In this episode, Jim Hertzfeld explores the convergence of the communications, media, and technology (CMT) industries with guest Kevin Colletti from Perficient. Jim and Kevin discuss how digital transformation is reshaping these industries, from bundled consumer services to the impact of 5G and IoT on businesses. Kevin offers practical advice for companies navigating this rapidly evolving landscape, providing listeners with a glimpse into the future of digital connectivity and its wide-ranging implications.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kevin Colletti (00:05):
I think the open ecosystem of connected devices,
from smartphones to smart homes, to industrial machinery, to
mobility, are creating vastopportunities out there.
And AI, right, so it enables AItoo, and I didn't talk in
generative AI, yet, I'm talkingtraditional AI and machine
learning In CMT.
Those companies are really thebackbone.
Right, we're talking about 5Gconnected device interactivity.
Jim Hertzfeld (00:28):
Welcome to what If so what, the podcast where we
explore what's possible withdigital and discover how to make
it real in your business.
I'm your host, Jim Hertzfeld,and we get shit done by asking
digital leaders the rightquestions what, if so what and,
most importantly now, what?
Okay, I'm always excited abouthaving a colleague on the show.
In this episode, we have KevinColletti.
(00:49):
Fellow strategist.
Kevin, welcome to the show.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and what you do here at
Proficient.
Kevin Colletti (00:55):
Great First off.
Thanks for having me on yourshow, Jim.
Long-time listener, first-timeguest, happy to be here.
Yeah, so I've been with beenproficient for about five years
now just shy of five years.
Diverse background I was on thecorporate side of the business
at a global Fortune 500 companyfor about eight years as a head
of e-business strategy inoperations in the US.
(01:16):
I worked at a large national adagency for a number of years
and have also run two startupcompanies, one digital company,
one I was CEO of a softwarecompany.
So I've been on the corporateside, startup side, digital side
and consulting side.
So I think that rounds up nicefor what we do here as a team at
Perficient.
I guess I have maybe two themesto my role here.
(01:39):
So one is as a director ondigital strategy team.
I work with clients andprospects to identify the best
strategy and solution based ontheir goals, objectives, their
challenges and what they'retrying to accomplish.
And the dual role that I haveis I also run the go-to-market
strategy.
I'm the GTM lead for thecommunications, media and
(01:59):
technology industry practice.
Jim Hertzfeld (02:01):
Which is really why we have you here, right, and
I know when we first startedlooking at telecom and high tech
and media.
Every now and then you have tokind of wake up, look around,
see what's going on in theindustry, to make sure that we
understand where our clients aregoing, how they're operating,
more importantly, really, whattheir customers are looking for.
(02:21):
And what we found is what wecall CMT, which I first thought
was country music television.
I knew we were onto something,but yeah, it really is a
confluence of really disparateindustries which have really
been brought together throughdigital.
And again, this is just sort oflike our own categorization.
So I think every organizationhas its own unique footprint.
(02:44):
Every organization in the CMTcategory has their own ambitions
.
They're all different, right,they're all special.
But from your perspective andsome of the analysis that you
did, what was kind of drivingthis category consolidation?
Kevin Colletti (02:57):
Yeah, a few things.
That's a good question.
So, as far as why weestablished a CMT, we did, as
you mentioned, a pretty completeassessment.
So we looked at our competitorsto see what they were doing.
We looked at our partners tosee what they were doing in the
industry at large, and most ofour competitors and clients and
partners really started tocluster these the C and the M
and the T together.
(03:19):
There's really been, maybe overthe last few years, a confusion
among what's the differencebetween a communications, which
historically have beentelecommunications company, a
media company, and technologycompany, and where do they slot
right?
So a good example I'll give youone is Meta, right.
So Meta, it has Facebook, it'sknown as a media company, a
social media company, but they,would, you know, clarify
(03:41):
themselves distinctly as atechnology company.
It says it right on their site,it says it right on there when
you look it up.
So people think of them as amedia, but they're technology.
So where do you slot them?
There's still nuances, of course, between traditional
communications, telecomcompanies versus media companies
, but there's definitely enoughcrossover.
We just start combining the C,the M and the T together as one
(04:02):
industry.
Just start kind of playingacross the board here and, just
to add, one of the major drivers, a really big driver, is a lot
of these companies incommunication and technology are
looking for new revenue streams, right.
