Convergence benefits elude media, telecoms and IT companies, new research finds

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2010-02-12 08:45

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Hong Kong--(뉴스와이어)--More than ten years after media, telecommunications and information technology began to converge, few companies in these industries have been able to capitalise on the trend. Convergence offers firms vastly improved capabilities to understand and reach their customers, but has also made control of customer relationships much more difficult. Customers now find it hard to distinguish between content, distribution channels and the technology that underlies them. Media, telecoms and IT firms themselves are often unclear which technologies will best help them understand and reach customers; most also acknowledge not having a clear understanding of their customers' behaviour.

These are the main findings of a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Oracle, Converging on the customer: new media for closer relationships. The report is based on a survey of 168 executives in the media, telecommunications and IT industries worldwide, as well as in-depth interviews and other research.

The study shows convergence to be a double-edged sword: it provides an unfiltered window into customer behaviour, but also blurs the lines of communication between companies and their customers. “We live in a murky world,” says Ranjan Kapur, Country Manager in India for WPP, a global advertising and marketing firm. “Convergence is complicating life. It’s no longer clear who owns the content. It’s no longer clear who gets to monetise that content. And it’s no longer clear who owns the customer.”

Other key findings of the report include the following:

· Social media provide companies with an unprecedented opportunity to know their customers better. Social networks are becoming a more important part of company strategies to become more focused on their customers. Today, such things as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are important to just over half of companies. Nearly 70% say that they will become an important tool in the next 12 months.

· The battle for customers is playing out on mobile devices. Ninety-two percent of survey respondents say they have either developed or are investigating a mobile application strategy. Firms are competing for attention on the small screen of a mobile telephone in the hope of gaining fresh insights into the behaviour of their customers.

· Firms are struggling to figure out how to benefit from new technologies. Although 74% of survey respondents see emerging technologies in general as an opportunity to increase revenues and margins, half have trouble identifying which technologies they should use to achieve those goals.

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