Accenture Consumerization New World Business Opportunity Telcos
Content
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos By Montgomery Hong and Christopher Hinitt
Summary
Consumerization as an Opportunity or Telcos Telcos, along with other types o communications service providers, need to develop a new value proposition; and the phenomenon o consumerization oers them a signicant opportunity to do this. We can dene this term, “c “consumerization,” onsumerization,” as the broad trend that is irreversibly taking hold as consumers and businesses engage with the new world o ubiquitous consumer electronics devices, and the contentrich digital services—video, social content, calendar, calendar, convenience applications, and others—that are accessible through those devices.
In sum, these devices and services are now changing the way customers live and work; and the ubiquity o consumer digital devices—both at work and in consumers’ personal lives—oers telcos a new opportunity to take advantage o their unique command o customer channels. This natural sphere o infuence includes telcos’ unique ability to access, track and bill or customer needs— both digital and spatial/locational (i.e., mobility-related)—using their mobile heritage as a “channel” to access customers. In order to leverage this unique combination o capabilities, however, telcos need to reclaim their heritage o innovation. It’s a heritage that has recently eluded them, as over the past ve years they have requently become mere passive observers o the cataclysmic changes in the digital ecosystem. And they ace the added challenge o needing to innovate in areas that are outside their historical core competency o network-driven services.
By reasserting their heritage o leveraging technology or customer benet, however, telcos can address a uller range o customers’ current digital needs. They can do this by oering what we may call “consumerization as a service,” a subset o sotware-as-a-service coupled with other managed services, that gives telcos a more central role in enabling employers to cope with the consumerization phenomenon. In addition to oering employers enhanced workorce agility, telcos can also expand their business-to-business oerings in the realm o consumer targeting and payment services,
which will provide added value or many businesses, and deliver an expanded range o directto-consumer services, such as enhanced mobility services and social collaboration experiences. In general terms, by utilizing consumers’ “digital ootprints” to target specic sales and service opportunities to their exact needs, telcos have the opportunity to provide customers with richer services; deliver enhanced convenience; and reclaim a more central role in the new, consumerized digital ecosystem.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 1
Background: Not a Mere Trend, But a Sea Change It almost goes without saying that consumers and businesses have changing needs in relation to the rapidly expanding world o consumer electronics devices and the content-rich digital services (video, social content, etc.) that are now accessible through those devices. Consumerization is rapidly changing how people live and work, as consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on consumer technology or both work and non-work purposes. And this convergence o work lie and personal lie is creating potential issues or their employer employers. s.
A report by Forrester Research, Inc. (December 2011) ound that 48 percent o inormation workers buy smartphones or work without considering what their IT department supports.1 This is a prime example o the BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon, which has posed signicant challenges or corporate data security. So has the related trend toward BYOA (bring your own application). In act, a recent survey 2 by Accenture showed: •
•
•
One in our employees worldwide (23 percent) regularly uses personal consumer devices and applications or job-related activities. Over a quarter o employees (27 percent) routinely use noncorporate applications downloaded rom the Internet in the workplace, as they search or applications that help them work better. A large proportion o employees (43 percent) eel comortable and capable o making their own technology decisions or work.
