This is a long overdue follow up to a presentation I gave back in March looking at the Startup Disruption in Telco. That talk was from the perspective of the startup / entrepreneur. This talk is from the perspective of the Telco. Some of the content is reused from the first incarnation of the talk which I wrote back in July 2013, but there is also a lot of new content and some simplification. Read that as less data and charts! I delivered this talk at the Telco World Forum in Munich on April 30th, 2014. For additional speaker notes and commentary, read this blog post: http://www.jamesparton.info/effect-software-people-telco-updated/

1. JAMES PARTON, DIRECTOR OF TWILIO EUROPE
THE EFFECT OF SOFTWARE
PEOPLE ON TELCO

2. A LITTLE ABOUT ME

3. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
INTERSECTION OF TELCO AND STARTUP
!

4. SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

5. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
THE NUB OF THE ISSUE

6. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
SOFTWARE IS EATING THE WORLD
(AND TELCO SERVICES)
• Marc Andreessen was right about software
eating the world, especially when it comes to
Telecommunications...
- The product innovation void is being filled
by software people, not Telco’s
- Software people think web first. This style
of thinking is inherently open
- Software people think collaboratively -
APIs, collaborative working, open source
- Software people think about building
communities & ecosystems
Why software is eating the world: http://parton.ly/17u5g5z
Andreessen photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36521958135@N01/2443764501

7. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
HORIZONTAL VS. VERTICAL
Source: http://bloggeek.me/telcos-compete-ott/

8. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
THE MOBILE CARRIER
MODEL WAS DESIGNED IN 80’S

9. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
THE TELCO BURDEN
License & Spectrum
Billions
Network
Billions
OSS & BSS
Billions
Marketing & Sales
Billions
Customer Care
Billions

10. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
THE TELCO BURDEN
License & Spectrum
Billions
Network
Billions
OSS & BSS
Billions
Marketing & Sales
Billions
Customer Care
Billions
x4

11. DNAIT’S BRUTAL!

12. CONTROL = #FAIL
"For a very long time we’ve been building platforms to help other people be
successful.That’s what our core competency is… we open our warehouse for
other people to use… we open our infrastructure for other people to use.”
WernerVogels,Amazon CTO, SXSW 2014

13. Innovation
INTERNET
Copper
Switching
WWW

14. TELECOM
Copper
Switching

15. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

16. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?
• You don’t have to write code to be a software
person
• Anyone that sees the world through the lens of
software
• Anyone that asks “How can this problem be
solved by software?”
• Anyone that believes any problem can be
solved by software

17. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
Not Software People Software People
WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?

18. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?
Not Software People Software People

19. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?
Not Software People Software People

20. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
NEW PRODUCT BUSINESS MODEL
ConsumerRetail StoreProducer
Packaged Goods!
Internet Services!
ConsumerDeveloperProvider App
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/samramji/darwins-finches-20th-century-business-and-apis
APIs
Direct
Indirect

21. “In 1995 we were asking, "Do we need a website?",
and by 2000 website was becoming the default. Fast
forward to 2010, and we were asking, "Do we need an
API?", and I believe by 2015 APIs will be default for
companies, just like websites in 2000”!
John Musser, Founder Programmable Web

22. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
MODERN BUSINESSES ARE DRIVEN BY APIS
Source: http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?sort=mashups

23. Why did we tell the
CFO this would pay back
in 12 months?

24. 20.5 million developers globally by 2015
Growing at 6% annually
Source: Evans Data Corp
IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON

25. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
IS THIS REALLY THE STATE OF INNOVATION?
£5m!!

26. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you have enough R&D budget to hire 20 million
developers then you are probably ok.
If you don’t, why are you still building product? It’s
not 2003 anymore.
How are you going to embrace the innovators
who are creating the services your customers
love, because they are doing it without you
today?

27. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
CHANGING USER BEHAVIOUR
Source: Ofcom
!
Weekly mobile activity by 12-15s in UK with a smartphone, 2013!
Per Week
0
100
200
300
400
Phone Calls SMS App Messages
192
311
27

28. IBEGYOURPARTON.COM @JAMESPARTON
FURTHER READING
Alan Quayle!
http://www.alanquayle.com/blog
!
Tomi Ahonen!
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/
!
Disruptive Wireless!
http://disruptivewireless.blogspot.co.uk/
!
Martin Geddes!
http://www.martingeddes.com/
!
Benedict Evans!
http://ben-evans.com
!
Telco 2.0!
http://www.telco2.net/blog/

29. THANK YOU.
@JAMESPARTON
IBEGYOURPARTON.COM
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