Time to get out of the box!

Mobile Operators are at the crossroads of an exciting Journey. They need to choose to become the best of breed connectivity player delivering Internet access, Talk and text services, OR become a next generation services provider delivering multi-media and end user applications. Now I am not here to pass judgement or to say which is better (ok I do have a view), however they must choose a path as trying to dance between the two will only cause increasing prioritization challenges and conflicts of investment strategies. My intent with this article is to open the eyes of operators so that they may see an opportunity before them.

In order to move forward Mobile Operators need to get back to what they were known for, when Mobile Networks were the next best thing driving innovation and service creation.  Remember when we couldn't send more than 30 characters in a message, or the first time you viewed the Internet through your mobile? I mean, come on, how cool was that! The status of Mobile Networks going “All IP” has finally arrived and hence a new horizon has been reached!  So, what are we going to do differently?

Despite a growing view that Over the Top (OTT) players “own the customer relationship”, I suggest you ask yourself this simple question:  “Who do you call when you can’t access certain content or make a Skype call or even view your Google maps?”…. The majority of us first call our mobile operator, with a common statement of “Hey, I can’t access my Apps, Content, or speak to my family whilst trying to avoid your expensive long distance charges!” In my view, if the operator is being asked to be accountable, then shouldn’t they leverage the role as a differentiator as well? Operators have a great chance to remove demarcations and show their customers a true value service, where predictability in end user costs are provided – therefore reducing bill shock when accessing high bandwidth services; and where customers can choose what type of content they want.

I believe, there are some very exciting services that Mobile Operators should consider, if they haven’t already, offering to their customers:

·         Media:  This is the most obvious avenue, given Mobile networks are moving to an all IP network, they can now prioritize and effectively optimize traffic to balance quality of experience whilst minimizing loads on the network to minimize impact on other customers. There are equally exciting opportunities to work with local content providers and/or broadcasters. Operators provide significant value in that they can provide very detailed information on the profile of the individual watching the content (no this is not about selling information, but about profiling a customer base to drive demand and more importantly relevance of advertisements and content to the end user. This is something broadcasters fail to do today when we are watching on our TV’s at home, Yes Broadcaster and Content providers can predict, based on time of day but that is really it, to have the opportunity to know , who is watching what type of content and when would increase the granularity and market insights. This means broadcaster could tell their advertisers that they could increase the profiling of viewers for specific shows and ultimately realize a better ROI for their programming.

·         Applications: Yes we all know the demand and “stores” of applications are expanding rapidly, however, they remain tied to specific Operating System stores and as such, remain difficult to share amongst friends with different operating systems. Mobile Operators are quite unique in that they don’t care if a customer prefers an Iphone over an Android, or Nokia above Blackberry (hey it could happen). Therefore, consider an application store, which is run by the Operator, where customers are able to recommend applications to friends, create apps and share them across a broader market without worrying what Operating System their application is based on or what type of device their friends choose to use.  And because of this, they then see the relevance and value of a Operator enabled store that much faster! Equally, local hosting of the applications improves customer experience for the application owner – especially for the growing number of high bandwidth demanding services, as well as localization of Internet traffic. For Application developers, in local markets, it is always a choice of what app store do you start hosting your application on. Yet, mobile operators have an opportunity to help the application developer access multiple Operating Systems and, at the same time, promote their particular application to a broader audience. The value for the operator, as mentioned earlier, comes in optimization of those access applications across their “all IP” mobile network and I would suggest sharing the advertising monetization with the app developer.

·         Service Bundling: Historically we have looked at bundles based on a mobile device, phone line and access to the Internet. But, these days, all of these elements are a given. Why not change this to become: access your top three social media pages, favourite content sources and/or applications? By collecting all of this data, Mobile Operators can then share with the customer what other content or apps may be of interest based on similar profiles without divulging personal data! Equally in understanding these preferences for customers operators can start to prioritize or optimize traffic to ensure customers receive an exciting experience whilst also working with the content or service owner to consider hosting high demand services with the operator to reduce overseas Internet expense and improve performance.

·         Advertising: This has become a fact of life, whether you like it or not, it is here to stay. We see ads everywhere on line and where the Mobile Operator can add value, is to use this to help the customer gain access to content and services at a lower cost. Before you skip past this idea, consider for a moment an option to buy into Ad categories which are of relevance to you and use these as credits to offset your new profile based service bundles or expand your bundle to other services at little or no extra cost. We have tended to forget that the Advertisers will consider all avenues to reach their potential customers as long as they are more likely to view the advertising. Let’s face it, if you know the ads being shown are of relevance and then you are more likely to click on the ad. Combine this with basic profile data of Day, Time, location and personal preferences to create the greatest likelihood of interest for both the end customer and the advertiser. in the end it is the operator who is actually facilitating the relationship and making it beneficial to both!

Mobile Operators are at a cross roads, they have the capability to redefine the customer experience through optimization, prioritization and packaging. The “all IP” network means it is much easier to introduce over the top services which could be viewed on laptops, mobiles or tablets (and increasingly TV’s!) The traditional Over the top providers (OTT’s) may become agitated with this approach, however, in my opinion; it is ultimately what we have been missing for some time.  A healthy competition and a realization that mobile operators have more than one choice, when it comes to delivering a content and service rich diversity and high quality customer experience. It is up to the OTT players to excite the operators in how they are going to partner in service creation, customer growth and end to end service assurance. OTT’s have a choice to make as Operators are now in a position to shop around.

