Objective:

Increase Activation and Adoption Rates for Telecom Service Providers and Mobile Operators for SMB customers . 

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Objectives

A global supplier of IT technologies engaged Edge Strrategies to resolve the Cloud Computing perspectives and plans of CIO/IT Executives responsible for the data centers of major US and European firms. 

There was key interest in:

• The paths they intend to take to Data Center Cloud adoption, including business and technical challenges
• The major IT vendors considered to guide and support their adoption process

Methodology

To gain the insight required, Edge Strategies accomplished the following:

• Identified and recruited target CIO/IT Executives responsible for data center operation and technology/supplier selection in major firms in US and Europe. (Including Coca Cola, Raytheon, Humana, Deutche Bank, Boeing)
• Conducted 30 online surveys with 30 CIOs/IT Executives; in-depth, one-on-one interviews with 12
• Integrated primary research with industry data and secondary research

Results:

Detailed findings included:

• The range of varying definitions and attitude toward  Cloud computing, virtualization and the Private Cloud
• The impact of current technologies, including legacy and server environments,  on the Cloud migration path
• Perceptions of major vendors, including value propositions and trends
• These and other findings were the foundation for targeted strategic recommendation to help the client improve customer perception of their capabilities and increase market share.

Objectives

A global IT vendor engaged Edge Strategies to generate insights and recommendations regarding their retail channel.  The criticial go-to-market questions which needed to be answered included:

• Which retailers have the potential to be the best partners
• Which products to sell through SMB retailers
• What programs will help the client's retail channel become most successful with their products and services

Methods

Quantitative and Qualitative Research with Customers and Channels

• Retailer profiles and insights were generated via secondary research followed by in-depth telephone interviews with executives (director and VP level) at each retailer with responsibility for their technology line of products and services
• Interviews with 300 Small Business Customers to understand their needs, expectations and preferences

Results

Our client selected several key retail chains on each continent to work with.  Our recommendations included:

• Which retail business models will work best in the evolving Cloud Services markets
• Which services are most appropriate to offer through the retail channel
• How to train retail channel personnel
• How to help their retail channels partner with third party integration partners to deliver complete solutions to SMBs
• Programs designed to improve the complete customer experience for Small Business Customers

Increasing Market Share through Research-Based Competitive Advantage

Challenge

The product, marketing and sales teams of a leading global IT firm needed to understand the market positioning, strengths and weaknesses of competitor Real-Time Charging (RTC,) Data Retention (DR) and Customer Revenue Management (CRM) portfolios. 

Objective:

Increase Activation and Adoption Rates for Telecom Service Providers and Mobile Operators for SMB customers . 

Services Providers are beginning to offer Business Class Cloud Services to SMB Customers, but they face many challenges. Most important of these is getting customers to activate and actively use these services. 

On behalf of several major Telecom Service Providers in Europe, Edge Strategies developed a methodology to help them understand and deal with the challenges of selling, enabling and getting customers to full adopt complex services.  This was particularly true of services involving email, Domain and Data Migration. 

Methods: 

To  address this challenge, Edge Strategies used and continues to use three primary methodology's: 

• Analysis of Best Practices of the Most Successful Cloud Service Providers  
• Extensive research with Telecom Providers' customers  who succeed or failed in the adoption/activation process 
• Operational analysis of existing process within the Telecom Service Provider Organization 

Results: 

Major Telecom Service Providers in US, Europe and Asia are adoption Edge Strategies'  methodology's strategies and recommendations for maximizing adoption of business class cloud services for small and medium business. 

Some operators are already indicating: 

• higher activation rates 
• reduce churn 
• Improved Customer Experience 

Objectives:

How can our client help OEM’s bring products to market faster? What are the OEM market segments that they should focus on next?What product development/launch challenges exist at  various stages of the OEM sales cycle? What resources need to be applied to the roadblocks?

Methods:

Conducted in-depth interviews with decision makers and quantitative research with 300 OEMs to fully understand the decision making journey, and all of the challenges faced by an OEM along the journey to develop and launch new products that include embedded operating systems. 

Results: 

• Our client has increased market share significantly (~15%)  in the target market as a result of our work. 
• Validation of the stages, roles and customer interactions of the OEM Marketing and Sales stages, currently envisioned by our client, to accelerate embedded product adoption.  
• Determine the OEM customer’s challenges at various points during the stages of a product lifecycle.  
• Determined the  resources required  to best address the issues, enabling a shorter time to market for the customer. 
• Estimated  the price elasticity of key products in order to identify profit maximizing price 

Global advertising spend for 2012 is expected to near $486 billion with digital advertising comprising about $85 billion.  As digital advertising spend and the number of digital advertising mediums grow year over year, decision making around investments; tools; partners; and customer behavior becomes increasingly complex. 

Our long history of working with suppliers of products and service in rapidly evolving markets, combined with our experience in both traditional and digital advertising industries forms the foundation of our Digital Marketing Strategies Practice.     

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The ongoing explosion of new communications technologies is disrupting established business models.To survive and thrive in this new world, successful Telecom businesses need to sharpen their understanding of how to monetize these rapidly emerging and evolving capabilities.

Edge Strategies delivers up-to-date, research-based strategies, proven best practices and effective implementation methods that help communications business leaders succeed in Telco 2.0.      

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The success of a business solution, no matter how brilliant or innovative, depends heavily on how it is brought to market. Great products and services are the foundation. But choosing the right partners and structuring effective sales channels- to generate demand, customize approaches and integrate solutions into customer environments- is equally important. These challenges are becoming increasingly complex as technology and telecommunication industries evolve to a services model.

Edge Strategies has developed research methodologies and frameworks to help our clients build and optimize traditional and emerging partnerships across the full Cloud Market Ecosystem.

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The evolution of Cloud Services markets (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS) are driven by the complex interaction of many forces. Edge Strategies has conducted over 80,000 interviews, in both mature and emerging markets with decision makers within vendor, service provider and customer organizations. 

Our research focuses on the many factors that determing cloud services market success or failure, including customer needs and trends, decision processs, channel preferences and adoption barrers. 

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