Consumer expectations in terms of content and brand engagement are changing at a phenomenal rate. The companies that will succeed in this new era of engagement will be those that can build trust and interact with their clients on the platforms they choose. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN writes on the impact of convergence operators services. Excerpts.THAT technology is converging is no longer news. However, the pace at which it is evolving is both alarming and admirable. Communications today is defying all existing barriers of media and devices. Some devices now have voice, data, internet, video capabilities and still carry television content simultaneously anywhere and anytime on the go.Admittedly, to the common man on the street all the telecommunications service he cares about is making and receiving good quality calls, and perhaps sending and receiving short messages from time to time.The truth though is that the more vocal, restless, enlightened, upwardly mobile and accomplished category of telecommunications service consumers want a lot more than just voice and data service. Telecom operators cannot but succumb to the wishes of this very important category.Also, computing devices are getting smaller and smarter. The conventional deskstop personal computer (PC) has considerably shrunk in size and weight over the last decade. Cathode ray tube monitors have become like dinosaurs and are quietly being replaced by flat screen plasma and thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and light emitting diodes (LED) monitors. Laptops have given birth to more portable netbooks and more recently tablets, packed with all the functionalities of the laptop/personal computer and even much more. As such, devices like the iPad, iPhone, Galaxy Tab, hand-held devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Blackberry phones are the new kings of communications, personal computing and mobility.In a new study from ABI Research, users of enterprise B2E (business-to-employee) and B2C (business to customer) smartphone and media tablet mobile applications are forecast to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nearly 90 per cent and exceed 830 million active users by 2016. These numbers include B2E applications such as line-of-business applications and B2C, branded company apps. In both cases, enterprises are leveraging their vast stores of corporate data to make employees more efficient and to foster greater customer intimacy.What this means is that adoption of these modern communications devices is on the rise and is expected to increase further. Enterprise applications and solutions, including Internet connectivity, without which the devices are mere boxes, will consequently see an increase in adoption. These enterprise applications allow authorised users access the organisation's intranet and access vital information online while out-of-office from a mobile enterprise device.According to the Managing Partner, IT Advisory at KPMG, Frank Rizzo, people do not care about the hardware they are using, while they are certainly brand conscious, users care about how devices are used to consume and generate content and how companies interact with them using their platforms of choice.'The converged lifestyle has significant implications for businesses across sectors in the way they engage and build relationships with their customers. Globally, we are seeing people increasingly willing to share their usage patterns with businesses if they have a compelling reason to do so, for example reduced cost of goods or other incentives,' he said.Speaking on the import of convergence, mobility, Cisco's Advanced Technology Business Development Manager for Emerging Africa, Mr. Bola Adegbonmire, said the trend and direction for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of computing and communications devices has always leaned heavily towards mobility. Adegbonmire is very confident that mobility is the future of computing and communications and that future is already here.'I know it does come across as a clich, but the world is indeed a global village where consumers, businesses are increasingly demanding that they want their resources, information and others available when they want them, wherever they are needed, in whatever format they want them and importantly delivered to any device of their choice', he said.He added that Cisco is at the forefront of this drive via a plethora of back and front-end solutions that extend the workplace or playplace to anywhere from any device.According to him, surviving in today's competitive market means innovating; organisations either innovate or get suffocated out of the market. Many organisations in a bid to get ahead of the competition are deploying enterprise devices to staff and in some cases customers to increase efficiency and productivity.'The enterprise device is defined by a combination of capabilities that can be customized to address both end-user and IT needs. And these can vary by occupation, vertical and even by size of business. To this end, enterprise devices require inputs from companies that span the mobile and IT ecosystems including OEMs, operating system (OS) vendors, chipset vendors, mobile operators, traditional enterprise application providers and mobile-focused application providers', he said.Now even though the functionality of most enterprise devices depend principally on the installed Operating System, its features, applications and the device