Independent Review of Telecom APIs

Independent Review of Telecom APIs

Sept 20th 2013

Structure: Alan’s Bit

• The Painful Facts!

• Why do telcos need APIs?

• Why all the big numbers?

• Beware the Bait and Switch!

• Where are the Telco API successes?

• Dos and Don’ts of Telco API success

• Mapping the API landscape!

• Where are Telecom API going?

• What needs to change?

2

© 2010 Alan Quayle Business and Service Development

Structure: Jean’s Bit

• TeleStax introduction

• What is RestComm?

• HealthSense Case Study: using Telecom APIs to help baby boomers

age safely

• RestComm demo

3


Structure: Juan’s Bit

• Case Study: Bank using joyn API for self-service

• Case Study: Telco using joyn API for self-service

• Case Study: Leading IVR/contact vendors adding a new channel

using the telco API.

o http://blogs.voxeo.com/voxeotalks/2013/09/04/joyn-voxeo-cxp-a-new-

way-to-deliver-customer-care/

4


Structure: Dan’s bit

• The Tropo story

• Tropo's products in a nutshell

• Some deployed case studies

• Use cases and other cool stuff

5


Structure: Luis’s bit

• APIDAZE: facts & figures

• Presentation of the APIDAZE REST API

• Customer case: How a leading European affiliate network increased

its revenue by 15% using APIDAZE

• APIDAZE & WebRTC

• WebRTC integration using APIDAZE

6


No developed market telco has successfully engaged

mobile application developers with Telecom

APIs

BUT Telecom API successes have come from

using APIs internally

AND Telecom API successes have come from

using APIs with existing partners

APIs reduce business friction. This means the

value is not ‘in the API’ it’s in the service or data

delivered through the API.

Mobile Application Developers ONLY care about direct access to

a large engaged customer base that is prepared to pay. Apple and Android fulfill this need,

Telcos are IRRELEVANT

This is the Most Important Slide in the Pack R

eve

nu

e

Product

Internal Telco Developers

Partner Developers

Telecom App Developers

Mobile App Developers

Long Tail Developers

Why? graphic

Why do Telcos need APIs?

Without APIs Telecoms will become irrelevant as Service Providers because

customers will expect communications to be embedded in their experiences.

— Alan Quayle, Independent Telecom Thinker

APIs will become critical to maintaining Telecom’s customer relevance

The money is not ‘in the API,’ it’s in the service delivered by the API. APIs are simply

delivering services more efficiently, which opens up new business opportunities.

— Jose Valles, VP Partner Products at Telefónica Digital

APIs are just a technology, its all about the services

An API strategy is becoming a must…in terms of speed to market with new products,

maximizing business development, and product development opportunities.

— Steve Kurtz, VP Business Development, USA TODAY

APIs are a global IT trend across all industries

What is an API?

• http://www.telco.com/api.php?action=remove_friction

APIs reduce business friction by making it easy for software systems to work together using existing well understood web technology that any IT person can understand

Why do Telcos need APIs?

1995 2000 2005 2010

Why do we need a Web site?

Of course we have a Web site

Why do we need an API?

Of course we have an API

Innovation Upsell

New business

Operational efficiency Increase footprint Accelerate internal projects

Extend products / services

Make churn harder Partner opportunities

New distribution Device and mobile support

Telecoms is the ‘vital spice’ of any successful business ecosystem

Process automation

Easy and Economical 90%

Global comms clouds Laggards 10%

Telco becomes the “path of last resort” as apps use “easy and economical” APIs for 90% of comms

Applications

Customers

Telco

What if a Telco does nothing?

Offers

services

direct

Offers

services

direct

Consumers Business

Commoditizes

pricing

Easy and Economical 90% Global comms clouds

Laggards 10%

Telco gets commoditized and detached from customers for comms services

Telco

Wholesale that’s a good model!

Reality graphic

Market Requirements: Why are operators spending money on API? • M2M to support provisioning and management

• Wishful thinking in building a developer community like Android and

Apple

• Support open innovation and work more easily with partners on new

business models and market opportunities

• Support internal innovation, in some cases focused on specific market

segments like enterprise

• Support open innovation with specific partners targeting specific

market segments

• Experimenting in what APIs could means to their business

• Build specific business opportunities like direct carrier billing (mobile

payments)

• Laziness

Dos and don’t of telco API success?