In addition, a November 2011 global survey conducted by consulting rm Avanade ound that 88 percent o executives report that employees are using their personal computing technologies or business purposes. 3
1 © Copyright Forrester Research, Inc. “Consumerization Drives Smartphone Smartphone Prolieration: Employees’ Choices And Dollars Dictate The Rise O Android And Apple Devices,” December 2, 2011. 2011. 2 Rising Use of Consumer Technology in the Workplace Forcing IT Departments to Respond, Accenture Research Finds , Accenture news release, December 12, 2011. 2011. Also see “The Genie is Out o the Bottle: Managing the Inltration o Consumer IT into the Workorce,” Accenture, October, 18, 2011, 2011, www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/in www.accentu re.com/us-en/Pages/insight-managing-inltrationsight-managing-inltration-consumer-it-workorce.aspx. consumer-it-workorce.aspx. 3 Avanade® Research & Insights. “Global Survey: Dispelling Six Myths o Consumerization o IT,” January 2012, http://www.avanade.com/Documents/Resources/consu http://www.avan ade.com/Documents/Resources/consumerization-o-it-executive-su merization-o-it-executive-summary.pd. mmary.pd. 4 “80 Percent o Fortune 100 100 Companies Onboard with iPad,” MacObserver , Je Gamet, January 18, 2011, http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/80_percen http://www.macobserve r.com/tmo/article/80_percent_o_ortune_1 t_o_ortune_100_companies_onboard_wi 00_companies_onboard_with_ipad/. th_ipad/. 5 Avanade, “Global Survey: Dispelling Six Myths o Consumerization Consumerization o IT.” 6 Ibid . 2 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
Employers, ater an initial period o conusion, are now responding with increasing fexibility and are working to accommodate this trend more proactively. For example: •
•
•
Apple’s CFO noted as early as January 2011 that more than 80 percent o the Fortune 100 were already deploying or piloting iPad.4 The global survey rom Avanade also ound that 73 percent o C-level executives report that the growing use o employee-owned technology is a top priority in their organizatio organization. n.5 That same survey reported that 60 percent o companies say they are now adapting their IT inrastructure to accommodate employees’ personal electronics devices.6
It’s clear that businesses need to be able to provide access to applications and services on whichever electronics device or devices their employees need. It’s also clear that consumerization will be a key actor in workorce enablement and (or many companies) revenue generation. Finally, it’s evident that consumers and businesses alike are increasingly open to using a wide array o applications and services that will deliver on the promise o consumerization by adding a new dimension o convenience and ease o access to content.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 3
Analysis: Developing a New Value Proposition
Given this undoubted sea change, consumerization represents a major opportunity or telcos to develop a new value proposition. And it’s one that cannot come too soon. For the central challenge to the current business model o telcos is the act that their traditional bandwidth business is being commoditized; and they need to nd new sources o revenue in the next ve years, or risk extinction. It’s true that telcos have a strong heritage o innovation; but over the last ve years or more, trends in inormation technology have essentially “happened to” them—rather than their taking control.
To counteract this reactive positioning, telcos need to redene themselves and oer customers a new value proposition. One key aspect o a successul value proposition propositio n or telcos is likely to be their ability to understand customers’ ull range o digital needs. For one potentially huge source o competitive advantage or telcos in the new ecosystem is that they have a unique ability to access, track and bill or customer needs—including not just customers’ digital needs and communications requirements, but also, via mobility, their spatial location. Telcos need to take advantage o this unique ability and think in new, creative ways about how to capitalize on their position.
4 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
By leveraging consumer IT products and existing telco assets–specically, their unique access to their customer base— telcos have the opportunity to become providers o digital services and overthe-top (OTT) services to both consumers and businesses. They potentially have the ability to leverage consumer IT to provide and monetize content, utilizing both mobile channels and unbundled services. In this way, by reclaiming their heritage o innovation and taking advantage o their unique capabilities, telcos can assume a more central role in the new digital ecosystem.
Exploring Consumerization as a Service Behavior
Applications
Platform
Device
A user’s daily role and responsibilities will influence the applications they use.
Applications will drive what platforms (e.g., iOS) can be used (e.g., needs IEG).
Underlying device is dictated by the platform (or OS); Blackberries cannot run Windows.
Behavior
Applications
Platform
Device
Sales Person
Spends most time on client sites
Mail Calendar Salesforce.com Microsoft Office
Windows 7
Acer Ferrari Laptop
Office Worker
Uses standard software which requires minimal processing software
Windows Sharepoint Microsoft Office Lotus Sametime
BlackBerry OS Windows 7
BlackBerry Torch Dell Laptop
Figure 1. User-driven Consumerization Consumerization
To command a central role, however, it’s important or telcos to provide “abric” or “bundled” services, rather than one-o products and services. They should be seeking to develop a service delivery model that is consistent with such overarching cloud-based concepts as Sotware as a Service (SaaS), Platorm as a Service (PaaS) and Inrastructure as a Service (IaaS). One approach they should entertain is what we might call “consumerization as a service”—i.e., turning consumerization into a revenuegenerating opportunity or use with their enterprise customers. Consumerization as a service, while largely derived rom SaaS, also includes managed services, such as device management and technical support. Essentially, telcos can oer employers consumerization packages or enhanced ways o working together with their employees, oering customers the opportunity or their employees or customers to access an online suite o applications and services on demand, with the ability to be utilized on any device, at any scale. 7 Accenture Research.
