12-12-2012, 05:11 PM
Preparing for the future of communication
Preparing for the future.pdf (Size: 6.9 MB / Downloads: 175)
THE INTERNET CHALLENGE
The form and function of modern communication are shifting and expanding at an ever-increasing
rate. Thanks to the internet and mobile broadband, people are communicating more than ever and in
more ways than ever. Person-to-person communication is spreading into any context that can benefit
from it.
This whirlwind of transformation and innovation poses a potent challenge for telecom operators, as
it threatens to weaken their relationships with consumers and diminish the revenue generated by their
telephony businesses. It is indisputable that telecommunications is being fundamentally disrupted by
services that have quickly adopted – and adapted – new internet technologies.
Technology – openness spurs innovation
The common denominator for innovative technology in the digital age is openness. An open technology
is one with the capability for constant improvement and evolution through community-based involvement
and knowledge sharing. Open-source software, for example, makes source code available to everyone,
rather than just the copyright holders.
The use of open and free-of-charge technologies lowers the threshold for innovation and speeds
up time to market. Open, programmable devices can create mass-market uptake from day one, with
the internet as a tailored and efficient market channel. With such a model, companies – whether big
or small – no longer need the resources of large enterprises, such as global telecommunications
companies, to construct a new communication service.
Sure enough, new, innovative communication services are beginning to appear in many different
flavors – almost all of them designed, implemented and delivered using various web platforms. Such
platforms today include proprietary device execution environments, predominantly from successful
device ecosystems controlled by companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft. The HTML-based
web runtime standardized in W3C is an open alternative that has the potential to challenge established
ecosystems. Work is ongoing to revise HTM L5 so that it supports real-time voice and video
communication directly within the browser with a standardized media plane, but without any
standardized find-and-connect mechanism. This development will bring voice and video communication
to the web as a feature – making it part of the toolset available to the developers, rather than a separate
service.
Society – digital personas and contextual awareness
Increasingly powerful mobile devices have the ability to run several apps, where each one may represent
a different communication service. The physical identity of a person can be represented online as
multiple digital identities, or digital personas. The individual decides which persona he or she wants
to use in a particular communication context. The digital persona allows the individual to tailor his or
her appearance according to role and context – whether it is that of a patient in a health provider
dialog, a customer in a support call, or an authority on 20th-century classical music in a forum for
aficionados.
Giving individuals the ability to control the way they are represented in various communication
scenarios should be seen as a shift in the balance of power, away from the larger units of society –
corporate, government and social. Individuals can decide how to communicate in a given context by
choosing a particular service, platform and digital persona. The era in which one communication
solution could address all communication needs is already long gone.
The behavior of younger people clearly reflects these trends. The younger generation is characterized
by a strong emphasis on creativity, collaboration and entrepreneurship. Young people bring their need
for communication that is unlimited, flexible in usage and multifaceted in function into both their private
lives and workplaces. This generation uses the internet as a natural meeting place, communicating in
a way that varies according to the digital persona use case and the context.