Transcript
Pablo Tomasi: Hello everyone and welcome to the first episode of, probably should I say the pilot episode of the Telco Drift podcast series. Now, ah for those that don't know me yet, I'm Paolo Tomasi, I'm the founder of Soutra Strategies, a boutique analyst firm.
Pablo Tomasi: And in this episode, oh what I want to discuss with you is, ah first of all, why I decided to embark on this journey. What can you expect from from this podcast?
Pablo Tomasi: um But also, you know what role could you, you know audience, play within this you know side project? ah and and also what are some of the contents that that I would like to discuss going forward and and you know let's start one step at a time so first of all let's see how the first few episodes go and hopefully we'll get the ball rolling and there's gonna be a little bit more content down the way but effectively why did I decide to start the podcast? I've been working as an analyst for 10-11 years something like that and and for me this has become like a side project so I decided like I want to try something different so far I participated in a few podcasts and and I found it a very enjoyable experience it's good to discuss it's good to have that lively debate and I thought okay why why not kind of
Pablo Tomasi: challenge myself and flip the role. So the way would like this podcast to eventually develop is not me yapping for 10, 20 minutes, but actually having guests with like interesting ideas, hopefully controversial ideas, and really discuss with them what is the state of tech, telco, and B2B markets general. So literally getting that debate going more than having a one-sided presentation.
Pablo Tomasi: and and the goal of the podcast is is quite simple like sharing stories driving engagement dialogue and hopefully you know being another way of of delivering that analysis helping the ecosystem and providing different views so uh this is like an analyst podcast so hopefully there's going to be lots of opinions you can kind of ignore these first steps because i'm still trying to figure out all the tools i'm still trying to figure out um they literally like the practicalities around podcasts but you know give some time hopefully things are gonna are gonna get better you know everything is gonna work out in some way
Pablo Tomasi: So I think, yeah, plan seems pretty solid. Then we'll see how the execution goes. Now, the themes that we're going to discuss, like some of the themes that I've sort of gained experience throughout my career as an analyst, and then some of the themes that you know are are hot at the moment. So of course, there's going to be some talk about it. As skeptical as I am, you cannot avoid doing that.
Pablo Tomasi: ah But a lot of the themes are going to be themes that I've... um I've discussed and analyzed for a few years. And if you want, the way that I think about starting is like always starting with the negative.
Pablo Tomasi: So a good way, I think, to start with the pilot episode is really analyzing or you know creating a seat for discussion of what are some of the challenges that that I see from a telco point of view when it comes to the B2B market.
Pablo Tomasi: ah and And this is because, ah but post well, podcast will focus a lot on Telcos, obviously, um but also because I think we're like at that that moment in time where there's like a lot of potential ahead, at the same time, there is a lot of kind of legacy keeping the sector back.
Pablo Tomasi: So this is one of the challenges, effectively. Telcos have a lot of legacy. That is not just tech legacy. there is it There is that, of course, you know, they cannot just switch off everything they have and and get the new shiny stuff.
Pablo Tomasi: But it's also cultural legacy. They have been built in a certain way to serve a certain market. And now with the B2B opportunity growing, well, it's not that easy to adapt. ah So there is that that aspect of cultural legacy, if you want.
Pablo Tomasi: But there's also the the challenge, I think, of you know having a good plan versus executing it. And again, you are as good as you are, like an archer, right? You are as good as you are in your last shot.
Pablo Tomasi: and And I think telcos have failed a few things around the way they have failed a few shots. ah And they need to kind of gain the trust back a little bit.
Pablo Tomasi: um and And this is going to take some time, it's going to take some, you know, right bets that they need to make. ah but But there is a big opportunity there, right? And we all know about sovereign connectivity and everything.
Pablo Tomasi: Sovereign AI, if you want, as well. That can really become a really good starting point for Telecos. Now, and another the big challenge, which i think is is a little bit ah undeniable, if you want, as as sad as it is to say, but a lot of times B2Bs and within B2Bs selected potentially high growth or high hyped area are effectively side projects from telcos so if you have like 20 people working on something it's very difficult for you to really be able to say okay this is an area which i strongly believe is gonna scale up and and it's gonna grow and and unfortunately i think there are a lot of
Pablo Tomasi: areas in the B2B space, which so or are understaffed or underinvestment. And and and then I get it, right? Consumer market is making most money, is making a lot of money.