For example, let’s say there is a small rm o architects who are seeking to leverage the power o productivity applications— Word, Excel, etc. Right now, they need to license those applications directly, and secure IT support themselves. But through consumerization as a service, their workorce could access ully scalable cloud services on demand, and pay by the hour or those services. Consumerization as a service, dened in this way, is o great potential interest to corporate IT decision makers (ITDMs). Accenture’s experience with ITDMs indicates that many view consumerization as potentially oering increased productivity and reduced costs. However, they also express concerns about data condentiality condentia lity and potential threats rom malware, pestware and viruses. Consumerization as a service, which Accenture has shaped as a value proposition or a ew technology service organizations, would enable
telcos to directly address the perceived opportunities and risks o consumerization. By providing services in this area, telcos can essentially become digital services providers, monetizing cloudbased services via broadband/mobile networks. Beyond improved workorce agility and management o the perceived downside risks o consumerization, telcos’ traditional expertise in managing billing services also oers them the opportunity to assist enterprise enterprisess through “split billing” that separates business rom personal charges, or new pricing plans that accommodate both business and personal use. Such services can also be oered on a tailored basis, enabling enterprises to calibrate oerings dierently or sales people versus oce workers (see Figure 1).7
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 5
Providing a Broader Spectrum o Digital Services Consumerization as a service, then, is the kind o managed service that is a logical starting place or telcos looking to invigorate their consumerization value proposition. However, achieving the ull promise o consumerization also inherently means that when it comes to innovation, telcos need to think beyond traditional services and customer segments, and look instead at the broader spectrum o digital services that address all aspects o how consumers can use their devices.
There are already clear indications o the kinds o services that telcos can position themselves to provide to consumers and enterprises in this area. More than eight years ago, NTT DoCoMo took a major step orward when it transorme transormedd its mobile phones into “wallets” by adding new transactional capabilities capabilities to its handsets. Since then, other types o companies have capitalized on this phenomenon. BSkyB, historically a media provider, has repositioned itsel to oer a wide range o broadband and telephony services. Recognizing the power o iPhone and Android, the company has created a multiscreen oer called “Sky Go,” which enables TV subscribers to watch Sky
channels and programs on PCs, laptops, mobile phones and tablets. Customers can access their Sky channels wherever they are connected to a WiFi or 3G network, including Sky’s own public WiFi network, “The Cloud.” In some cases, too, companies in dierent industries altogether have beaten telcos to the punch. For example, a service developed by one major banking institution permits person-to-person money transers via text messages sent via multiple devices, using mobile phone numbers. This concept has been available in some developing countries or several years and is now well positioned to be integrated into more developed economies.
6 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
There is a wide range o additional possible services. Some possibilities include: •
•
•
The opportunity to purchase a laptop, tablet PC, smartphone or other device bundled with cloud-based services. Location-based discounts (e.g., using the mobile phone’s location as the basis or oering a limited-duration discount to the consumer). Oering consumers access to content via premium packages, e.g., “light TV” via mobile phone, or nding new ways or mobile advertisers to generate revenue through knowledge o specic customer needs.
In general, other broad-based possibilities include oering consumers enhanced mobility services and social collaboration experiences.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 7
8 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
Recommendations
Looking Beyond the Telco Industry Box In summary, the new reality o consumerization oers potential opportunities or telcos seeking to reinvent themselves or the digital age.
The key or telcos seeking to take ull advantage o consumerization is thinking systematically about utilizing their unique assets to target products to the ull range o customer needs—using consumers’ “digital ootprints” to target specic sales and service and advertising opportunities to their exact needs, as well as the needs o their employers. Recommended strategies include:
1 Have a clear view o what your customer proposition is in digital services—you need to have a strategy.
2 Innovate—and to do so, take your insights not just rom other telcos and media, but rom other industries and emerging economies—i.e., think outside the telco “box.”
3 Think about the ways in which consumers live and work in order to identiy new opportunities or electronics devices and applications to make their lives more convenient.
