Over three-quarters of communications service providers (CSPs) believe that generative AI (GenAI) will require additional investment in automated data cleaning and quality checks over the next two years, according to a recent poll. Results from a new survey of 151 CSP leaders across North America and the MENA region conducted on behalf of Amdocs reveal that up to 78% of respondents consider such cleanups an essential prerequisite for effective internal AI deployments.
“Effective AI solutions are built on trustworthy data, but our research shows that 50% of organisations still struggle to fully access the value of existing data resources and to ensure consistent data quality,” said Mary Johnston Turner, the digital infrastructure strategies research vice president at IDC, which conducted the poll on Amdocs’ behalf. “The emergence of powerful agentic AI technologies to orchestrate workflows and autonomous decision-making across multiple AI models will require most organisations to invest in data modernisation to ensure the levels of end-to-end data health, security and accessibility needed to deliver reliable AI results.”
Despite the widespread adoption of AI-driven technologies, the study found that only 19% of CSPs have fully implemented the processes, platforms, and governance policies necessary to support data modernisation at scale.
As enterprises integrate AI into their operations, the transition to cloud-first data architectures has also accelerated, with 65% of CSPs increasing investments in cloud computing, storage, and graphics processing unit (GPU) capacity to support AI-driven workloads. However, expanding AI capabilities also introduces challenges related to scalability, security, compliance, and cost management, prompting companies to re-evaluate their data strategies.
Agentic AI drives investment in data modernisation
Agentic AI, which facilitates automated decision-making, predictive analytics, and customer engagement, is further influencing investment trends. According to the study, 73% of CSPs anticipate the need for increased spending on data modernisation and interoperability to enable AI-driven collaboration across business functions, including sales, marketing, cybersecurity, and operations. Additionally, 76% of CSPs expect that “service-as-a-software” models powered by agentic AI will lead to significant structural shifts in their organisations.
In spite of rising investments in AI-driven transformation, service providers estimate that only 50% of their internal data is currently accessible to AI models and analytics.
“Enterprises increasingly recognize the importance of combining multiple AI capabilities – ranging from NLP to ML, predictive AI to generative AI – in order to achieve scalable, accurate and valuable and dynamic business outcomes,” said Amdocs technology group president and strategy head Anthony Goonetilleke. “However, reaching the full promise of GenAI means addressing data standardisation, modernisation and governance while embracing scalable cloud infrastructure. Companies that prioritise developing a solid data foundation today will be best positioned to drive GenAI’s long-term business impact.”
Meanwhile, a recent survey by NVIDIA, “State of AI in Telecommunications” has highlighted the growing impact of AI in the telecom sector. The findings show that 84% of telecommunications professionals report AI is driving revenue growth, while 77% say AI adoption has reduced operating costs. Additionally, 49% of telecom companies are actively exploring or implementing generative AI technologies. As AI continues to shape business models, telecom providers are increasingly investing in AI-driven automation, predictive analytics, and data modernisation to enhance efficiency.
Read more: Agentic AI identified as core to IT operations by 53% of CIOs and CTOs
