Telecom Summit wrap-up: Data mining and marketing dominate mobile internet chatter

The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto this June made one thing very clear: the mobile internet will change our world in ways we are only beginning to understand. Specifically, traffic management will be a necessity, and advertising will increasingly be pushed to mobile users who are well-known based on their location and consumption habits. Most notable in the break-out sessions and the keynotes was the emphasis on data mining and marketing in mobile environments. This conversation had no limits: it involved carriers, ICT vendors, enterprises, content providers, government, and educators. In a break-out session Rebecca Prudhomme, director of interactive products at Amdocs Ltd, said that as a fully connected lifestyle comes into play, service providers will have to rethink how they sell and provision their bundles. “You need to think of how you bundle physical and network goods with content,” she said, “and to think of what kind of experiences are being offered through your portals, and how to personalize .” The challenge will be to master data management by merging it with governance and business intelligence. Only in this way can there be a universal storefront that has physical goods, network goods, and digital content. “This requires a powerful product catalogue that can manage these goods quickly.” And like it or not, enterprises have to realize that the carriers have a significant role to play, because they are the ones moving the information.“Telecom was the first vertical to use data mining for controlling fraud, optimizing network usage, and improving the customer experience,” said Zarar Rana, president and founder of ConceptWave Software Inc. “And they are the ones who are enabling targeted marketing.” Kelly Hlavinka, a partner at Colloquy (a division of LoyaltyOne US Inc), noted that for online commerce there was really no way to get around making some kind of marketing investment. “We talk of event-triggered capabilities, and that’s great, but if I trigger a response, how much will it cost me, and how will I manage it?” One thing is certain: any actionable data that keep people around is gold. As it stands, over 50% of traffic is off portal, proof that customers are going elsewhere for what they need. As well, any data gathering process that requires multiple steps is doomed: the attrition rate is 10% to 15% per step. When commerce goes mobile A discussion on mobile e-commerce and the attendant content and interface design challenges suggested that industry cooperation and training were on track, even if there is still the usual anxiety about Canada falling behind. Robin Dua, president of Toronto headquartered EnStream LP, which is owned by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc, and Telus Corp, said that the company is making headway on establishing standards for mobile payment transactions. “This is for point-of-sale transactions off of phones,” said Dua, suggesting that this level of industry competition bodes well for the Canadian consumer. Phil Barrett, vice-president, digital and mobile at B-Street Communications, added that mobile enhances rather than replaces the market, but that roadblocks still exist. “There is no widespread support of flash on mobiles as of yet,” he said. “And we are leveraging existing creative, with promotional messages that are very direct to the consumer.” Perhaps the strongest message came from Sara Diamond, the president of Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), who sounded more like the head of an advertising firm than an educator. Diamond said that with mobile devices “you now can give your consumer base across a lot of demographics some amazing gaming and location-intensive consumer experiences.” Diamond asserted the importance of design for creating viable mobile commerce experiences, saying that gesture-based technologies and payment design interfaces are critical. Getting down to business with social networking In a forum moderated by David Jacobson, director of emerging technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a member of Telemanagement’s advisory board, content issues and marketing were again at the fore. “There are now four billion active mobile phones, and one billion active PCs,” said Michael Slinger, team manager for Google Inc’s mobile group. “1.2 billion mobile devices will ship this year, and 20% of those will have full browser support.” Given that the total number of PCs shipped this year will be 100 million, Slinger noted that 2009 will be the first year in which more internet browsing will occur on mobile devices than on PCs. “Mobile will be more powerful than desktops for social networking,” he says. “It has ears – it can listen – and it has eyes – most phones have cameras – and with touch screens, compasses, and location services, there is a massive opportunity for social networking and all kinds of applications.” Dr. Charles