First, let’s simplify the billions of different things into 3 basic categories:

• Things we need to physically survive
• Things that increase our power
• Things that transport other things

Water, food and clothes are good examples of things we need to survive. In the future we will probably still need these things (see English sarcasm). Tractors, cranes and diggers are all examples of things that increase our physical capability or power (muscle complement). In the future, we will probably also still need these things (English sarcasm repeated).

The most interesting group however is the things that transport other things. The challenge here is that in many cases we have forgotten why these things existed in the first place. They have taken the primary role in our minds and this is where these things will get disrupted, replaced and de-materialized. They have also taken primary roles in the companies that produce them. When this happens, these dominant companies are ripe for death unless they pro-actively re-invent themselves by remembering why they originally existed.

When I speak about things that transport other things I am not thinking primarily about cars that transport people as much as things that transport concepts that only make sense to the the human senses. History has continuously shown us to want to communicate these concepts beyond the immediate geography and it has always been a battle between reach and time. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution it is possible to distribute human invented concepts digitally, rather than physically. And once they are digital, they can be enhanced or completely re-invented. Suddenly time and reach are no longer limited by the bounds of the physical world, only by the bounds of the digital one.

This is the foundational truth that is powering the total disruption behind the Networked Society – be it good or bad, listen to Radio Lab’s podcast, ‘Speed’.

The following are percentages of smartphone users who no longer have physical things:
• Alarm Clocks: 54%
• Wristwatches: 46%
• Stand-alone cameras: 39%
• Laptop PCs: 28%
• Gaming consoles: 11%
• TVs: 6%
• Books: 6%

(Source: O2)

Put into context, we can say that:
• Alarm Clocks and Wristwatches physically distribute time
• Cameras and film physically distribute images
• TVs and Books physically distribute video and text
• Etc. etc…

Most companies exist as a result of the Industrial Revolution where orchestrated manufacturing and operation were a necessity for the scale of growth required. This is why the change caused by the Networked Society is relevant to almost all industries and brings into question whether big companies will be relevant in the future.

Does your company manufacture a legacy transport mechanism? What do you think you should manufacture going forward? What categories of things do you think will survive and have a role in the Networked Society?

The post What will survive? appeared first on The Networked Society Blog.

I was there to present one of our 10 hot consumer trends for 2013, one that we call In-Line Shopping. This idea is really just the tip of the iceberg for the fundamental changes that we see when consumers start combining online and offline behaviors in one and the same activity.

The question “Are you online or offline right now?” becomes increasingly meaningless as we are ultimately both at the same time – they are just different aspects of the same reality that we live in. In the perspective of shopping then, this means that consumers are using online and offline aspects in combination without really thinking about it, and in the process they are actually combining the benefits of going to shops and malls with the benefits of buying things on the internet.

In-Line Shopping is such a powerful idea that we wrote a whole report about it, but basically it comes from the realization that for most product categories most people will actually buy stuff in stores sometimes and online sometimes – it is all about the situation and the context, and people behave in line with the flow of events. Shops and the internet will coexist and the companies that offer the best combination will be the most successful.

For nine of the twelve product categories, more people say they purchase either online or in-store than those who say they only purchase online.

What really struck me was that the other speakers at the event were already discussing the technical solutions to allow for such combined consumer experiences, although they had not always fully formulated the reasoning behind why such solutions are so crucial. Similarly, some of the questions from the audience were also very advanced.

There I was, the only representative for a major ICT company, and they were looking to me for advice on marketing ideas and theory utilizing mobile technologies that they already seemed more familiar with than I may ever be myself. What an amazing feeling!

So the next time you want to find out where the cutting edge of mobile technology is heading, maybe all you have to do is go down to your local grocery store and check it out. When all companies intrinsically become ICT-based, that is when we can start to talk about a Networked Society with an emphasis on both of the words.

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What’s my favorite #hashtag? I really couldn’t say. It varies with my mood – news, marketing, technology, cooking but rarely TV shows despite the fact that it’s the broadcast medium I enjoy the most.

Broadcasting short bursts of text to anyone who’d like to follow them is relatively unique to Twitter and presents interesting opportunities. It’s already used as an effective customer-management tool by businesses. But Twitter could also be employed to steer companies’ production assets across a broad geographic area. This is because followers don’t have to be human beings but could be things as well. In fact, neither the sender nor the follower need to be human beings. Both could be connected things. Things broadcasting to things or to humans. This is a very exciting proposition.

