Digital Transformation World Series, London, UK — The TM Forum has wrapped up the live broadcast of its ground-breaking Digital Transformation World Series conference, which made history as the largest gathering of members in the organization’s history, and the biggest digital telco event of the year.

With over 8,000 attendees from 157 countries and 300+ speakers, the six-week Festival of Collaboration included 175+ hours of live and on-demand content from 120 sessions. Key statistics from the event include:

• 6,400+ communications service provider (CSP) attendees (81%)
• 1,500+ CSP vice presidents and above
• 418 unique CSP companies attended
• 157 countries represented
• 152 companies collaborated on 32 Catalyst proof of concept projects and demos

Embracing digital-first

The six-week Digital Transformation World Series – a ‘Festival of Collaboration’ – featured many firsts, including a highly interactive CxO Summit that attracted more than 100 industry leaders. TM Forum created the digital series in response to industry needs at a critical moment for global telecoms, according to Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum.

“Because our members were not able to meet in person all year, our primary goal was to provide a collaborative, digital experience that brought the industry together to inspire and accelerate collaboration and knowledge-sharing, which is vital for the industry to thrive in the decade ahead,” he said.

“We have seen a 25% increase in engagement of our members since the start of 2020, with a remarkable increase in collaboration, despite being physically apart,” added Willetts. “I’d like to thank our sponsors, speakers and member professionals for their support, creativity and loyalty – all of which made creating an event that raises the bar for our industry possible.”

Digital Transformation World Series content, including Catalyst proof-of-concept demos and presentations, will be available through November 20, 2020. CSPs are still eligible for complimentary passes through that date. Register and watch the event here.

Festival of Collaboration results

During the conference, TM Forum members have been hard at work in the latest collaborative sprints. Cross-industry teams made substantial progress on a number of high-priority projects that align with TM Forum’s six strategic themes and focus on key challenges, such as:

AI, Data & Analytics

• AI Checklist Cards for guidance on AI procurement, development, deployment and end-of-life
• An updated whitepaper on AI Operations: A practical framework for AI-driven operations in the telecom industry and three new AIOps processes for release management, acceptance testing and incident management

Autonomous Networks

• A whitepaper on Autonomous Networks: Empowering Digital Transformation For Smart Societies and Industries, which details progress made on creating an industry standard framework for autonomous networks, and outlines the simplified network infrastructure and self-X operating capabilities needed

Beyond Connectivity

• Kicked off a new connectivity-as-a-service project that builds essential suites and playbooks focused on quickly and simply scaling connectivity

Cloud Native IT & Agility

• Six new Open APIs focused on service catalog, privacy, service test, geographic site, communication and party interaction
• Commencement of a new cloud native reference implementation and test platform for Open Digital Architecture (ODA) components under a new Component Accelerator initiative, which will drive a new, agile software model for the industry, ultimately replacing RFPs with a more effective way of selecting, validating and deploying telecoms software. The project is open for new members until the beginning of December. Email [email protected] to get involved.

Digital Experience & Trust

• A new Customer Experience Maturity Model helps organizations map their customer experience, identify areas of improvement and put customers at the center of their business activities
• A whitepaper on Gamification and Continuous Communication with Customers provides an overview of gamification concepts and their application in various industries (for members only)

The Human Factor

• A new Diversity & Inclusion Maturity Model to enable organizations to set a baseline from which to monitor growth and effectiveness of their programs and initiatives and provide industry best practices. Contact Vicky Sleight to get involved: [email protected] um.org