Monthly Archives: May 2012

Leading Telco Execs Point to Growth in Enterprise Markets

Posted by Gintel on 31/05/2012 None comments

In an address at the recent TeleManagement World in Dublin, a leading executive from a Tier 1 European operator pointed out that saturation levels in consumer markets suggest a strong opportunity to seek growth in the enterprise.

We couldn’t agree more. We see our customers growing their enterprise businesses and securing more end-user revenue and profit. Consumer markets are highly competitive and becoming extremely fragmented. Profit levels are declining. The complexity of offering class-leading consumer services is increasing, as operators see their business models challenged by free and innovative OTT offers, while at the same time, penetration levels mean there is little scope for subscriber growth.

However, enterprise and SME customers want a consistent, reliable set of services that meets their needs to drive efficiency, reduce costs and enhance productivity. While they need innovative products and demand differentiated services, they typically look to their service provider to deliver them. Enterprise customers have high expectations, but in exchange, they provide predictable, profitable revenue streams and, overall, represent a growth market. What’s more, operators are still largely neglecting the SME market, which represents the largest number of private companies – and offers significant scope for further growth.

This is an opportunity – a focus on enterprise and SME customers can yield revenue quicker and more profitably than fickle consumer markets, in which price competition is paramount. It’s possible to deliver core services and enhance them with innovative and customised features and capabilities. Complementary services can be delivered to add value. Simple tiers of services can be delivered to different horizontal segments.

Operators are starting to recognise this. They are realising that building a portfolio of services for enterprise and SME customers generates growth and offers a more certain ROI than consumer segments. But if the path to success in enterprise and SME markets seems unclear, we can help. Innovative operators around the world have deployed our solutions. We understand what it takes to develop a winning enterprise strategy. Talk to our experts and we can show you how.

 

 

Monetising Cloud Services – Who will Pay? The Consumer or the Enterprise?

Posted by Gintel on 29/05/2012 None comments

Recent research from industry analysts Pyramid suggests that operators need to adopt a range of innovative price plans to successfully monetise consumer cloud services. Creative pricing is needed to persuade consumers to move beyond free services and pay a premium, but operators also need to balance pricing strategies against the need to sustain usage levels and drive data demand.

On the other hand, we think that enterprise users are more likely to pay a premium for cloud services. They may be induced to adopt cloud delivery models by free trials and discounts, but their need for consistent levels of quality and ubiquity are suggestive of a greater willingness to move to accept subscription charges.

But cloud is a broad term. For enterprise IT applications, operators face intense competition from alternative providers. An area in which operators have proven expertise and which represents a simple means to launch a portfolio of cloud services is voice.

Although there are some OTT voice services that promise enterprise-grade quality, this is hard to achieve across all domains – fixed and mobile. Operators have the advantage here, as they can ensure network coverage and guarantee service quality. That’s why offering hosted voice services represents a secure way to enter the cloud service business. Rather than competing on uncertain ground, operators can deliver an enhanced yet familiar service directly to enterprise and SME customers that drives subscription revenues, unlike in consumer markets.

In addition, by launching hosted voice services, operators can quickly add complementary services, creating sticky offers and strengthening relationships with their enterprise user base. Rather than trying to compete with IT service providers, operators can achieve differentiation by playing to their strength and use this as a bridgehead to broaden their portfolio.

Such an approach reduces risk and improves ROI. It also leverages expertise that already exists, rather than having to take the more complex and costlier path of adding IT capabilities and knowledge. The cloud is now a ubiquitous term, but one that represents a big bet in consumer markets where free access has been the norm. Instead of trying to deliver the same set of services, operators should consider how they could differentiate their offer – which means focusing on markets that offer more reward and greater certainty.