Digital help service opportunities for communication service providers in the convergent digital home

Abstract

Homes are becoming increasingly connected as new technologies allow users to access media and information from any-device at anytime. Notebooks, HDTVs, smartphones, media servers, photo cameras, and video cameras, all form part of this new digital ecosystem where - the vision says - information and content will flow easily across devices, enabled by simple and intuitive user interfaces. These new home technologies are, however, often too complex for most users. Only "digital-natives" or technology savvy groups have the necessary skills, knowledge or confidence to adopt them and to use them effectively. For the rest, trying them becomes painful and frustrating. Moreover, the ecosystem itself adds confusion, given the large number of players involved and the many different kinds of relationships. Unless a dominant player gains enough power to establish a dominant digital home architecture, or this happens in some other way, most companies will continue to innovate around device-specific features that don't address the overall complexity of the complete systems that users have to work with. Digital help services can assist users by simplifying the selection, installation, learning and troubleshooting of new services and devices; facilitating the adoption of new convergent technologies. There is a broad range of potential services, including, for example, 'over the top' (OTT) television integration, smartphone mentoring services, WiFi network configuration and desktop support services. Communication service providers should pay close attention to digital help services as an opportunity to differentiate their offer, strengthen their relationship with end-customers, reduce customer support costs and simplify the adoption of bandwidth-intensive technologies. Moreover, digital help services can speed up the adoption of OTT television services, and companies can use them strategically. The technology help space is evolving and communication service providers need to figure out how they want to participate: offer help services themselves; partner or acquire a existing technology support company; and/or create an open marketplace for technology help services.