Archive for the ‘Digital Life’ Category

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Digital Awareness – a Critical Component for Success

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

A key pillar of our work at KeySo Global is the belief that digital technology has significantly impacted and changed the digital lives of every one of us, and that systems and business models are consequently having to adapt to meet multiple stakeholders’ expectations.

Business models are dynamic and unique, and are a reflection of historic development, management personalities, economic and business environments, customer and channel requirements as well as resource, assets and technology. As much as humans like stability, no business model stays the same, no matter how perfect it seems at the time.  In their 2001 book entitled “How Digital Is Your Business” Adrian Slywotzky and David Morrison compared the brilliance of the Dell business model with competitors like HP, Compaq and, at that time, struggling Apple. Dell spent limited amounts on R&D, leveraged a choice board for consumers to design their own PC, and outsourced manufacturing to Taiwan and distribution logistics to FedEx; this was seen as a virtue at the time when compared with HP, Compaq and Apple. Technology and a successful business model don’t guarantee success if a company doesn’t keep up with consumer need changes or fails to innovate. The focus that Apple placed on user experience changed the game; in recent news we’ve seen how Dell’s business model is now struggling to compete against the growth of smartphones, tablets and cloud services – particularly those of Apple.

Being aware and responding to developments around you is a significant and important part of senior management responsibility. We strongly advocate the interaction with external resources that will bring a different perspective to a business. Utilizing “thought leaders” or tools that allow the current situation to be viewed from a different vantage point can greatly strengthen a company’s thinking and focus. As the saying goes “no single event makes a trend” but the search, listing and assembly of data from multiple sources can enable companies to recognize emerging patterns and opportunities, particularly in complementary industries where competitive shifts in business models could be applicable.

Over the last few weeks I’ve observed in the news a number of noteworthy events that will, I’m sure, impact multiple industries. I’ve listed these below, together with what I believe are the broader implications for business.

Recent news events:

  • Online clothes shopping hit 10% of U.S. sales.
  • Macy’s overall sales increased by 11.7% and their online sales increased by 48.9%.
  • H&M and Inditex – European fashion retailers – are reported tochange their in-store clothing range every two weeks.
  • 15% of shopping malls will close in the U.S. over the next five years.
  • Amazon’s fourth-quarter sales were down but their margins increased.
  • Netflix develops streamed original content (House of Cards) targeted at “cord cutters” abandoning cable and satellite TV.
  • Traditional Procter & Gamble partners with crowd sourcing venture capitalists “Circle Up” for new ideas and innovation.
  • BSkyB in the U.K. introduces advertising based on localized demographics and TV program choice.

Digital implications for your business:

  • smartphones and tablets have changed consumer behavior patterns i.e. online couch shopping and mobile price comparison
  • traditional T.V. advertising is losing its effectiveness
  • the digital consumer expects broader and more frequently refreshed product lines
  • digital business models enable diverse competitive offerings
  • traditional business models now embrace crowd sourcing and funding

If they haven’t already done so, these implications and others like them are likely to impact your business model. My message here is that you need to become aware of digital change and be prepared to do something about it. Have you checked to see if neighboring industries and competitors are already responding to the urgent need to adapt? The big question is – are you? Are you ready to take the first steps towards adopting a digital strategy, one that will strengthen your competitive position in today’s digital marketplace?

We at KeySo Global can help. To discuss how you can structure a digital strategy innovation session, contact us at info@keysoglobal.com or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Bell, President KeySo Global

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Is Higher Education Set to Cross the Digital Frontier?

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Change usually only occurs when competing forces conspire to cause it or behaviors are adopted that necessitate it. Higher education and universities are ripe for change but they also have a tendency to resist it. These institutions have a long tradition of establishing prestigious courses and faculties, the cost of which in recent years has become prohibitive for the average student. The traditional model of students receiving instruction from and interacting one-on-one with learned professors has gradually given way to large over-crowded lecture halls, compulsory reading lists and standardized testing, as economics not excellence has shaped university education..

