Behind the Screens: Keys to High Performance in a Convergent World -- Full Text

Angelo Morelli is the global lead for New-Product Development and Innovation for Accenture Communications, Media and Technology. angelo.morelli@accenture.com

Emmanuel Lalloz is the global marketing lead for Accenture Communications. emmanuel.lalloz@accenture.com

The world is moving through a period of rapid and revolutionary advancements in information communications and technology capabilities, even at a time when the global economy is moving backward. Both optimism and frank awareness of the challenges ahead were themes of the 2009 Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona in February. On the one hand, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer put it during his keynote address to the Congress, no matter what the economy holds in store over the next few years, technology-fueled innovation is on a steep, upward trajectory of success.

On the other hand, many commentators at the Congress shared the sense that such innovation in the mobile industry depends on moving to a more open development environment less restricted by incompatible operating systems and devices. While sharing Ballmer's general optimism, other executives at the Congress expressed concern that the current development environment and the proliferation of operating systems may lead to islands of products and services, which can stifle rather than accelerate innovation.

Accenture believes that stimulating innovation in the communications, media and technology industries is also much more than a technology issue. The world will continue to see proliferation of services and "screens"—the types and numbers of networked devices. That means, however, that behind those screens there needs to be a lot of work done from a consumer-centric point of view, making the experience of using the products and services both powerful and simple.

As Telefónica's executive chairman César Alierta said in his address to the Congress, the industry's success "will come from providing the consumer with a much better experience based upon providing value.”

As companies plot their strategies for achieving high performance over the next few years, they should be thinking about at least three things: They need to think new, think easy and think connected.

Make it New
Innovation doesn't stop during an economic downturn. In fact, it's more important than ever. Accenture research into previous recessionary periods shows a clear ability of the better market performers to pull away from their competition during, and then especially immediately after, a recession. A commitment to innovation is a big part of that differentiation.

New Accenture research—released during the 2009 Mobile World Congress—indicates, however, that companies in the communications, media and technology industries are struggling when it comes to effective, cost-efficient new-product development. Our research found that 70 percent of telecommunications carriers, high-tech companies and media firms stopped development of at least some of their services and products last year. The biggest reason: budget overruns linked to slow and inefficient development processes and a shortage of people with the experience to generate innovations or manage the new-product development process.

In today's economic environment, it's crucial for companies to increase their return on investment in innovation and product development. So the waste implied in a high rate of abandoned projects is a cause for concern.

On the positive side, our research found a correlation between companies that meet or exceed their new-product launch plans—a group we term innovation masters—and those that leverage third parties and specialized providers in an open development environment. Whereas average new-product launch times across our global sample was six months, companies leveraging an open development model were significantly more likely to have launch times under three months.

These innovators are also less timid in the types of offerings under development. The majority of companies in the survey are focused on new products that are really only extensions of existing offerings, Innovation masters, by contrast, are more likely to be branching out into new areas such as personal information management, fixed-mobile convergence and services based on social networking applications.

An open environment can increase costs and risks, however, and that was underscored by our research. The innovation masters were more likely to report that they experience cost overruns in new product development.

What can be done to balance speed-to innovation. and cost? Accenture has made a significant investment in a platform for mobile-services development that we believe is a big part of improving development times while also reducing costs and risks. Accenture Mobility Operated Services is a managed-services approach to rolling out new mobile services quickly and cost effectively. A wide range of applications is already available, including mobile money management, telematics, voucher and ticketing and many others.

A key enabler of this managed-services approach to new-product development is the Accenture Service Delivery Platform, which combines hardware, software and services into a common architecture that enables cross-industry enterprises to create and deliver solutions across different networks. Accenture’s SDP is integrated with leading communications service providers’ and business partners’ platforms.

If one combines the deep knowledge of industry verticals that Accenture has with its experience developing a wide range of mobile applications and services, this managed services development model is a powerful value proposition for companies looking to "make it new" in the mobile world.

Make it Easy
What do consumers want most when it comes to their devices and services? They want to start them up and have them work immediately. Easy. Simple. But for  an industry with a history of loading up products with functions and features that require lengthy user guides, "easy" doesn't necessarily come easy.

Accenture recently surveyed groups of technology savvy or "tech forward" consumers in the United States, Europe, Japan, Brazil, China and India to get their opinions about the growth of networked devices and the manner in which their lives may be changed as a result. These consumers are already juggling multiple devices. High percentages own mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, mobile music players and so forth. Most expect the number of networked devices in the world to grow dramatically. So what they want and need is the assurance that companies will make the use of products and services easy for them. That means that interoperability and simplicity are keys to a company's achievement of high performance.

Consumers are also looking for easy, unified service and support—a single source to go to if devices and services don't work properly or are difficult to configure. Such support can actually be a revenue generator for companies. Other Accenture research has found that significant percentages of consumers are willing to pay for help in getting the most functionality they can out of their digital, networked environment. This is an area where carriers, with their existing infrastructure for customer service, may have an edge in the marketplace. It's therefore also an opportunity for possibly monetizing the service and making it available to other types of organizations—turning a cost center into a revenue generator.

"Make it easy" can mean something else from the business's perspective rather than the consumer's. So-called "application stores," which are also a part of the Accenture Mobility Operated Services business model mentioned earlier, make it easier to roll out new services. For multiple industries, Accenture offers a "mobile services store"—applications built on our software platform that are ready to go with minimal configuration.

Make it Connected
In today's world, devices by themselves no longer matter as much; what counts is a network-connected device. Accenture has characterized this trend of device connectivity under the name "trivergence"— whereby a device, as well as its data and controls, are coordinated over the ubiquitous network.

Consumers expect the number of networked devices in the world to grow dramatically— as does the technology industry. David Clark, senior research scientist at MIT and one of the chief architects of the Internet, suggests that a network of one trillion devices is not too far off. (And if the mobile industry makes just $1 from each device per year, that's a new trillion dollar industry.)

The big question, then, is how to harmonize the demand for connectivity with the demand to make it easy. Currently, when consumers in most parts of the world cannot even port their mobile phone from one carrier to another, an open mobile environment may seem like a pipe dream. But it's also essential.

The mobile innovation panel held on the second day of the 2009 Mobile World Congress was an insightful look at this challenge of creating a more open mobile world. The CEOs present, including Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo of Nokia, were in strong agreement that a more open and interconnected technology environment is essential if the industry is going to fulfill its potential over the next decade. Certainly many challenges lie ahead, but the force of history appears to be with the move to open environments.

Accenture: Behind the Screens
In the end, then, the essentials of "new, easy and connected" reveal themselves to be different facets of the same issue: the drive to create a more open environment that can drive innovation, make devices and services easy to use, and deliver connectivity of devices anytime, all the time.

Accenture is committed to that vision of an open future and is working "behind the screens" with companies throughout the communications, electronics and high tech, and media and entertainment sectors. We believe that if companies keep in mind the imperative to "make it new, easy and connected," the years ahead will offer more opportunities than ever before to achieve high performance.