How will Telco's need to adapt in the Web 2.0 world

The internet is adapting faster than ever before. Web 2.0 is seeing innovation at an increasing rate and social networking platforms, mashups, online collaboration and Software as a Service (SaaS) is showing what can be achieved and still have customer service as a core value.

Telco's are renowned for over engineering seeking the elusive 5 9's (99.999%) when in reality less is more. Skype can suffer lower voice quality but generally the quality is more than adequate for the average user. Compare this to mobile call quality from a network centric operator and where the results can be shocking.

The Web 2.0 is driving customers into new levels of collaboration and the Generation Me subscriber expects more from their services. Increasingly the need to immediate response and low cost means that the Telco's have a real challenge, despite the impact [or not] of Skype, Jajah, Gizmo and Vonage, the reality is that the Telco style of service is not good enough for the average Joe Punter.

The wish of IMS and it's any content any screen with it's foundation of SIP based connectivity may not be fast enough for tomorrows consumers. Maybe the cold hard truth is that Telco's need to get out of service creation and marketing and concentrate on their core competency, operating networks.

In an insight for Techdirt I concluded that Telco's need to facilitate the network operation and open up for more MVNO's and companies that know how to bundle content. This is likely to come from cable and media companies who are used to dealing with a fickle customer base and therefore have to interact more closely with them.

In another insight for Techdirt on the disruption that is now seen in TV and Video new business models, more aligned to Web 2.0 and consumer driven content production, was my conclusion for that industry.

Today's Telco's need to understand what mass collaboration can do and how brands are now being created, and broken, on the internet. To succeed the Telco will need to collaborate closely with the end user and content providers to create more depth and width of services that supply the needs of Generation Me subscribers. This means learning how to be more open and use Web 2.0 platforms to change the dynamics of the transaction.

Download the insight "Adapt a Telco to Survive"
Download the insight "Video 2.0"
Read the article on Light Reading "Why Telco's need Web 2.0"