North American Telecom, Media Firms Modernize with Cloud, AI

Digital transformation helps companies increase efficiency, agility even as operations grow more complex, ISG Provider Lens^® report says

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$III #AI–Telecom operators and media and entertainment companies in North America are rapidly adopting cloud-native architectures and AI-enabled workflows to meet evolving operational requirements and business challenges, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm.

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Telecom — Managed and Next-Gen IT Services report for North America finds that U.S. and Canadian telecom operators are prioritizing large-scale transformation of operational support system (OSS) and business support system (BSS) platforms as they confront decades of technical debt, fragmented architectures and the growing complexity of hybrid cloud and edge environments. Similarly, the 2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Media and Entertainment — Managed and Next-Gen IT Services report for North America finds that studios, broadcasters and over-the-top (OTT) platform operators are accelerating digital transformation as streaming consumption grows, margins tighten and content volumes expand.

“North American telecom and media companies are moving from fragmented, legacy environments to unified, cloud-based operating models,” said Rajib Datta, partner at ISG. “Modernization is no longer incremental and is now foundational to competitiveness and monetization.”

Cloud-native operations have become the largest area of telecom investment as carriers replace monolithic OSS and BSS stacks with modular, container-based platforms, the telecom report says. Nearly every major North American operator now runs a hybrid estate that combines on-premises infrastructure for network workloads with public cloud platforms for IT and digital services. This approach allows them to increase flexibility, reduce failure risks and better align infrastructure costs with demand while maintaining control over network functions.

AI-enabled operations are reshaping how telecom enterprises manage networks and IT environments at scale, ISG says. Operators are embedding AIOps and GenAI into network and service operations to enable predictive fault detection, faster root-cause analysis and closed-loop remediation. AI-enabled customer care platforms have also emerged as important tools as competition intensifies in mobile, broadband and cable markets. They are reducing the cost of serving customers while improving satisfaction and retention while customer churn remains a persistent challenge.

Media and entertainment companies in the region are migrating media asset management, editing, transcoding and distribution workflows to public cloud and multi-region architectures to support scale and resilience, the report says. Shared content pipelines allow them to handle peak traffic events and global releases more efficiently while reducing infrastructure and storage costs.

AI and generative AI are automating labor-intensive content operations in the media and entertainment industry, including metadata creation, quality control, localization and post-production, ISG says. AI is helping companies accelerate time-to-air and manage growing global catalogs without proportional increases in staff or cost.

“North American telecom and media enterprises are aligning technology investments closely with revenue accountability and operational efficiency,” said Yash Jethani, principal analyst, ISG Provider Lens Research, and lead author of the reports. “AI and data unification help them maximize network and content performance and optimize service management, rights management and advertising outcomes, all in real time.”

The reports also explore other trends in the telecom and M&E industries in North America, including consolidation of telecom network and IT systems to support private 5G and edge use cases and the growing complexity of media rights and compliance management across multi-territory distribution models.

For more insights into key challenges faced by telecom and M&E enterprises in North America, plus ISG’s advice for overcoming them, see the ISG Provider Lens^® Focal Points briefing here.

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Telecom — Managed and Next-gen IT Services report for North America evaluates the capabilities of 42 providers across two quadrants: Strategy and Enablement Services and Telecom — Managed and Next-gen IT Services.

The Telecom report names Accenture, Cognizant, HCLTech, IBM, Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra as Leaders in two quadrants. It names Amdocs, Capgemini, Deloitte, EY, McKinsey & Company, PwC, UST and Wipro are named as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, LTIMindtree, Sutherland and Wipro are named as Rising Stars — companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition — in one quadrant each.

A customized version of the Telecom report is available from Cognizant.

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Media and Entertainment — Managed and Next-gen IT Services report for North America evaluates the capabilities of 41 providers across two quadrants: Strategy and Enablement Services and Media and Entertainment — Managed and Next-gen IT Services.

The Media and Entertainment report names Accenture, Cognizant, HCLTech, Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra as Leaders in two quadrants. It names Amdocs, Capgemini, Deloitte, EPAM Systems, EY, Globant, IBM, McKinsey & Company, PwC and Wipro as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, LTTS and Wipro are named as Rising Stars — companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition — in one quadrant each.

In the area of customer experience, NetoAI is named the global ISG CX Star Performer for 2025 among managed and next-gen IT service providers in the telecom and M&E industry. NetoAI earned the highest customer satisfaction scores in ISG’s Voice of the Customer survey, part of the ISG Star of Excellence™ program, the premier quality recognition for the technology and business services industry.

A customized version of the Media and Entertainment report is available from Cognizant.

2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Telecom — Managed and Next-Gen IT Services report for North America is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage. The 2025 ISG Provider Lens^® Media and Entertainment — Managed and Next-Gen IT Services report for North America is available on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens^® Research

The ISG Provider Lens^® Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG’s global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG’s enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

About ISG

ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.

Contacts

Press Contacts:

Laura Hupprich, ISG

+1 203-517-3100

laura.hupprich@isg-one.com

Julianna Sheridan, Matter Communications for ISG

+1 978-518-4520

isg@matternow.com