The impact that the digital age is having on everyday life is changing consumer expectations, and consequently challenging the established educational model. The widespread availability of wireless broadband, mobile devices, video lectures and online course material is facilitating the “massive online open course” (MOOC) which is accessible to large and diverse groups of students. The high cost of full-time education and the uncertainty of employment mean that many young people today are looking to work and study in parallel – and MOOC offers the ideal solution. It also supports those who are looking to supplement their existing education and skills and are more interested in gaining knowledge than qualifications.

Tablets and e-readers, according to McGraw-Hill, have the ability to transform not only the textbook and the individual educational experience but also the whole testing process. During a presentation at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, McGraw-Hill described “LearnSmart”, their new adaptive technology program where a student reads a digital textbook on a tablet or e-reader and is asked a series of on-going questions that assess their understanding of what they have read. Subsequently their reading materials are adjusted according to their level of knowledge and understanding.  On this basis, a room full of students or an online group reading a text will all be receiving highly personalized and tailored instruction to help them attain the same required level of understanding. By tracking the results, answers given and also a student’s keyboard strokes it is possible to ascertain and validate their individual performance for the purposes of testing and certification.

The digital and online world is reshaping our cognitive capabilities and, according to some experts, using the Internet to search for information is causing us to “externalize” our memories rather than having to use them to process and store information. While enhancing our logical capabilities, the online world is also hindering our ability to develop the skills of empathy – an emotion that has apparently shown a decline in young people. Empathy is learned over time through social interaction and by reading others’ facial expressions, so if face time is replaced with Facebook time, the implications for enhanced interpersonal skills and moral decision-making could be significant.

One of the advantages of a traditional university education is that it enables young people to interact and develop social skills. In a recent article about Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City,  it was pointed out that an average C-student attending Johns Hopkins University in the early 1960s – which he was – could be transformed into a social and political star through the interactions, experiential learning and networking skills that are an integral part of a four-year residential education. With increased applications for MOOC courses, the new digital educational environment needs to be reconsidered and other options need to be examined. These could include the utilization of enhanced virtual reality conference facilities that enable virtual face-to-face experiences and networking opportunities that supplement real-world social interactions.

Whatever happens, the shape of education and learning from pre-school through to university and beyond is likely to change dramatically over the next five years as the pace of technological progress continues to accelerate and people adopt it more readily into their lives.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

www.keysoglobal.com

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Catalyst Technologies and their Global Impact

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

In this third blog we look at the implications of the catalyst technologies we identified in our last blog, and determine why they have become so important. In his book “What Technology Wants” Kevin Kelly identifies that “the ever thickening mix of existing technologies in a society create any supersaturated matrix charged with restless potential”. We have written extensively about the digital world which is the combination of technologies that are shaping our world and digital life which is the effect that these technologies are having on everyday life. Kelly again reinforces our perspective when he says that we as a society are “symbiotic with the technology” and that as fast as we invent technology, we change our behavior and become dependent upon it.

Instant Markets

The current global economic turmoil did not come about by accident, but is in fact a consequence of today’s society being able to instantly communicate and share information. In other words society has changed behaviors and has become increasingly dependent on converged technologies. The use of internet trading platforms, for example, with Twitter users virally sharing the latest snippet of information is compounding the application of sophisticated trading algorithms (flash trading). The fact that the U.S. is now leading the way in the deployment of 4G mobile Internet makes the realities of the 2008/2009 Wall Street collapse pale into insignificance as the next wave of technologies facilitate “anytime, anywhere, anyhow” trading and speculating based on viral information.

Controls Lag

More recently the global LIBOR banking scandal, on top of the Euro crisis, points to the fact that we as an international society are struggling to come to grips with and learn what control mechanisms will work in this volatile and real-time world. Compounding this is the problem that we have not yet come up with a common language to document the necessary global beliefs and values that are required to guide policy regulation, monitoring and correction of this 24/7 digitally trading world.

Inextricable Interdependence

The U.S. has struggled to interpret the current rapidly changing and unpredictable global situation, mainly because it finds it hard to accept the fundamental changes that have been occurring on its own soil. A recent Financial Times article identified that the U.S. is now significantly more interdependent on the global economy than it was 31 years ago, at the outset of the shift to Digital Renaissance 2.0.

