{"id":646058,"date":"2013-03-09T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=618346"},"modified":"2013-03-09T15:00:53","modified_gmt":"2013-03-09T20:00:53","slug":"wi-fi-offers-huge-opportunities-but-heres-how-companies-could-blow-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/646058","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi offers huge opportunities, but here\u2019s how companies could blow it"},"content":{"rendered":"

My humble wish is this: That in the industry\u2019s collective rush to monetize the blossoming Wi-Fi marketplace, we don\u2019t hobble it before it hits its stride.\u00a0Because let\u2019s face it, we could botch it so, so easily.<\/p>\n

Up until fairly recently, Wi-Fi was about in-home PC connectivity. But a few factors \u2013 the popularity of smartphones, the advent of tablets, overburdened cellular networks, among others \u2013 have come together to make Wi-Fi ubiquitous and its\u00a0use in public settings commonplace.<\/p>\n

And the trend is only strengthening; In-Stat says that\u00a0800 million smartphones alone\u00a0will ship in 2013 (and a few billion\u00a0Wi-Fi equipped devices),\u00a0and\u00a0Cisco\u2019s 2013 Global Mobile VNI report found that mobile offload will increase from 33\u00a0percent (429 petabytes\/month) of mobile data traffic\u00a0in 2012 to 46 percent (9.6 exabytes\/month) in 2017.<\/p>\n

In our exuberance to monetize the Wi-Fi industry, here are the three big ways where\u00a0network operators or owners of service provider Wi-Fi deployments\u00a0can mess it up (Note: the author’s employer, Cisco, makes and sells a variety of Wi-Fi equipment, but the content of this article applies equally to competing products as well).<\/p>\n

Make it hard to access Wi-Fi<\/h2>\n

We have reached the point where we simply expect Wi-Fi to be readily available in airports, hotels and public places. And yet we all know the shock of discovering when the opposite is true.\u00a0In most places, paying for Wi-Fi not only takes money out of consumers\u2019 pockets, it’s also a hassle and a time suck. But keeping it free to consumers does not, in fact, destroy the business model. It creates others.\u00a0The fact is people are enticed by free Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

Consider the tale of the cable MSO (I can\u2019t name names yet) that added free Wi-Fi to its broadband package. The result: 15-18 percent churn reduction over 18 months. Now factor in what can happen with the addition of Wi-Fi network intelligence. Pairing free Wi-Fi with location-based analytics improves the business experience and opens up new revenue streams in crowded locations such as hotels and malls.<\/p>\n

Say our friend Harry walks into IKEA. Call it a loyalty app, call it a mobile butler, call it a personal concierge \u2013 it gets awakened on his phone, by the intelligent network, and alerts him: “Want some free Wi-Fi, Harry, compliments of IKEA?\u201d Harry agrees and is now on the IKEA Wi-Fi network, and chances are high that he\u2019s looking for something IKEA can help him find or discover.<\/p>\n

Now doing the opposite \u2013 making Wi-Fi difficult to use, with registration and pay schemes \u2013 drains time, battery power and more importantly enthusiasm. Anecdotally, a\u00a0mobile operator recently mentioned to us that even a simple “terms and conditions” pop-up on their network causes a 50 percent drop-off rate, with users abandoning the activity they were planning on engaging in based on inconvenience. \u00a0And to the contrary, at a recent professional football game, another operator offered an unadvertised version of Wi-Fi which then generated more than a terabyte of traffic \u2013 simply because it was free and easy-to-use.<\/p>\n

Abuse the user’s trust<\/h2>\n

Trying to knowingly or unknowingly capture private data about people, via their gadgets, always backfires in the long run. How happy and willing would you be to regularly frequent a Wi-Fi network if you knew you were going to be bombarded with myriad privacy-invading apps? Not so much.<\/p>\n

The popularity of Groupon and other discount sites, however, confirms that if consumers crave anything it’s deals. The challenge then is offering them without compromising security and violating privacy.\u00a0To effectively balance these factors, let your customers drive your Wi-Fi service.\u00a0Recognizing the difference between user information and device information is essential to establishing trust with the customer. Rather than mining personal user data, Wi-Fi and location-based services can be used to improve the user experience through their intelligence and by allowing the user to opt in only with the info they want.<\/p>\n

Our friend Harry is now on a Las Vegas vacation and could use a little assistance finding his way around the Bellagio resorts. Wi-Fi can help Harry find the ATM machines when GPS can\u2019t reach him indoors or offer him discounted tickets for a late-night show. By enhancing Harry\u2019s experience through network intelligence \u2013 offering him information he wants and, crucially, none that he doesn\u2019t \u2013 loyalty is built and trust remains intact.\u00a0The less intrusive the experience, the safer the end-user feels which is critical for encouraging network usage.<\/p>\n

Spamming them with unwanted advances<\/h2>\n

So now you\u2019ve earned Harry\u2019s trust, but that doesn\u2019t mean Harry wants six different offers from you within the span of 10 minutes. That means not pushing your coupon pop-up to Harry until you see one of two things: 1) he appears to be idle, and\/or 2) an opportunity to send something contextually relevant arises.<\/p>\n

This creates instant value for loyalty and “mobile butler” apps. If you\u2019re the CIO of an IKEA-sized venue, and you know that a quarter of a million people downloaded your loyalty app, you\u2019re probably still ho-hum about the whole thing. Why? Because most people aren\u2019t accustomed to opening the app of the store they\u2019re entering.<\/p>\n

However, what\u2019s “intelligent” about intelligent Wi-Fi is that it can awaken the app, to trigger the “Hey Harry, \u00a0free Wi-Fi” offer. Next, help him find what he\u2019s looking for.\u00a0Again, Harry\u2019s mobile butler: “What are you looking for, Harry?” Uh, a drafting table. “Drafting tables are on aisle 10 and there is a special today \u2013 20 percent off.” Result: One sold drafting table. User-pulled, not vendor-pushed.<\/p>\n

Or, consider a mobile app \/ intelligent network launch we did with AT&T and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta. When you enter, a green light flashes near the antenna icon on your phone. Selecting it returns nearby services \u2013 maps, restroom locations, guided tours and more.\u00a0The caf\u00e9 \u00a0can detect slowdowns in the mid-afternoon, based on dwell times and crowding (flow control is another proven use for intelligent Wi-Fi.) It auto-generates a trigger that pushes an offer to museum-goers \u2013 “Free hot cocoa in the cafe!” \u2013 to attract appetites, and thus sales.<\/p>\n

Jared Headley is director, service provider mobility, for Cisco.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy Richard Paul Kane\/Shutterstock.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

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