Quality of life enhanced by technology?
March 8th 2007 23:56
Signature Tune
"In 1998, for the first time more personal computers were sold in the world than television sets; this must of course be set against the very high penetration of TVs in the home",
From Thisday online.
Information Communication Technology
Convergence is about opportunities provided by technology to enhance the quality of life of the consumer by increasing consumer choice, facilitating access to the benefits of the Information society and promoting cultural diversity. It is about services and about new ways of doing business and of interacting within society. It is also a response to, and a reflection of, far greater competitive pressure in the ICT industry. The emergence of new services and the developments of existing services is expected to expand the overall information market.
These developments are therefore, positive for the Nigerian economic and social development and should be encouraged. The importance of the consumer cannot be overlooked in the Convergence debate;"The consumer is still King'. The market must provide, create, meet and anticipate the needs of the consumer for the market to continue to remain relevant in the purchasing plans of the consumer.
Consumers are likely to use new products and services offered through convergence only insofar as those services are useful to them. The take-off of new services cannot therefore be simply supply-driven, but must take account of demand and, in particular the consumer's viewpoint.
The convergence is already happening and will continue to evolve rapidly in the coming years. The nature and potential growth of market demand for the new services is the greatest uncertainty facing market players in the convergence of technology.
The signals from the marketplace are conflicting. For instance, many view the passive consumption of family television viewing to be the mainstay of audiovisual consumption for the foreseeable future. However, there are some indications of potential change in the patterns of consumption of services in the home environment. Studies have shown that in 1998, for the first time more personal computers were sold in the world than television sets; this must of course be set against the very high penetration of TVs in the home, and the fact that PCs are sold to both businesses and homes; Web users already consume 59% less television than average viewers and TV set's share of screen time was half that of the personal computer in 2005; on the other hand.Research into activities displaced by increased personal computer usage shows that watching television loses out rather than reading books and magazines, or playing console video games.
According to Price Waterhouse, young adults in the US between 18 and 35 who used to spend 4 hours a day watching TV now spend one of those hours `surfing the net'. In terms of available leisure time and expenditure, the youth segments are already opting for interactivity. Video games alone represent nearly 20% of under sixteen year olds' total media consumption in some markets, according to Arthur Andersen. A key factor in the take up of new services will be the penetration of PCs in the home, and particularly multimedia and Internet capable PCs.
In the advanced world, PC penetration levels of up to 30% are common place, penetration of multimedia PCs is considerably lower and Internet usage in the home as mentioned above is growing steadily but from a low base.
Unfortunately, this is not so yet in Nigeria, but it is expected that with the advent of the $100 PCs (expected in July 2007) the penetration level of PCs in Nigerian homes will improve tremendously. Also, there has been a transition from collective, family viewing of two or three generalist TV channels to individual family members viewing alone, selecting from the much broader range of channels on offer in today's multi-channel environment.
The multi-channel broadcast environment itself competes with packaged media, played on video recorders and video-game consoles. All of this will increasingly compete with the computer, particularly with its use online. Aware of the changing patterns of consumption, the television and computing industries are vying for viewers' attention. Broadcasters and TV manufacturers are enhancing the interactive capabilities of their services and equipment, such that today's digital television set-top boxes already combine television and telecommunication functionality. TV sets can already double as monitors when connected to low cost Internet appliances. Presently, the consumer electronics industry now feature TV sets with built-in PC capability, including Internet access. From the other end of the spectrum, the computer industry is already offering multimedia PCs that allow viewing of television channels.
Hybrid WebTV set-top boxes combine Internet and digital TV reception with facilities allowing storage and manipulation of video content, enabling applications as diverse as downloading of films and sending of video-clips as E-mail. Whether the PC/TV or the TV/PC will win this battle is, at the moment, quite unclear.
What is certain however is that the consumer's "home platform" is set for significant evolution over the next few years. Yet at the same time and in parallel, consumer demands and needs for better access to information will also allow for convergence of those telecommunications, media and information technology products and services that cater to public interest domains such as education, health, environment and A good example in a converged service is VOIP.
VoIP has driven down the cost of fixed-line telephony, but consumers have spent more on mobile phone calls instead, and their overall spending on voice calls has stayed roughly constant. So the coming fight between converged operators of various kinds will be over the consumer allocation of existing spending. Operators therefore believe that offering bundles of converged services is the way to go in this era.