Innovation in context-based services—utilizing telcos’ understanding o consumers’ “digital ootprints” and their specic needs—can enable telcos to provide richer services and develop new sources o revenue. What is undamentally required, however, is or telcos to let go o their traditional industry-driven orientation and to think o themselves as players in a broader digital ecosystem—one that begins and ends with the evolving interaction between consumers, devices and applications, and that delivers an added spectrum o convenience, unctionality and impact.
4 Make sure you articulate your innovations in terms o business benefts—not just “cool stu”—but as oering specifc opportunities to generate revenue, market share, and/or margin.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 9
About Accenture Communications Industry Group Accenture’s Communications industry practice serves ser ves leading commu communications nications service providers in an increasing increasingly ly evolving and dynamic competitive environment. Accenture helps Communications industry clients ace the challenges to connect with the digital consumer, increase revenues, develop and launch innovative products and services quickly and optimize network perormance while reducing costs. The combination o our consulting, technology and outsourcing experience, paired with our deep industry knowledge, helps us veriy that we bring the right solutions and resources to enable our clients to unlock proitable growth, improve operations and achieve high perormance.
Authors
About Accenture
Montgomery (Monte) Hong is Accenture’s global Communications Industry practice lead and also the lead o Accenture Customer Operations Business Service.
Accenture is a global management consulting,, technology services and consulting outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business unctions, and extensive research on the world’s most successul compan companies, ies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-perormance businesses and governments. governments. The company generated net revenues o US$27.9 billion or the iscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Christopher Hinitt is Accenture’s Consumerization and Digital Media Capability lead in the UK/Ireland, and contributes to Accenture’s global approach and thought leadership to consumerization and social networking in the enterprise.
Contact Us Please visit www.accenture.co www.accenture.com/ m/ customer-operations or more inormation about how Accenture can help your company deliver an integrated customer experience to improve customer loyalty and satisaction while lowering the cost to serve. Or contact Monte Hong at [email protected] or Christopher Hinitt at [email protected].
Copyright © 2012 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Perormance Delivered are trademarks o Accenture. This document is produced by consultants at Accenture as general guidance. It is not intended to provide speciic advice on your circumstances. I you require advice or urther details on any matters reerred to, please contact your Accenture representative.
Summary
Consumerization as an Opportunity or Telcos Telcos, along with other types o communications service providers, need to develop a new value proposition; and the phenomenon o consumerization oers them a signicant opportunity to do this. We can dene this term, “c “consumerization,” onsumerization,” as the broad trend that is irreversibly taking hold as consumers and businesses engage with the new world o ubiquitous consumer electronics devices, and the contentrich digital services—video, social content, calendar, calendar, convenience applications, and others—that are accessible through those devices.
In sum, these devices and services are now changing the way customers live and work; and the ubiquity o consumer digital devices—both at work and in consumers’ personal lives—oers telcos a new opportunity to take advantage o their unique command o customer channels. This natural sphere o infuence includes telcos’ unique ability to access, track and bill or customer needs— both digital and spatial/locational (i.e., mobility-related)—using their mobile heritage as a “channel” to access customers. In order to leverage this unique combination o capabilities, however, telcos need to reclaim their heritage o innovation. It’s a heritage that has recently eluded them, as over the past ve years they have requently become mere passive observers o the cataclysmic changes in the digital ecosystem. And they ace the added challenge o needing to innovate in areas that are outside their historical core competency o network-driven services.
By reasserting their heritage o leveraging technology or customer benet, however, telcos can address a uller range o customers’ current digital needs. They can do this by oering what we may call “consumerization as a service,” a subset o sotware-as-a-service coupled with other managed services, that gives telcos a more central role in enabling employers to cope with the consumerization phenomenon. In addition to oering employers enhanced workorce agility, telcos can also expand their business-to-business oerings in the realm o consumer targeting and payment services,
which will provide added value or many businesses, and deliver an expanded range o directto-consumer services, such as enhanced mobility services and social collaboration experiences. In general terms, by utilizing consumers’ “digital ootprints” to target specic sales and service opportunities to their exact needs, telcos have the opportunity to provide customers with richer services; deliver enhanced convenience; and reclaim a more central role in the new, consumerized digital ecosystem.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 1
Background: Not a Mere Trend, But a Sea Change It almost goes without saying that consumers and businesses have changing needs in relation to the rapidly expanding world o consumer electronics devices and the content-rich digital services (video, social content, etc.) that are now accessible through those devices. Consumerization is rapidly changing how people live and work, as consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on consumer technology or both work and non-work purposes. And this convergence o work lie and personal lie is creating potential issues or their employer employers. s.
