Video content has the most influence on consumers' perception of value in quad-play services. When Stratecast plotted the influences of a customer's value perception as a Tornado diagram, video service topped the list. (Note: The higher the item ranks on the chart, the more important its influence).
Going into the study, Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan, reckoned that mobility would have the most influence on the consumer's perception of value. We were wrong.
Our goal was to find out how the various components of quad-play services (voice, video content, wireless services and data from one provider) play into customer satisfaction or the likelihood that a consumer will switch from one provider to another.
As the chart indicates, the integration of service delivery ranks nearly as high as wireless, which means that services that can live across the delivery modalities are important to driving consumer satisfaction and value perception.
Interestingly, the wireless device ranked very low on the consumer's perception of value, suggesting that the service rides the device rather than the device itself ultimately driving a sense of value.
The results of the study mean that wireless services will increasingly be defined by the degree to which they enable consumption of video content. How much wireless services include and enable bundled features in mobility solutions is also an important consideration.
But most important, the results mean that profit margins will be driven largely by how well mobility plays within a larger ecosystem of service integration. Wireless carriers must think beyond simple access, whether for data or for voice services. They must envision a service space that is highly video-centric being enabled by mobility.