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Mobile devices are making our world very smart indeed
We are going through a global communication revolution driven by worldwide Internet connectivity, increasingly facilitated by mobile devices, writes John Burbedge. By 2015, more than 80% of handsets sold are expected to be smartphones. Where does the UK, and the Solent region in particular, sit in terms of this global 21st century technological phenomenon? We asked some local companies for their views
TELSIS – How SMS became a global phenomenon
Telsis chairman Jeff Wilson founded his Fareham-based communications company in 1987. It delivers value- added voice and text products and services for telecom network operators.
In 1992, when Newbury technician Neil Papworth sent the world’s first ever Short Message Service (SMS) text message – ’Merry Christmas’ – Telsis was already a respected international industry innovator, with several ’world firsts’ of its own. For example, Telsis developed the system to handle avalanche calling when TV presenters invite audiences to ’Call now!’
When SMS texting took off in 1999, Telsis successfully rode the wave, selling into 40 countries and hitting a turnover of £22 million. “Most innovations in SMS in the past 10 years have come from us,“ says Wilson proudly.
Today the world sends trillions of texts per year in an £80 billion market. Text message volumes overtook voice long ago. “The only time the word ’trillion’ is a normal part of my conversation
Over the years Telsis has invested much time and money in promoting new SMS ideas, without as much success, one suspects, as Wilson would have anticipated. “Unfortunately, it’s taken the market until now to show an appetite for greater innovation.“ But things are changing. “Finally, there is a bright future for us in SMS service areas where the market has been thin for several years.“
Jeff Wilson
nowadays, is when I am talking about SMS,“ says Wilson.
Surprisingly, despite Telsis’s acknowledged expertise in voice, text and network infrastructure services, the global market is only just discovering two amazingly helpful Telsis text services. ’DriveSafe’ (popular in New Zealand) automatically texts back to callers informing them that a recipient is driving. ’BlackList’ silently blocks bullying or malicious text messages.
PATH INTELLIGENCE – Helping retailers ’map’ shoppers
Portsmouth-based business Path Intelligence is a young growing company formed by Sharon Biggar and Toby Oliver, which uses mobile phone technology to provide shopping mall owners with the world’s only measured data on customer shopping behaviour.
It gains this valuable market research data through hi-tech
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software that tracks the mobility of mobile users within a retail mall or major department store. The Path Intelligence monitoring is anonymous and non-intrusive, allowing a mapping of shoppers as they move around – revealing the retail ’hot-spots’ and sites that could do better.
Unlike traditional clipboard questioning, this market
As telecoms moves from traditional landline to Internet communication, Telsis has also been evolving from infrastructure hardware supplier to a voice and text expert offering software. It is the leading supplier of call control systems to regional and tier 2 telcos in Germany. Today, operators are increasingly de-risking by seeking supply partners to share project costs in return for shared revenue.
“If we could find funding today for shared deals, then we could run around the world putting in our services on an annuity basis. But every funder wants confirmation of payback.
research data is continuous, can be reported daily, and, with ubiquitous mobile usage, covers vastly more shoppers than the norm. The monitoring also enables evaluation of short-term retail experimentation. Business is booming for Path Intelligence.
In 2009, after challenging years of software development, Path Intelligence had two UK clients. Today its innovative Shopper Profitability Optimisation is assisting clients in 11 countries at more than 100 shopping malls.
“When I started Telsis I thought it might become a mini-variant of Ericsson. Now I realise you have to have a constituency of supporters – finance, business advisers, a sympathetic government, etc. No-one has access to all the information they need. To succeed you need plurality.
“Another problem is the belief that small companies can’t innovate. Over the years we’ve produced some absolutely killer revenue- generating products, but gained little sales success. It’s very hard to get a share of the shout when you are a small company.
“I was pleased to be a sole owner during my company’s growth, but I now recognise you can’t achieve certain goals without sufficient finances. So, I am envious of American companies that have much easier access to finance. If you look at the UK scene, who is going to invest in hi-tech deals?
“I think future consolidation in telecoms is inevitable, certainly in Europe, because that’s the only way to get the necessary capital to grow.“
Sharon Biggar THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MARCH 2013
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