ChannelVision September

The Pacific Telecommunications

Council returns to Honolulu this Janu-

ary for its 39th annual conference.

Hawaii is essentially the center of the

Pacific Rim, geologically and geographi-

cally, and for a few days each January,

it’s the center technologically and stra-

tegically, as well.

The theme of this year’s confer-

ence is “Changing Realities,” reflect-

ing the changes that have occurred

in the industry during the last 39

years and will no doubt continue to

occur in the next 39 years. These

changes reflect a mix of predict-

able evolution, such as continued

growth in bandwidth requirements

and capacity, and unexpected disrup-

tion. Throughout all these changes,

though, one thing has remained con-

stant: the power of communications

to enable economic growth, entre-

preneurial wealth creation, social in-

teraction, enhanced productivity, and

increased standards of living.

In my new book,

Digital Disciplines

I detail four generic strategies that

businesses in any vertical can – and

must – pursue to survive and thrive in

the new digital era, where, as famed

venture capitalist Marc Andreessen

says, “software is eating the world,”

and many industries, as Mary Meeker

puts it, are being “reimagined.” Some

industries are being reimagined into

compelling new business models;

others, into oblivion. The four strate-

gies I’ve identified are information

excellence, where operational pro-

cesses are complemented, optimized,

monetized, and fused with informa-

tion technology; solution leadership,

where smart, digital products and

services become connected to the

cloud and from there onward to part-

ner services ecosystems; collective

intimacy, where what had been face-

to-face, human-mediated relationships

become virtual and algorithmic (as

with Amazon’s upsell/cross-sell or the

Netflix recommendation engine); and

accelerated innovation, through cloud-

based contests and challenges.

Virtually all digital strategies used

by leaders across industry verticals

fall into these four generic approach-

es. Perhaps more importantly, wire-

line and wireless networks are the

essential elements that enable all of

them to succeed. Consider a disrup-

tive industry innovator such as Uber.

Smartphones, apps, GPS, and wire-

less technologies are essential to

connect with drivers and passengers,

route vehicles, bill effortlessly and

instantaneously, rate drivers, match

drivers with passengers, etc. In the

future, autonomous vehicles will get

their software updates over the air

and coordinate with each other to

optimize traffic flow and avoid con-

gestion and accidents.

So, networks and networking are

critical to the fabric of modern civiliza-

tion and enable applications ranging

across areas as diverse as telemedi-

cine, collaboration, remote mining and

offshore drilling, social networking, Fin-

Tech, microloans and micropayments,

online courseware, 4K and soon 8K

video streaming and broadcasting, and

so forth. Beyond the developed world,

the developing

world is leveraging

network technolo-

gies such as 4G and various emerging

technologies such as low-Earth orbit

satellites and solar-powered planes,

but also 3G and even 2.5G, for inno-

vative applications including monitor-

ing refrigeration for vaccine delivery,

“smart” water pump handles, and new

business models for solar power that

are based on pay-per-use payments

utilizing remote smart metering.

But network-centric applications are

proliferating in the midst of changing

realities for everything from industry

structure to underlying technologies.

Compared to a century ago, or

even a few decades ago, the structure

of the industry and the location of the

profit pools has radically shifted. A

single multinational, or even national

monopoly, has given way to numerous

wireline, wireless, cable, satellite, and

subsea players. Perhaps more impor-

tantly, services such as SMS, which

had been the profitable, sole province

of carriers, have become free, over-

the-top services, leading to valuations

such as the nearly $20 billion paid

for WhatsApp. Telecommunications,

rather than a facilities-based service,

has become one based on software

and APIs. And, rather than a closed

system, it has become a service

platform to be acquired on-demand

and paid for as a utility, hence Twilio’s

recent unicorn-like IPO.

Software and the cloud are not

only threats to the existing telecom-

munications order, they are also

Joe

Weinman

INTERNATIONAL AGENTs

SECTION

PTC

Corner

The Changing

Realities of

Telecommunications

Channel

Vision

September - October, 2016