According to a survey conducted by the Yankee Group, 56% of consumers cite network service quality as a key issue, only a short way behind competitive pricing (61%). This is an important finding and it will be interesting to see if the gap continues to narrow. Could service quality overtake pricing as the key factor in consumer satisfaction and selection of operators in the future?
Well, it might, but the finding reflects the fact that consumers increasingly need – and demand – high levels of performance and, crucially, consistency, so that the applications and services they use perform as expected. As applications become more and more demanding and as users migrate to more online or cloud-based services, then we can expect the issue of bandwidth optimisation to become increasingly important.
Consumers won’t just take it for granted. They will start to select network providers on the basis of assurances that services will work as expected. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for service providers. It’s an opportunity, as service providers that also own the network infrastructure and assets can take measures to protect service quality and experience and ensure that it is delivered according to the needs of customers. And, given the importance that it seems now to attract, service quality might be a means to extract a premium from the customer base. Not necessarily for all services, but perhaps for some which have more stringent requirements. But it’s also a challenge, as to absolutely guarantee service quality will require service providers to access client devices and to ensure they have full visibility and control of traffic and data before it even reaches the network.
Moreover, once such mechanisms are in place in a market, all operators will need to consider taking similar steps. The quality difference will only be a difference if it is tangible: once all operators have addressed the issue, the key requirement will be to maintain quality in the face of emerging applications. So, service quality will be both a differentiator and a de facto requirement that cannot be overlooked. As consumer awareness of such issues increases and as consumers seek assurances, service providers must be able to address and allay their concerns. This will require investment in appropriate control mechanisms for bandwidth management, but it also opens up new revenue opportunities as another ‘arms race’ takes flight.