social media research at comms service providers
DESCRIPTION
This is a presentation that Jeff Edlund at HP and I gave in Nov. 2011 at the SNCR annual conference, presenting some preliminary results about our research.TRANSCRIPT
Is Social Media an Opportunity or Threat to Communications
Service Providers? Presented by:
David Strom, SNCR Senior Fellow, strominator.comJeff Edlund, CT Innovation HP Communications & Media Solutions
5th Annual SNCR Research SymposiumNovember 4-5, Stanford University
www.sncr.org
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Who is Jeff Edlund?
Leader of the CTO office for HP’s Communications & Media Solutions (CMS) business unit
Owner and driver of the Innovation processes within HP CMS
Member HPL Advisory Board, ATIS Board of Directors, Speaker and Author
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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What’s being said right now?
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Personal exchange
Professional opinion
Collaboration
Strategy
Competition
Recommendation
Why HP Communications & Media Solutions (CMS) is interested in this research HP CMS’s primary customer is the CSP and fresh insights are always needed
on the evolving needs of this vertical market
Social media has emerged as a major factor in business
Learnings about social media will help guide our solution sets for this market place ensuring that the CSP can meets its customer demands
CMS believes that social media will transform the way we all interact with our customers
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Why should CSPs care about social media? It’s far more than just blogs posts or messages (Facebook or Twitter)
It’s the beginning of the data tsunami Photo posts – 3B / day Facebook Video posts – 24 hrs / min YouTube
It’s understanding the customer
Managing the network is vital
The alternative is more bandwidth
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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* Flowtown , Website-Monitoring, 2010
Who is David Strom?
Senior Fellow, Society for New Communications Research
Long-time technology journalist, podcaster, and speaker
Former editor-in-chief and IT manager
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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The research methodology
What are we trying to determine?
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Quantitative and qualitative study
Quantitative: Online survey developed by SNCR Research Fellows Hosted on survey tool Qualtrics Distributed to target respondent audience of CSPs via email and social media channels Early survey results based on 33 responses from 33 organizations Not yet statistically valid Survey research continuing and available at: http://bit.ly/9ZN3W9
Qualitative: Case studies collected via recorded telephone conversations using a discussion guide
developed by SNCR Fellows
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Research Methodology
Research questions How are CSPs using social media to understand their customers?
What changes in traffic patterns will occur as a result of social media usage by their customers?
Are there identifiable business impacts on CSP costs / profits as a result of social media usage?
Is social media a threat or an opportunity to CSPs businesses?
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Results so farWhat are the CSPs telling us?
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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89% of respondents feel that traffic increases from social media usage is a business opportunity
“Opportunity for thought leadership and source of leads” and as a way to reach new customers and new audiences
Easier to disseminate timely information about their products
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
Some CSPs see opportunity!
Some CSPs think impacts are minimal More than 40% feel that traffic impacts from their customers’ use of social
media is very low
More than half feel that social media has had slight impact on product/service offerings
65% say no impact on production costs of CSP products/services
“just another pile of traffic through the network”
Social media is mostly “over-rated twenty-something hype”
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
CSPs are not adding infrastructure to meet traffic demands -- yet
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
CSPs aren’t leveraging cloud services -- yet
CSPs believe that social media makes them more efficient and innovative
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
Social media success metrics used by CSPs
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
Social media trends mentioned in survey “Facebook is the defacto gathering place for our customers”
Facebook as an email replacement
“Blurring the lines between work and personal info/actions”
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Source: Society for New Communications Research - 2010 Note: Stats based on early preview data - sample size representative, not statistically valid
Case studiesLooking at some of the specific responses
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Nathan Pettyjohn, CEO Aisle411.com “LinkedIn has given us a prospecting advantage to connect to a top 10
retailer, and it is now part of our sales strategy”
”We can better respond to someone who has a negative experience and reduce our churn rate”
“We see the highest usage growth with >40 year old customers”
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Jeff Powell, Alcatel/Lucent Load balancing, backhaul, blade servers, lots more bandwidth management
required and needed. Look what happened with New Zealand Telecom when they introduced their 4G network.
“It is hard to believe how much bandwidth is being driven by jumping cat videos being watched on mobile phones.”
Sprint’s TV commercials on how “your phone can be a movie theater.”
Next big thing: 3D interactive video simulations, 3D IP TV
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
Futures in Social MediaHow should we be preparing for the near future?
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Seizing the change Social Media has created the next
generation of communications The next generation worker
communicates differently Different work style and mode of
collaboration Unique service expectations New views on privacy Need to be connected all the time
The CSP opportunity is in enabling this new mode of communications and social media lifestyle Policy Parental Controls Service Brokering Actionable Analytics Video Communications Augmented Service Experiences
David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010
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Thank you!
For more information, contact us at:[email protected], @dstrom, (310) 857-6867
[email protected], @jedlundhp, (816) 607-1852
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David Strom and Jeff Edlund SNCR 2010