Twitter is a platform built to broadcast short, ‘bursty’ messages – just the type of information that connected things are well adapted to send and receive. There are already examples of how this can serve the needs of people and business. Mashable published a very interesting article providing a few cases. I can only agree with the author, Christopher Mim’s conclusion:

“..As hobbyists build and connect more to the Internet — from devices that broadcast air quality in pollution-choked Beijing to ones that keep tabs on our pets — the status of Twitter as a “universal API” alongside email will mean more traffic — and utility — for the service than ever.”

At Ericsson, we’ve used our Connected Tree as an example of this same, simple idea: one thing using Twitter to tell the world its status. You can take this further too. Plants could tell the sprinkler that they need water. The sprinkler could use a sensor to understand the current weather conditions and then tell the faucet to distribute water that is exactly 20 degrees – all while minimizing energy consumption.

Or why not a bus? It could broadcast to mobile devices close to the bus stop that it’s 2 min late because of traffic. This message could then be picked up and displayed by the bus stop’s digital info board while offering the soon-to-be passengers alerts on their mobile phones (and even to late comers so they wouldn’t have to run).

We’ve only seen the first, early steps of this evolution. It’s hard to imagine all the possibilities and I think, just like Mr Mim, that one of the important factors is in the creative minds of hobbyists. In addition, we need brave investors who dare to invest in ideas that take us closer to the future.

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Here is an easy exercise. Ask any senior citizen you know, perhaps your grandma or grandpa, about what working life was like when they were young. Then compare that to a modern work environment and it will probably be hard for them to recognize the things we call work. Concepts like flex-time and working wherever you are will be hard for them to get their heads around. The same will be true of virtual teams that span organizations and locations as well as the blurring lines between work and private life.

A number of areas are driving this change in working life, including:

Technology and tools: These are changing due to the automation of work processes, virtualization of products and services and the mobilization of business processes and tools. Computers, the cloud, broadband and mobility are all getting more powerful and capable.

Demographics: We are seeing significant changes in demographics and diversity between generations. The millennial generation, which has grown up with mobility and internet, is entering the workforce and they have new attitudes and demands towards work. At the same time we are seeing a wave of Baby Boomers starting to retire.

For an in-depth look at millennials and their attitudes, read the latest ConsumerLab report about how young professionals see the perfect company.

Resources: We see greater demands for sustainability as well as for alternative products and services along with an increased demand for telecommuting.

Globalization: Today all businesses operate on a global market and any small business can reach the whole world with its services and products.

Organization and processes: Progressive “connected companies” are starting to organize their business differently compared to traditional companies. As the relationship with customers and the “outside world” changes, the borders of the company and what is not the company are not as distinctive anymore.

Skills and knowledge: Nowadays we have to learn a new media landscape. We work in a completely global environment and we constantly need to improve and develop our knowledge and skills.

Right now, I am starting up a research project about the changing nature of working life and I am interested in company cases – that is companies that have changed their ways of working, maybe a networked businesses, or maybe individuals who are running small businesses in a global network. Maybe there is a company that already got rid of its office building and is letting their employees work from home, in work hubs or at cafes. If you work at such company or know about any interesting company or its people, I would be grateful if you could send me some information at mikael.eriksson.bjorling@ericsson.com. In the subject field, write: working life.

The post The changing nature of working life – Part I appeared first on The Networked Society Blog.

The Red Ocean Strategy Canvas is as follows:

1. Price: Competitive prices are offered by all operators. MVNO’s are very aggressive offering prices below the market’s standard. This pushes incumbents to track and adjust their offerings.

2. Services portfolio: Internet access, TV, voice and video calls, SMS and MMS are the main revenue streams. Operators still rely heavily on charging for calls and SMS. On the other hand, OTT services are eating up some of their SMS and voice revenues. Operators are trying to stop this by offering packages with free SMS and/or free minutes.

3. Network performance: QoS is an important differentiator and operators are investing more and more in 3G and the development of the new LTE network. As long as the mobile-traffic demand will continue unabated, network investments will continue as well.

4. OSS/BSS investment: Operators are investing in BSS because of the increasing numbers of new services and devices.

5. Brand: Another important differentiator. Operators promote their offerings and their brand through costly marketing campaigns in different media. They have also started to be more active in social media.

6. International calls: They are still expensive, but for how long?

7. Handsets subsidies and SIM-only or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): In order to attract and lock new subscribers, operators are still subsidizing handsets. At the same time, most of them also offer what they call SIM-only packages in an effort to counter MVNO’s with BYOD options.

8. Cloud services: Primarily backup services are offered to lock in subscribers.

9. Different tariff plans: These include different tariff plans for different services and countries.

10. M2M: Still in its infancy but most of the operators claim to have an M2M offering for different business domains.

And here is the Red ocean strategy canvas:

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How have these initiatives affected school life in Estonia? We recently did a study of Estonian students to explore how they are using ICT.