A report by Forrester Research, Inc. (December 2011) ound that 48 percent o inormation workers buy smartphones or work without considering what their IT department supports.1 This is a prime example o the BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon, which has posed signicant challenges or corporate data security. So has the related trend toward BYOA (bring your own application). In act, a recent survey 2 by Accenture showed: •
•
•
One in our employees worldwide (23 percent) regularly uses personal consumer devices and applications or job-related activities. Over a quarter o employees (27 percent) routinely use noncorporate applications downloaded rom the Internet in the workplace, as they search or applications that help them work better. A large proportion o employees (43 percent) eel comortable and capable o making their own technology decisions or work.
In addition, a November 2011 global survey conducted by consulting rm Avanade ound that 88 percent o executives report that employees are using their personal computing technologies or business purposes. 3
1 © Copyright Forrester Research, Inc. “Consumerization Drives Smartphone Smartphone Prolieration: Employees’ Choices And Dollars Dictate The Rise O Android And Apple Devices,” December 2, 2011. 2011. 2 Rising Use of Consumer Technology in the Workplace Forcing IT Departments to Respond, Accenture Research Finds , Accenture news release, December 12, 2011. 2011. Also see “The Genie is Out o the Bottle: Managing the Inltration o Consumer IT into the Workorce,” Accenture, October, 18, 2011, 2011, www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/in www.accentu re.com/us-en/Pages/insight-managing-inltrationsight-managing-inltration-consumer-it-workorce.aspx. consumer-it-workorce.aspx. 3 Avanade® Research & Insights. “Global Survey: Dispelling Six Myths o Consumerization o IT,” January 2012, http://www.avanade.com/Documents/Resources/consu http://www.avan ade.com/Documents/Resources/consumerization-o-it-executive-su merization-o-it-executive-summary.pd. mmary.pd. 4 “80 Percent o Fortune 100 100 Companies Onboard with iPad,” MacObserver , Je Gamet, January 18, 2011, http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/80_percen http://www.macobserve r.com/tmo/article/80_percent_o_ortune_1 t_o_ortune_100_companies_onboard_wi 00_companies_onboard_with_ipad/. th_ipad/. 5 Avanade, “Global Survey: Dispelling Six Myths o Consumerization Consumerization o IT.” 6 Ibid . 2 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
Employers, ater an initial period o conusion, are now responding with increasing fexibility and are working to accommodate this trend more proactively. For example: •
•
•
Apple’s CFO noted as early as January 2011 that more than 80 percent o the Fortune 100 were already deploying or piloting iPad.4 The global survey rom Avanade also ound that 73 percent o C-level executives report that the growing use o employee-owned technology is a top priority in their organizatio organization. n.5 That same survey reported that 60 percent o companies say they are now adapting their IT inrastructure to accommodate employees’ personal electronics devices.6
It’s clear that businesses need to be able to provide access to applications and services on whichever electronics device or devices their employees need. It’s also clear that consumerization will be a key actor in workorce enablement and (or many companies) revenue generation. Finally, it’s evident that consumers and businesses alike are increasingly open to using a wide array o applications and services that will deliver on the promise o consumerization by adding a new dimension o convenience and ease o access to content.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 3
Analysis: Developing a New Value Proposition
Given this undoubted sea change, consumerization represents a major opportunity or telcos to develop a new value proposition. And it’s one that cannot come too soon. For the central challenge to the current business model o telcos is the act that their traditional bandwidth business is being commoditized; and they need to nd new sources o revenue in the next ve years, or risk extinction. It’s true that telcos have a strong heritage o innovation; but over the last ve years or more, trends in inormation technology have essentially “happened to” them—rather than their taking control.
To counteract this reactive positioning, telcos need to redene themselves and oer customers a new value proposition. One key aspect o a successul value proposition propositio n or telcos is likely to be their ability to understand customers’ ull range o digital needs. For one potentially huge source o competitive advantage or telcos in the new ecosystem is that they have a unique ability to access, track and bill or customer needs—including not just customers’ digital needs and communications requirements, but also, via mobility, their spatial location. Telcos need to take advantage o this unique ability and think in new, creative ways about how to capitalize on their position.
