Let me know your thoughts??
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In the context of Customer Service Operations, this would mean that customers calling for support shouldn’t have to wait on long IVR queues, and the customer service experience should have something in it to delight them. And in the process if we can also reduce the cost of the support operations, then it becomes a sustainable business model for companies to deliver a superior customer experience.
This can be done through a combination of tactical levers that includes among other things a points based reward system, proactive analytics, and a peer reference mechanism. I will elaborate more on this in my subsequent posts.
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Digging up some history about the DTV saga, I learnt that the transition to all digital over-the-air broadcast has been in the works since 1996. The formal law mandating this transition was passed in 2005 and titled “Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005”. The “DTV Delay Act” was signed on 11th Feb 2009, and delayed the transition to 12th Jun 2009, but allowing broadcasters to choose their transitions in a phased manner before that date. The DTV transition moved from a “Big-Bang” to a more practical “Phased” approach.
Analog Television is the traditional NTSC (in the US) format in which television signals have been transmitted. (Like all Analog signals, the Television video & audio signals vary continuously over time.) In Digital Television, the television video & audio signals are sampled and quantized into discrete levels. These signals are then encoded using standard encoding techniques, compressed if necessary, and then modulated and transmitted over the media (over the air in case of broadcast, or via cable). The ATSC specifications are all digital specifications – SDTV (Standard Definition Television), HDTV (High Definition Television). Starting March 1, 2007, new television sets that receive signals over-the-air, including pocket sized portable televisions, must include digital or HDTV tuners for digital broadcasts.
The current DTV transition in the US only affects people who are using Analog Televisions and rely on over-the-air broadcasts (using an antenna). FCC and Nielsen estimate this to be about 20 to 40 million of the approx. 120 million television households in the US. (Others who rely on cable, satellite or other means are not affected by this transition. Even among such households, typically, a secondary/backup television is present which relies on analog broadcast.)
Only Full Power Broadcasting stations will be transitioning to “Only Digital” in this phase. For the past many years, these stations have been broadcasting in both Analog and Digital formats, thereby incurring higher costs. The stations will be only too happy to switch off the Analog broadcast.
(Low Power Television stations will not be transitioning to Digital now, leading to another interesting twist.)
Quoting from the FCC’s DTV transition site:
“An important benefit of the switch to all-digital broadcasting is that it will free up parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum for public safety communications (such as police, fire departments, and rescue squads). Also, some of the spectrum will be auctioned to companies that will be able to provide consumers with more advanced wireless services (such as wireless broadband).”
High Power Television Broadcasters use channels in the UHF band. By moving to digital, these Channels can be freed up. The Federal Government stands to earn substantial amounts by auctioning this portion of the spectrum. Already, a large part of the 700MHz spectrum has been auctioned. The Broadcasters will save costs, since they can switch off the analog transmission now. The consumer will get higher quality transmission if he views in digital. The advantage of Digital Television is better clarity…. Also, Value Added Services are possible. One 6MHz channel can be used to send multiple digital channels (up to 7 or 8).
The primary agencies responsible for the DTV transition are the FCC and the NTIA. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) – an industry group of Broadcasters also helped with education of the DTV transition.
Since most households in the US had televisions with analog tuners, the options they had in case of a DTV switch were:
a) Buy a television with a digital tuner
b) Switch to Cable or Satellite
c) Purchase a Digital-to-Analog converter box
Also affected will be equipment such as Video recorders which rely on analog tuners. In order to watch one channel while recording another on a Video recorder, some additional setup will need to be done by the consumer (either using a splitter or another converter box.)
Most consumers preferred to purchase a Digital-To-Analog Converter box. Since the government stood to make a lot of money by auctioning the freed-up analog spectrum, Congressmen insisted that the cost of a Converter box be subsidized by the government. Thus was born the DTV Converter coupon program. In 2006, a bill was passed to give each household two DTV coupons worth $40 each to cover the cost of purchasing a Digital to Analog Converter box. Unfortunately, as is human, most consumers put off claiming or redeeming these coupons till the last minute, leading to the coupon program running out of money – and resulting in a waiting list.