At that time, in 1981, the U.S. was a relatively closed and self-sufficient economy as measured in terms of trade of goods (import/exports) as a percentage of the U.S. gross domestic product. U.S trade represented only 21% of GDP and was made up of 10% exports and 11% imports. By 2012 this had grown significantly to approximately 32% of GDP – exports accounted for 14% of this and imports 18% – putting the U.S. on a par with the global average as an open economy.

Consequently the U.S. belief in self-reliance and independence now needs to be replaced with the realization, not only in terms of stock market indices but also as an economic reality, that it is inextricably tied to the Euro crisis, the emergence of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the struggles in Africa.

Collaboration & Knowledge

The original Renaissance in Europe resulted in the disappearance of principalities and kingdoms, and ushered in the emergence of a nation state, which was followed during the industrial age with the emergence of overlapping market states. The question is how will the world evolve and will market states be the future societal organization? There are a number of theories about the organization of society going forward (Philip Bobbitt, David Ronfeldt, are two such theorists and this article compares their position with those of others). Regardless of which theory prevails, it is highly likely that in the world of Digital Renaissance 2.0 networking, collaboration and knowledge will be critical components of its underlying architecture. It also seems probable that global communities, digitally connected and potentially proactive, will coexist alongside and within hierarchical organizations, both in government and also in industry.

Ren 2.0 Man – Techno Artisan Craft Society

Digital Renaissance 2.0 was founded upon four enabling technologies and was exponentially accelerated by the catalyst technologies that released the restless potential of other technologies, such as cloud computing and Web 2.0. Ren 2.0 is now embracing a raft of emerging technologies, like NFC, voice recognition and kinetics, which are giving rise to business models not previously conceived. For instance 3-D printing is enabling designers / entrepreneurs to create new product concepts from digital files more rapidly and cost effectively than ever previously thought possible. Coupling this capability with global internet access and mobile commerce, Ren 2.0 now allows others to market this product concept globally.  Personalized products for the “market of one” are created by transmitting customized product specifications to printers anywhere on the planet and in close proximity to the consumer. To a large degree these hybrid technology and commerce systems facilitate the reincarnation of the craft society that got lost in the industrial age. These techno artisan craftsmen are in many respects the Digital Renaissance 2.0 men/women of the new digital era who are living, working and trading in global communities of trust, practice and purpose.

In prior blogs we have discussed the concept of “digital agents of change” and shown how critical this role has become in today’s digital business world. In some respects we all now need to become digital agents of change for the global society, or to use the words of Mohanda Gandhi “we must be the change we wish to see in the world”.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

www.keysoglobal.com

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What Spawned the New Digital Renaissance 2.0?

Saturday, August 25th, 2012

This article is the first of a trilogy in which we share some of the more intriguing aspects we have uncovered about digital technologies and the dynamic impact they are having on our business and personal lives. This first blog examines the unique origins of the new age Renaissance – what we call Digital Renaissance 2.0™ – and its impact on today’s global economy.

Previously, we identified the four “enabling technologies” (cell phone, PC, Internet, Walkman) that rocked the world and pointed out that they all emerged on the scene around the same time – 1981. We also pinpointed 2010 as a “year of convergence” when 3G, 4G and the Cloud all came together. It was only recently, however, that it became apparent to us that 2007 was the year that the “catalyst technologies” facilitated this convergence and, with it, the advent of the new digital age.

My colleague, Steve Benton, and I coined the expression Digital Renaissance 2.0™ (Ren 2.0™) to capture the concept that a fundamental shift is occurring in the way that information is now being accessed and shared. In the original Renaissance era, the enlightenment of Europe occurred due to the introduction of the printing press which led to the democratization of books.

During Ren 2.0™ the Internet has led to the democratization of information, now freely available to everyone – anywhere, anyhow and anytime – and as a result, the collective knowledge held by society is expanding exponentially, both actively and passively. The Internet has enabled information to become much more “transparent” as silos of data are shared between continents, countries and corporations, and on a significantly broader basis. This in turn has facilitated the global cross-pollination of ideas and concepts on a scale never seen before.

