Latest news with #technologyproviders
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Shake The Telecom Market. Shape The Network
Consumer Using Smartphone As we cross midway through 2025, the unprecedented economic and competitive challenges in the business world of technology and telecommunications have rocked the boat in house and home for organizations and their consumers. From looming tariffs impacting every corner of the global business landscape to rubber-banding inflation in the U.S. and growing geopolitical tensions, consumer sentiment is impacted monthly, influencing every financial decision. While uncertainty and volatility persist for consumers in the U.S. market, coupled with rising distrust in technology and diluted authenticity, ambiguity continues to rise for business leaders on how to attract, retain and satisfy their customers amongst the madness. With the doom clock ticking for technology providers to address the hurdles ahead of this precarious market, how can organizations keep these threats out of the hands of the customers and communities powering them? How Consumers are Spending Time and Money In retrospect, today's ever-connected world truly began five years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic. What are considered norms today – especially related to digital connectivity around-the-clock – happened seemingly overnight and remains attached to our hips. While our doors, businesses and digital highways are open, the time consumers choose to spend alone and online still reigns supreme. According to a recent State of the Consumer 2025 report from McKinsey, 90% of the more than three hours of free time per week the average consumer has is spent independently, particularly online. While the U.S. market continues to fluctuate, we too must understand that it is largely driven by a sentiment of impatience. The same I-want-it-now mindset that blossomed during the 11 months we remained indoors is not only reshaping retail and e-commerce, but overall consumer behaviors tenfold. Technology has made it tradition to find quick solutions and affordable joy physically, mentally and financially regardless of the complexities or risks at stake, and the 55% of people choosing these routes versus traditional means, according to a recent Accenture Life Trends survey, are more likely to grow as the platforms and capabilities delivering them evolve. Even amongst this migration, more than 60% of consumers are changing their spending habits due to economic uncertainties, per McKinsey, with over half planning to cut back on nonessential spending, purchase fewer items or switch to lower priced brands and products – including our new age essentials like Internet and streaming services. How Service Providers are Responding and Peacocking While spending and overall sentiment continues to trend downward, today's consumer is even more mindful and strategic, and organizations understand the power they hold. Peering down from the provider's perspective, major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu have recently implemented price hikes to their services, making customers re-evaluate their expenses. Additional tactics like password sharing cracked downs are also impacting subscriber numbers across the board, further compounded by factors like consumer content fatigue and plaguing competition. Competitive intensity driven by the influx of promotions, bundles and discounts from streaming services and Internet providers alike are fruitful today. The industry is hungry for another growth spurt, even if that means wiping their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to get approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to absorb smaller players surrounding them. However, reviewing the latest strategic approaches from legacy corporations like Comcast demonstrate that there are bolder strategies possible to retain customers and market share backed by real innovation, disruption, and value. In late June, the organization launched an all-new everyday pricing, part of the company's broader convergence strategy to give their customers simple, predictable pricing for up to five years on their fastest Internet services that includes a line of cellular service, Xfinity Mobile, free for a year. Prices for these packages claim to be more affordable than other major providers on the market, and according to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, pricing and value is the standout driver (30%) for consumers looking to switch their service provider. Prosper - Reasons For Planning To Switch Mobile Phone Service Providers 'With the overwhelming challenges our customers and communities face, if nothing else we have an immense responsibility to be even more transparent to those who rely on our services,' said Christine Whitaker, president of Comcast's Central Division, adding the operator's decision to transform their approaches is driven by 'the growing complexities of today's market, evolving consumer habits and trust.' Optimism, community, and overall business outlook sharply declines when organizations lose their grip on trust from their stakeholders and customers. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report shows that despite the impact of globalization, economic pressures and the techno ecosystem on job security, consumer sentiment and innovation, telecommunications remains one of the top industry sectors trusted globally. Smarter, Savvier Network Capabilities Defining the Next Generation The concept of convergence is not new; we are in fact living in the future of integrated services where Comcast claims to have been leading the charge for thinking beyond today's boundaries and how its capabilities will be the digital lifestyle enabler for innovations yet to come. On the backs of fierce competition, consumer, and economic concerns, building seamless infrastructure for affordable and unrivaled Internet, entertainment and mobile connectivity for homes and businesses is still a top priority – and nearly impossible to conduct manually anymore. Last year, Comcast launched a network virtualization initiative called Janus, making the organization one of the first operators in the world to virtualize and disaggregate the core of its transport network. 'It has essentially supercharged our self-detecting and self-healing network backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning,' said Lissette Martinez, Vice President of Field Sales & Operations, Comcast Central Division. For communities especially prone to severe weather amongst the growing storm intensity across the U.S., this approach aims 'to help customers have a seamless, end-to-end connectivity experience and never even know if their services get disrupted.' The integration of AI in technology, particularly for telecoms, has become a central tool to delivering superior customer experiences across every touchpoint. The convergence of high-tech like edge computing and AI is expected to fundamentally change how connectivity is delivered. It is not just about faster processing but creating intelligent and responsive networks that can adapt real-time to user needs and environmental conditions. For businesses to anticipate the mostly unpredictable needs of consumers often takes first having the ability to look within years ahead. Creating meaningful value through purposeful innovation requires organizations to get closer to their customers and truly rewire their approaches. As technology grows, evolves, and innovates itself, as do organizations as they continue to enable new capabilities to stay ahead of anticipated trends. And with a telecom market and its customers in search of growth and stability, the best upgrades and value-adds one could hope for are ones you can't see; you just notice that everything is working that much more seamlessly.
