Trust is one of the most valuable qualities of digital experience. Customers are not going to spend money on new digital services or fully explore the digital world unless they feel confident that they, their activities, their business and their families are safe.
But trust in the digital world is rapidly being eroded. Scarcely a day goes by without news of another breach, a tearful customer whose ID or money has been stolen, or of a hospital, business or utility that’s been attacked or blackmailed. While bigger businesses have the time, resources and expertise to secure themselves against such threats, ordinary people and small businesses have been left exposed.
Many don’t have any cybersecurity protection at all – either because they don’t realise they need it, don’t feel like they have the expertise to select or install it, don’t know what to buy, or can’t afford it. Some customers go through the motions of buying cybersecurity software but undermine its effectiveness because they forget to install it on all their devices, don’t update it, allow licences to lapse, or don’t buy enough licences to cover everything.
This situtation is catastrophic for both connected customers themselves and the digital service providers who connect them. Because if connected customers don’t feel safe they will restrict what they do online, undermining the market for digital services.
Providing protection and assurance is a key opportunity for CSPs
Increased cyber risk is both a challenge and an opportunity for CSPs. If they do not ensure that customers feel safe and have a good quality experience, this will slow down adoption of digital services and affect both the value and time-to-revenue of core services. But the good news is that this is an opportunity to create a revenue-generating service that CSPs are ideally placed to provide.
After all, DSPs have in-depth knowledge of mobile handsets, laptops and other connected devices; but unlike most other cybersecurity vendors they also have far more knowledge of networks – both local area networks such as the home network, and wide area networks of all types – mobile, fixed line, cable, satellite, fibre and so on. This means they can secure network connections, gateways and equipment. By securing customer premises equipment (CPE), for example, they can secure all the devices and smart objects connected within the home.
Their control of, and knowledge of networks, also means they can detect and tackle many threats within the WAN before they even reach the customer – whether this is benign spam, malware, or DDoS that affects network performance. They can also keep protecting the customer as they move around the digital world – wherever they’re connected to the network.
Another key advantage that DSPs have is that they already have a billing relationship with their consumer and SME customers. This makes it easier for customers to buy and spread the cost of such a service – it just becomes another modest line item on their bill, reducing the number of supplier relationships they have to manage.
CSPs are already launching cybersecurity and assurance services aimed at households and SMEs
Unlike many new revenue streams that are currently being talked about by industry commentators, demand for these type of cybersecurity services is proven, not theoretical. A number of DSPs have already launched such services and experienced success with them, including Yoigo, which recently launched an ID protection service incorporating insurance against losses (see here), MEO (Altice Portugal) which launched a cybersecurity service including protection against malware, phishing, ransomware and cryptomining, as well as parental controls (see here) and IBASIS which launched a wholesale service to ensure MNOs are delivering assured and secured services to end customers (see here).
In fact, CSPs that have launched these type of services are seeing immediate uplifts to their ARPUs in the region of EUR1-2 per month. And as these services evolve, research from Coleman Parkes (CSP Security Survey: Trends in the US, Japan and LATAM’, September 2020) suggests households are willing to pay even more – up to USD5 per month. For a typical Tier 1 CSP this represents hundreds of millions of euros in much-needed and immediately-realisable new revenue.
CSP delivered cybersecurity and assurance as-a-service is creating a new category
Addressing the cybersecurity needs of small businesses, households and individuals as-a-service is a category of offering that Omnisperience terms CCAPS (connected customer assurance and protection services).
These type of services eliminate the gaps between siloed security applications, remove customer effort, and provide unobtrusive but effective protection for all devices, connections, personal data and activities. Importantly, they also add performance assurance, to ensure connected experiences meet evolving customer expectations.
CCAPS sit alongside enterprise cybersecurity solutions and plug the gap between the smart lifespace and smart workspace, protecting individuals, households, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), microbusinesses, nanobusinesses, and home workers. They’re an example of what Omnisperience calls a ‘network-plus service’, a specialist form of value-added service delivered by the network provider that adds a monetisable and differentiated element to a quality network experience.
Defining CCAPs
Connected Customer Assurance & Protection (CCAP) services are cybersecurity services delivered through the network, as a service, providing holistic protection and assurance for connected customers. These services are a hybridisation and evolution of B2C and small business solutions. Their aim is to provide better and affordable cybersecurity by automatically protecting devices, connections, activities, applications, data, identity and privacy, as customers navigate the connected world.
They do not replace, but sit alongside enterprise cybersecurity. However, they differ from enterprise cybersecurity solutions in 4 key aspects:
- they’re a specialist form of MSSP service delivered by the network provider not a third-party vendor
- they’re effortless and fully automated
- they’re targetted at, and affordable for, small businesses, individuals and households
- they combine the traditionally separate domains of cybersecurity, network assurance and privacy protection.
New paper
To find out more about CCAPs see our brand new paper: ‘Unleashing new revenues streams and boosting digital confidence with CCAPS’ which is available to download from: burnetseatte.com/research/