So a lot of thetelecommunication companies
historically are turning intotechnology companies and working
with media companies as well,because they're trying to really
broaden their offerings anddrive new revenue streams.
(04:24):
So you'll hear a lot of buzzaround transitioning or creating
a new business model, aroundtelco accelerating to techno as
a shift in the business and it'sreally providing more
end-to-end technology solutions,more than just being a network
provider such as creating newrevenue streams around streaming
media and helping really, youknow, with sustainable growth.
Jim Hertzfeld (04:46):
So I remember years ago working for a cable
company, I would call it a cablecompany, part of a larger
conglomerate.
I remember at the time theywere getting into streaming
media.
They know they were doing a lotof R&D, you know, to do what I
think Netflix really kind ofpaved the way for, and they kind
of had to do it because theywere just really the plumbing
(05:08):
right?
And so I think the Spectrumsand Frontiers and the customers
and those companies we knowtoday have done that, or they've
had to evolve these newcapabilities, just not just from
a revenue stream, but just froma survival differentiation,
absolutely.
And I think also when Netflixbecame a content company, so I
had signed up for Netflix when Iwas getting DVDs in the mail,
(05:30):
and then I remember streamingkind of popped up right, but
then they launched their owncontent, their own studios.
Of course Amazon's done the sameright, so that's all kind of in
the same merge of offerings.
Is that right?
Is that fair to say, Kevin?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
How does this impact theircustomers?
And I think what's interestingto me is, like a lot of
(05:51):
categories, there's a consumerside that we all know because
we're consumers, but there'soften a commercial or a B2B side
that most of us may not befamiliar with, unless we were
one of those customers.
Maybe we own a small businessand I need a bigger pipe into my
office, but how is all this, Ithink, at the end of the day,
(06:11):
impacting their customers?
Kevin Colletti (06:14):
Yeah, and I see this as ultimately a benefit for
customers and I mean that froma consumer point of view,
business to business andcommercial, as you mentioned.
Commercial, and I'll run itthrough a couple of examples
right, it leads into some of thebundling stuff you were kind of
mentioning a moment ago aroundnew revenue streams.
So a great real world exampleis, you know, a lot of companies
are bundling their offerings,right, so you go sign up for
(06:35):
Verizon or AT&T or Charter orFrontier or what have you, for a
mobile phone plan, right, andactually I just did this when my
daughter got her first phone acouple weeks ago, and we could
do a whole podcast on our ownabout, about, that.
It can be a whole episode, I'lltell you.
Jim Hertzfeld (06:50):
We'll get that in a year after your daughter has
a year of with her own phone.
Kevin Colletti (06:54):
It's a challenge , I say the least.
But yeah, I digress.
So you know, when you go there,you walk into the Verizon store
or online ATandT, you sign upfor a plan, you instantly have
the option to include cloudstorage .
So you're talking to atelecommunications or a cable
company and now y ou're doingtraditional technology with the
cloud storage offering, and thenyou have the option to include
(07:18):
streaming.
So would you like Apple Musicwith that?
Would you like the plan thatcomes with a Disney and Hulu
bundle?
You know, streaming service, sotraditional media offering.
So that's where that's a goodexample of you know the C and
the M and the T working closelytogether and it's AT&T or
Verizon offering it either ontheir own or through these
ecosystem partnershipsthroughout the C, M and T.
(07:39):
You know to like, like youmentioned, be sustainable growth
.
You know, try to be their go-toplace.
Y ou come to us and you sign upfor Netflix or Amazon.
You don't go outside and goaround us per se.
So I think that's a goodexample.
It's really a convergence onI'll say complementary offerings
.
Right, you expect these kind ofadd-on offerings to come
(08:00):
together.
Jim Hertzfeld (08:01):
Mm-hmm.
And from a commercial side, doyou see equivalent offers?
Do you see the CMT categoryshifting away from the consumer
market?
I know in other categories likeconsumer goods and
manufacturing, we're seeing alittle more emphasis on more of
a commercial B2B offering.
Do you see big changes on thecommercial side of this category
(08:22):
as well?
How are they standing out anddifferentiating?
Kevin Colletti (08:25):
Yeah, so customer experience is a big
deal right, and we'll get intothat maybe in a few minutes.
But from a commercial point ofview it's more of an open
architecture ecosystem, right,these people are working
together.
