Expectations for Mobile World Congress

By Dan Ford, Oracle

Next week the wireless industry will converge on Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress show. It is always an eventful week filled with the latest gadgets and gizmos, updates on next-generation network migration projects and an overall high-energy buzz about all things wireless.

This year, I expect to see an emphasis on convergence, which, although it has been an industry buzzword for some time, has really evolved in the last couple of years due to wireless broadband proliferation, smartphones and app stores changing the way the wireless industry works and interacts with customers. Communications service providers are still struggling with convergence of the traditional telecom services and next-generation content delivery and application development and how to make it work for their businesses. In fact, this is true across the communications, IT, and media industries. A new Economist Intelligence Unit survey that Oracle sponsored revealed that nearly 75 percent of these companies see emerging technologies as a means to increase revenue, but 50 percent said they have trouble identifying the best technologies to deploy. I will be interested to hear the buzz around these topics at the show.

At MWC last year, apps stores were the rage, and will continue to be a focus, no doubt. What I will be interested to hear is more from wireless providers on how they are going to maintain their positions in this valuable revenue chain. In the same Economist study I referenced, communications companies cited strong success with mobile applications, but only 11 percent said they saw application development as a profitable business model for themselves, indicating that most are inclined to leave the development up to others including media companies and device manufacturers, but want to partner with these companies to stay in the game. We will talk with wireless providers at the show about how they can open up their networks to accommodate application development, while securing their network and their business interests. I will also look for wireless providers to stake their claim in another hot market that will likely create buzz at the show — mobile advertising. This industry is expected to grow significantly in 2010 and wireless providers need to make sure they don’t miss the opportunity.

Coming out of MWC, I also expect to see a resurgence of focus on bricks and mortar for wireless providers. Two of the biggest factors driving customer loyalty are the customer service experience and the availability of the trendiest handsets — and retail stores play a critical role in both. Wireless providers need to make sure their stores run smoothly to market products directly to their customers and deliver a superior experience. This means no long lines and no “Sorry, we don’t have that model right now.” We will talk with wireless providers about how they can integrate across communication channels and deliver a consistently positive retail experience.

Finally, any trade show this year would be remiss to leave out cost savings techniques — a primary focus for companies worldwide in today’s economy. We are hearing from customers that they are increasingly facing pressure to cut opex, particularly in the back office and the network. On the surface, that seems like a reasonable request given that IT spending in the communications industry is more than double the average in other industries, and as much as 70 percent of opex in the average provider goes to maintaining existing systems. We will talk with wireless providers about how they can reduce costs in this area while establishing the infrastructure they will need for the next decade.

It is an exciting time for the wireless industry and will no doubt be an exciting show. I hope to see many of you in Barcelona!

Dan Ford is vice president of product marketing for Oracle Communications. He brings to his role more than 20 years of product marketing, sales and strategy experience in the communications and software industries. Prior to joining Oracle, Ford ran marketing for Rearden Commerce and led Siebel Systems’ communications, media and energy industry business unit. He has also held sales and product marketing leadership positions at AT&T and GTE (now Verizon). Ford received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University, a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton Business School and a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania.