“Professional services have evolved many times before, but none of those transitions has been as abrupt as this one.”

Professional services have long been the connective tissue of telecom IT, binding multi-vendor BSS estates together through successive eras of ad hoc integration, prime SI contracts and managed services. AI now challenges the effort-based model on which that business was built. This Appledore Research note examines how AI is reshaping BSS implementation and who stands to gain or lose.

We assess where AI bites hardest across the BSS delivery lifecycle and how it shifts the balance between CSPs, product vendors and systems integrators. We also examine the rapid rise of forward deployed engineering, now backed by some of the largest technology companies, and give our view of what it means for telecom. Our assessment covers how the pressure falls unevenly across four types of provider.

The note is written for CSP IT and procurement leaders rethinking their sourcing strategy, and for vendors, SIs and consultancies deciding how to reposition their services business.

Companies mentioned in this report: Amazon, Amdocs, Anthropic, Infosys, Microsoft, NEC/Netcracker, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, TCS and Totogi.