4 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
By leveraging consumer IT products and existing telco assets–specically, their unique access to their customer base— telcos have the opportunity to become providers o digital services and overthe-top (OTT) services to both consumers and businesses. They potentially have the ability to leverage consumer IT to provide and monetize content, utilizing both mobile channels and unbundled services. In this way, by reclaiming their heritage o innovation and taking advantage o their unique capabilities, telcos can assume a more central role in the new digital ecosystem.
Exploring Consumerization as a Service Behavior
Applications
Platform
Device
A user’s daily role and responsibilities will influence the applications they use.
Applications will drive what platforms (e.g., iOS) can be used (e.g., needs IEG).
Underlying device is dictated by the platform (or OS); Blackberries cannot run Windows.
Behavior
Applications
Platform
Device
Sales Person
Spends most time on client sites
Mail Calendar Salesforce.com Microsoft Office
Windows 7
Acer Ferrari Laptop
Office Worker
Uses standard software which requires minimal processing software
Windows Sharepoint Microsoft Office Lotus Sametime
BlackBerry OS Windows 7
BlackBerry Torch Dell Laptop
Figure 1. User-driven Consumerization Consumerization
To command a central role, however, it’s important or telcos to provide “abric” or “bundled” services, rather than one-o products and services. They should be seeking to develop a service delivery model that is consistent with such overarching cloud-based concepts as Sotware as a Service (SaaS), Platorm as a Service (PaaS) and Inrastructure as a Service (IaaS). One approach they should entertain is what we might call “consumerization as a service”—i.e., turning consumerization into a revenuegenerating opportunity or use with their enterprise customers. Consumerization as a service, while largely derived rom SaaS, also includes managed services, such as device management and technical support. Essentially, telcos can oer employers consumerization packages or enhanced ways o working together with their employees, oering customers the opportunity or their employees or customers to access an online suite o applications and services on demand, with the ability to be utilized on any device, at any scale. 7 Accenture Research.
For example, let’s say there is a small rm o architects who are seeking to leverage the power o productivity applications— Word, Excel, etc. Right now, they need to license those applications directly, and secure IT support themselves. But through consumerization as a service, their workorce could access ully scalable cloud services on demand, and pay by the hour or those services. Consumerization as a service, dened in this way, is o great potential interest to corporate IT decision makers (ITDMs). Accenture’s experience with ITDMs indicates that many view consumerization as potentially oering increased productivity and reduced costs. However, they also express concerns about data condentiality condentia lity and potential threats rom malware, pestware and viruses. Consumerization as a service, which Accenture has shaped as a value proposition or a ew technology service organizations, would enable
telcos to directly address the perceived opportunities and risks o consumerization. By providing services in this area, telcos can essentially become digital services providers, monetizing cloudbased services via broadband/mobile networks. Beyond improved workorce agility and management o the perceived downside risks o consumerization, telcos’ traditional expertise in managing billing services also oers them the opportunity to assist enterprise enterprisess through “split billing” that separates business rom personal charges, or new pricing plans that accommodate both business and personal use. Such services can also be oered on a tailored basis, enabling enterprises to calibrate oerings dierently or sales people versus oce workers (see Figure 1).7
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 5
Providing a Broader Spectrum o Digital Services Consumerization as a service, then, is the kind o managed service that is a logical starting place or telcos looking to invigorate their consumerization value proposition. However, achieving the ull promise o consumerization also inherently means that when it comes to innovation, telcos need to think beyond traditional services and customer segments, and look instead at the broader spectrum o digital services that address all aspects o how consumers can use their devices.