So the commercial is reallycombining partnerships for easy
access to small business.
So, for example, they havefixed wireless access you can
get now right, it's an offeringin 5G until that's up and
(08:45):
running.
Small businesses have fixedwireless access you can get now
right.
It's an offering in 5G untilthat's up and running.
You know small business can geta fixed wireless access, which
is almost like their owninternet within an internet box,
right, that they can have intheir home.
So the FWA is really helping,you know, bridge a gap until you
know, five or a largerbroadband happens for small
businesses and on the commercialside, well, 5G is interesting.
Jim Hertzfeld (09:05):
I'm just going to go on a tangent here a little
bit, because I think that justthe nature of 5G is opening up
all kinds of new almost digitaloperations.
Right, devices talking to eachother on the shop floor, using
5G for robots to talk to eachother, have conversations, you
know, work out their plans totake over the humans.
(09:26):
So I mean, there's, you know,some of that.
It's kind of like what we usedto call market makers.
Is that, you see this, some ofthese companies, and maybe even
partnering with device companiesas well, to really invent and
create whole new categories,subcategories in the industry.
Kevin Colletti (09:42):
That gets into internet activity and connected
devices, right, and I think youknow 5G is an enabler of that
with the throughput and theconnections.
And there's also something inthe communications world called
O-RAN or open RAN and that'sreally with the traditional
telecom companies decouplingtheir infrastructure in their
service layer.
Right, it used to be allcombined but now they can, you
know, decouple that and they canbe the backbone and the
(10:04):
services on top of that, but Ithink the open ecosystem and
connected devices, fromsmartphones to smart homes, to
industrial machinery, tomobility, are creating, you know
, vast opportunities out there.
And AI, right, so it enables AItoo, and I don't, I didn't talk
in generative AI yet, I'mtalking traditional.
AI and machine learning, youknow, in CMT, those companies
(10:27):
are really the backbone, right,when you're talking about 5G
connected device interactivity,that's the backbone of
industries like automotive orconnected cars and mobility.
Companies like John Deere inmanufacturing are doing things
for years already.
People don't even know about itbecause it's on the commercial
side where the connected farmingthey're calling it right and
the machines and autonomousfarming and enabling, you know,
(10:50):
I don't want to say less workers, but the automation of
autonomous, you know vehicles.
You know running the farms forthem without having to have the
people there.
Jim Hertzfeld (10:58):
Right, you don't have to have more kids to be
able to sustain your family farm.
It was also a dangerousoccupation.
So, kevin, there's a lot ofpromise there.
I think we understand a lot ofthe drivers.
It's sort of natural in a lotof ways.
But what are some of thechallenges?
I think this has not beenovernight for a lot of companies
.
There's been some consolidation, I think, some acquisitions to
divorce the portfolio of thingsthat, let's say, dish has done a
(11:21):
really good job at.
But what are some of thechallenges that you see these
companies facing in CMT?
Kevin Colletti (11:26):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of challenges, you
know, again, they're thebackbone of everything that's
going on out there that you hearabout.
You know, when you're intechnology world of
communications you're reallydriving a lot of the changes, a
lot of high expectations there.
So the expectations aroundseamless connectivity right, you
have to always be oncomprehensive security.
People don't know aboutsecurity unless there's a breach
.
Breach is such a huge challengeright now.
(11:47):
Everybody's like lightning fastservices, lightning fast,
always connected.
I have to be secure and it hasto be flawless.
So I mean that of itself willkeep you up all night.
These chief informationsecurity officers, these people
don't sleep because of what'sgoing on here.
And I think consumers evergrowing demand for accessibility
right, because we're talkingabout media companies we're
(12:07):
talking about, like Netflix, toyour point, or Amazon, and you
have to have your specializedcontent and everybody's viewing
things on multiple devices.
So I think the internetconnecting device from device
anywhere, anytime, always addsintense pressure, right, so it's
a broad kind of challenge thatthey have, especially as they
try to look at, you know, newrevenue streams.
(12:29):
There's also a challenge in whatI'll call disruptive
technologies and capabilities.
Right, and I won't get tootactical into it.
But you know we talked aboutOpen RAN.
You know, a moment ago, and youknow some of the more
mainstream worlds, we talkedabout 5G.
