Work Stream 1. Kick off discussion on Go-to-market recommendations for Enterprise Services. Led by Mac Taylor.

Go-to-market (G2M) remains a critical barrier to service innovation success. Through a series of case studies and facilitated group discussions this work stream will produce a series of recommendations and actions we need to take to solve the go-to-market challenges specific to enterprise services.

TADSummit in Bangkok and TADHack in Spain and around the world, clearly demonstrated the interest and need for innovative telecom applications. When over 500 developers participate in a worldwide event, you know there is considerable grassroots support. The major NEP (Network Equipment Provider) vendors also recognize the importance of the emerging Telecom Application Developer ecosystem. Huawei has supported the event from its inception and we welcome the co-operative spirit of innovation.

Going forward, support for developer innovation is only one part of the puzzle of how we deliver innovative telecom services to small / medium businesses and Enterprises around the world. The value chain is clear. Innovative services emerge when real business problems are solved by developers or businesses themselves, that meet real business needs. That is a core driver. Vendors such as Huawei have a role to play in aggregating those new service ideas and acting as a broker between developers and telecom operators. This is the first part of building a viable strategy to reach the market. But there are many more practical issues that need solving.

Lets look at an example: a business in the USA develops a new service that is designed to increase user acquisition. It utilizes WebRTC and a communication API. Lets suppose that this is a proven, commercially viable service that would be of great interest to similar businesses around the world. How do we bring that proven service to other markets around the world? The answer is by enabling local telecom operators to deploy and market that service in their territory. The developer of the service buy diazepam 10mg becomes the partner of the operator, and the relationship is brokered and managed by the vendor, who has pre-existing relationships with multiple operators around the world.

Although the value chain and relationship structure is clear in theory, in practice the are a number challenges and hurdles that must be cleared, before the new service can reach local markets around the world. This workshop will review, discuss and debate some of these practical issues with reference to real case studies and the unexpected leanings that have emerged. The workshop will be of interest to developers and operators who really want to understand how to navigate and understand the practical realties of a Service Innovation Go-to-Market strategy.

Points and issued to be discussed will include:

• How to build a solid three-way partnership between developer, vendor and operator?
• What are the right business models and how can incentives be properly aligned?
• Who are the right groups within operators to work with?
• How to manage corporate anti-bodies and business as usual mentalities?
• What is the role of the operator in building a viable service innovation G2M story?
• How do operators evolve from selling standard voice, messaging, data and subsidized handsets to an enterprise and small / medium business markets?
• How can they build processes to market tens and then hundreds of innovative services?
• What is the right way to start: POC (Proof of Concept), initial customers, feedback and learning?
• What is the role of the developer in supporting the new service with professional support?
• How will they be properly compensated?

These and other critical topics will be discussed in this workshop. At the end of the Workshop, participants will have a set of real reference points with which to develop and extend their own practical service innovation to-to-market strategies. Please start participating now, by sending any other points or ideas that you would like to discuss in the go-to-market work stream in the comments section of this weblog.

See you in Istanbul!