The AP wire service article, “Phone cos. lose broadband subscribers for 1st time” caught my eye since we deal with all types of service providers – web hosting companies, telcos, cable carriers and mobile providers.
It was striking to me from reading the article and comments that there was one reason – and only one reason – that customers cared about the carrier for their Internet service. It’s all about speed.
And so, the telcos appear to be losing out to the cable carriers (at least in the U.S.) because, for the most part, the cable companies have newer technology — which is faster.
Simple enough, but it seems to me that the carriers in general appear to be missing out on an opportunity to create more “stickiness” with their customers. Here I’m talking specifically about things like providing more software based services to customers, like for example email and collaboration. Those higher level services bring added value to the customer and create some “stickiness” so it’s less easy to simply jump to whoever happens to offer the fastest speed.
If the carriers let their customers choose simply on the basis of speed, there will be constant churn of those customers moving to whoever happens to be fastest at that time. In the end, that doesn’t serve any of the carriers very well. Instead, carriers should be looking to build tighter linkages with their customers by delivering higher level value services which have the added benefit of creating additional revenue from existing customers.
We work with our carrier partners to ensure they are realizing this potential and we share a stake in their success in their ability to sell Open-Xchange collaboration into their customer base. We see the speed game as a dead end for carriers and offer a different path with a much brighter outcome.