But I think immersiveexperiences, a lot going on with
VR, virtual reality, augmentedreality, especially in the media
and communications worlds, andthe expectations are that if you
(12:52):
play in this space, you have tobe a leader.
Right, because, to your point,John Deere is coming to AT&T and
saying, hey, we just signed a$50 million deal to expedite 5G
and connected farming.
Where are things right now?
Right?
So are you ahead of the game?
You always have to be ahead.
(13:12):
So I think CMT has immensepressure to always kind of be in
front of the puck, not fall onthe puck, as Wayne Gretzky, you
know, would say.
But I think one of the majorchallenges is there's a lot
going on.
They always have to be ahead ofthe game, but they have to be
careful not to take their eyeoff their ball, right?
So I think, if they're lookingat, hey, there's so many things
we have to be doing out there,how do we navigate through the
noise?
Right, because a disruption forone person is an opportunity
(13:34):
for another person and viceversa.
So I think the challenge isfinding the right partner like
us, or the right confidant, towork with, to help clear out the
noise, because one thing is tosay here's the trend.
It's another thing to say hereis how it applies to you as your
specific business needs.
Here's how it's going to getyou forward into the future and
make you more future-proof.
Jim Hertzfeld (13:56):
Right, right.
So how does digital?
These are really digitallydriven companies.
These are companies that areinnovating on and because of
digital, but from a competitivebusiness.
Kevin Colletti (14:09):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
And I'll just add one more keything on the challenge though I
think you hit on it a second agois there's frequent M&A.
Mergers and acquisitions arehuge in communications, media
and technology.
They're always redefining,they're always pivoting and I
think you have to be very agileas well as innovative, and like
you mentioned, companies are inwireless areas they weren't in
before, now they'recommunication companies, now
(14:39):
media companies and they have tolearn that new asset or pivot
that they have and then grow andsustain going forward.
I think a lot of it comes backto differentiating and
delivering customer experience.
So I think that's one asset,right?
I think customer experiencebecomes a key differentiator.
You know why would you go fromone provider to another provider
(15:01):
, right, services I'll get on ina second, you know, but I think
the experience is important.
So if you're having a badthroughput or you're down or you
can't understand how tonavigate something, I think
you're just going to move on tosomeone else.
So I think leveraging, we'retalking about customer
experience, I think leveragingsome of these technologies like
AR, VR, and brands can cultivateengaging, frictionless
experiences, and deeperconnections and reducing churn.
(15:24):
I think a big challenge that wehear about in the CMT world is
churn - reducing churn andretention.
Because it's easy to change toa different communication
company or technology or mediaprovider, just like we always
talk about in financial servicearound banks, right.
So how many banks do you workwith?
You probably have six differentor eight different accounts and
(15:44):
switching is like nothing thesedays.
So, same thing in the mediaworld.
You have a Hulu, you have aDisney, you have a Netflix, you
work with Verizon here.
We work with AT&T here.
You have Frontier for your homephone, if you still have a home
phone.
So I think the experience isimportant to be a differentiator
and it's back to what I wassaying before you have to be
connected, you have to be secure, you have to be always on and
(16:07):
where they want it.
I think that's a big deal.
But I think when you talk aboutwhen there's an issue, because
there's always going to be anissue, I think looking at the
contact center or the customerservice center is a key place to
start when you're trying todifferentiate yourself.
So, bringing in the newtechnologies we've been talking
about around AI to betterunderstand the customer.
You know, predict theirchallenges or problems, or
(16:29):
provide real-time, self-servicesolutions in an efficient,
accepted way.
You know, and that's for theconsumer.
That's just as well forcommercial, because the John
Deere example we talked about -their machines are out there
farming and tilling and plantingtheir crops out there.
If there's a glitch in thesystem or something goes off the
rails, that's not just A themachine broken, that is massive,
(16:51):
that's massive downtimedisruption to their business.
That's not just the machinebroken, that is massive right,
that's massive downtimedisruption to the business.
That's not just you know Bobcalling in sick that day, that's
a machine going off the rails.
That could, just, you know,really have a big impact.
So I think I think it'simportant to be trusted and be
connected and I think the lastpoint on this is being
data-driven as well, becausedata-driven, you know we're
(17:13):
talking about 5G this is beingdata-driven as well, because
data-driven, we talk about 5G,we talk about AI.
We talked about predictiveanalytics.