Pablo Tomasi: ah But at the same time, the way that I hear everyone talking about Advanced, 6G, everyone keeps yapping about that enterprise space. Everyone keeps talking about that enterprise opportunity, B2B opportunity, the transformation.
Pablo Tomasi: So eventually, you need to take the leap of faith. Eventually, you really need to decide where you want your your future fortune to come from. whether you will decide to to be champion in the consumer space or an enterprise.
Pablo Tomasi: And you need to start prioritizing, maybe changing a little bit the way that you are investing.
Pablo Tomasi: im Going along another challenge then, ah which is related on being used to be a consumer business, is is the fact that i see, I've talked with some telcos I believe that they struggle a little bit to appreciate and accept that the enterprise world is different from the consumer world.
Pablo Tomasi: that it is way more fragmented and that it does not behave in the same way as consumers. So it's much less about that fast-paced scalability, that quick churn that that you can capture in quarterly results, ARPU, and so on. um And it's more about ah sort of a complex painting type of environment.
Pablo Tomasi: You need to accept that if you want to be successful in B2B. Because ah this is something that I said a few times ah in in the last few years. The way that I see this future, and by all means, if you disagree, let me know in the comments. don don't even know how to post this, but then I'm sure there's going to be some.
Pablo Tomasi: We have a comment in LinkedIn, probably. it is the easiest options. It's always going to be, future is always going to be built on a series of pockets of opportunities.
Pablo Tomasi: So if you think about so some of the hot areas, private networks, network APIs, network slicing, you can put their NTN as well. um These may be relatively smallish opportunities, but then when you put all of them together, then you come up with a sizeable market.
Pablo Tomasi: ah But you need to approach each of them individually as small opportunity and then finding synergies that kind of brings everything together, which is not particularly easy.
Pablo Tomasi: Now, something else that I think that should really change, of course, is like the the obsession with sort of a fast win. Sometimes you just need to run the hard miles.
Pablo Tomasi: And again, in a world that that I define as a series of or pockets of opportunities, um clearly it is something that's going to be that fast.
Pablo Tomasi: And probably one more more challenge I want to highlight. I'm trying to keep it this for this show because I'm talking alone and it's too much for me talking, not not not enjoying editing that and people not going enjoy too much listening.
Pablo Tomasi: um But it's about... the um effectively the balance between technology and and experience. Now, yes, you need to provide the right technology. Right technology, by the way, does not mean the latest technology. It means the right technology for the specific problem, for the specific demand that comes from an enterprise.
Pablo Tomasi: ah but also the the right experience. So again, one bad experience and then you for a long time you need to work to regain the trust of that customer.
Pablo Tomasi: and the experiences like in how easy it is to work with you, ah how much you kind of show that that you're willing to go the extra mile for your customer and how almost much trust can the customer put in you um for you know being a partner in the long term.
Pablo Tomasi: And then I know I said that consumer enterprises are like different words, but we all get sort of influence from different places, right? So I'm pretty sure whoever's gonna be listening to this, you probably had a better experience like with telco customer service, and and that will affect your perception of the category.
Pablo Tomasi: And unfortunately that happened, tough love, but there is an opportunity, okay? change the page and make sure that every experience that you have with enterprise but also with consumer is a positive one and that will affect the way that people are going to see you in terms of being the trusted long-term partner So this hopefully were interesting bits of information. um Now for the next next episode, probably going to look a little bit on on the positive side. okay So what's exciting, I know that is happening right now. But I also want to look a little bit more smart cities. It's because it's a market that I used to cover and haven't seen it in a long time. Then I probably to say something about private networks because to be fair, that is what I
Pablo Tomasi: i'm most known for uh within sort of my my other day-to-day job um but yeah if you have any topic as controversial as possible or you know any solution case study something you want to to discuss and debate ah by all means drop me a message and would be great to have someone else joining me here and having a debate and see how we can develop this podcast going forward and so that's it um for now uh let's see gonna start editing this this first pilot episode and thanks again for listening and uh yeah talk again in the next episode
Pablo Tomasi: Ciao ciao