Mobile Operators therefore need to identify the role they want to play, build the above capability or identify the partners (not suppliers) who they can work with to achieve the same. However, whatever the decision, the end result MUST be that they take responsibility for the end to end customer experience and that is only possible if they embrace the Over the Top model, recognize that the era of talk and text is moving to all IP and OTT players are increasingly challenging mobile operators for this space. Going all IP means Operators can now leverage the growing standardization that Operating systems for mobile devices have brought us and ultimately it is the OTT’s who have provided the opportunity to Operators to create their own services, or as I like to say perhaps now is the time for Mobile Operators to go “OTT to the OTT!”

The Power of one ... It's all about me!

There is an amazing transition of who is defining the internet user experience. The significant influence that content owners, use to have, is now moving towards the average person/user. Everyone is beginning to recognize that they can now choose their own content and services, and with this development, there are implications for an industry you might not have thought of at first– Advertising.
In the past, advertisers love(d) content owners. When there were only a few of them (relatively), they had the unique opportunity to define what content would be viewed by an end user.  Think of the influence they could wield, their ability to track patterns of interest and through the grouping of similar customers be able to create user profiles.  Like any enterprising group of businesses, the content owners would then, in turn, share this incredible insight with advertisers to help the advertisers create relevant ads for specific groups.
Okay, now move to today, where we have an incredible 3- 4 billion web pages of content for people to access either through websites or other platforms … that is roughly 1 unique content source for every two people on earth (this is compared with some 3.5 million web pages that were active just 15 years ago!). Based upon this development, it is increasingly difficult for the content owner to create profiles which are accurate.  Think about it… How in the world could you create a unique profile, of every person, based on the unique combination of content they may each choose to access, let alone adapt that profile based on their mood, time of day and location in the world for each individual website?
In walks the Over the Top (OTT) player who is able to provide us with a new approach.  This new model monitors all webpage’s, applications and media, through cookies and operating system tools. The content providers and advertisers have had to adapt to the OTT’s and ensure they had the right arrangements in place to promote their online content or their relevant ads. Naturally this is a situation which neither the content owners, nor the advertisers, should be or are very satisfied with.
For this reason, it is no longer the content owners or the associated advertising providers who have the best visibility and analysis of the dynamic nature and changing profiles of each individual users given the enormous diversity of content to choose from. This ultimately means they have now become dependent on the OTT for data on customer profiles. Meanwhile, it is the OTT’s that have been increasingly dominating the ad space purely through volume of end users they have visibility of.  There haven’t been any alternatives or any noticeable limitations on what OTT’s could or couldn’t view. Until recently, OTT’s could capture all data, from all users, without any concerns on the public’s perception on where or how this data was being collected.  In essence OTT’s were the “All seeing eye”.
Despite the far reaching capabilities of OTT’s, there are now more regulations and increased savviness from internet users to block out cookies and ultimately decide what information they want to share about themselves.  This in turn, is making it harder for OTT’s to provide accurate profiling of end users, which leads to advertisers again looking for alternative means to present relevant ads to internet users. It is these changes which I refer to as the Power of One.  Me, you, all of us, now have the ability to decide how much data about ourselves we want to share (whether that is our location, our interests or even our friends).
Enter stage left, the one remaining group who should be building relationships with advertisers, and until now, have not been fully leveraged– Internet providers. What if you could sign up for ads that were relevant to you based on your interests, location and time of day, without worrying about someone gathering all of your personal data? Ok … I hear you saying I don't like ads, I understand and agree with that but, they are a fact of life, so let’s use the “Power of One” to see ads we want to see rather than ads they get the best deals for.  Signing up through your internet provider, whether at home, or in a café, or a shopping mall, to define your areas of interest can be mutually beneficial. We trust internet providers not to store all of our data through the internet, and know that they have a customer service model that if we see any ads that we don’t think is appropriate we can ask they can act on it, something which OTT’s tend to propose they only facilitate and therefore can’t be held accountable for.
There are some interesting companies out there like Adztream, Jiwire and Urban Airship who are seeking to help advertise firms - and businesses seeking to advertise directly. They understand how to help advertisers adapt their approach to reaching out to individuals, through various solutions which are targeted at the changing profile at any time on any day. It is important for advertisers to maximize the changing landscape and rebalance their focus of engagement.  Move from the content owners to those providing access to the internet, whether in the form of operators (fixed and mobile) or private wifi owners such as malls, campuses, hotels and sporting events.
These companies are the early adopters in introducing alternative models which drive more of a symbiotic relationship between the advertisers, internet providers and most importantly the end users. It is now up to the internet providers to look at how they can best leverage these platforms and start shifting the traditional source of advertising from those pushing ads based on the “all seeing eye”, to pulling relevant ads for the end users which they have chosen to see or are relevant based on where they are at that point of time. So now what? Well, to advertisers, I would say start looking at alternative avenues and platforms to introduce relevant ads that avoid the discussion around privacy. To Internet Providers – it doesn’t matter whether you are a ISP, Mobile Operator, coffee shop or university, your private network gives you an opportunity to look at engaging partners to create a positive user experience subsidized by end user relevant advertising. For all of us, as end users, the internet experience is no longer about what we are told it is, but more about what we want it to be and most importantly about how much data on ourselves we are willing to share.
We, as the Power of One, need to remind ourselves that we define our own experience and the market will continue to evolve to the point where we will see ads more customized to our specific situations at any given time or location versus what OTT’s think we should see. The Power of One is not only alive and well, it is now clearly having an influence on the internet industry and the advertising revolution.