Not just predictive as in aconsumer calling up, but
predictive is hey, this machineusually fails on the 199th hour
of this day and this is why itfails.
So it's predicting downtimebefore downtime happens.
I think that's a huge componentof the data that we can get now
(17:35):
through 5G and AI and ML.
Jim Hertzfeld (17:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
I'm seeing some of that, Ithink, with some of our other
clients who've kind of been inthe telematics game for a long
time and have tried to build iton their own.
I wonder what they would havedone 10 years ago if some of
this technology was in place.
So I guess, in terms of amindset and philosophy and I
just like to take that to myfinal question, which is advice
(17:59):
for the listener so it's aninteresting category.
I think technology is thereason why many of us got into
this business in the first place.
But again, this confluence ofthings just sort of happened.
It had to happen.
I think this is an industrythat just had to do it.
I don't want to call itsurvival, but I think it was a
lot of opportunity what some ofthese companies have done to
(18:20):
stay relevant.
But if you're not in CMT, maybepeering into this category,
you're thinking about your ownbusiness.
How do you bring this samemindset to your own world?
Like, what would you share?
What would you tell ourlisteners?
Kevin Colletti (18:32):
Yeah, I'd say make sure you have your company
in mind?
What are you trying to do?
What are you trying toaccomplish?
Where's your vision going?
And I mentioned earlier, it'simportant to understand what's
happening out there, what's thetrends, what's the contents,
what's the constants, what's thechallenges.
But how does that apply to findsomeone that's going to help
you through the noise?
Don't follow the shiny object?
(18:53):
I think us in technology havebeen saying that same line for
about 25 years.
Right, you know, sincetechnology, you know, was born.
Don't follow the shiny object.
Understand the shiny object,how it applies to you and how
you could leverage it orleapfrog it.
But you have to know what'sgoing on there.
And, again, I thinkunderstanding what's important
to your business, clearing outand understanding what the trend
(19:14):
is.
And, frankly, I think the valueis saying here's how that
applies to me.
How does 5G work for me?
Who are my customers?
Now, Get the voice of thecustomer.
What are they saying, how dothey want us to apply, open rate
into their world?
If you're in a technology world,and I think assessing what you
have, what your challenges are,what's right for your company,
(19:36):
and putting a roadmap in place.
I think that's important, right, so you can't do everything all
at once.
I mentioned before, taking youreye off the ball.
You might have a good business,a stable business, and you lose
focus too much saying, oh, Ithink we should pivot over here.
You can't get away from yourcore business.
Right, the opportunity is athand and I guess I'll say that
you know we always preach hereand, Jim, I know you preach all
the time.
You know, have that big vision,know what the North star is.
(19:58):
Think big.
Right, you know where I'm goingwith this, right?
And the second thing you want tomove fast.
Right, so it's succeed fast.
Is it a catch up?
Are you leapfrogging thecompetition.
Is it an area you need to getinto because you acquired a
media company?
Right, so you have to learnquickly and you have to fail
quickly and iterate on ideas.
So it's bringing somebody thatyou know you can be a large
company, but I think you have tohave that entrepreneurial
(20:21):
spirit, a small companynimbleness, mindset, fail fast
mindset, no matter the size ofthe company now, because
technology is changing so fastand you can't keep up on
everything and you can't tryeverything all at once.
Jim Hertzfeld (20:34):
Yeah and that means kind of breaking into
small chunks too right, thinkbig, start small, move fast.
Right, and, like you said,learn and fail.
Yeah, I think that's greatmindset, but I really like what
you said around really unpack,like uncovering what really
matters.
So, yeah, and again, that's awhole other, maybe a whole other
episode on shiny objects thatwe can talk to.
(20:54):
I know we did one called therundown.
We're going to do anotherrundown.
We take the shiny objects,figure out is it thumbs up or
thumbs down?
Is it real?
So, yeah, great advice.
Thanks for the overview, kevin.
That's great.
I want to thank the entirecommunications, media and
technology category for makingthis podcast possible.
Thanks for having us.
(21:17):
It wasn't that long ago, we'dhave to fly somewhere, get in a
room, get some equipment.
There's a reel-to-reel, there'sa tape.
You know going and you knowright from our laptops and
browsers.
Here we are.
Kevin Colletti (21:26):
This is brought to you by the CMT industry.
Yeah, thanks, kevin.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Joe Wentzel (21:32):
You've been listening to What If?
