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By Barbara
Lancaster
(with credit to Bob Dylan)
It's all about change.
From the first
words of the first key note speaker,
one could sense that this TeleManagement
World was different. It was about change:
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The key note speakers were different.
They represented a wide variety
of industries and perspectives,
and mostly, they provided a wake
up call – change or die.
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Presenters and participants bluntly
admitted that technology alone
cannot solve business problems.
Real solutions must be grounded
firmly in providing a great customer
experience, and in meeting clearly
defined business goals. Alignment
of people, process and system was
touted again and again as the only
way to achieve success. No more
buying “stuff” and
hoping it would solve the problem.
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Asked to explain what’s
different now (given that the words
on the slides described essentially
the same issues and imperatives
presented twenty years ago), the
incumbent giants stated that it
is no longer about theory – it
is about survival. Hits on margins,
lines in service, intense competition
and the threat of Google, are driving
real action, and lots of collaboration.
It was obvious that Telstra, at&t,
BT, KPN and Vodafone have been
talking together on a regular basis
about what’s working and
what’s not.
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So, it’s now about transformation – serious
transformation. The mood of the
attendees was about really sharing
information, looking for solutions
that might actually solve fundamental
problems.
Here are some of the highlights of
the conference:
Note worthy Key Notes
The first key note speaker was Nicholas
Negroponte, the visionary professor
from M.I.T, and the man behind the “one
laptop per child” program. He
made it crystal clear that the future
of our planet is tied to communications
and to education. Giving children and
their families a way out of hunger
and poverty through education and communication
was also the way to enable global understanding,
and a real defense against the causes
of terrorism.
Next was Bonnie Gray, speaking from
a cable company perspective: another
indication that the TMF was making
inroads in broadening its previous
telco-centric base. While there is
little doubt that the cable companies
are poised to do more damage to traditional
telco revenue models, some of the challenges
she illustrated in her talk were solved
long ago by
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Finally, no more
talk about magic bullets that could
transform their operations all by
themselves. |
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those companies she initially
considered “sleeping dinosaurs”.
Depending on your point of view,
the challenges yet to be solved
by the cable companies is either
great news for the dinosaurs
or discouraging for those wishing
for their swift demise.
The third speaker was Rory Sutherland, the charismatic leader
of advertising giant, Ogilvie1. Another refreshingly different
perspective on how to understand what customers really want, and
need. With some gentle humor, he cautioned us to consider that
a great customer service experience does not always rely on higher
speeds….He also shared his views about what on-line advertising
was really going to be – and it doesn’t look much
like a banner ad. His views should be quite a wake up call for
those who talk about “advertising-driven revenue models” as
the way forward for communications providers.
Only the fourth presenter was
a “typical” TMW
key note speaker. The well known,
and well spoken representative
from Telecom Italia, stepped
the audience through the revenue
impacts of IP-everywhere as
experienced by Telecom Italia.
He also described several of
their initiatives that are expected
to yield the step-function changes
in their cost structure and
capabilities that are designed
to keep them ahead of the pack
in race toward transformation – and
increased profitability.
Like so many other telco veterans,
he believes that the profit
margins are in content-based
services, and that telcos have
a shot at reaping those profits.
This was one of the most debated
themes of the conference, both
in the sessions and in the halls.
Some attendees suggested that
the service providers needed
to focus on their core business
of carrying the bits, rather
than
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