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Home > Telco 2.0™ > Research & Analysis > Voice and Messaging 2.0

Voice & Messaging 2.0

Telephony and Messaging meet Skype and Yahoo!

Publication Date: April 2008

Voice and Messaging 2.0 is Telco 2.0's analysis of the industry's traditional core business, based on our unique knowledge of the emerging competition and original research into user needs. Shockingly, the telecoms industry has never been keen to understand the reasons why people make calls; it's always been assumed that they just will.

How long will the traditional telcos' cash-cow survive?

• Background
• Key Questions Answered
• Contents
• Accompanying Workshop Module
• Who Should Read this report
• Pricing and Payment Options
• Other Reports
• Request a brochure

Background

Telephony clearly provides for a fundamental human need. But it does so incredibly inefficiently; we all make telephone calls whose main purpose is just to show they were made. At the same time, the value that once attached to telephony as the only provider of voice communication is being eroded fast.

To cope with the new competition, telecoms operators need to find a better form of voice; and quickly. But so far, they still don't have the information they would need to understand what this might be.

Key Questions Answered

This report seeks to help operators and vendors maximise future opportunities from Voice and Messaging services and negate threats by answering the following questions:

• What are the key unmet user needs?
• Where is the money in telephony over the next 5 years?
• What kinds of disruptors are there? When will they become a material threat?  How to react to them?
• What are the important trends in telephony toll arbitrage?
• How to work with the Internet giants?
• How can you manage cannibalisation of SMS and MMS revenue by IM?
• What should you be doing about interoperability of new services?
• How will the Web be voice-enabled, and what's the impact?
• When will click-to-call take off, and what to do about it?
• What new revenue opportunities are there?
• How can Telco 2.0™ business strategies be applied to voice?
• What needs to be done to generate near-term benefits?
• What are the pricing strategies to adopt or avoid?
  

Contents

Background and key issues

1. Key macro trends
   1. User adoption trends for VoIP, IM and real-time services
   2. Internet user growth trends: broadband, portal IM and VoIP
2. The changing nature of voice and messaging
   1. The end of pricing plans as the focus of competition
   2. The inversion of the telephony business model
   3. No nines: understanding the user’s goals -- gossip, information and presence
3. Balance of power: changes in the value chain

Short-term issues to address: optimising and extending today’s business

1. The changing competitive landscape
   1. Disruption from new low-cost operators: Telio, Iliad, Tesco
   2. Disruptors from the edge: PhoneGnome, Truphone
   3. Arbitrage players
2. Near-term opportunities
   1. Optimising the current business: up-sell, cross-sell of services
   2. Working with private voice applications – IM services, Skype, SocNets
   3. IM meets SMS and MMS: issues and strategies

Medium-term issues to address: developing new products and services

1. A framework for service and product innovation
   1. Modelling user needs, and how the existing services meet them
   2. The “Voice 2.0” movement: what is it, and why does it matter?
   3. Featured innovators: iotum, Grand Central, En Thinnai
2. Near-term opportunities
   1. Voice messaging
   2. “Show and tell” communicator
   3. FMC: what do the users *really* want?

Long-term issues to address: re-thinking the business model and value chain

1. Contextual voice: the Web goes real-time
2. V-commerce: the road beyond click-to-call
3. Telephony in new contexts – extending the reach of telephony
4. Re-thinking the call model – less interruption, more conversation
5. From telephony to telepresence: a journey worth taking?

Case studies

1. From walled garden to open garden: 3 UK and Skype
2. Practical pricing and product strategies: Sprint PCS Vision
3. Product innovation is possible: Verizon iobi

Timing of change: indicators and tipping points

1. Technology changes
2. Market changes

Market-by-market Telco 2.0 voice & messaging strategy plan

1. Fixed operators
2. Mobile operators
3. Fixed-mobile converged operators
4. Access-independent service providers
5. Equipment and software vendors

Action steps

1. Product planning and management
2. Sales and marketing; channel
3. Network and product development
4. Partner and business development

Accompanying Workshop Module

STL is expert is running in-house workshops to help teams process the ideas contained in the report.

We cover issues such as:

• How does Voice & Messaging fit into the bigger Telco 2.0™ picture?
• How to optimise your legacy business through pricing and product innovation?
• What are the unmet user needs, and how can you satisfy them?
• Who will make money delivering these services in future and how?
• What's the best strategy to work with (or against) Internet companies?
• What are the longer-term opportunities going forwards?
• What is the timing for market change?
• What are the practical steps needed to migrate your business?

Our ‘Mindshare’ approach combines stimulus presentations, projective exercises and collaborative technology to help your teams create consensus on what needs to be done.

Workshops can be half day, full day, or 1.5 days, on site at your offices.

For more information please contact us.

Who Should Read this report

Consumer Voice & Messaging 2.0 should be read by those in operators and vendors responsible for the developing alternative business models for all services.

This is likely to include management from the following functional areas:  Strategy, Marketing, R&D, Product Development and Management, and Operations.

Pricing and Payment Options

* Dedicated license for 1 named individual.

** License for a group of up to 5 employees within a named organisation.

*** License for all employees within a named organisation.

NOTE: UK VAT at 17.5% is chargeable on orders from all UK customers and from non VAT registered customers in other EU Member States. Please supply your EU VAT registration number or add 17.5% UK VAT to your remittance.

Telco 2.0™ – Half or One day In-house workshop

Price on Request.

For information about purchasing and payments, please contact us at contact@telco2.net or call + 44 (0) 20 3239 7530.

Other Reports

• Telco 2.0™ Market Study
• Telcos' Role in the Advertising Value Chain
• Broadband Business Models 2.0

Updated 29 April 2008