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Problem: Telecoms technology inhibits operator business model change (Part 1)

The last few years have seen attempts by many leading telecoms operators to refresh their business model and generate new sources of growth and value. Now many digital initiatives are being scaled back. Telefonica and Telenor, two companies in the vanguard of the ‘drive to digital’ have both disbanded their digital organisations. In the first of two reports, STL Partners explores why efforts to yoke platform and product innovation businesses to a traditional infrastructure business have proved so difficult. The financial and operational constraints associated with traditional telecoms – particularly the need for long investment cycles in ‘one-function’ infrastructure – have made achieving the switch to ‘agile digital innovation’ all but impossible. But all that may be about to change and the future could be a little brighter.

Executive Briefing Service, Network Innovation — January 2016

The Open Source Telco: Taking Control of Destiny

Widespread use of open source software is an important enabler of agility and innovation in many of the world’s leading internet and IT players. Yet while many telcos say they crave agility, only a minority use open source to best effect. We examine the barriers and drivers, and outline six steps for telcos to safely embrace this key enabler of transformation and innovation.

Executive Briefing Service, Enterprise Platforms, Network Innovation — November 2015

Baidu, Xiaomi & DJI: China’s Fast Growing Digital Disruptors

Baidu, China’s answer to Google, is one of the world’s leading Internet companies by market capitalisation. But can Baidu break out of the Middle Kingdom? Fast-growing smartphone maker, Xiaomi, is building a multi-faceted ecosystem and a tribal brand among young people. What impact will Xiaomi have in Western Europe and North America? DJI, the world’s leading drone manufacturer, could become an anchor for a major ecosystem in the consumer robotics arena. But several obstacles may knock DJI off course.

Consumer — September 2015

Microsoft: Pivoting to a Communications-Centric Business

Microsoft faces the post-monopoly era, having had to write off its $8bn adventure in mobile and cope with significant disruption across the piece. Collaboration and communications are key to its new strategy, leading to significant implications for telcos and others.

Consumer — September 2015
Facebook: Telcos’ New Best Friend?

Facebook: Telcos’ New Best Friend?

Facebook has changed substantially since we first analysed the company in 2011. In our latest major report we explore the accuracy of our 2011 predictions regarding users, revenue and strategy. We also examine Facebook’s current aspirations and challenges and explain why, where and how operators should be working with Facebook to build value.

Consumer — March 2015

The Digital Dashboard: How new metrics drive success in telco digital initiatives

Digital initiatives are an important part of the telecoms growth story. However, because they are so different to the traditional telecoms business, they require different performance metrics: a digital dashboard. In this report, we examine the importance of metrics in shaping business performance, explore the contribution of metrics to 3 telco digital success stories, and reveal how a cutting-edge approach to metrics is driving digital execution at Telkom Indonesia.

Executive Briefing Service — February 2015
Valuing Digital: A Contentious Yet Vital Business

Valuing Digital: A Contentious Yet Vital Business

The valuation of digital businesses is vital because it drives key strategy and investment decisions, yet highly contentious, as there are many different possible approaches. In the first of two reports on this topic, we appraise the main external valuation methods, and their suitability for use or otherwise with new telecoms business models.

Executive Briefing Service — February 2015

Samsung and Google versus Apple?

Apple is weakening Samsung Electronics’ grip in the high-end of the handset market, lowering the Korean company’s profitability and capacity to compete effectively. After a series of largely unsuccessful attempts to break into software and services, a daring option for Samsung is to seek a strong, strategic alliance with Google to enable both companies to mount a serious challenge to Apple’s dominance in the affluent demographic. Telcos could back such an alliance in return for a profitable role in the service layer. This report analyses the strategic rationale for such an approach.

Consumer — December 2014

Five Principles for Disruptive Strategy

What is disruption, when is it a good idea, and what do you do when it happens to you? We illustrate five principles of disruptive strategy based on our analysis of the telecoms and adjacent markets over the past eight years. The analysis covers both principles of creating and defending against disruption.

Executive Briefing Service, Consumer — November 2014
Connected Car: Key Trends, Players and Battlegrounds

Connected Car: Key Trends, Players and Battlegrounds

Connected cars are set to revolutionise the automotive industry as we know it, turning the car into the ‘ultimate mobile device’ and driving the growth of M2M in a big way. With Apple, Google, telcos and many others in the chase, we analyse the growth drivers, value chain, and key battles for control of this increasingly complex ecosystem, and outline a new connected car services framework.

Executive Briefing Service, Consumer — September 2014
Google’s Big, Big Data Battle

Google’s Big, Big Data Battle

Facing lockout from a growing chunk of the Internet and mounting competition from the Facebook-Microsoft alliance and Amazon, Google’s core business is under intense pressure. The search giant’s response is to innovate, offering consumers proactive recommendations, as well as reactive search results. Once an interesting sideline, Google Now has become fundamental to the Mountain View company’s future. Is the suggestion service good enough to maintain Google’s position as the world’s leading big data company?

Executive Briefing Service, Consumer — July 2014
Cisco, Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Telefonica, et al: the disruptive battle for value in communications

Cisco, Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Telefonica, et al: the disruptive battle for value in communications

Disruption is taking place across the voice and messaging space – not just with telcos. Established vendors and de facto technology standards are also being challenged. For example, Cisco, the market leader in enterprise telephony, finds itself being disrupted in key markets by other vendors offering more horizontally integrated solutions. This report provides an overview and insight into a number of vendors and technologies in the voice and messaging markets, including telco platforms and services, and LTE, RCSe, and WebRTC. Three telco case studies (Vodafone, Telefonica and AT&T) are also provided, examining their activities, products and results.

Executive Briefing Service, Consumer — February 2014