational) success, only 28% of them believe that CX is important to invest in. We asked Klacar for an explanation of why there is a huge disconnect between survey responses on the same topic, and he ventured that it likely reflects a combination of factors that influence the views of company leaders, including real and recent experience. One survey question addressed this issue, with 63% of business leaders admitting 'they aren't realising meaningful outcomes' from digital transformation, while 43% asserted 'the benefits' of such efforts 'don't justify the investment' required. 'I think a lot of digital transformation that they engaged with before hasn't panned out the way they thought it would,' Klacar explained, going on to note that inconsistent or unclear metrics might be the culprit, or simply that 'some executives just haven't been seeing the impact' or return on investment (ROI) expected – or promised - from digital innovation initiatives. There's also the problem of making assumptions, then making decisions based on those misapprehensions that exacerbate the problems of 'misplaced' or poorly designed new programs. 'Sometimes it just comes down to playing catch up, right? Let's say a company had a CX initiative. It didn't pan out. Now [company leaders] say, 'Let's quickly look to patch the problem with something else, and then just layer technology upon technology' or worse, they create siloes across the organisation to manage all the data, in different departments." Klacar said, 'customers might think these are all internal issues, but they do see them,' and if the measures don't deliver as expected for those customers, don't actually help them operate more efficiently, then the battle for a better customer experience is lost. Along with it, perhaps confidence by company leaders that more 'tries' to fix the failings involved would be worthwhile. Misunderstandings of fundamental concepts yield ineffective steps, inaction, unhappy clients A big part of the problem, the survey report asserts, is that 'leaders still don't get' that customer experience is not just 'customer service' as imagined in the past. 30% of business respondents still defined CX that way, and 48% failed to recognise that the true definition of customer experience includes the sum total of 'all brand interactions' clients have with the company. Predictably, businesses continue to make decisions based on incorrect assumptions as well as a limited understanding of the problems or failings their customers are facing with their products, services, and performance. With these telling findings exposed, it shouldn't be a surprise that most efforts to improve customer experience in an increasingly digital-forward world are treading water, at best. That signals an even bigger problem now and continuing into the future for customer retention and revenue growth, because another data point from the survey was that 85% of loyal customers will 'consider switching after repeated bad experiences' and further, that 54% of them may 'disengage' after 'just four or fewer' negative experiences with that company. Companies say AI is 'crucial' to CX success - customers? Not so much Many are now sounding calls and staking claims that new AI tools are the answer to solving the customer experience problem – for banks as well as other industries. Business leaders surveyed concurred: 85% of them agreed with the statement 'AI is crucial to CX success,' and more than two-thirds reported they are already using AI, with 27% planning to adopt AI tools and applications soon to improve their customer experience performance. But the survey findings illuminated yet another major disconnect: consumers aren't buying those lofty predictions or promises. Only 33% of them who responded are 'excited about AI improving their experiences' and 36% are 'indifferent' or not really sold one way or the other. 30% are outright 'concerned' that AI will hurt, rather than help them have a better customer journey. Loyalty, increased revenues reward companies that offer better customer experience What's at stake for those who 'do customer experience' right? One question in the survey asked about the rewards to companies for providing a great customer experience. 50% of respondents said they'd 'switch brands for better CX, even if it costs more,' and 67% and 60%, respectively, said they'd 'spend more' or 'recommend brands' based on positive customer experiences they'd had. On the flip side of this question's results, we wondered, is it true that only between 33% and 50% of customers are really concerned about customer experience – to the extent they'd either switch, spend, or refer others to a provider? Why is this cohort's 'bar' set so low for client experience expectations? Klacar surmised that there were perhaps three key reasons for this. 'First, they may feel they have no other options,' to replace the product or service in question. Second, 'financially, it's a good deal' for them, so they're willing to look the other way and accept less-than-stellar client experience performance to keep those cost advantages in play. The other key factor is not a big surprise in the financial services world, especially. 