The first city to move to DTV was Wilmington, NC on 8th Sep 2008, and Hawaii became the first state to do so on 15th Jan 2009.
In hard negotiations since Obama became president, it was decided that the best interests would be served by postponing the countrywide DTV transition to June 12. About 1/3rd of the full-power broadcasting stations have switched over to DTV on 17th Feb, and the remaining would do so in phases till 12 June. From 13th June, there would be no high-power broadcasting station broadcasting analog signals.
This refers both to unused spectrum in between designated channels, as well as unused channels. Google, Microsoft and a bunch of other companies petitioned for usage of white space for providing wireless broadband and other such services. Overruling opposition from the broadcasters, the FCC has allowed usage of white-space after performing tests.
People complained that Cable operators were taking advantage of the confusion surrounding the DTV transition to move their analog channels to digital. There is no mandate right now for Cable operators to move their channels to digital, but they have been doing this over many years to optimize their bandwidth limitations. Now, the Cable companies have agreed to a temporary halt to these movements till after the “Broadcast DTV transition” is completed to avoid confusion. Cable companies are also offering a free adaptor to all customers having analog tuners. (There are complaints that this adaptor is only free for the 1st year though.)
There is hardly any discussion in India on moving from Analog broadcast to Digital. This is probably because: a) the spectrum allocated for broadcast is small (due to the limited channels – DD only) and b) the high penetration of Cable Television and Satellite Television
But, Digital broadcast can be considered in India as an alternative to “Mobile TV” being pursued by the mobile operators. If Prasar Bharathi can function like a Cable or Satellite television operator and broadcast 100+ channels in a digital format, there would be many takers, especially people on the move.
]]>With evolution of these devices, many leading PC makers and even Mobile equipment makers have announced plans to introduce Netbooks. We are starting to see intense competition brewing in this space. I believe the most interesting competition will be in the retail sales of these devices. I am waiting to see who will lead the sales of these devices (whether it will be the PC/Laptop retailers or the Wireless Operators). With a wide network of Retail locations, I believe Wireless Operators are in a much better position to succeed in this space.
The price of these devices will also determine its adoption. Wireless operators have usually promoted mobile device adoption by subsidizing the price of the devices and relying on the service contracts. We are starting to see the same kind of subsidies on Netbooks also. With the GEN Y population wanting to be always connected, these subsidies (resulting in prices as low as $99) will definitely increase the uptake of these devices by Gen Y and students especially.
I am definitely interested in seeing how this is going to take shape in developing countries where internet usage is still low. Subsidized netbooks can reach a wider population in these countries and result in the proliferation of Internet usage (similar to the way mobile phone usage proliferated).
What are your thoughts on this new emerging device category? Will Netbooks provide more revenue opportunities for the Wireless Operators or will these devices result in operators becoming simple pipes carrying data (like the traditional broadband operators) in an already “open” world where the walled gardens have already crumbled in the Mobile space?
]]>Twitter believes that putting ad next to their 140 character messages might irritate users. Also, running an AD business is a big venture.
]]> Twitter is exploring corporate tie-ups for paid services. In UK, it has reportedly struck a deal with Vodafone for an add-on service that provides directory of commerical accounts, that can be used to verify the legitimacy of accounts.
Twitter is looking for ideas..
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Latha Kalainesan, our Wireless Practice Head from Communication, Media and Entertainment group was interviewed by BNet TV during the event. In this video interview, she articulated our vision in the wireless domain and talked about what Infosys is currently pursuing in the Wireless space that can help operators address the tremendous opportunity that exists for them.
]]>We are already seeing some traction in this area with some early adopters trying out innovative ways to make money from Mobile Games. Some thoughts:
In-Game Advertising – This is something we have already started seeing in the mobile games. Advertisers and Operators can leverage this and place dynamic, targeted yet non-intrusive ad placements within the games. Most often, since users are engaged completely in the games, any non invasive but intelligent placements of Ads will not go unnoticed. This way, operators can drive more adoption by distributing games for free yet create revenue streams through Ad-placements. Imagine ad placements within the game’s real estate (like you see a brand being promoted in a movie), wont you notice the ad or the brand? Other opportunities exist for ad-placements like the moments when users wait for a new level or the game itself to load. These are opportunities not only for targeted ad-placements but also related content or other game recommendations.
