Mobile Opportunities: Wrap Wireless Hardware In Services
A business model based on portable devices is beginning to emerge that will allow solution providers to grab a large slice of the revenue pie with small and midsize customers, Dallman said, speaking in a fireside chat with Everything Channel CEO Robert Faletra at Everything Channel's Virtual Trade Show "World Without Wires." The next wave of mobile devices, Dallman said, will lend themselves to opportunities other than providing cell phone services. With cell phones, customers receive a phone for free and pay a subscription fee—which is how most providers made their money, said Dallman. New devices, however, mean new questions from solution providers on what kind of business model will work best.
"New solution providers will say, 'What's the business model?' " said Dallman, and he believes the answer is pretty clear. "Help select products. There are big opportunities that exist for supplies and support. Integration into a customer's environment is going to be important."
Integration opportunities can range from providing new storage and antivirus services to pointing customers toward the right types of software to download to ensure compatibility between the new hardware and the existing infrastructure.
"The services being generated off hardware is being used to offset the cost of the hardware up front. Since we deliver the hardware, we can build the services with the products," said Dallman. "I don't know how well that will go over on the consumer level, but at the small-business level it's an opportunity for everybody."
Plus, there's always break/fix opportunities. "If any of the mobile devices gets dropped or banged, there is still services and support. Break/fix will always be there," said Dallman. But for solution providers that want to increase their revenue, integration and enhanced services are the way to go.
The evolution of mobile devices is also important for solution providers to watch. As a younger generation begins to open their own business and demand remote capabilities from service providers, the chances that most people will carry multiple devices seem good.
"I think we're going to go to multiple [mobile devices] per person," said Dallman. "It needs to provide e-mail and it needs to be portable. But I think that device has yet to be determined. Will it be a phone with that capability? A laptop?"
While Dallman may not be sure what next-generation device will fit the bill for the on-the-go Facebook generation, he is confident that having applications that are easily supported will be important.
"We haven't had any devices that can be hooked right into the Internet," said Dallman. "iPhones and smartphones have applications that have to be customized in order to run on them. Today, if you're a company and you want to deploy an application you're running internally on a cell phone or mobile device, it's prohibitive. With next-generation technology, it'll be possible."
WiMAX also presents an opportunity for solution providers, Dallman said. Six big-time vendors recently announced a WiMAX Open Patent Alliance, giving some weight to the once-struggling technology. Here, solution providers are best suited to inform customers about WiMAX and create what Dallman calls "investment protection." Customers who invest in hardware expect to still be able to use it in three or four years. And while WiMAX may still be an option for down the road, solution providers should explain it to customers.
"WiMAX is a valuable option to recommend in terms of performance— how to use a PC and stay connected in a long-range way to a high bit rate line," said Dallman. "Customers don't want to feel obsolete in a year. Having a computer that can bring that capability on in a year is critically important."