by Timo Laaksonen, VP Strategy & Business Development
Four intensive days of Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona - what were the key takeaways?
1) Smartphones and apps stole the center stage. Nokia partnership with Microsoft was the talk of the town. There were certainly enough people following Microsoft demos for Windows 7 to clog the main aisle of Hall 1. Maybe I only imagined but I could have sworn that some of them were also eyeing across the aisle towards "demos" in typical CBOSS style, i.e. gorgeous ladies on a catwalk. Android was present with a very large and definitely cool stand showcasing all their supported phone models out in the market as well as loads of application and service partners.
2) Financial sentiment appears to be "business as usual" in telecom and communications business. A member of the MWC sales team told me that they broke the all time attendance level on Tuesday, close to 60 000 people through the doors. Operators are considering serious investments in all areas: infrastructure, service platforms, customer experience, business support and customer care. There seemed to be considerably less hype around the show this year than in some of the previous years and more heads-down type business talk.
3) Major communication service providers are not going to watch from the sidelines how Apple and Google make all the money on their customers. Heads of Vodafone and Telefónica, among others, announced that they will not hand their customers on a silver plate over to the Internet giants. Major operator groups are working together to develop application, service and content ecosystems where their customer control, overall revenue and cut of advertising proceeds will be more prominent than in Apple or Google dominated scenarios. Operators will need to move fast to make a difference as the mobile Internet train is already picking up considerable speed.
4) Tecnotree's strategic value proposition to power the digital marketplace was welcomed by operators, press and analysts alike. As stated above, operators realize that they need to make concrete moves right now to develop a meaningful role for themselves as the underlying dynamics of the communications and media market are going through profound change. Our three step solution approach to becoming a digital marketplace was considered a clear path to short and long term success. As a result of MWC 2011 we have a lot of leads to follow up with both existing and new customers. This will be an exciting year of working with communication services providers the world over to extend and renew their current capabilities and to build new business critical solutions on their way to becoming flourishing digital marketplaces.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Monday, 14 February 2011
Introducing the all new Tecnotree web, and more
by Timo Laaksonen, VP Strategy & Business Development, Tecnotree Corporation
We launched the new Tecnotree web site last weekend after busy preparations in the past two months. The first thing that will strike you is the new look and feel. We pushed the company’s visual identity a bit further to transmit innovation, strength and clarity. Our aim was also to create a new freshness and simplicity to the way a company operating in the telecom IT market presents itself – both in terms of visuals and content.
All our core collateral and web content has been completely re-written to convey the same strength, freshness and clarity as what we were looking for in the visuals. We have always been known for technology excellence. Oftentimes the technology and solutions that we work with can get quite complex. The messages related to such solutions can be very difficult to digest for people who are more into business than technology. So we have given a serious shot at talking the language that not only technologists can relate to, but also business professionals can appreciate. This is all part of a shift where we want Tecnotree to shine every bit as bright in technology savvy as before, while presenting a new angle into our offering which derives from addressing business critical opportunities and challenges in the Communication Service Provider (CSP) market.
The starting point to re-writing our collateral was the renewed corporate strategy. You can read more about this subject in a separate press release today. The very first thing that we re-coined was the company’s tagline: Powering the Digital Marketplace. It came about as a result of a staff brainstorming competition we organized in December and perfectly builds on the new strategy. Our Irish colleagues are to thank for this concise caption of what we represent; The partner of choice to CSPs around the world wanting to develop a meaningful role for themselves in the digital marketplace for products and services, be they virtual services or tangible products.
Next, we took on to re-grouping our products into a clearer structure, all under one single product suite, Tecnotree AgilityTM, grouped into three product lines: Revenue, Customer and Value. Every single one of our products has been included into the Tecnotree AgilityTM product suite with the addition of two new members. You can learn more about those on the web site and in a press release due tomorrow. The easiest way to learn about our products – now hopefully in an easier-to-digest format - is by downloading data sheets from our web site.
Furthermore, we have launched a whole host of solutions, each of which builds on combining two or more Tecnotree products to address a topical business opportunity or challenge. These solutions are what represents closest our business proposition to Tecnotree customers, the CSPs. Most of these solutions are well proven to reap significant business benefits in real customer environments. There are others which introduce totally new capabilities, building partially on some of our more recently launched products, and on innovative combinations of both new and existing products. Just one example of a novel business solution is called Unifying Product Offering. Learn more about that and other Tecnotree solutions on our web, grouped under three solution areas: Bundle Services for Every Taste, Build Customer Lifetime Value and Create Digital Marketplaces. We trust that there are solutions in this portfolio that are be topical to any given CSP around the world.