Computers are the primary digital-work tool in Estonian schools. However, the government-backed initiatives did not provide every student with their own computer and because of a lack of resources, one-to-one programs (one student, one computer) do not yet exist. This means that the students have to share computers. This is kind of like having perfect roads and gas stations but a lack of cars. The students’ workaround for this is to use their own devices (smartphones and tablets) for school work.

Almost 80 percent of the respondents have access to a mobile phone even if they are not officially accepted as work tools. Teachers tend to have a pragmatic attitude toward them. Additionally, almost 25 percent say they use mobile phones in school for study purposes, such as taking notes, photographing, white boarding and searching the internet.

Top 10 mobile phone services for work and leisure purpose

I have not yet heard of many cases or statements where the mobile phones have found an official place in school. They still generate lots of feelings. Ironically, a tool that billions of people use and take for granted at work still seems to have a long journey ahead of it before it finds context in the classroom. Why is it more provoking when a student uses their phone during class than when an office worker reads mails or sends messages during a meeting?

The post Can mobile phones in school make the grade? appeared first on The Networked Society Blog.

Two strong user needs, wireless and video, are driving the new market inflection point. The options for wireless video in-premise networks including DLNA, Airplay, WiDi and Miracast, are growing quickly. These technologies all add value to smartphones, tablets and ultrabooks for wireless-video distribution for in-premise networks. These additions could also become the mainstream technology for connecting all video-centric devices. The day we can eliminate premises wiring to large TV and desktop screens, set-top boxes and video-centric storage, will be the day we see a real premise-network revolution.

In the Wi-Fi ecosystem, Miracast is the new control mechanism making network-enabled delivery of video content possible. Miracast is the control layer for exchange of real-time video streaming between two Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as a tablet and an access-point. It builds on a range of underlying elements in the Wi-Fi ecosystem:

• the soon to-be-released 802.11ac with dedicated connectivity,
• Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 and enhancements to Wi-Fi security,
• and Wi-Fi Multimedia and Quality of Security mechanisms that separate real-time and best-effort IP traffic.

These new Wi-Fi additions are important steps for taking Wi-Fi beyond the free and best-effort service-delivery role it has played over the last decade.

My predictions of the future are:

• Wires at residential and business premises for the connection of devices will go away – and sooner than we think.
• The cost and hassle of deploying and maintaining in-home and in-business wiring is high, and is the key driver for shifting to wire-free in-premise networks.
• A critical success factor is to secure simultaneous use of voice, data and video services at user premises. Any technology must be able to be used simultaneously while mixing best-effort and real-time services.
• There will be new business models for developing Wi-Fi capabilities when used stand alone or integrated with 3G/4G. Why is free Wi-Fi the only model for enhanced capabilities when significant values are still delivered to users?

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• A high-performance mobile broadband network with LTE, heterogeneous network and Wi-Fi. Radio coverage everywhere.
• A variety of connected devices with a variety of services and products serving a variety of industries.
• A cloud ecosystem providing a multitude of services that are easy to use, manage and configure.

Next, it is helpful to have some basic knowledge about the Blue Ocean Strategy. The book, written by professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, is one of the best-selling business strategy books of all time. It’s authors teach business strategy and management at the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute at INSEAD and Blue Ocean Strategies have been applied to a wide range of industries including circus (Cirque du Soleil), wine (Yellow tail), gaming (Nintendo Wii) and airline (Southwest).

For this exercise, I wanted to select interesting telcos operating in dynamic and challenging markets so I decided upon two mobile operators from different parts of the world – one Asian and one European. This is important because their market requirements are different, their competitive factors are different, the competitive forces they face are different and their consumers along with their behaviors are also different. Therefore, their strategies should be different as well.

The Asian telco operates in a very large and saturated telecom market with highly competitive operators that provide telephony, internet and broadband services. Operators there compete fiercely on price and value-cost tradeoff means a lot in this market. A price war added to a declining ARPU makes the market extremely competitive and the situation relatively vulnerable. This is what is called a Red Ocean market.

The Strategy Canvas
Due to time constraints I will limit this exercise to the following tools in the Blue Ocean Strategy: the Strategy Canvas and the ERRC grid. Let’s start by having a look at the competitive factors in order to create the diagnosis for the as-is market situation and plot them into the Strategy Canvas.

1. Price: Due to a highly competitive market the price is very low.

2. Services portfolio: Voice and video calls, SMS, MMS and ringtones are the main revenue stream. Video calls are not widely used because of high prices and bad QoS.