H. Davis, the Edwards S. Rogers Sr. Chair in media management and entrepreneurship at Ryerson University, said that though “digital experience goods” such as restaurant reviews are searchable and supported by social networks, there are limits. “People do not want to commodify their social relationships,” he said. “This is a deep social value we have.” And Andrew Assad, market and consumer research lead, consumer and online at Microsoft Canada, said that the shift to social networks means that brands don’t have any protection. “Consumers have more and more power to hijack and talk about your brand,” he said. Neutrality out, management in The “net neutrality” debate may be grinding to a halt just as the CRTC is engaged in new hearings. During a friendly discussion with Dave Caputo, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Sandvine Inc, Mike Lee, chief strategy officer at Rogers Communications, and Christopher Libertelli, Skype’s senior director of government and regulatory affairs for the Americas, it was apparent that network management was here to stay. Though the comments from Caputo (“An unmanaged network does not equal a neutral network”) and Lee (“If we don’t manage the traffic, if we leave it alone, it will disrupt entire stream”) were to be expected, it was Libertelli that came as a surprise – even to Caputo. Introduced as an “outspoken proponent of net neutrality,” Libertelli instead seemed eminently practical, implying that application and device access were the main concerns. As long as regulatory and network environments supported this reality, Libertelli implied that carriers were entitled to take measures to address traffic congestion. Memorable Quotes Keynote: Rogers Communications’ Nadir Mohamed addresses throttling, pricing issues: Rogers Communications’ president and chief executive officer Nadir Mohamed made the point that Rogers does not throttle per se, though “for P2P uploading we do allocate bandwidth.” He argued that “this allows us to deliver our service day-in and day-out,” and that “without the ability to manage networks we would not have a successful industry.” He then addressed pricing, always a touchy subject with the big players: “Getting pricing right is hugely important to us,” he said, adding that Rogers will use trials and caps to get people familiar with their data usage. “We have learned that we need to provide comfort around pricing when we bring in new devices.” Keynote: RIM’s Mike Lazaridis warns of network congestion: Looking relaxed and telling anecdotes about his history in the industry, Research in Motion president and co-chief executive officer Mike Lazaridis nonetheless made clear that data traffic to smartphones will be so big there will almost certainly be network congestion problems. “Voice is a finite data consumption application – it is pretty well fixed by your vocal chords,” he said. Lazaridis added that for voice it is easy to understand the limiting requirements of battery and device life, coverage, and digital voice compression, as well as setting pricing for free minutes, weekends, or extra minutes – but data doesn’t follow these rules. Chris Peirce, chief corporate officer, MTS Allstream: “Providing reliable access for competitors – not free access, cost-based access, access that is not at 300% markups – leads to investment, innovation and customer choice and competitive market forces that is the quid pro quo for retail deregulation.” Michael Hennessy, senior VP of government and regulatory affairs, Telus Corp: “If you start adding up the stuff that the CRTC has been docking on broadcasting and new media we could easily be taking about a $1 billion transfer to content providers, $2 billion overpayment in the auction, $4.3 billion went from the wireless industry into government coffers and was pissed away on the auto industry.” John Lawford, counsel, Public Interest Advocacy Centre: “The CCTS was created on the same day as the policy direction and if it fails or if it is not supported financially by the industry then I think that the policy direction should be removed at the same time.” Ken Engelhart, senior VP of regulatory and government affairs, Rogers Communications: “There’s no personal information being collected, used or disclosed. If you look at a packet, which at the end of its merry journey will turn into a song from iTunes, and you open that packet, you don’t hear a little snippet of the song. It’s just zeros and ones…This is not a privacy issue.” Mirko Bibic, chief corporate officer, Bell Canada: “ILECs have invested in 2008 capital $4 billion. Cable $2 billion. Wireless provides $2 billion. That’s $8 billion. Those are the investments we need to nurture to get next generation networks in this country…Bottom line, $223 million in CLEC investment in aggregate will not deliver next generation networks.”

Telecom Summit wrap-up: Data mining and marketing dominate mobile internet chatter

Broadcast | June 24, 2009

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