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AI-Driven Network Operations and Maintenance

Hyder Aftab — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation discusses how telecom operators in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (META) are navigating a shift from legacy operations and maintenance (O&M) practices toward AI-driven and autonomous network operations. IDC survey data from META operators show that integration complexity and high operating costs are the top OSS/BSS pain points, while increasing AI and automation capabilities consistently emerge as a key investment driver across O&M domains. Opex reduction and service quality improvement top the list of operators' AI initiative goals. AIOps adoption reflects a market in transition; the majority of operators report partial adoption, with tools deployed at the domain level rather than as integrated cross-domain platforms. GenAI engagement is broad across all use cases surveyed, though production deployment rates remain modest, consistent with a market where POC and implementation activity is ahead of full-scale rollout.

Progress toward Level 4 autonomous operations varies by network domain. RAN shows the greatest advances, while core networks and datacenter environments are in the earlier stages — reflecting multi-vendor complexity and legacy dependencies. Deployments at STC, MTN, and China Mobile provide reference points for what autonomous O&M delivers at scale — including reduced fault resolution times, higher network reliability, and energy savings — with unified orchestration platforms as the common enabler in each case. OSS/BSS interoperability remains the most cited integration barrier, with implications for service assurance, GenAI, and agentic AI adoption timelines. Vendors that address cross-domain integration, align with open standards (e.g., TMF Open APIs and CAMARA), and adapt solution design to the maturity differences between markets in the Gulf and the broader MEA region are well-positioned for the next phase of operator investment.

IDC Market Glance: Unified Communications and Collaboration, 1Q26

Jitesh Gera, Denise Lund — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Glance depicts how IDC defines the market segments of the worldwide unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) market and indicates some of the players in each of these segments. It also defines and identifies the key players in the market segments adjacent to the UC&C market, which are closely related to business communications.

IDC Survey Spotlight: How Are European Businesses Reshaping Their Meeting Rooms?

Graham Fruin — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines data from IDC's 2025 European Enterprise Communications and Collaboration Survey, which shows that across Europe, enterprises prefer smaller meeting rooms but indicate a need for larger and more sophisticated meeting environments.

IDC Survey: IDC's Enterprise Communications Services Survey, 2025 — Preferences for Deployment Models and Vendors

Jitesh Gera, Denise Lund — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey examines the current and future state of enterprise unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) adoption among midsize and large organizations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Based on responses from 500 decision-makers involved in networking and communications strategy, the research explores deployment models, vendor usage, migration intentions, and the key factors influencing UC&C purchasing decisions. The findings highlight the ongoing shift toward hybrid and cloud-based communications environments, growing interest in platform consolidation, and the importance of reliability, integrations, and emerging AI capabilities in shaping enterprise UC&C strategies.

Enterprise Connect 2026: AI Pushes Enterprise Communications Toward a CX-First Future

Jitesh Gera, Wayne Kurtzman, Denise Lund, Michelle Morgan — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note discusses Enterprise Connect 2026. Enterprise Connect 2026 underscored a shift in enterprise communications from productivity-focused tools to AI-driven execution platforms. Vendors highlighted agentic AI as the central theme, emphasizing autonomous workflows, integrated systems, and measurable business outcomes — particularly in customer experience (CX). The market is increasingly moving toward verticalized, specialized AI solutions, positioning communications platforms as intelligent engines for both execution and CX transformation.

European Enterprise Communication Service Provider Profile: AT&T Business

Masarra Mohamed — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation provides an in-depth analysis of AT&T Business’ strategy, operations, and market positioning in the enterprise communications sector. It begins with IDC’s view, highlighting AT&T’s focus on delivering secure, scalable global connectivity and enabling digital transformation for multinational corporations. It first provides an overview of AT&T Business’ organizational structure, leadership team, and strategic priorities, emphasizing its role as a network-enabled technology provider integrating connectivity, edge computing, and cybersecurity. It then examines financial performance, noting the shift toward next-generation connectivity, which now accounts for 60% of AT&T Business Solutions’ revenue, despite overall revenue pressure from legacy declines. The presentation also assesses AT&T Business’ competitive positioning compared with Europe-headquartered telcos. It also details AT&T’s global infrastructure assets, portfolio, partner ecosystem, and go-to-market and messaging strategies, which enable the company to deliver consistent managed services across more than 200 countries. Finally, IDC recommends that AT&T enhance marketing visibility, promote its NetBond platform, and leverage automation and AI to expand beyond traditional large multinational corporations.

European Telco Diversification Beyond Connectivity and Devices in the SMB Market

Daniela Rao — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective focuses on European telcos' digital solutions propositions for SMBs, beyond connectivity and devices. These digital solutions encompass a wide range of services to address SMB customers' digital transformation, efficiency and flexibility needs, to compete successfully in the European digital economy.

"Telcos' success in the SMB market depends on their ability to propose digital solutions in which security, trustability, and resilience are embedded in scalable, user-friendly suites that increase customers' agility," said Daniela Rao, senior research and consulting director, IDC Telecom and UCC Global Team.

Winning the UC&C Market Through AI-Powered Administration and Management

Jitesh Gera, Denise Lund — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective examines how sophisticated AI-powered admin portals drive purchase decisions, reduce total cost of ownership, and create sticky customer relationships that extend far beyond the basic meeting experience. In the increasingly commoditized unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) market, administrative portals have emerged as critical differentiators that significantly influence purchasing decisions.

"As core videoconferencing features reach parity across platforms, the administrative experience — particularly with AI-powered capabilities — has become a key battleground for vendor differentiation." — Jitesh Gera, research manager, Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration, IDC.

IDC’s Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration Taxonomy, 2026

Jitesh Gera, Graham Fruin, Denise Lund — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study updates IDC’s worldwide unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) research taxonomy to provide market definitions and a framework that IDC uses to track, segment, and forecast the worldwide UC&C market. This taxonomy reflects the evolving worldwide UC&C market and includes updates to terminology used in IDC’s view of the market.

“AI continues to unravel innovative capabilities that drive better user experiences and higher productivity,” says Jitesh Gera, research manager, Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration at IDC. “IDC expects businesses to witness greater levels of personalization in their AI-driven experiences through self-serve agentic workflows.”

Market Analysis Perspective: European Unified Communications and Collaboration, 2026

Graham Fruin — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Analysis Perspective provides detailed insights into the European unified communication and collaboration market, highlighting current and future trends. It demonstrates how the market will evolve and pinpoints what will become hot prospects for driving future market success.