By Kathy Gibson, Satnac 2013, Stellenbosch – Convergence is often seen as an old concept, but it is probably more relevant today than ever before. Jonathan Shmukler, director: product marketing and revenue management at Amdocs, says that today literally everything is connected.
An example is eBay, which reported $13-billion in mobile commerce volumes for 2012. It added 4-million new mobile app users during the year and claimed that unreliable mobile networks cost the UK billions of dollars.
Samsung is another case in point. Now that it is selling smart TVs, users are starting to stream 3D content into their homes.
“There are so many new parameters in the new world of convergence,” Shmukler says, adding that users are no longer loyal to their providers.
“The networks are there. But it’s not always clear how we will make money out of it. Translating the speed available into value is the challenge.”
He calls this scenario the era of omni-convergence.
Users with smart phones have numerous apps. These are a mix of personal apps and business apps, and the payment and management for BYOD (bring your own device) starts becoming real issue. Users want better quality of experience, with high quality connections.
But significantly, convergence opens up new business models that companies are embracing to attract and retain customers.
“These are issues we are dealing with today – they are not futuristic models.”
Companies need to think about consumption models that take into account who users are, where they are and what they consume. Over the top partnerships are growing to create these ecosystem, Shmukler adds, and companies need to figure out how they will do this.
“A holistic awareness will drive the next generation of experiences, he adds, with device awareness, subscriber awareness application awareness and network awareness contributing to delivering the omni experience.
“Broadband is a huge enabler of all these experiences,” he adds.