The four enabling technologies referred to above evolved rapidly and converged to facilitate the emergence of the Mobile Internet age. In our paper “Introduction to Digital Life Renaissance” (contact us to obtain a copy) we determine that this change is occurring at an unprecedented pace and show how it is touching all aspects of society, as well as governments and global economies.

The magnitude of these digital world changes in economic terms is captured in a chart we compiled that shows the global economy growing from less than $10 trillion in 1981 and accelerating to over $60 trillion by 2010. In a recent blog article in the Economist it was identified that between May 2011 and 2012 the global economy generated $65 trillion of trade (GDP), and that by September 2013 it will add a further $10 trillion to achieve a global GDP of $75 trillion.

The case can be made that global saturation of cellular and expanding penetration of mobile broadband access are primarily responsible for this rapid, worldwide distribution of information, which in turn is fueling economic growth at an unprecedented rate. Concurrently, this transformation is impacting the lives of individuals in developing and developed countries, and their awareness and expectations are growing as they become more exposed to vast amounts of new, previously inaccessible, information. As human behavioral patterns and methods of interaction change, so do their needs and requirements, which in turn are generating an abundance of new business and service opportunities.

It is our belief that the reinforcing cycle of continued innovation, based on the application of new digital technologies, is facilitating an increasingly interconnected planet which will, in turn, strengthen economic growth and favorably impact our digital lives.

Look out for our next two blogs in this series and find out exactly what the “catalyst technologies” are, what their significance is today and the powerful impact that they are going to have on our business and personal lives going forward.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

www.keysoglobal.com

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The Emotional Pull of Technology

Monday, July 9th, 2012

What could be easier than shopping for a cell phone, especially when you already know what you want? My wife had already decided that she wanted to upgrade her old Blackberry Bold so, being with T-Mobile, off we went to their store.

We wandered around, looked at and played with the two Blackberrys on display and asked a sales associate for advice. The youngster seemed technically competent but totally disengaged, probably having given the same spiel to customers a thousand times. It was obvious that, to him, our purchase was purely a transaction.

The Blackberry Bold was priced at $650 but as “loyal customers” we could purchase the phone for $360 with a $50 mail in rebate from T-Mobile. For this price my wife would have an upgraded phone with both touch screen and keypad, a faster camera, plus newer technology enabling the downloading and interaction with apps that hadn’t been possible on the older version. Ok, great – mission accomplished! I was getting ready to pay and leave.

My wife had other ideas. She was clearly not impressed with either the price or the salesperson. He had failed to connect with her and convince her that she was getting the phone she really wanted. She decided to “think about it”.

Our next port of call was the Target store. They hold wide range of phones – just no Blackberries. A very pleasant and competent salesperson explained that Target could no longer get hold of Blackberry devices. She empathized totally with my wife’s apprehension about transitioning to a large touch screen smartphone and explained that she herself had handled the switch over with remarkable ease. On her own phone, a Samsung Galaxy S11, she demonstrated with verve the swipe mechanism for texting, enthused about the high capability camera and beautiful images displayed on the large screen. She took time to answer questions and form a relationship with my wife, making the whole purchase exercise a fun and informative experience. Who would’ve thought that you’d find this degree of engagement at Target!

Ok, so what about the price? This was going to be the killer. As it turned out the Samsung Galaxy S11, after a trade-in refund for the RIM device and a loyalty discount for Target customers, retailed at … $137. That’s all it took to convince my wife – the offer and the phone were too good to resist!

So what are the “walk aways” from this experience?

  • Firstly, purchasing a cell phone is not just a technical sale; it’s an emotional one as well. Even when a customer’s requirements are clearly voiced, the engagement with this customer is crucial and can result in surfacing and satisfying unmet needs.
  • Secondly, RIM has a very hard job ahead if most retail stores do not have the product available to satisfy brand loyal purchases.
  • Finally, mobile operators had better start thinking about improving their retail business model and experiences to compete with Target-type competition; otherwise Vodafone’s proud boast in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2012 of being the 8th largest retailer in the world could very quickly transition a precious asset into an expensive embarrassment.