'It's painful, difficult, and sometimes also costly to change' bank accounts and relationships, Klacar pointed out. If companies think they have ample wiggle room to avoid investing money, time, or people in ratcheting up their customer experience efforts in meaningful ways, they might want to consider another finding from the survey: 80% of business leaders 'think they're delivering great CX' according to their responses, only 24% of customers surveyed agree, and 74% of them expect companies 'to be fully equipped to meet their needs,' yet are failing to do so. 'Satisficing' won't deliver wins, but improving CX, just might Who's going to fix this huge gap between customer experience reality, expectations, and perceptions? Klacar said it comes down to careful planning, continued commitment, and execution. Right now, he asserted, many companies are doing what he called 'satisficing' - or just finding short-term, 'patchwork' solutions that deliver experiences that are 'something between satisfying and satisfactory' to their customers. That won't suffice to bring long-term success to the client experience, nor preserve or grow company revenues. But improvements might start incrementally. 'It comes down to the executives in the company making decisions like 'we're going to eliminate the silos.' Everybody is going to implement these new procedures. It might come down to one department, showing what incremental gains [in customer experience] can really, really do' for the company as well. But ultimately, he concluded, 'It's everybody together, not just a single department or a single person making a choice,' but a company-wide culture change that's required.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amdocs' Dror Avrilingi on connecting AI to Quality Engineering
As financial services institutions ramp up their investment in Generative AI, they face challenges in realising its benefits. It is uncontroversial to advance the proposition that GenAI offers the potential to drive innovation, enhance data accuracy, streamline compliance processes and provide predictive benefits will empower financial institutions to make better decisions, improve operational efficiency, and offer more personalised customer experiences. In short, transform banking as we know it. But according to Dror Avrilingi, VP and Head of the QE and Data & GenAI Studios at Amdocs, the success of AI is dependent on one critical factor: quality engineering. He goes further. 'For the sake of the entire enterprise, you have to put quality engineering at the beginning of the strategy of implementing AI, not only at the end of it. He tells RBI that financial institutions that make quality engineering (QE) central to their AI strategies will surge ahead in the race to enjoy a return on their investment on GenAI. 'Quality engineering is all about building trust into a technology from the start. It's a mindset and a discipline that ensures every part of the digital experience and the software development life cycle works smoothly, securely and responsibly. Taking banking: we want to make sure that every ATM, app and chat bot works exactly as it should before any customer even touches it. 'When you need to test the data, you need to test the decision-making logic. You need to make sure that it behaves correctly, especially for real world cases. Basically without quality engineering, without testing, you are making decisions that might be biased especially when dealing with regulatory issues. Amdocs, a global leader in digital transformation working with financial institutions to engineer and deploy essential elements for next-generation financial services, has done its sums and reveals estimates as to the potential returns. Specifically, it reports that financial institutions leveraging the power of automated QE workflows are seeing near-term wins. These include a 50% improvement in test coverage optimisation, a 60% decrease in testing certification time, and 33% decrease in testing design time. The adaptation to AI is still in its early stages. Avrilingi stresses that it is critical for financial institutions to start on their GenAI roadmap with an effective quality strategy. It means integrating QE into GenAI processes from the start, with continuous testing that leverages GenAI. In the first phase, machine learning helps automate testing at a speed that matches AI-powered development. It also improves precision in test selection, boosting overall efficiency. FSIs that incorporate real-world AI value into QE workflows now will be better positioned to deploy market-leading, customer-facing use cases in the future. It starts by adopting a maturity model for GenAI QE and targeting baseline maturity as soon as possible. 