The conference season has been in full swing across all industries over the past few months. I would like to highlight some key takeaways from one of the biggest and most important conferences in the communications, media, and technology (CMT) industry: the Mobile World Congress (MWC).

MWC, held in both Las Vegas and Barcelona this year, showcases the “Power Of Mobility” every year. This year was a great event that brought together various technology, communications, wireless, and mobile leaders and experts to discuss the latest trends and innovations in the industry.

As you can imagine, there are countless innovations going on right now in this space. Without creating an unruly twenty-page blog, I wanted to boil it down to a manageable number of highlights that are arguably the most impactful now and for 2024. Here are some of the key takeaways at a glance from the event:

Customer Experience: CX leaders emphasized the importance of providing personalized experiences for end-users to maintain competitiveness in the industry. “Telcos” and “technos” need to prioritize CX to reinvent their business models and stay relevant in a quickly evolving industry.
Immersive Tech and Experiences: Immersive technology was a massive trend this year at MWC23, with widespread interest in AR/VR gaming, the metaverse, and more. As advanced technologies enable new touchpoints on the customer journey and business models begin to adapt, an immersive experience in an extended reality offers enterprises quite literally another realm in which to interact with their customers.
Artificial Intelligence: Major chip companies, telecommunication operators, and more are showing off technologies related to “generative AI.” According to a survey conducted by AWS, half of telcos reported that they plan to integrate generative AI in the next two years if they haven’t already, moving at an unprecedented pace in the telco industry.
5G: The era of 5G makes it possible for telecom operators to use different suppliers for different parts of the network, opening immense new possibilities, especially in B2B. A key theme was to see how 5G is emerging as a viable alternative to fixed connectivity in many instances.
Cloud Technology: Discussions and innovations associated with cloud technology focused on edge computing, green computing, AI, data, enterprise cloud, and the necessity for carriers to evolve their infrastructure stacks to more open and flexible models. It was evident that cloud technology will have a significant impact on the industry in the future.
Ecosystem / “Open”: Telcos are looking to deepen the enterprise market by partnering with hyperscalers and building industry ecosystems. This creates more choices in the ecosystem with the potential to unlock new revenue streams.
Sustainability: “Aware” companies are becoming conscious of their usage of resources and the efficiency of their business processes and are only now starting to use technology to alter the process flow to achieve greater efficiency.

As you can gather from the above, MWC 2023 provided valuable insights into the latest trends and innovations in the CMT industry. The event highlighted the importance of customer experience, immersive technology, artificial intelligence, 5G, ecosystem, cloud, and sustainability. These are all areas where Perficient has experience and strength.

I am thrilled about the future of the communications, media, and technology industry. At Perficient, we collaborate with our clients daily to carve out the most efficient and successful path forward and implement industry solutions through our team of subject matter experts and technologists.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into the above takeaways from MWC 2023 or would like to understand how our CMT industry expertise can benefit your business, contact us today.  Let’s work together to strengthen your position in the market.