After much apprehension, my wife is now an avid fan of the larger, touch screen smartphone and after only two days of intense interaction, became a total convert. Who says technology doesn’t evoke emotions? Not me!

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

www.keysoglobal.com

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Digital Life – Rubber Band Forces that Prohibit Change

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

Why change at all? Why embrace what is new and intimidating instead of holding on to what is tried and true? The natural inclination of most people is to resist change, and when it begins to happen we tend to snap back to the shape of the things we know best, just as a rubber band that is stretched will revert to its original shape when released.

Digital Life is very new and can be scary. It is also here, now – right now – and is impacting the world in ways that can seem confusing, often even contradictory to what we have learned, accomplished, and know. Why would we want embrace it? 

Maybe your company actually can embrace the changes brought about by Digital Life. I mean really embrace change in ways that transform your business into a digital metamorphosis that propels it into this century; effectively reshape the rubber band by altering your business model to capitalize on the wide range of opportunities presented by Digital Life. However, I doubt it, unless you have some seriously sound “digital change agents” within your company to help you achieve this transformation, and unless you’re truly wanting to change.

Change is disruptive, which is what makes it so scary. Go back to your roots for a second. Think about those things that seemed exciting to you when you were willing to explore new ways of doing things, and those things that made you what you are today. What was new, intriguing – and yes scary – back then now seems safe. Your business faces the same challenges with embracing Digital Life that you faced growing up into the person you are today.

Digital Life demands that we embrace change and growth on a scale never experienced before. The advances and convergence of technologies are changing almost every aspect of how we do things. Smartphones, tablets, laptops and notebooks provide us with unparalleled access to the collective knowledge of the world. Social media tools and social networking sites enable an amazing new capability for us to share our own knowledge, interests, likes and dislikes with our friends, family and colleagues.

For your business to embrace the changes brought about by Digital Life, you need to accept – and convince others – that the shape of your corporate rubber band must change to match these changes. If you don’t, then no matter how hard you push for change and stretch the familiar boundaries, your employees will revert back to what they see as safe – in other words, the rubber band will snap back to its original shape.

At KeySo Global we have developed methodologies, models, and tools that can help you to change the shape of your business model so that it can adapt to Digital Life. These inform and guide you through a transformation that will propel your business into the Digital World, and ensure a competitiveness and profitability that will match your aspirations.  Please email us at info@keysoglobal.com, call us at +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com to find out more.

Steve Benton, Principal, KeySo Global, LLC

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Digital Life – Is your Business Living in a Fishbowl?

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Ever feel like your business is swimming around and around in circles, like a goldfish in a bowl? Struggling to accomplish nothing much other than to search for an elusive pool of diminishing food?

Shrinking margins, a downtrodden economy, a rapidly transforming Digital World, and increasing scrutiny from those outside of your company’s fishbowl are all contributing to the “fear factor”. The fear factor is a knee-jerk reaction to these challenges and the common response is to cut costs, reduce headcount, and to lay off people as you cut production or business lines.

Over the past few years we have seen this reaction in nearly every industry. That is the primary reason unemployment is so high and yes, spending is lower by customers who are also driven by their own fear factor – not being able to pay the bills, their mortgage, or put food on the table.

And yet sales of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have continuously risen during this period. Aspects of Digital Life have flourished – more people than ever have accounts in social media venues such as Facebook and Twitter. Consumers are more conscious about what they spend their money on – but they are spending and willing to spend.

Perhaps if companies weren’t so concerned about cutting costs and were more focused on what products and services their customers are really willing to purchase, the emphasis on lay-offs and cutbacks could be shifted to providing Digital Life products and services that help their customers live a better life. Unemployment would go down, spending would go up and the goods delivered to consumers would begin to reflect their real wants and needs.

To understand how your business might escape the proverbial fishbowl and evolve to a Digital Life model that overcomes the fear factor, contact us at KeySo Global and register for a free diagnostic interview with our industry leading experts. Please email us at info@keysoglobal.com, call us at +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com.

