Once upon a time, people commonly used
payphone booths, party telephone lines and rotary dial phones, but by 2000 and
forward, those three have become mostly just cool things that hipsters talk
about. From the moment mobile devices began to grace the telecommunications
scene, people and the organizations they associate with have embraced their
convenience, fashion statement, cost savings, gradual elimination of long
distance, "take your phone number with you no matter where you go"
empowerment and more. As a result of this revolution, some telecom operators
flourish and others flounder.
Pew Internet shares that as of January
2014, 90 % of all American adults and 34 % of all South African adults own
smart phones. South Africa and other African nations hold great potential for
innovative telecommunications operators because of the low penetration to this
point. A Nielsen report shows there has been an 89 % increase in mobile data
usage with global mobile data usage predicted to grow 13 times from 2012 to
2017!
These facts demand respect. It seems
inevitable that telecommunications industry would see just as big revenues. Why
has voice and messaging revenue, in fact, declined by as much as one billion
USD each month when comparing 2012 to 2011? The decline is predicted to get
worse. When the going gets tough, the tough start observing and listening to customers
and innovating services and products that show they are observing and
listening.
With as many as 35 % of USA adults still
predicted to finally welcome a smart phone as a necessity and the other 66 % of
South African adults doing the same with smart phone or any kind of cell phone,
that means as much as 35 - 66 % more voice and data revenue, and more
telecommunications carriers and operators have the option to plan, prepare and
execute action to capitalize. Be specific, right?
Telecommunications companies have access to
probably the most data in the world, past, present and future. Productive
analyses of that data and proper and enabling action to meet the needs of
customers can help to gain and retain customers. To not only gain but also
retain is an operator's dream come true. What makes the customers tick? Now
telecoms have no reason to not know. Conferences such as Africa Com bring
together those data mining experts together with operators to make the most of
data, one of the dozens of ways to be more innovative and realize growth in
revenue and customer happiness.
New, emerging markets such as in Africa,
China, India and Brazil are said to hold at least 85 % of the telecommunications
industry's growth between 2013 and 2017, but this is in mobile phone and
service technology, not fixed telephony. No wonder the same countries have
scores of entrepreneurs; families of students studying in USA, Europe, Japan
and Australia; small businesses and nonprofit as well as governmental
organizations who are choosing to own virtual phone lines or virtual phone
numbers outside of their nation. They are at the cusp of extreme innovation and
something way bigger than the 1999 DOT COM peak. Their potential for growth is
not determined by traditional legislative and geographic boundaries. They can
have a virtual local presence in the most fully developed nations where their
"VIP" (very important people) such as current and potential
customers, vendors, partners, family, and friends live, work and play…all
because of something as commonplace as a local phone number. Telecom operators
and service providers that are aware of such opportunities can gain those
people as customers and retain them just by joining a wholesale DID phone
number marketplace and getting involved in the buy, sell, trade opportunity.
Next, with near field communication and
other contactless protocols and technologies, mobile money is the new exchange
process and another way to see bigger revenues. Thousands of telecommunications
related companies and entrepreneurs were enthralled with case studies to prove
these facts at ITEXPO West in October 2015. The perfect follow up is
participation in Africa Com November 2015 in Cape Town that attracts the
experts who serve mobile payment users and providers in Africa and elsewhere.
These are places where mobile money is used because traditional currencies just
like traditional telephones are not practical and maybe even not available. No
wonder AfricaCom will make available those experts to educate the rest of us
from their vast and deep experience with mobile money opportunities. What is
needed to make it work? Create apps that can be enabled by NFC (near field
communications.) What is that? They make it more convenient to sell and buy,
for example, via a barcode or a tap and so on.
Consumers and small businesses drive the
commercial world. Such is true with, for example, transportation,
communication, commerce, and the "Internet of Things." A boss sends a
Q & A beacon to one of his most industrious team members after that person
states, "I wish I could just ask a question to thin air and get the answer
right away." A business lady prepares for an important business meeting
with a prominent Japanese company and says, "Ok, Google. What is proper
Japanese business card etiquette?" Nearly every new car in South Africa
has an M2M connection with a goal to combat car theft. Utilities companies use
M2M to track energy consumption. Vending machines, kitchen cupboards and
refrigerators "automatically update" their vending sources with
replenishment requests. Who stands to benefit with increased revenues from
such? The companies…that set up the stage to create the apps, that sell the
devices, and that provide the backbone of the routing of the services…are the
telecommunications operators.
So, in summary, data access, analysis and
empowering action; mobile devices and services; virtual phone lines; near field
technologies, mobile money and payments; and the Internet of Things are the
stuff that telecommunications operators' dreams are made of. With the fast and
growing embrace of cloud services, virtual private networks and hosting, B2B
and the markets they serve save more money, make more money and create and
enjoy more innovation. Telecommunications companies have earned their place in
the middle and as the foundation of these freedoms and breakthroughs.
While the old ways that telecommunications
operators made money are slipping away, new, very practical and empowering ways
are taking their place, and consumers as well as B2B are driving this change.
Observe, listen and act!
By Suzanne Bowen, VP DIDX.net (technology media partner and wholesale telephony marketplace provider)