In-Game Micro Transactions – Imagine playing a game and you are 1 level from finish line and the only way to get to the next level is by defeating the evil king who stands between you and the next level. You have only 2 lives remaining and you have almost exhausted your artillery. You wish if only you had that magic weapon that has the power to make your opponent disappear. Would you be interested in buying that weapon at that moment for 10 cents? I think you will!! Since gamers are intensely focused and actively involved in the gaming experience, Operators and Gaming developers should look at leveraging these “impulse buy” situations. If such innovations can be pursued, the basic game can be distributed free of cost to drive adoption and revenues can be achieved through these micro-transactions.
Increase Brand Presence – Brands are increasingly looking at mobile and social media as the next frontier to promote their brand presence and connect with their target consumers. Why not look at Mobile Games as another channel for increasing the brand presence? Brands and Game developers can collaborate to create games centered on the brand, a particular theme or a specific product. Telcos and Content Providers can also look at such theme-based games and applications to promote specific content like Ring Tones and Wallpapers (through micro-transactions) related to an artist tour or a movie release.
What other innovations can the Operators and Game developers pursue in the mobile gaming space?
Of course, all these aren’t possible without the Operators being able to support such flexible new ways of billing for micro-transactions in the middle of a game or the Ad Providers/Operators being able to insert relevant ads within the games? Are the operators equipped for this?
What are your thoughts?
]]>The question for the game developers is "Do they pay". The answer from this survey is 26% of them who played paid for it and overall 15% of users paid for it.
The argument may be is that the adoption is growing but conversion to paid customer is low. I would argue the other way around. 26% is phenomenal adoption for a country which did not even use mobile phones just a few years ago. The invention of the iPhone and other smart phones are creating the next generation gaming platforms.
Not surprisingly, if you are not a wireless-centric telco, you are history!
* Source Acknowledged: PopGap games survey results.
]]>* It is not about what is shown on ‘The big screen’.
* It is beyond attractive digital displays.
* It is not about ‘how many are watching’.
* It is not about population-driven metric.
* It is about WHO is watching, WHERE are they watching it from, ADVANCED ANALYTICS around it and the COSMIC INTEGRATION with traffic and media planning systems.
Carrying on from that..
]]> Outdoor leaders need to radically transform their IT strategies to support outdoor 3.0, from developing an application for static and digital billboards, to building the next generation Global Digital Billboard OS (GDBOS) platform which will be flexible, plug and play and global, built on open standards and web 2.0 technologies. The platform will need to have a double-arrow focus.Internally, the GDBOS platform needs to be
A) Built on open web 2.0 standards promoting scalability and flexibility at lowest incremental cost
B) Promote a streamlined business process driven by key business metrics
C) Support an agile information architecture that provides one global view of the customer and provides leadership access to current information and reports, enabling them to make rapid business decisions and navigate the challenges of the economy
D) Provide an internet platform for the sales and business users to rapidly drive business results.
E) Drive Customer Experience and Loyalty Management at the core.
Externally, the platform needs to
A) Integrate with travel systems and media planning optimizers
B) Contain the ability to pick up micro-level data from devices such as GPS or TAB feeds or Bluetooth enabled devices.
C) Provide state-of-the-art analytics on each demography of focus
D) Enable advertisers to measure ROI and provide proof of performance and optimum marketing mix
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It is not about what is shown on ‘The big screen’. It is beyond attractive digital displays. It is not about what is shown on ‘The big screen’. It is beyond attractive digital displays. It is not about ‘how many are watching’. It is not about population-driven metric. It is about WHO is watching, WHERE are they watching it from, ADVANCED ANALYTICS around it and the COSMIC INTEGRATION with traffic and media planning systems.
I will expand on this in my next article..