Finally, I want to encourage you to download a brand new white paper, exclusively available on the Tecnotree web site. It is authored by Karl Whitelock of Stratecast (a division of Frost & Sullivan) and is entitled “Meeting Customer Needs – Service Offer Personalization and Partner Collaboration”. Thanks to Karl’s extensive experience and his exceptional knowledge of the market the world over, he has succeeded in capturing how the changing dynamics in the telecom and communications industry are affecting the role of CSPs. Even more importantly, he provides plenty of ideas and examples of how CSPs can address these challenges and opportunities to develop a meaningful role for themselves and keep growing their business, yet more in tune with the real needs of their end customers, in an engaging and balanced relationship.
I do hope you enjoy the web site and its content. We are excited about it and can assure you that this is only the beginning as there is a whole host of new ideas waiting to be realized in the months to come. More about those in upcoming blog posts and tweets. For those of you participating the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week – see you at the Tecnotree stand in Hall 1.
We launched the new Tecnotree web site last weekend after busy preparations in the past two months. The first thing that will strike you is the new look and feel. We pushed the company’s visual identity a bit further to transmit innovation, strength and clarity. Our aim was also to create a new freshness and simplicity to the way a company operating in the telecom IT market presents itself – both in terms of visuals and content.
All our core collateral and web content has been completely re-written to convey the same strength, freshness and clarity as what we were looking for in the visuals. We have always been known for technology excellence. Oftentimes the technology and solutions that we work with can get quite complex. The messages related to such solutions can be very difficult to digest for people who are more into business than technology. So we have given a serious shot at talking the language that not only technologists can relate to, but also business professionals can appreciate. This is all part of a shift where we want Tecnotree to shine every bit as bright in technology savvy as before, while presenting a new angle into our offering which derives from addressing business critical opportunities and challenges in the Communication Service Provider (CSP) market.
The starting point to re-writing our collateral was the renewed corporate strategy. You can read more about this subject in a separate press release today. The very first thing that we re-coined was the company’s tagline: Powering the Digital Marketplace. It came about as a result of a staff brainstorming competition we organized in December and perfectly builds on the new strategy. Our Irish colleagues are to thank for this concise caption of what we represent; The partner of choice to CSPs around the world wanting to develop a meaningful role for themselves in the digital marketplace for products and services, be they virtual services or tangible products.
Next, we took on to re-grouping our products into a clearer structure, all under one single product suite, Tecnotree AgilityTM, grouped into three product lines: Revenue, Customer and Value. Every single one of our products has been included into the Tecnotree AgilityTM product suite with the addition of two new members. You can learn more about those on the web site and in a press release due tomorrow. The easiest way to learn about our products – now hopefully in an easier-to-digest format - is by downloading data sheets from our web site.
Furthermore, we have launched a whole host of solutions, each of which builds on combining two or more Tecnotree products to address a topical business opportunity or challenge. These solutions are what represents closest our business proposition to Tecnotree customers, the CSPs. Most of these solutions are well proven to reap significant business benefits in real customer environments. There are others which introduce totally new capabilities, building partially on some of our more recently launched products, and on innovative combinations of both new and existing products. Just one example of a novel business solution is called Unifying Product Offering. Learn more about that and other Tecnotree solutions on our web, grouped under three solution areas: Bundle Services for Every Taste, Build Customer Lifetime Value and Create Digital Marketplaces. We trust that there are solutions in this portfolio that are be topical to any given CSP around the world.
Finally, I want to encourage you to download a brand new white paper, exclusively available on the Tecnotree web site. It is authored by Karl Whitelock of Stratecast (a division of Frost & Sullivan) and is entitled “Meeting Customer Needs – Service Offer Personalization and Partner Collaboration”. Thanks to Karl’s extensive experience and his exceptional knowledge of the market the world over, he has succeeded in capturing how the changing dynamics in the telecom and communications industry are affecting the role of CSPs. Even more importantly, he provides plenty of ideas and examples of how CSPs can address these challenges and opportunities to develop a meaningful role for themselves and keep growing their business, yet more in tune with the real needs of their end customers, in an engaging and balanced relationship.
I do hope you enjoy the web site and its content. We are excited about it and can assure you that this is only the beginning as there is a whole host of new ideas waiting to be realized in the months to come. More about those in upcoming blog posts and tweets. For those of you participating the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week – see you at the Tecnotree stand in Hall 1.
