Show me the benefits of convergence

In many markets the supply is so plentiful that e.g. homes in Korea may have 2 or 3 providers of broadband, as it is cheap enough to first have the home connected and then check the service quality and speed offered.

We now find that our experience as consumers of always on connection and broadband speed is the standard we are accustomed to. Gone are the days of dial-up, 9600 bits per second, and dropped calls. Those days will never be back because simply we will not tolerate them. As consumers we are even hungrier these days for richer content, better connectivity, faster speeds and more and more benefits.

The technology exists nowadays to allow us to use one device to take care of all our voice, data and entertainment needs. But where is Convergence? TNS Technology conducted research globally and asked consumers how important they felt Branding was in the converged product offering.

Some 7000 consumers across 15 countries said:

Extremely or Very Important for 60% of them globally, 78% in Hong Kong and 96% in Metropolitan India.

Consumers want a product from a company that they know and trust - and one that will bring them the benefits they need in order to make their life less complicated. But constant connectivity was perceived to bring its problems too. The office is now in your pocket and large corporations will ping your e-mail 24/7. Work patterns need to evolve. It is hard to do a day's work and remain effective and productive if you are constantly connected even during your downtime. Corporate cultures will have to accept that we will have to change our working habits to fit with our 'new toys'.

Perhaps 'working mums' around the world will agree with me in the following observation : should today's technology not allow them to drop the kids at school in the morning and then avoid the morning rush hour by working from their PDA to catch up with e-mail and routine calls? Yet often corporate IT budgets will not allow employees remote connectivity with the best devices that money can get for them today. Would it not make more sense for employers to recognise the all round benefits from allowing the modern family to leverage the latest technology to make their families stronger and closer? There are so many excellent e-learning packages on the market and yet many corporations today are still sceptical about embracing them fully.

Going back to our TNS Technology research survey, we asked our respondents what were their main concerns with Convergence? They told us



We also asked them to tell us which brands they preferred in terms of priority and they told us globally that preferences - with 100% being absolute top priority - were



We continued by asking them about their mobile phone usage versus PC usage - and here are some examples where the mobile phone has now overtaken the PC



So, as an industry have we really listened to our customers? Perhaps, but we have a long way to go yet. Feature rich applications can be expensive and do drain the battery of the phone. What use is a mobile in the middle of the desert if after you've watched the news, the phone is dead and needs recharging?

Looking at our research I believe that we have both an opportunity and an obligation to enable families to achieve more by using the Technology available to us. I am responsible for a P&L and recognise that in my business life, but I also strongly believe that there is a commercial advantage in the use of Technology which gives people a lifestyle choice. I am convinced that our children will take Technology and mould it into their lives to make their world a much better place than ours. Let's at least enable today's families to work, learn, achieve and play with the use of converged Technology.

We at TNS will be conducting this study annually and I report the changes we see. We have come a long way from the days of the 'brick phones' and just voice, to the world of colour, surround sound, customisation and over the air downloads. We are about to embark on the next evolution of full personalisation and web connectivity to mobile, and our world can change for the better if we research well, plan well and execute well.