'AI is pushing everyone one level up. Developers are not only just coding. The line between a developer and a tester, is actually blurring and the responsibility remains with both of them. A lot of organisations today are treating AI as a science experiment, because they want to explore. They want to explore AI and what it can offer. First of all, our top advice, treat it as a product. Don't treat it as a science experiment.' He says that banks looking to integrate AI into their ecosystem must ensure that it has the appropriate level of trust from all stakeholders. To give practical examples, GenAI has the potential to deliver the high-touch, personalised experience typical of private banking to every retail banking customer. AI assistants will help loan applicants select and apply for loans faster. Mass market segment customers will be able to use natural language to learn more about the pluses and minuses of different retirement-saving strategies. Amdocs traditionally excelled in the telecommunications sector. It is now leveraging its experience in highly regulated industries, especially in financial services. 'We are helping banks to modernise all the aspects of their business, from the data to cloud to quality engineering to customer experience. If you think about it, the banking sector has been held back by legacy systems. We are helping those institutions to overcome those constraints and modernise the technologies, modernise the databases. Amdocs' data-driven approach integrates insights back into banks' core systems, creating a value-led cloud journey that optimises costs and maximises returns. Banks want to accelerate product development. They want to enhance customer engagement. We've done this in telecommunications and we're doing this now in financial services.' "Amdocs' Dror Avrilingi on connecting AI to Quality Engineering" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From Generic to Verticalized: Amdocs Unveils a Standard for Skilled, Trustworthy Telco-Grade AI Agents
In collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA, whitepaper introduces a framework for telco-verticalized AI agents, emphasizing ontology, reasoning, simulation, trust and brand engineering JERSEY CITY, NJ / / June 16, 2025 / Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX), a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies, today unveiled a new standard defining what makes a telco AI agent an advanced, verticalized enterprise offering. In a whitepaper titled "AI Verticalization for Telcos," Amdocs presents an outline for telco-grade agents that are skilled, brand-engineered, trustworthy, and autonomous-capable of transforming how CSPs engage with customers and operate their networks. While the telecom sector has embraced generative AI at pace, many deployments fall short of true operational integration. This whitepaper defines a Telco-Grade Agent as one that is "verticalized"-deeply embedded with telco-specific skills, ontologies, and reasoning capabilities. These agents go beyond surface-level interactions, delivering network-aware, context-sensitive responses and executing intelligent decision-making rooted in domain expertise. "In the age of AI, the difference between automation and intelligence lies in specialization," said Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy at Amdocs. "Telco-grade agents aren't just smart-they're industry-native. They speak the language of networks, services, and customers, and they act with purpose. This framework ensures that CSPs don't just implement AI-they implement it right." Key aspects of a telco-specific AI agent include: Ontology is the Backbone of Telco Intelligence For AI agents to operate effectively in the telecommunications industry, they must understand the language, logic, and structure of telco systems. That's where ontology - a formal representation of domain knowledge that enables consistent data interpretation across platforms and tasks - becomes necessary. A well-defined telco ontology provides AI agents with a contextual understanding of service plans, technical specifications, billing structures, and customer interactions. To support this, a robust ingestion pipeline is needed-capable of handling a variety of data types that agents rely on, including real-time streams, time series data, and other structured and unstructured sources. By leveraging in-context learning and telco-specialized large language models (LLMs), agents gain advanced reasoning capabilities and adaptability. This structured framework ensures AI agents deliver accurate, relevant, and uniform responses, while allowing for seamless collaboration across systems and sub-agents. Autonomy and Predictive Reasoning That Works AI agents must operate with true autonomy-detecting issues, initiating actions, collaborating with other agents, and escalating to humans when needed-all before a customer ever reaches out. This shift from reactive support to proactive service unlocks measurable gains in efficiency and customer satisfaction. Beyond access to telco data, agents must be able to reason with it-applying domain-specific logic, workflows, and best practices to deliver decisions and actions aligned with industry expectations. This is what enables truly intelligent, telco-effective autonomy. Digital Twin and Simulation For operators, a digital twin is a real-time virtual replica of their physical network, designed to support reliable, data-driven decision-making. By continuously ingesting data and enabling high-fidelity simulations, it provides actionable insights that lead to trusted, efficient