They very strongly that offering bundles of converged services makes customers less likely to defect and saves money on marketing and customer acquisition, because many services can be advertised and sold together. Bundling services together also makes sense on basic economic grounds. Demand for bundles is more predictable than demand for individual services, and customers who might not find individual services attractive may be prepared to buy the whole bundle. Bundling hides the prices of individual services, and a single bundle appeals to different customers for different reasons. This also makes bundles more profitable, because people may end up paying for services they do not want. Issuing a single bill is vital for the service provider's vision of bundled services to work.
The attraction of a product bundle for the customer is its simplicity. But if the single bill side of the equation falls over, product bundles lose their appeal for the end-user.If service providers don't have the systems in place to handle these complex processes efficiently, costly inefficiencies creep into play; Bills may go out late or not at all; customers may be overcharged or the service provider may fail to bill for every service it provides.
As operators begin to bundle services together, consumers may be constrained to take services that they would not ordinarily want to consume and they still have to pay for such services thereby giving them an added cost. Another major problem that the customer may have to contend with in the era of convergence is that of inefficiency and poor service quality as some operators may be providing services or which they do not have the core competence.
This is not to say that technology convergence is not good for the consumer, it actually offers massive opportunities for the development of new value-added services, convenience, efficiency and the expansion of consumer choice if well managed.
In delivering services to consumers in the converged world therefore, the first factor for operators to consider is flexibility.
Not everyone wants to buy a bundle of services, so operators must allow customers to pick and choose the services they want. Across the globe, and generally speaking there is a category of customers that want a triple-play, but overall most customers prefer single-play and double-play, mixing offers from different players.
The most successful operators, therefore, are those that have the technology to offer multi-play service bundles, and offer those services in such a way that the consumer is the one making the choice--they don't push a specific bundle, or force services on consumers that they don't necessarily want.
Today's consumers' are no longer conservative but are well aware of global developments as such, to get customers to sign up for three or four services, each of those services must be competitive and attractive in its own right. Convergence as we see it isn't so much that you can sell multiple services to a customer, but that you can allow them to mix and match whatever services they want. While some people want simplicity, and prefer to have everything in one place, as in a mall or a department store, others prefer to do some shopping in the mall and to seek out specialist shops for specific products.
Secondly, for convergence to be successful it has to be simple for the consumer..Third factor for a success of convergence is a strong brand founded on good customer service--otherwise consumers will not want to sign up, even if offered discounts.
CONCLUSION
A major driver of regulation in the convergence should be based on the objective of maximising benefits and minimising the risks of consumers. This implies the need for the creation of adequate regulatory instruments to protect the fundamental rights and responsibilities of consumers arising from the wide circulation of information in the sectors affected by convergence.
Privacy issues, responsibility for content and the protection of minors, free speech versus libel, appropriate jurisdiction and consumer representation, are some of the issues that need to be addressed in the new environment. Public policy will need to provide a supportive environment for convergence in order to ensure that the potential opportunities are grasped in a timely fashion and that the consumer is adequately protected from exploitation by the operators.
A key priority of any regulatory framework should be to seek to meet the needs of users in terms of offering them more choice, improving levels of service and lower prices, whilst fully guaranteeing consumer rights and the general public interest. Such an approach is fully consistent with wider policy goals which recognise the important role of many of the sectors in bringing the Information Society into citizens' everyday lives.
• Mrakpor, MD/CEO, Hirest Africa Limited, presented the paper at the IT EDGE Convergence forum in Lagos recently
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Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I was going through an old 'visual arts process diary' the other day, and I found my old art express notes. Theres a section on an artwork called "the birthday party" it was a painting of a girl checking her emails on her birthday with a cake and a candle by her side - A deliberate parody of how she is so, so alone on her birthday, no matter how many 'friends' she had online.
Makes you think....
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Good thinking, it's all a bit of a worry really.
katyzzz
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
You are gorgeous. Dont you dare hide that face!
And yes, Katyzzz, I agree. Its a bit of a worry. Most people couldnt survive if you dumped them in an 18th century house. I take pride in knowing I can find water, start a fire, hunt for myself and more.
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
You're ahead of me, congrats!
katyzzz