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]]> However today’s Gen-Y is a very different kind of customer. They are tech savvy and while they expect services to be available anytime/anywhere/anyhow, they seem to expect connectivity to be a given – almost free. These customers seem to be willing to pay for “great experience” – not necessarily just connectivity. A good example is Apple with its billionth download of cool apps – resulting in some serious new revenues but leveraging just existing connectivity. Another example is Google – which fundamentally provides “over-the-top services” and creates great experience for its users – and generates a lot of revenues in the process. These customers also value personalization and are willing to partner in co-creation of these experiences for themselves and others (e.g. Facebook, YouTube etc) – they don’t want to be just a “billing-id” So while ARPUs from existing “connectivity services” are constantly on the decline, probably an indication of the perceived value attached to connectivity – the revenues from applications that provide great experience seem to be on the rise.
Also, the face of competition is changing fast. Industries are colliding – Telcos, Cable, Google etc – all want a piece of your quad-play action. “Walled gardens” are disappearing – there seem to be no set boundaries anymore. Approach points are different. Approach paths are different. But point-of-arrivals are colliding. So a Telco is building content delivery mechanisms and a Cable MSO is building calling mechanisms. And there are the “over the top” players – who do not own any significant network infrastructure but who can still ride along.
So given the changing demographics of the customer, their perception of value, the changing face of competition and a steady decline of ARPU from existing connectivity services, it seems like Telcos today need to answer a fundamental question:Are we in the business of managing networks to provide ubiquitous connectivity backed with solid QoS (which is predominantly the “mechanics” of the business.)
OR
Are we in the business of creating and managing customer experiences leveraging our solid networks and QoS? (Which is predominantly the “humanics” of the business but also leveraging the existing “mechanics” of the business)I believe that the way existing Telcos answer this question will determine their destiny. The new-gen Telcos will be those who will be as sharply focused on the “humanics” of their business as much as on the “mechanics” of their business. It will be imperative for the new-gen Telcos to start creating a robust and exciting applications ecosystem (rapidly – before others start occupying this space) and also focus on customer intimacy to identify, engage, excite and co-create personalized and “wow!” experiences for/with their customers!
There is a lesson to be learnt from the computer business. In the early days the guys who made boxes were at a premium – and it was all about competing for computing power. Then a certain Microsoft came along and changed the rules of business. While the “ARPU” on computing power kept decreasing steadily, the premium on applications kept increasing. Applications were all about generating “customer experience” by leveraging the underlying computing power. Today Microsoft, Oracle, Google are some of the power-houses of the “humanics” of the business, while the likes of Apple, IBM & HP have shown how “humanics” and “mechanics” can be blended to create a very successful business model. Today, it is hard to find a successful computer company who just focused on the “boxes” (mechanics) and is very profitable and is growing fast. I believe that the next-gen Telcos will do well to learn from the computer industry – because history seems to have a penchant for repeating itselfWhat do you think?
]]>After the departure of Kevin Martin from the FCC, the general consensus seems to be that a la carte video services will be on the back burner in the US. In the past few years, this is a concept that has been widely sought, analyzed, debated, reported and vilified. As is to be expected, there are diametrically opposite positions taken by Consumers and Service Providers (Operators & Networks).
]]> Consumers, of course, consistently love a la carte. Why not? Pick and choose, watch whatever you want to, and pay only that much. “Why should I subsidize expensive channels for others” is a pertinent question raised by consumers. Apart from saving on their video service bills, one of the other major reasons mentioned by consumers is avoiding channels which you don’t want in your house (channels with excessive violence and sexual content).Service Providers (Operators & Networks) are united in their stand against a la carte. They feel that it will actually push up the average consumer’s bill significantly. Today, there is a situation where many channels are subsidized by others. So, even if the overall video bill is high, the per-channel delivered cost is very low. In the case of a la carte, prices would be determined by market forces leading to some channels becoming expensive, and others becoming unviable to operate. This would lead to loss of diversity in Video programming.
The regulator in the US (FCC) has published a few reports on this topic. An earlier study (in 2004-05) agreed with the Service Providers that a la carte would push up the consumer’s bill, while a later study (in 2005-06) disagrees. The FCC has no power to mandate a change on this subject – this will require the passage of a law in Congress.
