The Enterprise of the Future: IBM Global CEO Study - Telecom Industry Edition

In the IBM Global CEO Study , "The Enterprise of the Future," we spoke with 1,130 business and public sector leaders worldwide to understand their perspectives on strategic issues such as new and changing customers, global integration and business model innovation. In this edition, we examine more closely the implications for telecom companies.

Telecom CEOs are acutely aware of the need for change, but unsure how to make change work. How can they replace falling voice telephony revenues and fend off new rivals?

Telecom CEOs anticipate a period of even greater change than their peers in most other industries. Eighty-seven percent expect significant changes in the next three years, compared with 83 percent of the total survey population. However, they are no better at managing change than CEOs in other sectors. So the gap between those who foresee substantial changes and those who have managed change successfully in previous years is also larger than it is in the overall sample.

Moreover, that gap is growing; indeed, it has more than doubled since 2006, when we conducted our last Global CEO Study. Two-thirds of telecom respondents still worry about market factors, technological challenges and regulatory issues. But a
considerable number are also increasingly concerned about the shortage of talent (36 percent), the macro-economic climate (21 percent) and globalization (19 percent).

To read the full report, download the PDF file at the top of this page