Fast Company
21-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Building consumer-level ease into enterprise-level design
In the current landscape, fragmentation and unnecessary complexity plague technology users in enterprise environments, particularly in sectors like healthcare. Just because the nature of the work may be highly regulated and the underlying technology highly sophisticated doesn't mean the user experience shouldn't be commercialized in a similar manner as intuitively designed consumer technology. To address this, organizations should seek to incorporate consumer-level simplicity into enterprise-level design in order to drive much-needed adoption and scalability. Technology providers need to build a cohesive backbone that bridges the usability gap between personal and professional environments. By requiring minimal training and focusing on ease of use, technology providers transform complex workflows into seamless, efficient processes, redefining operational excellence in the workplace. Enterprise technology is built to solve complex problems. From managing vast supply chains to optimizing IoT connectivity, these solutions handle mission-critical functions. The traditional approach to enterprise tech has been to focus on features rather than usability. During the initial stages of solution engineering, founders want to stand out from competitors with new capabilities and businesses often equate complexity with capability, which leads to bloated systems that require specialized training just to navigate. This focus on functionality over usability results in slow adoption rates, inefficient design, and general frustration in both designers and users. User growth is stunted when users are required to be experts to get value out of the solution. In the past, companies assumed that end users—who often had advanced degrees or specialized expertise—were willing to invest the time required to master these tools. But times have changed. In today's environment, turnover is high, onboarding time is short, and people have an expectation that technology should just work. Different generations—digital migrants and digital natives—need solutions that cater to their unique needs. No one is going to read your user manual. B2B customers don't want complex solutions. They want ease of use. The core technology can be intricate. Yes, it takes great complexity on the back end to produce a simple, effective experience on the front end. Extensive configuration and technical expertise are required to create systems that enable plug-and-play functionality. But all of that must be hidden from the customer. They shouldn't be asked to manipulate or engage with the portions of the solution that function to meet stringent security requirements, ensure compliance with complex regulations, or run the models necessary for advanced analytics capabilities. User experience isn't the only area that requires simplicity. The brand messaging, solution name, and go-to-market strategy all need instantly recognizable clarity. Enterprises should shift their focus from solving complex problems to presenting simple solutions. If they can do this in an authentic, compelling way, they will see significantly more engagement with their sales outreach. WHY SIMPLICITY IS RARE IN B2B SOLUTIONS If simplicity is so valuable, why isn't it the norm in B2B technology? When companies develop enterprise solutions, they typically focus on the sophistication of their capabilities. Feature creep leads to cluttered and unintuitive interfaces. For established solution providers, the prospect of refactoring a complex system into a simple one requires a fundamental shift in how they approach product design. The cost, time, and effort to rethink the user experience keeps less ambitious companies from producing best-in-class solutions. Consumer tech companies like Apple and Samsung have mastered this balance. Apple, for instance, restricts customization to ensure a seamless, controlled experience, while Samsung has introduced templates that allow for both simplicity and flexibility. This approach has started making its way into enterprise solutions, but it requires a cultural shift. Companies that want to embed consumer-level ease into enterprise solutions should follow these strategies using their existing resources: Adopt A User-First Mindset: Conduct usability testing and gather feedback from non-technical employees to ensure accessibility and gain a deeper understanding of the end-user experience. Automate Complexity: Build all machine learning and advanced analytics that handle complex processes in the background, delivering only descriptive insights and appropriate prescriptive guidance to users and eliminating multiple options. Simplify Onboarding: Design systems that require minimal training. If a new user needs a manual, the interface isn't simple enough. Embed Compliance Into The System: Make security and compliance a seamless part of the workflow rather than an extra manual step required of the user. Measure Usability Success: Track adoption rates, user engagement, and customer feedback to continuously refine and simplify the experience. The best technology is the kind you don't have to think—or worry—about. When enterprise solutions mirror the ease of consumer products, adoption soars, operational efficiency increases, and organizations unlock more value from their technology investments. The future of enterprise technology is intuitive, seamless, and invisible, making powerful tools feel effortless.