management and security, perhaps for the purpose of creating value for businesses the most important characteristic still remains connectivity.While some mobility devices like netbooks come standard with two or three Internet connection options like USB port, WiFi connection, and the Internet cable port, there are some devices, which only enables wireless or WiFi connections. For this group, end-users who want to get connected whether at work, home or on the move must look for secure Hot Spots to do so.The challenge with this however is that hot spots are limited and not widely spread across the country. In addition to this, regardless of how much data protection precautionary measures user take, it does not eliminate the constant risk it portends to sensitive personal and company data and the apprehension of the user.In spite of this connectivity challenge, adoption of these mobility devices seem to be on the rise, so to address this market need, telecommunications company, including MTN Nigeria, introduced Micro Chip SIM Cards with internet bundles for use in iPads and iPhones. In these devices provision is made for where the Micro Chip SIM Card will be inserted to enable the customer make and receive calls, send and receive short messages and browse the Internet at unbeatable speed on the device. Because the Internet service provision is perhaps one critical market segment where one size clearly does not fit all. MTN offers customers array of Internet services solutions in Nigeria. They include the HyNet WiMAX solution, a fixed connectivity for use in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), which can be shared by multiple users; there is also the popular MTN FastLink for connectivity on the go.The Fast link is a simple plug and play device that allows users connect anytime anywhere in Nigeria.Telecoms firms are constantly innovating which underscores the ir market strength on many variables. Only recently, MTN launched another product, which allows consumers create their own hot spots wherever, and whenever they desired. The device, named the MiFi, is a 'plug and play' modem bundled with 5MB internet data which customers installs on their personal computer and instantly connects four other peripheral WiFi enabled devices like the laptop, netbook, iPad, iPhone and tablet to browse. The pocket size device, which uses a regular SIM card, allows a maximum of five devices within ten metres radius of the device to connect to the Internet from a single data subscription at any given time.According to Mr. Babatunde Osho, Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria, 'the set up process is simple and very similar to that of the Fast Link and can be completed within a few minutes'. He added that the interface and templates are also very similar to the Fast Link's, which is very user friendly.The solution also addresses the connectivity challenges of devices that are not SIM card enabled like some model of the iPad and some tablets to connect to the Internet via WiFi. Concerning any fears on the part of some customers who currently use the Fast Link,Broadband is truly coming to roost in Nigeria, two privately owned submarine cables, the Main One and Glo1 cables have already landed in the country to complement the NITEL SAT-3 cable and are already selling bandwidth. Already the market is witnessing reduction in retail price of bandwidth, which is even expected to drop further when the MTN owned submarine cable WACS lands. Another advantage the landing of the cable will bring, according to Adegbonmire, is a remarkable increase in broadband penetration and mobile broadband proliferation, which will further drive mobility and enterprise mobile devices.Chief Technical Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Lynda Saint-Nwafor, in a recent interview said it is impossible to achieve mobility without pervasive broadband access as people must have a means of exchanging ideas within and beyond the country's borders. And that with the advent of the submarine cables connecting Europe to Nigeria, more bandwidth will be available to improve our means of transporting information to/from the country.Now looking beyond telecommunication and to take a sneak peek into Nigeria's broadcasting landscape, you will discover more evidence of Nigeria's propensity to adopt new technology, especially of mobility-enhancing technologies.Nigeria's Pay Television pioneer, Multichoice DStv's currently offers a pocket size decoder called the Drifta and mobile TV device called DStv Walka. The innovative mobile television decoder enables subscribers watch DStv contents on their laptops, iPad and tablets and other mobile devices while on the go. The Walka on the other hand is a handheld TV device with a 3.5 inch viewing screen.The device which operates on digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) is one of three prevalentmobile TVformats. It is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to mobile handsets, handheld devices and PDAs.From all indications, Nigeria is not doing badly in terms of technology convergence, broadband and mobility technology. To all intents and purposes, Nigeria is aligned with global technology trends, which favour unification and convergence of different devices and technologies, making it easier for people to work and relax anywhere, anytime and on the go. In other words, the ultimate beneficiaries of the race remain the populace.
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