Podcast

Ep 134 – Show me the money (MWC)

This week’s guest

Danielle Rios

Founder and CEO Totogi

At MWC, vendors will flood the floor with AI demos that look impressive but can’t prove their actual value. Telcos have spent billions connecting systems, but connection isn’t comprehension. Most AI initiatives are blind—unable to see across the fragmented landscape of BSS, OSS, and network systems that speak different languages and live in isolated realities.

The Totogi Ontology is a semantic layer that gives AI the ability to understand your business. Once it does, the army of consultants you’ve been paying to manually stitch together data across systems becomes redundant—and the economics of everything changes. So when the same vendor selling you AI is also billing you for the consultants that AI should replace, ask them to show you the money. 

Listen now to hear:

  • Why AI demos fail when they touch your architecture [03:11];
  • How the Totogi Ontology solved Zain’s dormant cell problem and turned 48-hours of troubleshooting into 30-minute fixes [04:34]; 
  • Why the ability to comprehend across systems and domains is so impactful [6:06] and
  • The one question that separates real AI value from empty promises [08:00].

Links and resources

  • Watch the video version of this talk, Show me the money, on YouTube
  • Learn more about the Totogi Ontology and how it’s helping Tier-1 operators turn AI into actual profit.
  • Want to see the Totogi Ontology in action and hear more customer success stories? Find Team Totogi in Hall 2 at MWC26 in Barcelona, running March 2-5. We’ll be showing off our telco ontology that manages enterprise context at scale. Click on this link to set up a meeting. 
  • Catch me taking part in MWC’s Agentic AI Summit, Monday, March 2, 9:00am – 1:00 pm, in Hall 6.
  • What telco execs need from every AI vendor is the same thing Cuba Gooding Jr. demanded from Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire: Show me the money!
  • Connect with me on LinkedIn or X @TelcoDR to set up a time to meet.
  • You can find the episode transcript here.

Wanna talk AI and public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.


Guest bio

Danielle Rios (DR) is the founder and CEO of TelcoDR and Totogi, and host of the Telco in 20 podcast.


Follow DR

The Telco in 20 podcast is ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally by Listen Notes! 🎉 We’ve also won 2024 and 2025 MarCom Awards, 2024 and 2025 Hermes Creative Awards, and are recognized as a TeckNexus Top 12 Telco and Tech Podcast, Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave us a review? It takes you seconds to do in your app and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. And I love reading your feedback and reviews!

Podcast credits

  • Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios, TelcoDR
  • Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
  • Senior Editor/Brand Manager: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
  • Audio Editor: Andrew Condell
  • Supervising Producer: Amanda Avery
  • Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
  • Music: Dyami Wilson

Most popular podcasts

  1. Ep 108 – ☕ Wake up and smell the BSS with Ray Le Maistre from TelecomTV ☕
  2. Ep 107 – 🧣Wrapping your head around Responsible AI🧣 (Ferry Grijpink)
  3. Ep 105 – NVIDIA’s vision for AI and the RAN (Chris Penrose)
  4. Ep 100 – The SPECIAL 100th episode of Telco in 20

Follow now

Get my FREE newsletter, delivered every two weeks, with curated content to help telco execs across the globe move to the public cloud.

Wanna talk public cloud?

Set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.

More episodes from Telco in 20

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the main problem with AI implementations in telecom according to Danielle Rios?

The core issue isn’t the AI technology itself—it’s that AI can’t comprehend the data coming out of telco software applications. While operators have spent billions connecting systems through integrations, connection doesn’t mean coherent. BSS, OSS, and network systems speak different languages and don’t share a unified understanding. When AI touches this architecture, it fails because it can see only fragments, preventing it from delivering actual economic value.

2. How did Totogi’s ontology help Tier-1 operator Zain solve its dormant cells problem?

Zain struggled with dormant cells—cell sites showing green lights and no alarms but carrying zero traffic. Technicians spent 48 hours chasing these problems across disconnected systems. Totogi’s ontology created a semantic layer that understands a cell as a revenue-generating asset with subscribers, traffic, and margin attached. This reduced problem resolution from 48 hours to 30 minutes and enabled prediction of dormant cells before they occur, preventing millions in revenue loss.

3. What does Danielle Rios recommend asking AI vendors at MWC Barcelona?

DR recommends asking one critical question: “Can you show me the money?” Specifically, vendors should demonstrate actual profit flowing to your bottom line, not just potential savings. Most vendors can deliver impressive demos in controlled environments with clean data, but they can’t show how their solutions will perform when they touch real-world telco operations with hundreds of integrated but incoherent systems.

4. What is Totogi’s guarantee for its AI solution?

Totogi has changed the traditional vendor payment model with a unique guarantee: “If you don’t see the money, we don’t take the money.” Rather than paying for the potential or promise of AI success, Totogi gets paid only when it delivers proven, real-world profit. This stands in contrast to typical vendors that charge for the promise of AI without guaranteeing measurable results.

5. Why is integration without comprehension costing telcos millions?

Telcos have spent decades and billions connecting systems, but integration only enables systems to communicate—it doesn’t create shared, semantic understanding. When they ask simple questions of their systems, it’s difficult to get quick answers because their BSS, OSS, and network boundaries each have their own version of reality. An ontology makes sense of reality, and when powered with decision making that can take action, becomes the key to unlock AI at scale.

6. Where can attendees meet DR and the Totogi team at MWC26?

DR will be speaking at the Agentic AI Summit on Monday, March 2, in Hall 6. The Totogi team will be in Hall 2 at MWC26 in Barcelona (March 2-5), demonstrating Totogi’s telco ontology and BSS Magic. Attendees can book meetings in advance or connect with DR  on LinkedIn or X @TelcoDR to arrange time together during the event.