Achieving operational resilience for cellular carriers

The world is changing, and with great change comes an evolving threat landscape. Increases in physical and digital disruption, such as civil unrest, cyberattacks, severe weather events, and unplanned outages, have left many industries scrambling to secure a robust operational resilience strategy, including the cellular industry. Today’s evolving threat landscape poses a unique threat to cellular carriers, whose business is growing at a breakneck pace. With more countries than ever prioritizing the mid-band spectrum, cellular carriers face increasing business and threats, creating a need for maximum operational resilience.

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What is Operational Resilience

According to Gartner, operational resilience is defined as initiatives that expand business continuity management programs.1 In other words, operational resilience provides organizations with the tools needed to focus on the impacts, risk appetite, and tolerance levels for disruption while protecting valuable business assets and ensuring business continuity.

For cellular carriers, operational resilience can take many forms. However, a vital component to any cellular carrier’s success rests in its ability to provide uninterrupted service. In a world where a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or cyberattack can remove cellular communication capabilities from millions of people, cellular carriers must create operational resilience that prioritizes customer communication and information security in addition to protecting their vital business assets.

The Changing World of Cellular

The world of cellular has changed dozens of times over the last decade. However, one of its most profound advancements comes in the form of 5G. According to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, 5G wireless is expected to drive economic growth in North America for decades to come, but to ensure its success, a comprehensive strategy focusing on network security and robust 5G deployment must come first.2 With the craze surrounding 5G igniting the world, it should come as no surprise that the United States is building out 5G faster than it built out 4G – investing billions upon billions of dollars into its infrastructure.3 However, rolling out the next generation of wireless isn’t going to be easy: Such a massive rollout often comes with just as many opportunities as challenges.

Like the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Boston Consulting Group found that 5G will become a central feature of the economic recovery of the United States with its ability to drive the creation of 4.5 million new jobs and over a trillion dollars in new economic growth.3 Of course, to achieve this goal, the cellular industry must address existing complications surrounding spectrum distribution and mid-band airwave security before unveiling 5G across the United States.

Ensuring Operational Resilience as a Cellular Carrier

In this time of flux, cellular carriers must prepare to meet the evolving needs of their customers with maximized operational resilience and new ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Everbridge helps cellular carriers achieve these goals by establishing operational resilience that sets carriers apart from their competition.4 By prioritizing resilience, cellular carriers can adopt a more proactive approach to the growing threat landscape and critical event situations, enabling business continuity during a disruption that may render other carriers obsolete.

By empowering cellular carriers with a holistic approach to critical event management, Everbridge provides carriers with the tools needed to become more proactive through providing an increased ability to:

• Identify threats before they happen
• Protect and alert their workforce regardless of location with mass notification
• Automatically locate people, assets, and facilities at risk
• Automate communications and collaboration to see who is available in case of emergency and quickly disseminate response plants
• Keep people informed with location-based alerting and digital wayfinding
• Provide and maintain two-way emergency communication
• Analyze post-event data for improved future responses with robust risk intelligence technology

The world of cellular is evolving, but that doesn’t mean carriers are helpless against the changing threat landscape that comes with an evolving world. By preparing for an increased threat landscape with the appropriate technology: such as mass notification, risk intelligence, digital wayfinding, and robust critical event management, cellular carriers can rest easy knowing vital business assets and customers are safe from even the most destabilizing world events.