• Focus on internal and partner innovation with APIs

o DO NOT chase long tail developers, telcos are now irrelevant

• Focus initially on doing 1 or 2 services well, e.g. payments and

communications

• Focus on building a business

o DO NOT publish an API and hope hackathons are enough

o You will need sales, marketing, business development and critically support

• Focus on the proposition to the top-target API consumers

o DO NOT waste time on platform or ecosystem game theory

o Build a business first, then focus on the platform and ecosystem

Mapping graphic

Mapping Telcos across the API Implementation Landscape

Internal APIs External APIs Both

Experiment

Broad

Focused

Bu

sin

es

s U

se

of

AP

Is

Organizational Focus of APIs

Likely

Evolution

Path

Telecom Italia does not have everything right, for example, they lack the focus on building API-enabled businesses, but its closer than most.

Mapping vendors across the API landscape

Cloud / BOSS Assets

IT / Service Assets

Network Assets

IMS Assets

Transactional APIs

e.g. call control

Informational APIs

(e.g. customer profile)

Developer

Community

Developer

Portal

API

Management

API

Services

Network

Gateway

API Publishers Voxeo Labs,

Twilio

API Management (including API Security) Intel Software (Mashery), CA (Layer 7), Apigee

Where are External Telco APIs going?

• External Telecom API Roadmap

o Payments: whether to expand beyond digital downloads

o Communications: across all VAS not just calls – RCS, messaging,

number provision, WebRTC, etc.

• Focus on building a businesses around the APIs rather than

publish and wishful thinking

o Sales, marketing, business development and critically support

o Traditional transition from tech-focus to business-focus

Brown-Nosed Middle Manager!

Market Chatter is Monopolized

Mobile Everything,

WebRTC

Customers

Services

Fixed Voice

($325B)

Mobile Voice

($615B)

Fixed Data

($275B)

Mobile Data

($275B)

Regulated Services($1.5T)

Un-regulated Services($650B)-5 to -7%

5.5 to 9%

3 to 4%

0 to 2%

0-2%

Total Telecoms Services($2.15T)

3-6%

+ =

Over the Top Messaging hits SMS growth

Mobile substitution of fixed broadband with LTE

OTT substitution, saturation, competition

Mobile and OTT substitution

Sources: operator averages across developed and developing markets, supplier estimates, Alan Quayle

1-3.3%

Threats to Revenue

There’s just 2 things we need to focus on

Make Telecoms an Essential Spice for every Business Recipe

Do more VAS!

No. We tried a similar service in our market and it failed, and we’re never ever

going to try again

What do you think of this service idea?

No. It will not work in our market. Because I’m a 50 year old guy who understands all my customers better

than they know themselves.


No. A feature of your service overlaps with

an existing.


No. We have a similar service

launched, and are not going to experiment to make it better or

address other customer segments.


No. Our network can not support such as service, even though

such services are going over the top

today.


No. It looks a bit like Joyn, we’re not sure about it, but because

it looks a bit like something we may do in the future we’re not

going to do it.


No. It must work across all devices, even though most

devices will never use it.


No. We need additional (random)

features included before we could

consider it.


No. It must work on IMS (even though it

doesn’t need to).


No. It must work across all our

customers from day one, even though

most will never use it.


No. It must conform to our process and design norms. But

we’re not going to tell you what they are.


No. It must integrate with all our existing

platforms, even though it can work fine in the current

configuration.


No. It must be delivered through our preferred SI or NEP, who will copy / kill

the service immediately.


No. You must work through our app store / portal, which we’re

in the process of closing.


No. We can only focus on 4 service launches per

year. We only back major successes like Video

Telephony, Mobile TV, Push To Talk, See What I

See…


No. We just don’t have the bandwidth,

to do our job.


No. We have a network lock-down as

we launch LTE so cannot do anything

for the next 6-9 month.


No. Bob has left the business and we’re

waiting on his replacement, who

never comes.


No. We’re waiting on annual budgets to be confirmed, sometime

in the next 6-12 months.


No. We’re re-organizing again this

year.


No. Someone in the organization doesn’t

like such services.


No. That cannot be implemented without

changing our IN / product catalog / CRM / billing /

network.


No. We cannot bill / sell services under $5

per month.


No. We have a backlog of 24 months

on billing updates, even though the

service doesn’t need to be in that pipeline.


No. You must work through our

innovation group who we all hate and ignore as they’re parasites on

our business.


No. You must talk with Bob who will then pass

you to Bill, who will then pass you to Mary, who will then pass you to

Paul, who will then pass you back to Bob.


Telecom Application Developer Ecosystem R

eve

nu

e

Product

Internal Telco Developers

Partner Developers

Telecom App Developers

Mobile App Developers

Long Tail Developers

www.tadsummit.com

Independent Review of Telecom APIs

Technology

telco api successes

joyn api

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api strategy

api landscape

telecom api successes

economical apis

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