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Thank You, Steve Jobs, for Giving Technology a Personal Touch
Posted in
Blog,
Apple,
Messaging,
SMS,
Wireless,
Personalization,
Mobile Devices,
Billing,
Convergys
In his life, there was nothing that Steve Jobs touched that remained the same. His role as inventor, change agent and “re-inventor" had a transformational impact. He made advanced technology easy, accessible and perhaps most importantly, personalized. That’s no small achievement.
In my own corner of the business world, BSS for telecom and broadband providers, Jobs had a decided impact. The rapid adoption of his devices required more sophisticated billing software so that communications service providers could offer greater choice to their customers at an affordable price point. As importantly, the concept of billing broadened. Once just a process of issuing the monthly bill, BSS grew to be the centerpiece of a complex set of functions that ensures an outstanding and highly personalized service experience.
How did he do it? Well, he brought us the iPhone and the iPad.
Remember, the cell phone was basically about voice for the first 20 years or so of its existence. As the new century dawned, a handful of providers and device manufacturers begin offering data and streaming, but it didn’t always work well. Then in 2007, Steve Jobs and Apple launched the iPhone, and suddenly mobile devices were smart. Smart phones could do almost anything: not just voice, but data, video streaming, games, countless apps, and take your picture, too.
Jobs did the same with tablet computers by introducing the iPad. By offering a low-cost, touch-screen device that offloads computing power to the cloud, Jobs freed users from the cost and trouble of investing in a high-end desktops and laptops with fat memories. You can still take pictures, play Angry Birds, videoconference live with your grandkids across the country, and use a million apps, and all via the cloud.
Apple’s visionary took our two most common and fundamental communications tools and reinvented them, very nearly creating the bandwidth-hungry market that will lead to 4G and beyond. Now those of us who work on the back-office side of tech must meet the challenge of fulfilling Jobs’ vision – architecting connectivity – for the devices he left behind and the innovation that will follow in his footsteps.
Throughout his career, Jobs was like the lead runner in a race. He was the pace runner, and in many instances, too, set the direction that the rest of us would follow. Keeping up with this inspired man, the first to give technology a personal touch, was always fun and exciting.
Morag Lucey is global senior vice president of Marketing and Product Management for Convergys’ Smart Revenue Solutions for the telecoms, cable, satellite, broadband and utilities markets. Convergys solutions can help service providers meet the billing and customer care needs of the retail, enterprise, and wholesale sectors.
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