execution. Data, analytics, and AI/ML form the core foundation of any effective digital twin. Simulation plays a critical role by offering a safe and scalable environment to train and test AI agents. It allows agentic AI to learn complex decision-making, anticipate outcomes, adapt strategies, and operate autonomously-without real-world risk. When combined with a telecom network digital twin-fed in real time by data from base stations, routers, and user devices-this creates an autonomous network that can self-optimize, dynamically manage resources, and even self-heal. The result: improved performance, lower operational costs, and a significantly enhanced customer experience. Brand Engineering: Designing the Digital Face of the Enterprise As AI agents become the first touchpoint between companies and their customers-across industries, not just in telecom-how they sound, look, and respond carries real brand weight. Agents can't just be generic; they must embody the voice, tone, and personality of the brand in action. This shift matters because customers are paying attention. In a global study* commissioned by Amdocs in collaboration with McCann Tech agency and Coleman Parkes, 80% of consumers said they trust AI agents to resolve service issues, and 60% believe AI can positively shape their perception of a brand-when done right. That trust isn't automatic; it's earned through intentional design, from the agent's voice and visual presence to the way it behaves and adapts to each interaction. Trust Can't Be Trivial Enterprise-grade Agents must also possess robust non-functional capabilities. These horizontal capabilities encompass crucial aspects like trust and security, which are fundamental to the reliability and effectiveness of GenAI solutions in the telecommunications sector. By integrating these horizontal attributes, telco agents not only enhance their service delivery but also ensure that operations are secure, compliant, and trustworthy, thereby fostering stronger customer relationships and confidence. Ongoing Collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA Amdocs continues to work closely with NVIDIA to integrate NVIDIA's full-stack AI foundry service - a collection of NVIDIA AI Foundation Models, NVIDIA NeMo™ framework and tools, and NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud that gives enterprises an end-to-end solution for creating custom generative AI models - with Amdocs' generative AI offering, amAIz Suite. The collaboration has focused on harnessing generative AI to transform customer experiences, network automation and deliver operational efficiencies. Amdocs leveraged NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud on AWS to test and tune multiple models, while using NVIDIA NIM microservices, a part of the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, to rapidly deploy models for seamless, scalable inference with industry-standard APIs. Amdocs has partnered with AWS to build enterprise-grade, cloud-native AI solutions that deliver production-ready capabilities for communication service providers (CSPs). Through this collaboration, Amdocs' amAIz Suite integrates the comprehensive generative AI stack of AWS-including Amazon Bedrock for foundation model access, AWS purpose-built data services for real-time processing, and scalable cloud infrastructure-to enable telco-grade agents that meet the critical requirements for enterprise AI: adaptability, scalability, data integration, and adherence to privacy and security standards. Amdocs, AWS, and NVIDIA have demonstrated several collaborations that show the real-world impact of GenAI in telecom. The first, presented at Digital Transformation World Asia, explored how GenAI can enhance billing and customer care and sales experiences. The second, unveiled at Mobile World Congress Barcelona and NVIDIA GTC, introduced a framework for autonomous network operations through intelligent network agents. Amdocs will be demonstrating its joint AI agent solutions with NVIDIA at TM Forum's Digital Transformation World Ignite in Copenhagen, June 17-19, 2025. *Survey, interviews and focus groups of 120 CSP leaders and 7,025 consumers aged 18-69 in 14 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. Supporting Resources Download the whitepaper, AI Verticalization for Telcos Read the blog, Amdocs Leads the Charge in Telecom AI Innovation Through Strategic NVIDIA Collaboration Learn more about Amdocs amAIz Suite Keep up with Amdocs news by visiting the company's website Follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube About Amdocs Amdocs helps those who build the future to make it amazing. With our market-leading portfolio of software products and services, we unlock our customers' innovative potential, empowering them to provide next-generation communication and media experiences for both the individual end user and enterprise customers. Our employees around the globe are here to accelerate service providers' migration to the cloud, enable them to differentiate in the 5G era, and digitalize and automate their operations. Listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Amdocs had revenue of $5.00 billion in fiscal 2024. For more information, visit Amdocs' Forward-Looking Statement This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs' growth and business results in future quarters and years. