At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, five trends came alive during the keynote “The Digital Economy” with John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group and AT&T Services.
The message was simple; to stay relevant and build a sustainable revenue model. The telecom industry needs to step out of its comfort zone and look beyond traditional business practices; mainly, charging people for connectivity. With the consumer’s voice becoming more undeniable than ever before, the proposed solution is to put more focus on finding new ways of engagement and providing premium content regarding telecom trends 2020.
So, it comes as no surprise that the 5 telecom trends, focused on engagement and content, are extremely applicable for internal communications managers. Here they are:
1. Video is King – Trends in Telecom
The boom of video is real, currently representing 40% of mobile consumption, it is expected to surpass 70% by 2020. So why not recognize this behavioral trend and spread your next communication campaign through a video. And with video becoming more dominant, demand to consume video across all mobile devices increases too. So, when you upload the content to your news stream, make sure to offer it across all devices to be consumed when on-the-go, directly from mobile phones or tablets.
2. Integrated User Experience is One of the Latest Trends in the Telecom Industry
The telecom industry is shifting towards multi-sided business models, developing partnerships with brands in areas such as music streaming and mobile payment to improve the consumer experience and build a mobile-first ecosystem. Taking inspiration from the telecom industry, any organization using the same approach can create the ultimate employee experience. Functions and features, such as on-demand work schedules and shift plans or real-time messaging can increase the employee experience and in return help employees perform their jobs better.
3. Content is Everything
Today, providing compelling content is everything. Stankey urges telecoms to look beyond speed and connectivity, as these two elements are no longer the only driving force for competitive advantage. The same mindset goes for internal communications as well. Today, instead of the traditional top-down communication within a company, meaningful and engaging dialogues are encouraged via shared content. When employees have a voice, they feel appreciated and feel a stronger connection to the organization, increasing the overall retention rate. This encompassing communication stream helps build employee engagement, but is only successful when the content provided is stimulating enough.
4. Control and Simplicity Are Two Telecom Industry Trends
Stankey confessed that the previous approach of offering pre-packaged solutions with extra “steps, hoops, rules and requirements” failed to value the customer’s needs. With today’s infrastructure for speed and connectivity given, customers crave control and simplicity. What employees want is control of access to their information, like directly having access to their digital payslips. What employees don’t want is to spend time and effort carrying out simple tasks, like searching the intranet for an employee directory.
5. The Product is Software
No matter how innovative new ways of engaging customers are, the key principle is that software has become the product. It needs to be complex in nature, though simple for users. If it fulfills the requirement of feeling personal, provides content-first user experience, is deliverable across all devices, is data rich and easily integrated, then it can be the glue that holds everything together. Only when the product is used does its value exist. Same applies for any internal communication platform.
How do you see these telecom trends translating into use cases in your organization?