3. Network performance: The quality of service is not good due to ongoing 3G network deployment.

4. Coverage: The mobile infrastructure is still not fully operational, and this affects coverage.

5. Broadband services: All competitors are offering this service but the quality is still not good enough.

6. Pay as you go is offered by all operators.

7. Roaming charges are still relatively high.

8. Different tariff plans for pre and post-paid subscribers

9. Value-added services: Different supplementary services are offered in bundles or charged for separately.

10. Media and music downloads: low penetration due to high price.

And here is the Red Ocean Strategy Canvas. It provides a weighted snapshot of the competitive factors and a high-level diagnostic of the market where the Asian operator is competing in.

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In Sweden, where I live, women in the mid 1800’s went from being part of the household’s production to becoming the household’s director. She became the organizer and developer of the world she knew so well. As far as I know, this is still the situation for many women, not only in Sweden but in other parts of the world as well. My own experience from trying to master the challenges of modern life, is that my smartphone is the cornerstone of my life, and internet access is a prized asset.

A recent ConsumerLab report that studied consumers in Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa indicates a similar pattern: “Both men and women work. However, in the cases where men and women share a household, men are generally expected to be breadwinners and women responsible for household finances.” Here, m-Commerce has the potential to make all the difference in keeping control over both weekly spending and women’s savings for demanding days.

Connectivity also has proven to help entrepreneurs make their business dreams a reality, and not only in highly mature ICT markets. One of my favorite examples is the Imasirire cooperative in Rwanda, where 200 women weave and sell baskets. There, mobile broadband has facilitated their ways of working and allowed the business to develop thanks to better contact with their customers.

One of the top-10 trends for 2013, identified by Ericsson ConsumerLab, is that women will drive broad, mass-market adoption of smartphones. I believe this no coincidence. The smartphone is an ingenious tool for anyone who’s charged with organizing herself, her household, her business, or her community.

The report indicates that female smartphone owners are more active than men when using SMS. It also shows that 77 percent of women send and receive photos, 59 percent use social networking, 24 percent use apps to check in at physical locations and 17 percent redeem coupons with their smartphones. The report concludes: “By integrating communication and daily activities with their smartphone usage, women continue to drive broad mass market smartphone adoption.”

So yes, there is nothing wrong with diamonds. But for a woman who wants to build her future in the Networked Society, a smartphone is a girl’s best friend!

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Overall, Ericsson’s story starts from the foundation – the network – and reaches into the intangible – the cloud, collaboration, and electronic dance music. We talk about the beginnings of connectivity – where our Amazon Connection project won the GSMA Mobile Award for best product in an emerging market – and we talk about how to push the most modern networks to do very advanced, real-time functions like LTE Broadcast or making sure the audience at NASCAR can share video during high traffic and high-data-intensity.

One of my all-time favorite Ericsson speakers (besides the obvious – HansV) is Geoff Hollingworth. Have you read his paper? During a panel at AppPlanet, Geoff tied it all together and said: “We believe in a society that’s going from six billion connected devices to 50 billion connected everything. If you build an app without considering the network, it’s like building a race car without considering which wheels to put on.” Geoff runs the AT&T Foundry for Ericsson out in Silicon Valley, and he always brings a perspective that, if you haven’t already started thinking about it, you will from now on.

These were the topics that were everywhere in Barcelona, not just from us, but from other industry players as well: Connecting everything, new devices, WebRTC and operating systems, virtualization. Software-defined networks. Cloud, cloud, cloud. De-materializing our economy and putting the network to use in multiple contexts. Connected cities were everywhere – not just in Hall 2, but from AT&T in Hall 3, and from GSMA (the overall event organizer) and several other service providers, including but not limited to Telenor and Vodafone.

How to make it all happen? One thing is for sure. Nobody is arrogant enough to do it alone. We are all talking about collaboration and partnerships. I’m excited to see what comes out of our partnerships with Mozilla – where we can take operator assets and embed them into the Firefox browser for ultimate convenience for consumers – and SAP – where we take machine-to-machine connectivity and help operators support big businesses in mobilizing their processes and applications. Time will tell, but these are the kinds of partnerships that will deliver on bringing the Networked Society to life.

So if I were to come back around to the analogy from my pre-Barcelona blog, I’d say this about summer camp: I met some new friends from some pretty cool places – companies like Mozilla and SAP, based in California, Germany, England, everywhere. I heard some new languages (coding stuff that I’ll probably forget in a week…). And I am inspired, by the momentum that is created when 72,000 people bring their passion and professionalism into one place for three short but very lond days. For the record: when Mom and Dad ask, I’ll say it went “fine.”

Until next time, have a great school year!

For more images from MWC 2013, check out our Flickr page.

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