There are already clear indications o the kinds o services that telcos can position themselves to provide to consumers and enterprises in this area. More than eight years ago, NTT DoCoMo took a major step orward when it transorme transormedd its mobile phones into “wallets” by adding new transactional capabilities capabilities to its handsets. Since then, other types o companies have capitalized on this phenomenon. BSkyB, historically a media provider, has repositioned itsel to oer a wide range o broadband and telephony services. Recognizing the power o iPhone and Android, the company has created a multiscreen oer called “Sky Go,” which enables TV subscribers to watch Sky
channels and programs on PCs, laptops, mobile phones and tablets. Customers can access their Sky channels wherever they are connected to a WiFi or 3G network, including Sky’s own public WiFi network, “The Cloud.” In some cases, too, companies in dierent industries altogether have beaten telcos to the punch. For example, a service developed by one major banking institution permits person-to-person money transers via text messages sent via multiple devices, using mobile phone numbers. This concept has been available in some developing countries or several years and is now well positioned to be integrated into more developed economies.
6 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
There is a wide range o additional possible services. Some possibilities include: •
•
•
The opportunity to purchase a laptop, tablet PC, smartphone or other device bundled with cloud-based services. Location-based discounts (e.g., using the mobile phone’s location as the basis or oering a limited-duration discount to the consumer). Oering consumers access to content via premium packages, e.g., “light TV” via mobile phone, or nding new ways or mobile advertisers to generate revenue through knowledge o specic customer needs.
In general, other broad-based possibilities include oering consumers enhanced mobility services and social collaboration experiences.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 7
8 Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos
Recommendations
Looking Beyond the Telco Industry Box In summary, the new reality o consumerization oers potential opportunities or telcos seeking to reinvent themselves or the digital age.
The key or telcos seeking to take ull advantage o consumerization is thinking systematically about utilizing their unique assets to target products to the ull range o customer needs—using consumers’ “digital ootprints” to target specic sales and service and advertising opportunities to their exact needs, as well as the needs o their employers. Recommended strategies include:
1 Have a clear view o what your customer proposition is in digital services—you need to have a strategy.
2 Innovate—and to do so, take your insights not just rom other telcos and media, but rom other industries and emerging economies—i.e., think outside the telco “box.”
3 Think about the ways in which consumers live and work in order to identiy new opportunities or electronics devices and applications to make their lives more convenient.
Innovation in context-based services—utilizing telcos’ understanding o consumers’ “digital ootprints” and their specic needs—can enable telcos to provide richer services and develop new sources o revenue. What is undamentally required, however, is or telcos to let go o their traditional industry-driven orientation and to think o themselves as players in a broader digital ecosystem—one that begins and ends with the evolving interaction between consumers, devices and applications, and that delivers an added spectrum o convenience, unctionality and impact.
4 Make sure you articulate your innovations in terms o business benefts—not just “cool stu”—but as oering specifc opportunities to generate revenue, market share, and/or margin.
Consumerization and the New World o Business Opportunity or Telcos 9
About Accenture Communications Industry Group Accenture’s Communications industry practice serves ser ves leading commu communications nications service providers in an increasing increasingly ly evolving and dynamic competitive environment. Accenture helps Communications industry clients ace the challenges to connect with the digital consumer, increase revenues, develop and launch innovative products and services quickly and optimize network perormance while reducing costs. The combination o our consulting, technology and outsourcing experience, paired with our deep industry knowledge, helps us veriy that we bring the right solutions and resources to enable our clients to unlock proitable growth, improve operations and achieve high perormance.
Authors
About Accenture
Montgomery (Monte) Hong is Accenture’s global Communications Industry practice lead and also the lead o Accenture Customer Operations Business Service.
Accenture is a global management consulting,, technology services and consulting outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business unctions, and extensive research on the world’s most successul compan companies, ies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-perormance businesses and governments. governments. The company generated net revenues o US$27.9 billion or the iscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Christopher Hinitt is Accenture’s Consumerization and Digital Media Capability lead in the UK/Ireland, and contributes to Accenture’s global approach and thought leadership to consumerization and social networking in the enterprise.
Contact Us Please visit www.accenture.co www.accenture.com/ m/ customer-operations or more inormation about how Accenture can help your company deliver an integrated customer experience to improve customer loyalty and satisaction while lowering the cost to serve. Or contact Monte Hong at [email protected] or Christopher Hinitt at [email protected].
Copyright © 2012 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Perormance Delivered are trademarks o Accenture. This document is produced by consultants at Accenture as general guidance. It is not intended to provide speciic advice on your circumstances. I you require advice or urther details on any matters reerred to, please contact your Accenture representative.