In India, the regulator (TRAI) – has published clear guidelines for a la carte services in the Conditional Access Enabled Cable providers, but no such guidelines for the Direct To Home (DTH) Satellite providers. For a typical selection of channels in India, a la carte digital cable works out to be about 50% cheaper than bundled digital satellite. Of course, the pricing here is not driven purely by market forces – there is a regulation on the maximum rate that can be charged. A detailed study is needed to understand how the economics works out for the service providers.
I feel the world is moving towards a “consumer chooses” option anyway – Video On Demand, DVR, Online Video – there is a generational shift in Video viewership that is only bound to increase. The next generation is more used to time-shifted video – watching video when they want to. This entire discussion could become largely irrelevant once this share increases.
Don’t you think Video viewing today is becoming a personal rather than a family experience? Many households have separate televisions for children. Choosing the bundles needed for an entire family is not an easy task – and becomes an expensive proposition. I feel the family may be better off with a la carte choices for each television.
Networks would benefit by getting a proper count & identity of their subscribers, and will be able to implement better Advertising and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices. From the operator’s perspective, advancement in video delivery technologies (switched video) is an enabler.
Any movement towards a la carte can be successful only if regulators, networks & operators jointly think through and make it work. Especially, the consumer cost per channel and potential loss of niche channels are issues to be carefully managed. A gradual transition is possibly the best way ahead.
I have found mixed reports on a la carte video services in Hong Kong, Canada and some parts of Europe. I request people on this forum to give their views on a la carte video services and instances of successful implementations anywhere in the world.
]]>Extending the same vision may be we can have converged application store. So one not only enjoys applications on mobile and TV, but is also able to carry forward the context from one screen to another. For example: I am playing scrabble game on TV and after some time I have to switch off the application unfinished. So I should be able to save the context on TV and logon from mobile and get the saved context so that I can continue from where I left on TV.
Any thoughts??
]]>Mobile phones are becoming smarter by the day. User experiences they enable and the features they bring to the consumers just keep getting better. A number of device makers including the likes of Samsung, LG, HTC, INQ and Nokia show cased their latest line up that will make the device market even more competitive and will drive more consumers towards smart phones.
]]> Wireless industry becoming “greener”!“Green” was one of the major buzzwords at CTIA 2009. We saw companies introducing recyclable phones with their bodies made out of recycled materials to the next generation of base stations which reduces the power consumption, space consumption and thereby by reducing the operational costs for the operators. This is one very interesting area that had a lot of emphasis on from various participants and we will have to wait and see what innovations are in the pipe line!!
One thing that was very clear from various participants at CTIA was that the wireless network infrastructure is at the verge of a major revamp in an effort to move towards 4G (an example is the LTE rollout announcement). Mobile broadband is about to grow much more with rollout of WiMax based networks and other technological innovations that are happening on the network side. What remains to be seen is how all of these are going to benefit the consumers in terms of innovative services and how these services and broadband access becomes more affordable to consumers than before.
Operators are also looking at ways to extend the use of their wireless data networks to much more than just mobile phones. This was very clear from the fact that the major wireless operators were hinting on selling devices like Net Books and Electronic Readers to connect to their data networks to drive data usage. A number of interesting consumer oriented services are also in the horizon varying from connected services (ex: Nokia’s Ovi suite of services) to unified communications (ex: All-in-one mail box providing a unified interface for SMS, MMS, Emails, Visual Voice Mail, Call history and IP-based telephony). All these will definitely benefit the consumers in terms of the superior user experiences these will enable but the cost factor will be some thing that will be influential for the uptake of such services.
Wireless mobility is becoming a part of the core strategy for many enterprises and industries. This was evident from the key note on day-3 centered on how wireless mobility can revolutionize the health care industry. I am sure that there is definitely a big opportunity that exists for the various enterprises to reach the consumers with mobile enabled services to derive benefits not only to their businesses but also to offer a more compelling user experience. We will have to wait and see how enterprise services reach the consumers on their mobile phones.
I believe there are some pretty interesting times ahead of us with the Wireless industry remaining the most 'happening' industry and I am excited to be a part of it!!
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