JAMES PARTON, DIRECTOR OF TWILIO EUROPE

THE EFFECT OF SOFTWARE PEOPLE ON TELCO

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

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INTERSECTION OF TELCO AND STARTUP

!

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

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THE NUB OF THE ISSUE

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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

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HORIZONTAL VS. VERTICAL

Source: http://bloggeek.me/telcos-compete-ott/

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THE MOBILE CARRIER MODEL WAS DESIGNED IN 80’S

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THE TELCO BURDEN

License & Spectrum

Billions

Network

Billions

OSS & BSS

Billions

Marketing & Sales

Billions

Customer Care

Billions

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THE TELCO BURDEN

License & Spectrum

Billions

Network

Billions

OSS & BSS

Billions

Marketing & Sales

Billions

Customer Care

Billionsx4

DNAIT’S BRUTAL!

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.” Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO, SXSW 2014

Innovation

INTERNET

Copper

Switching

WWW

TELECOM

Copper

Switching

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

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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

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Not Software People Software People

WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?

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WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?

Not Software People Software People

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WHAT IS A SOFTWARE PERSON?

Not Software People Software People

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NEW PRODUCT BUSINESS MODEL

Consumer Retail Store Producer

Packaged Goods!

Internet Services!

Consumer Developer Provider App

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/samramji/darwins-finches-20th-century-business-and-apis

APIs

Direct

Indirect

“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

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MODERN BUSINESSES ARE DRIVEN BY APIS

Source: http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?sort=mashups

Why did we tell the CFO this would pay back

in 12 months?

20.5 million developers globally by 2015 Growing at 6% annually

Source: Evans Data Corp

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IS THIS REALLY THE STATE OF INNOVATION?

£5m!!

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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?

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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

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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/

THANK YOU. @JAMESPARTON

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