Friday, 11 February 2011
From bitpipes to digital marketplaces
By Kaj Hagros, President & CEO, Tecnotree Corporation
Ten years from now, you will have forgotten that the operator used to be just the place where to get your connection activated. The operator will be like your personal Ebay: You know you can find anything you imagine there, for instance exactly the one Dinosaur King collection card that your son is missing. But you don’t shop with Ebay that often. Maybe the operator will be like your personal Wal-Mart: You fill your shopping cart with everything you need for the next week or so, because it’s all there conveniently in one stop. But I think the future operator will be even more than Ebay or Wal-Mart. It will be your preferred digital services aggregator. And you don’t need to drive to their parking lot, it’s all right there in front of your door, or on your smartphone, every time and always. They don’t necessarily bring milk and bread (although that may also happen), but you will get all your fixed, mobile, broadband connections, entertainment bundles, music & video subscriptions and other premium services from a single partner if you like. And you pay less compared to going direct to each service or content provider. That’s the value of the bundle.
How many user id’s and passwords do you currently need to maintain to manage your service preferences and to shop online? One for mobile prepaid topup, one for Skype, one for Spotify, one for iTunes, one for Ebay, one for Wall Street Journal, one for Facebook, one for… My personal password list contains over 100 entries. Wouldn’t it be easier if all my typical, daily digital services came thru a single pipe. And it’s not just the convenience of single sign-on, it would be also cheaper. I pay $9.99 a month for this, $5.99 for that, $7.99 for something else and so on. What if my local long-term-trusted Vodafone or Claro gave me all this at a single flat-rate bundle of $19.99 a month, with all my mobile, broadband and entertainment needs? That’s the value and simplicity of the bundle.
As an SME enterprise customer, why would I want to sign up separately with a telecom provider, a web hosting provider, a storage and backup provider, a PBX provider, a VPN provider, and on top of that pay monthly fees to Salesforce.com and four other cloud services. Could my operator distribute all this conveniently at a flat rate per employee per month? That’s the value and simplicity of the bundle.
We’ve spoken about the smart vs. dumb bitpipes for years. And it was only with the proliferation of appstores that operators noticed that something critical was missing. If they have the billing relationship with their consumer and enterprise customers, and all kinds of service platforms for managing bundles, tariffs and rates, subscriptions, personal options, self-care, customer service, CRM, you name it – why not use this merchandising machine for something else than just kilobytes and minutes? I think they will. Ten years from now operators have transformed from a utility bitpipe provider into broad digital marketplaces. At least the ones with ambition and insight.
- Kaj Hagros
Ten years from now, you will have forgotten that the operator used to be just the place where to get your connection activated. The operator will be like your personal Ebay: You know you can find anything you imagine there, for instance exactly the one Dinosaur King collection card that your son is missing. But you don’t shop with Ebay that often. Maybe the operator will be like your personal Wal-Mart: You fill your shopping cart with everything you need for the next week or so, because it’s all there conveniently in one stop. But I think the future operator will be even more than Ebay or Wal-Mart. It will be your preferred digital services aggregator. And you don’t need to drive to their parking lot, it’s all right there in front of your door, or on your smartphone, every time and always. They don’t necessarily bring milk and bread (although that may also happen), but you will get all your fixed, mobile, broadband connections, entertainment bundles, music & video subscriptions and other premium services from a single partner if you like. And you pay less compared to going direct to each service or content provider. That’s the value of the bundle.
How many user id’s and passwords do you currently need to maintain to manage your service preferences and to shop online? One for mobile prepaid topup, one for Skype, one for Spotify, one for iTunes, one for Ebay, one for Wall Street Journal, one for Facebook, one for… My personal password list contains over 100 entries. Wouldn’t it be easier if all my typical, daily digital services came thru a single pipe. And it’s not just the convenience of single sign-on, it would be also cheaper. I pay $9.99 a month for this, $5.99 for that, $7.99 for something else and so on. What if my local long-term-trusted Vodafone or Claro gave me all this at a single flat-rate bundle of $19.99 a month, with all my mobile, broadband and entertainment needs? That’s the value and simplicity of the bundle.
As an SME enterprise customer, why would I want to sign up separately with a telecom provider, a web hosting provider, a storage and backup provider, a PBX provider, a VPN provider, and on top of that pay monthly fees to Salesforce.com and four other cloud services. Could my operator distribute all this conveniently at a flat rate per employee per month? That’s the value and simplicity of the bundle.
We’ve spoken about the smart vs. dumb bitpipes for years. And it was only with the proliferation of appstores that operators noticed that something critical was missing. If they have the billing relationship with their consumer and enterprise customers, and all kinds of service platforms for managing bundles, tariffs and rates, subscriptions, personal options, self-care, customer service, CRM, you name it – why not use this merchandising machine for something else than just kilobytes and minutes? I think they will. Ten years from now operators have transformed from a utility bitpipe provider into broad digital marketplaces. At least the ones with ambition and insight.
- Kaj Hagros
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