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general macroeconomic conditions, prevailing level of macroeconomic, business and operational uncertainty, including as a result of geopolitical events or other regional events or pandemics, changes to trade policies including tariffs and trade restrictions, as well as the current inflationary environment, and the effects of these conditions on the Company's customers' businesses and levels of business activity, including the effect of the current economic uncertainty and industry pressure on the spending decisions of the Company's customers. Amdocs' ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs' ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company's products and services obsolete, security incidents, including breaches and cyberattacks to our systems and networks and those of our partners or customers, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, our ability to successfully and effectively implement artificial intelligence and Generative AI in the Company's offerings and operations, and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, Amdocs specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in Amdocs' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, filed on December 17, 2024, and our Form 6-K furnished for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 on February 18, 2025, and for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 on May 19, 2025. Media Contacts Michael ZemaAmdocs Public RelationsMzema@ SOURCE: Amdocs Management Limited View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Fusion Of 5G And Fiber Broadband: Building The Nervous System Of A New Digital Era
Abhishek Singh, Technology and Customer Business Executive at Amdocs, with 20+ years in IT, telecom, and network leadership. For years, 5G wireless and fiber broadband were treated as separate revolutions—each promising to transform industries in its own right. As I've watched the industry evolve, one thing has become clear: These two forces are converging into a single, dynamic foundation for the next digital era. We are not simply improving connectivity. We're laying down the nervous system of a new economy—one where speed, responsiveness and ubiquity become the baseline expectation. From what I've observed across multiple deployments and initiatives, the convergence of fiber and 5G is catalytic. Together, they're setting the stage for innovations we can barely imagine today. It's easy to think of 5G as a wireless marvel—fast, seamless, everywhere. Beneath the surface, however, every wireless experience relies on fiber. Fiber provides the high-capacity, low-latency backbone that 5G demands. Without dense fiber networks connecting small cells and towers, 5G would struggle to deliver the speed and reliability it's known for. This is true whether you're talking about high-band 5G lighting up city streets or low- and mid-band 5G covering rural areas. Wherever there's 5G, there's fiber doing the heavy lifting. Historically, fiber broadband and wireless networks grew up on separate paths. Broadband served homes and businesses. Wireless met the growing hunger for mobile data. As technology blurs the line between "fixed" and "mobile," building two separate infrastructures no longer makes sense. Today, forward-looking cities, carriers and enterprises are investing in integrated builds—laying fiber with future 5G expansion in mind. They're rethinking rights-of-way, small cell placement and access points to create networks that are not only faster but fundamentally more resilient. In my experience, the players who recognize this shift early—and design infrastructure with convergence at the core—will be the ones who lead. One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that this convergence only matters in major metros. In reality, rural and underserved areas stand to gain the most. Fiber alone can be expensive in low-density areas. Wireless alone can fall short without fiber-grade backhaul. Smart hybrid deployments of fiber-fed 5G can bridge the digital divide faster and more sustainably than ever before. This isn't just about faster internet. It's about enabling remote healthcare, precision agriculture, decentralized energy grids and new kinds of digital businesses in places that were previously left behind. When we think about converged infrastructure, it's easy to focus on today's benefits—better streaming, faster apps, smoother video calls. However, history shows us that the real breakthroughs come later. Just like 4G and broadband enabled the app economy, the fusion of fiber and 5G will be the launchpad for industries we can't fully predict yet—immersive AI-driven worlds, smart autonomous systems and real-time decentralized marketplaces, to name just a few. The most important lesson I've learned over 20 years in this industry is that infrastructure drives innovation. Build the right foundation, and extraordinary things follow. While the fusion of fiber