If all the telecoms disappeared tomorrow, would we rebuild them? Or would we build something different, and what would that look like?
For businesses that provide us with something so essential, like the ability to check our phones (100 times a day), stream loads of movies from home, or on rare but important moments – make a phone call – it’s surprisingly hard to say: Yes, long live! The world is simply not waiting for another telecom. In fact, some people would be happy to do away with them altogether and build something radically different.
It begs the question: are telecoms becoming irrelevant?
It is no secret the telecom industry today is struggling. For one, their main source of revenue, phone calls, are on decline as people turn to messaging and free internet calling with Skype, Google and WhatsApp. The struggle to remain relevant as a business is only confounded by their questionable relevance in people’s lives. We get excited over new smart phones and watches, robotic gadgets and apps that make our lives easier, simpler, more exciting, more enviable. In this scenario, the network providers have become the pipes, buried, boring and easy to interchange.
The irony is that being connected has never been so important to people. A third of global Internet users say they cannot survive more than five hours without access to the Internet (Tata Communications, 2014). In fact, when commuters in London were asked, nearly 40% said they would rather lose their heating or water than the Internet. Digital dependence, as the phenomenon is called, has risen to the level of addiction for many. This is especially true of the younger generations, where a growing number say they are connected “almost constantly” (Pew Research, 2015). Research is showing that it is even changing the shape of our brains. The human attention span has fallen from twelve seconds in 2000 to eight seconds in 2013; bear in mind that goldfish have an average attention span of nine seconds (Microsoft, 2015).
So while connectivity becomes more important to us than ever before, the ones that connect us become less important to us.
Telecoms still matter; in fact they matter more than ever, and perhaps this is particular to the extent that they make our lives better. In a world where connectivity has become something we expect, a given, telecoms need to ask themselves, how are we making people’s lives better? Do we make things easier for people? Do we give them more ways to do things? Do we respond when they need us? Do we reassure, surprise, excite? How do we make people feel?
I’d argue that despite best efforts, telecoms are falling short of making our lives feel better. In fact, when I asked people, the bar is so low that they said they would be happy if their telecom just answered the phone when they called and gave a straight answer to their questions. As the New York Times has called out, while telecoms today all promise more simplicity, never before have they been so complex for customers. Contracts, pay-as-you-go, leasing, data plans, international on the weekends, throw in a smartphone, and family packs, all make understanding what you are buying feel like hard work. Even the great promise of bundling your phone, TV and internet to save hundreds a year is a frustrating experience at best, wrought with sly loop holes and dark pits. It’s enough to send anyone screaming for the hills. The real problem is not that telecoms don’t provide a relevant service, but that too often today they make us feel tired, confused, frustrated and sometimes down-right duped.
Meanwhile, our expectations as customers are undergoing a fundamental change. Companies like Uber, Netflix, Amazon, and Airbnb are redefining our standards for feel-good service. We increasingly expect service to be on-demand wherever we are, to get an immediate response and to have a simple transaction that lives online. Even more interesting is that consumers increasingly want to be engaged as real emotional human beings. Emotion is a major currency for today’s youth who share content based on the emotional tone, as opposed to it coming from any single brand (Streamsafe, 2015). Ordinary moments are eclipsing major cultural moments, as social media sharing over cats and DIY eclipse the Oscars and sporting events. Hyper-connected consumers are craving a greater sense of realness, with 57% of consumers saying they want experiences that stimulate their sense through sight, sound and taste (JWT, 2013).
If telecoms are to remain relevant, they are going to have to drastically rethink their role in people’s live and what they are in the business to do.
Over the years, Wolff Olins has helped businesses across the globe make big leaps that have radically transformed their role in the world and how they do business. Propelling GE from a light bulbs maker into a global leader in new technology and service; redefining how we bank with FirstDirect, the UK’s first online bank and most loved brand for its customer service; or reimagining how we fight AIDS with (RED), a new way to do charity. We partner with ambitious leaders who want to be part of creating a fundamentally better world for people.
Given how essential communication is in our lives, in the last 20 years we’ve had the chance to partner with both telecoms and new disruptors in pivotal moments of change. In the 90s, we created the BT brand that lived as an identity mark for the giant utility. At the turn of the century we introduced brands with bold personality like Orange, Oi and EE. They marked a new era for telecoms, from state-led utilities to high-street retailers that brought the future of technology to the masses. The following years were a time for growing up. We helped telecom companies recreate their brands to deliver on a broader range of services, and we worked with some fast growing tech brands like Skype, Facebook and Google to make the transition into big-league disruptors. But given that the world today is more digital, mobile and interconnected than ever before, given that we expect connectivity and want to feel more, what will the new leap look like?
It seems that the world is yearning for something more radical – the next big leap. Telecoms are also shifting gears. Orange has taken a major leap forward by repositioning everything around what’s essential to customers, “Our priority is an incomparable customer experience.” (Orange, 2015). TeliaSonera is also evolving in a big way this year, bringing to life the New Generation Telco. Meanwhile, AT&T and Vonage, both major carriers in the US have just hired new CMOs to help change the way these businesses interact with customers. At Vonage it means embracing a new role and attitude in the world. “Everyone thinks of Vonage as a telco or a phone company - it’s really an Internet company that delivers communications service” said new CMO, Ted Gilvar. Meanwhile AT&T has it’s first change in CMO since 2007 with Lori Lee to pave the way for how AT&T offers a broader set of solutions whether in the home or through media and entertainment.
If the world is not waiting for another telecom though, what is it waiting for? What would we build?
What if telecoms were social and shareable, like Airbnb. The collective would own the networks and everyone would be their own hotspot. You could share your bandwidth when you weren’t using it and jump onto other people’s networks when you traveled. No more data or travel limitations.
What if telecoms were all about amazing customer service, like FirstDirect. They would be available 24/7, you could always speak with a human and everything would be delivered to you fast. There would be no stores, no physical SIM cards; everything would be accessed online and in the cloud.
What if telecoms were all about content on-demand, like Spotify. We would have access to the right level of content and services for your changing needs. We could access TV and music from across the world, store all of our data and get security guaranteed. You would get the services you wanted, when you wanted, the way you wanted. Whether you have five kids or live alone or whether you need extra bandwidth for long travel or to outfit your smart home.
What if telecoms were a smart layer, like Simple. Instead of telephone numbers for each device, everyone would have a personal marker that all their devices could ladder into. You could mark what you were contacting someone for: work, just to chat, emergency, etc. and the smart layer would pull up relevant information, a photograph, notes from your last talk or how you know each other. As our homes get smarter you could see all your consumption and movement habits, from energy usage to sleep patterns.
People are ready for something different, simpler, better. If telecoms are to remain relevant, they’ll need to focus on how to create experiences that make people’s lives feel better. It’s an exciting time to imagine the future and to think we haven’t even scratched the surface of this new world.
Illustration by James Kape.
Marilyn Markman is Lead Strategist at Wolff Olins London. Follow her @marilynmarkman