Global telecoms industry bets on "Connected Verticals" for top-line revenue boost

Key findings from Informa's 2011 Vertical Markets survey include:

• Six out of 10 telecoms firms are building vertical teams; a further 20% are planning to do so.
  
• The energy and utilities sector is the No. 1 targeted vertical; health and transport are in top 5.
  
• Cloud computing, LTE and M2M are the top enabling technologies.

"The hurried pace of verticalisation heralds a profound re-orientation of the global telecoms industry," said Camille Mendler, head of Informa Telecoms & Media's new Enterprise Verticals research practice. "Strategies must change to stem revenue decline in generic connectivity services and counter over-the-top competitors."

Successful execution requires more than a sales and marketing veneer, advises Mendler. Corporate restructuring and partnering for service innovation and commercial execution are also critical needs.

Trailblazers

Mendler highlights operators including Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Verizon as trail blazers in vertical markets, as well as suppliers including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and IBM.

The survey findings underpin the recent launch of Informa Telecoms & Media's Enterprise Verticals Intelligence Centre (IC), a source of go-to-market intelligence on Connected Verticals leveraging the multi-disciplinary resources of Informa plc, one of the world's largest information services firms.

Examples of Connected Verticals research include:

• Smart Metering: Global Forecast & Opportunity Review
  
• Healthcare and the Telecom Operator
  
• Dumb Cloud, Dumb Pipe, Same Danger
  
• M2M Verticals: Deployments and Connection Trends

For more information on the Enterprise Verticals practice, go to www.informatandm.com/enterprise-verticals-2/.