Autonomous Networks: A Reality Check

Here’s the truth: making the network autonomous isn’t optional anymore; the competitive pressure is real:

1. Commercial: There’s the sheer business impact. If your CFO or CEO knows that a competitor is reducing operational costs by 20 to 40%, questions will be asked. If your network is still sitting at Level 1, and you know your competitor is hitting Level 4, what’s your plan? How are you going to compete? Where do you need to invest? Where is your cost advantage?
2. Momentum: TM Forum and its AN levels and validation methodology have created momentum that’s impossible to ignore. We’ve already validated over 55 assessments across 11 domains. We’ve got demonstration platforms showing real-life capabilities with wall-to-wall fault management, 5G dynamic slice management, and intelligent network resource allocation. Then there are the AN Labs running constantly within our Member R&D centers, proving what’s possible.
3. Simpler Pathway to Change:  The solution path is getting clearer. Vendors and system integrators (SIs) are offering Level 4 capabilities as managed services. They’re showing up to operators at Level 1 and saying, “We’ve built Level 4 fault management. We can deliver it for you.”

Act Now Before Your Competitors Steal a March

Let me be direct: if you’re not moving toward autonomous networks, you’re betting against the future.

Every organization that moves to Level 4 takes complexity and costs out of their business by saving thousands of operational manual hours. Those first global operators achieving Level 4, such as China Mobile, are already on their way to extreme operational efficiency. We’re talking about service quality improvements that become the customer experience differentiators within a competitive marketplace. So, if you’re not moving fast, your competitors will be, and that’s not a comfortable position to be in.

Autonomous networks also enable growth opportunities by enabling new services and monetization opportunities that simply weren’t possible before, such as dynamic slicing with boost buttons, on-demand capacity, and pay-for-performance services. These aren’t theoretical anymore; they’re real revenue opportunities.

TM Forum Autonomous Networks Mission Is Delivering the Future, Faster

The question for your organization isn’t whether to move; it’s how fast! And, how much of your network can you automate at Level 4?

TM Forum’s autonomous network collaboration projects allow the whole industry to come together and define how to deliver autonomous networks. Our Catalysts projects are constantly innovating and building proofs of concepts (POC), and our Innovation Hub Pioneer projects take these POC to the next level of detailed implementation, all based on the Open Digital Architecture (ODA) as their foundation.

The momentum is already at the tipping point. The technology works, the business case is proven, and we have simplified the pathway to implementation:

• Step 1: Understand. Start with the high-value scenarios (HVS), map them out to set clear AN goals, and break them down into actionable steps.
• Step 2: Evaluate. Complete for your domain or service to assess your network’s current level of autonomy for your key business scenarios.
• Step 3: Validate (optional). Get your evaluation results independently validated through our new AN Level Assessment Validation service to ensure you have correctly used the AN Levels Evaluation tools methodology evaluation and questionnaire methodology.
• Step 4: Implement. Use the solution packs to guide your transformation with proven CSP-led approaches across objectives, metrics, architecture, and processes.
• Step 5: Grow Your Impact (optional). Join the Autonomous Networks Project to shape future AN standards.

The evidence is overwhelming. The path is clear. The only question left is not whether the technology works, but whether organizations have the courage and discipline to implement it.

Be Part of the Transformation