Steve Benton, Principal, KeySo Global, LLC

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Five Essentials for Business Success in the Digital World

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Digital technologies are forcing an unprecedented pace of change for business. If you don’t get on board now, you risk being left behind! To determine whether your business is on track to becoming a Digital Business, you need to ask these five questions:  

 

 

  1. Do you proactively monitor the industry changes that are affecting your business?

Use web based tools to help track the impact that converged technologies are having on all aspects of your business, such as customer behaviors, new suppliers, technology trends etc. This approach will give you a holistic perspective of your industry and enable you to identify strategic options ahead of your competition.

 

  1. Do you encourage collaborative behaviors within your organization?

It is crucial that your company provides the tools and environment that enable the sharing of knowledge and information in order to tap into one of its most valuable attributes – the tacit knowledge of your employees.

 

  1. Do you regularly engage with communities external to your company? 

It is essential to adopt a digital mind set and rethink how your business can more effectively engage (interact, listen, learn and co-create) with the rapidly growing collective knowledge base outside of your company in order to understand changing customer requirements, generate new ideas and gain important feedback.

 

  1. Do you disrupt your business model?

Traditional business models, tools and methodologies do not adapt well to the opportunities and threats encountered in today’s digital world. First you need to understand how the individual elements of your existing model work together and then take full advantage of digital technologies to create a disruptive new business model – before your competition does it for you!

 

  1. Do you inspire your employees to bring innovation into the workplace?  

You need to encourage your employees to leverage the mobile and social technologies that they use in their everyday lives to generate innovative ideas that will enhance, simplify and accelerate the business processes within your company.

We at KeySo Global have developed frameworks and tools that can help you rapidly adapt to changes in the digital environment. We have assisted companies by designing and implementing development programs that produce dynamic digital strategies. Contact us at 847-478-1633 or info@keysoglobal.com  to set up an initial meeting and we’ll help you discover your digital path to success!

 

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New Frontiers in the Developing Digital World

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

As a consulting company, innovation, technology, strategy and business models are all areas that are ingrained in our DNA. The impact of these capabilities to shape human behavior, expectations and life styles and the virtuous impact of these elements on national and global GDP is a fascination that has translated into our study of the digital world and digital life.

A Journey of Learning

Consequently we are always looking for stories that exemplify and support our frameworks and models. One of these models we codified nearly 4 years ago and submitted in a paper presented at the ITU Telecom World in 2009. An in-depth review of historic technology development showed that for a new technology industry to grow rapidly three components need to be in place and working together in unison. These component pieces are:

  • Technology that is ready and deployable
  • Business model that is appropriate
  • Consumer requirement that is real

The paper “Digital Life Impacts on Telecom’s And Consumers” (available to download on our website) focused on the impact of converged technologies and how this would translate into a rapid explosion of consumer demand for data services with the emergence of the mobile internet.

Two weeks ago I attended Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona and listened with interest to Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director for Bharti Airtel, describe the growth of mobile technology in India. What fascinated me about his story was the recognition that a proven business model has to change according to the market context when both the technology and consumer demand are there, and his story linked all this together in a very powerful way.

Compelling Story

Mittal’s story started in 1992 inIndia when the government auctioned the new GSM spectrum, and Bharti Airtel was awarded a license. In their own words, they were entrepreneurs at this time with more aspiration than resources. Nonetheless, over the next 5 years they built a subscriber base of nearly 5m users. In 1998 they set their sights on achieving a subscriber base of 25m and looked at 5 companies, 3 in Europe and 2 in the U.S., which had already achieved this number. They concluded that they had to grow their resource base to almost 15,000 people in order to support 25m subscribers, and to achieve this growth a new business model was needed to replace the traditional way of creating a network; the inspiration for this came from the energy market.

