The embedded SIM: Operator opportunity, or operator threat?

The limitations are obvious. Supermarket sites would have to dedicate a lot of resources to building the multiple partnerships and technical integrations required with all possible recipe websites and specialist suppliers, and creating and maintaining the many interfaces required to manage anything other than a simple redirection.

However, a third-party catalyst company could simplify much of that process.  It could enable a cloud-based commercial exchange that our example cookery site – and other recipe providers – could join. Then all interested supermarkets could join it, too - and each participant would only need to manage one connection.  If the third party running that exchange could provide and federate permitted details of the customer across the various companies, the whole process could be simpler, faster, more intelligent, and more profitable for all concerned.

Other front end channels can be integrated using new technology.  One scenario would be that a consumer watching a TV cookery program could “shake” their mobile phone to buy the ingredients required.  Shaking the phone would initiate the process that recognizes the online program from the audio track (just like Shazam recognizes music), opens an order screen connected behind the scenes to the user’s favorite supermarket, pre-loads the shopping basket with the ingredients, and auto-completes the delivery and payment details for the customer to confirm or edit.

All the customer would then need to do is confirm the payment – either by stored credit card, by entering a PIN, or by using the fingerprint scanner. 

The operator’s IT system would have taken care of everything else.  And if the customer was watching the cookery program on their mobile tablet or device, the entire process could occur in the background without any need to interrupt viewing.

Network operators have many of the customer management processes and experience needed to position themselves as that third-party catalyst company. They have the device experience, the network reach, the customer insights and the potential capability to drive this revolution. They are well placed to be the embedded hub that acts as the catalyst to enable this transformation.  The question is – which operators have the vision to embrace the opportunity created by the Internet of Things to build an Internet of Enterprise based on collaboration? Who will seize this unique opportunity to not just to embed the SIM, but to embed themselves, and their connections, into a host of new, cloud-enabled, digital commercial partnerships to the benefit of all involved?