Mobile Operators Need New Strategies

Companies with between 100 and 1,000 employees represent an enormous opportunity for the wireless industry. These companies boast a high level of employee mobility and their dependence on basic wireless technologies is already well established.

Despite this fact, most companies still lack customized wireless solutions for this high-potential mid-market customer segment. These customers' needs frequently are not met because suppliers focus more heavily on either the small and medium business (SMB) market or large multinational corporations.

For this reason, Research and Markets have completed a new survey focusing on the unique needs of the mid-market enterprise customer. The company solicited input from senior telecommunications and IT managers at 523 European enterprises. The survey encompassed a wide range of IT and communications technologies and services. In this report, we present the main findings from a wireless services perspective.

Summary:

-- Mobile network operators (MNOs) are not well positioned to act as strategic partners for mid-market companies during the evaluation and deployment of advanced wireless enterprise services.

-- Basic wireless data services such as mobile e-mail and GPRS connectivity already are in wide use within this customer segment, but there are few plans to increase penetration of these services significantly within the organizations. Public-access WLAN is one exception to this, where usage is anticipated to triple in the next 2 years.

-- Mid-market employees upgrade mobile phones frequently. They also have higher than average ownership of portable computing equipment, including laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs). These trends will enable new wireless technologies, such as 3G and PWLAN, to penetrate the existing wireless data user base quickly. This represents a significant opportunity for technology and service providers to create dependency on these new technologies at an early stage.

-- A perception of high costs is the most significant inhibitor of wireless data deployment among mid-market companies. Justifying the business case for this technology is a secondary concern.

-- Among U.K. MNOs, Vodafone and Orange are perceived as the leading brands for business communications services. T-Mobile leads in Germany, Vodafone in Spain and Orange in France.

Source: press release

See also:

• A Comprehensive Overview and Analysis of the Scandinavian Market for Telecommunications Services


• Research and Markets: Is VoIP Indispensable?


• Convergence Driving Handheld Device Markets

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