To help achieve this growth, IBM was awarded a $1 billion IT outsourcing contract for everything from desktops to billing to data warehousing, and Erikson and Nokia were awarded a managed service contract with 1,100 engineers. Additionally, the traditional procurement model was changed from one of buying hardware and boxes to one of traffic. Airtel decided that they would pay for utilization of the network measured in Erlangs, in other words when users made calls. The net result of this was that their subscriber base grew from 5 million to 25 million subscribers in 24 months. In partnership with the GSMA, the Indian mobile operator also managed to convince the world wide industry of manufacturers to focus on building sub $50 handsets. So with a network that was scalable and handsets that were affordable, the pent up consumer demand was met, and as a result the market in India grew phenomenally. There are now over 600 million handsets in use in India today, 200 million of the subscribers being provided by Bharti Airtel. They have exported their business model to 17 other countries with a further 15 million subscribers.

Significant Question

After telling his story, Sunil posed the question: what new business model could encourage mobile broadband deployment and enable mobile banking and mobile health to affect a life changing impact on developing economies? As he identified,India has few ATMs but there are 600 million mobile handsets which could easily become mobile ATMs for mobile banking. Equally, in countries such as Africa and India, where the primary healthcare system is either non existent or broken, mobile health can be significantly aided by the implementation of low cost mobile broadband. Compound this with expanding education through mobile education services facilitated by sub $50 tablets and you have the opportunity for growing entrepreneurs, aiding society and promoting economic growth within these emerging economies.

The Future

So the scene is set: the technologies are present, consumer demand is pent up and entrepreneurs are eager to find the right business model.  A lack of incumbent providers in the emerging markets leaves the field wide open for entrepreneurs to leapfrog into different areas. For example, mobile banking can facilitate the development of small businesses and grow the GDP as well as change funding models through the growth of peer to peer lending. In the developed world, however, where governments want to be the sole provider of currencies, and banks, credit card companies and mobile operators want to own the revenue stream of mobile banking, the challenge for shifting the business model is significantly greater. In a twist of fate, the developed world may be looking to the developing world for the new business models that are going to shape our global economy over the next 5 years.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global   www.keysoglobal.com

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MWC 2012 Barcelona – What a Difference 20 Years Can Make!

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

Article first published as MWC 2012 Barcelona: What a Difference 20 years Can Make! on Technorati.

This coming week is Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain where more than 60,000 mobile industry experts will gather to share the latest and greatest in mobile technology. This event is both a showcase for the industry and also a soapbox for luminaries. It also demonstrates how far the industry has come from the early days of a conference in Cannes, France where technologists, engineers and management from fledgling GSM mobile operators got together to talk about increasing penetration and getting manufacturers to develop low-cost portable handsets. In fact GSM was dubbed “God Send Mobiles”, so desperate was the industry!

What a difference 20 years can make. The first ever text message (SMS) was sent in 1992 and now we send more than 7 trillion a year on a global basis. Ahead of the show, comScore released a report “2012 mobile future in focus” that shows that smartphone penetration in the UK and Spain has achieved over 50% and that more than 48.4 million consumers access social media in Europe utilizing mobile phones; this represents an increase of over 76% since last year. Media and industry analysts are having their inboxes swamped with pre-show press releases about new developments covering everything from blisteringly fast chip sets and infrastructure to offload systems, 5G Wi-Fi and mobile payments, as well as a plethora of new mobile devices. ZTE will be reportedly announcing 8 new devices, prompting gizmodo.com to point out that “less is more” and that launching 8 devices isn’t impressive but actually indecisive!

It’s been quite a journey from the pre-mobile era and yet some things never change. The first ever roaming arrangement was signed in 1992 between Vodafone of the UK and Telecom Finland. In the early days of GSM, the cost of roaming calls made outside of your home country was astronomical. Over time the cost has come down, although not that significantly. Now, with the growth of smartphones, the issue has become the cost of data roaming. I use T-Mobile in the US, for example, which doesn’t offer a comparable data roaming package as, say, AT&T. With AT&T you can buy a 50 megabytes package for $25 while roaming but with T-Mobile those same 50 megabytes will cost you a staggering $750.  I guess I’ll be buying a prepaid SIM while inBarcelona …. or using Wi-Fi!

As key trends and news emerge in Barcelona this week that will be impacting your digital life in the near future, we shall keep you informed.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

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