BUSINESS OR PLEASURE?

By Tatu Tahkokallio, Group Marketing Director

Some 15+ years ago when I began my career in the telecoms industry PC laptops were getting small enough to carry around wherever you went. However, connectivity was still very much in its infancy. Typically you needed a dial-up connection to read your emails and if you were on the move, wireless data was available only at the speed of 9.6kbit/s. At the time, only the true visionaries amongst us could have dreamt about broadband dongles. But hey, as Web sites and other digital content were only taking their first baby steps back then, what would you have even needed more speed?

No big surprise, everything has changed since then. And I mean really everything.

Today, we take for granted the ability to consume content, use services, be social, download applications, have connectivity, organize daily routines using cloud based digital experiences, and make monetary transactions of different kind anywhere, anytime. And what’s more, we no longer distinguish or categorize our actions and tools as being either business or pleasure. They are both of those and in one nice mesh!

This is exactly where the opportunity lies for the forward looking industry players – our customers – who we consult, serve and power with solutions for tomorrow’s digital marketplaces. Our vision and actions help communication service providers serve the needs of consumers and businesses alike, by making the above-mentioned offerings available, affordable and easy to enjoy.

As the line between our work and private life is so blurred, an increasing number of operators need to look at their offering with marketing goggles on; understand the changing faces of the target segments (e.g. depending on the time of day or location), have a systematic way of measuring and analyzing adjustments in their marketing mix and quickly react on the rising or falling market trends. Furthermore, it is crucial to offer so much more than before; be able to bundle products and services from 3^rd parties, including big and small Internet players, and to manage rapid service lifecycles.

All this change will provide more benefits too for all parties involved. As those in the past so inflexible OSS/BSS systems are replaced or transformed into agile business solutions, providing real-time views to customer and service activity, you can conduct your business by sitting in front of your corporate PC, or by giving a quick lunch presentation using a tablet PC, or by checking sales status with your smartphone on a boat deck. With this advancement, the solutions that were delivered previously to back office staff will now get proliferated also to armpits of business managers and palms of business owners. Now that’s a big change for business.

And how do I know that? Well, I am a walking example of a businessman who moves between all these three canvases; PC-tablet-smartphone, and utilize the same devices, applications and solutions to both my business and private benefit. Let me just quickly highlight three solutions that have really changed my life:

The first one has to do with international videoconferencing. In the old days you either booked a video room or had to be in front of your PC. Today, I use WebEx, which allows me to decide the device I want to use and where. All works seamlessly whether I prefer PC, tablet or mobile.

The second was a surprise to me. I suddenly realized how much a great notes solution could increase my productivity. I took Evernote in use and now all my notes are fully integrated and synchronized between all my devices and canvases. And those notes can be all kinds of content; text, pictures, voice, location, etc.

The third example has to do with music consumption. My habits turned completely around after the introduction of Spotify, the streaming music service. I have completely quit buying CDs. Today, I both discover and listen to music using all kinds of devices and in different occasions than I did before.

What’s common to all these examples then? Well, they all consume data and they all have pricing of their own and my consumption habits vary from day to day, from hour to hour. What’s more interesting, either my employer or I have to pay for all those services separately. In fact, it’s very challenging, if not impossible, to find a shop, like Amazon on the web, that could offer these services in one neat package. After all, they are all business critical to me.

So, my cry goes out to all communication service providers around the world to start taking action about this opportunity. When can your customers enjoy the great services I do, but from one booth? And when can they get it all on one single bill?