broadband and 5G holds immense promise, several barriers could hinder its widespread adoption—especially across diverse geographies and economic landscapes. Deploying dense fiber networks to support small-cell 5G is capital-intensive and logistically complex, particularly in suburban and rural areas. The costs of trenching, permitting and last-mile connections can stall progress where it's needed most. Without broader public-private partnerships or policy support, equitable access remains a challenge. Many organizations still operate fiber and 5G infrastructures independently. This siloed approach increases complexity and limits agility. For the full benefits of convergence to be realized, service providers will need to modernize operations, unify platforms and adopt open, interoperable network architectures. As networks become more software-defined and distributed, the surface area for cyberthreats expands. A converged fiber-5G backbone must be built with embedded security—leveraging AI-based monitoring, zero-trust architectures and real-time anomaly detection. Energy usage from both high-capacity fiber and dense 5G deployments is a growing concern. Operators must balance performance with sustainability by optimizing power consumption and integrating greener infrastructure practices. To fully realize the value of fiber-fed 5G, the industry must take coordinated action by driving standardization, fostering cross-sector collaboration, advocating for supportive policy and designing networks with future connectivity demands in mind. These steps are crucial to ensure the benefits of this convergence are inclusive, resilient and scalable for years to come. Ultimately, the societies and companies that invest in converged fiber and 5G networks are betting on their future competitiveness. They're setting themselves up to lead whatever comes next. In a world where connectivity defines opportunity, infrastructure truly is destiny—and convergence is essential. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Services Stocks with Questionable Fundamentals
Business services providers use their specialized expertise to help enterprises streamline operations and cut costs. But cutbacks in corporate spending and the threat of new AI products have kept sentiment in check, and over the past six months, the industry has tumbled by 10.9%. This drawdown was worse than the S&P 500's 3.3% fall. A cautious approach is imperative when dabbling in these companies as many are also sensitive to the ebbs and flows of the broader economy. With that said, here are three services stocks we're passing on. Market Cap: $2.35 billion Evolving from its roots in IT staffing to become a high-end technology consulting powerhouse, ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) provides specialized IT consulting services and staffing solutions to Fortune 1000 companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Why Is ASGN Risky? Annual sales declines of 6.7% for the past two years show its products and services struggled to connect with the market during this cycle Sales were less profitable over the last two years as its earnings per share fell by 11.6% annually, worse than its revenue declines Capital intensity has ramped up over the last five years as its free cash flow margin decreased by 5.1 percentage points ASGN's stock price of $53.55 implies a valuation ratio of 10.6x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with ASGN, check out our full research report (it's free). Market Cap: $10.16 billion Powering the digital experiences of approximately 400 communications companies worldwide, Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX) provides software and services that help telecommunications and media companies manage customer relationships, monetize services, and automate network operations. Why Do We Pass on DOX? New orders were hard to come by as its average backlog growth of 1.6% over the past two years underwhelmed Sales are projected to tank by 3.5% over the next 12 months as demand evaporates further 4.6 percentage point decline in its free cash flow margin over the last five years reflects the company's increased investments to defend its market position At $90.69 per share, Amdocs trades at 12.5x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why DOX doesn't pass our bar. Market Cap: $4.08 billion With nearly 50 years of experience translating public policy into operational programs that serve millions of citizens, Maximus (NYSE:MMS) provides operational services, clinical assessments, and technology solutions to government agencies in the U.S. and internationally. Why Does MMS Fall Short? Demand is forecasted to shrink as its estimated sales for the next 12 months are flat Free cash flow margin shrank by 5.9 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive Shrinking returns on capital from an already weak position reveal that neither previous nor ongoing investments are yielding the desired results Maximus is trading at $72.40 per share, or 11.3x forward P/E. If you're considering MMS for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more. Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