So, What?
A digital strategy podcast fromPerficient with Jim Hertzfeld.
We want to thank our Proficientcolleagues JD Norman and Rick
Bauer for our music.
Subscribe to the podcast anddon't miss a single episode.
You can find this season, alongwith show notes, at Perficient.
(21:59):
com.
Thanks for listening.
I think the open ecosystem of connected devices,
from smartphones to smart homes, to industrial machinery, to
mobility, are creating vastopportunities out there.
And AI, right, so it enables AItoo, and I didn't talk in
generative AI, yet, I'm talkingtraditional AI and machine
learning In CMT.
Those companies are really thebackbone.
Right, we're talking about 5Gconnected device interactivity.
Jim Hertzfeld (00:28):
Welcome to what If so what, the podcast where we
explore what's possible withdigital and discover how to make
it real in your business.
I'm your host, Jim Hertzfeld,and we get shit done by asking
digital leaders the rightquestions what, if so what and,
most importantly now, what?
Okay, I'm always excited abouthaving a colleague on the show.
In this episode, we have KevinColletti.
(00:49):
Fellow strategist.
Kevin, welcome to the show.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and what you do here at
Proficient.
Kevin Colletti (00:55):
Great First off.
Thanks for having me on yourshow, Jim.
Long-time listener, first-timeguest, happy to be here.
Yeah, so I've been with beenproficient for about five years
now just shy of five years.
Diverse background I was on thecorporate side of the business
at a global Fortune 500 companyfor about eight years as a head
of e-business strategy inoperations in the US.
(01:16):
I worked at a large national adagency for a number of years
and have also run two startupcompanies, one digital company,
one I was CEO of a softwarecompany.
So I've been on the corporateside, startup side, digital side
and consulting side.
So I think that rounds up nicefor what we do here as a team at
Perficient.
I guess I have maybe two themesto my role here.
(01:39):
So one is as a director ondigital strategy team.
I work with clients andprospects to identify the best
strategy and solution based ontheir goals, objectives, their
challenges and what they'retrying to accomplish.
And the dual role that I haveis I also run the go-to-market
strategy.
I'm the GTM lead for thecommunications, media and
(01:59):
technology industry practice.
Jim Hertzfeld (02:01):
Which is really why we have you here, right, and
I know when we first startedlooking at telecom and high tech
and media.
Every now and then you have tokind of wake up, look around,
see what's going on in theindustry, to make sure that we
understand where our clients aregoing, how they're operating,
more importantly, really, whattheir customers are looking for.
(02:21):
And what we found is what wecall CMT, which I first thought
was country music television.
I knew we were onto something,but yeah, it really is a
confluence of really disparateindustries which have really
been brought together throughdigital.
And again, this is just sort oflike our own categorization.
So I think every organizationhas its own unique footprint.
(02:44):
Every organization in the CMTcategory has their own ambitions
.
They're all different, right,they're all special.
But from your perspective andsome of the analysis that you
did, what was kind of drivingthis category consolidation?
Kevin Colletti (02:57):
Yeah, a few things.
That's a good question.
So, as far as why weestablished a CMT, we did, as
you mentioned, a pretty completeassessment.
So we looked at our competitorsto see what they were doing.
We looked at our partners tosee what they were doing in the
industry at large, and most ofour competitors and clients and
partners really started tocluster these the C and the M
and the T together.
(03:19):
There's really been, maybe overthe last few years, a confusion
among what's the differencebetween a communications, which
historically have beentelecommunications company, a
media company, and technologycompany, and where do they slot
right?
So a good example I'll give youone is Meta, right.
So Meta, it has Facebook, it'sknown as a media company, a
social media company, but they,would, you know, clarify
(03:41):
themselves distinctly as atechnology company.
It says it right on their site,it says it right on there when
you look it up.
So people think of them as amedia, but they're technology.
So where do you slot them?
There's still nuances, of course, between traditional
communications, telecomcompanies versus media companies
, but there's definitely enoughcrossover.
We just start combining the C,the M and the T together as one
(04:02):
industry.
Just start kind of playingacross the board here and, just
to add, one of the major drivers, a really big driver, is a lot
of these companies incommunication and technology are
looking for new revenue streams, right.
So a lot of thetelecommunication companies
historically are turning intotechnology companies and working
with media companies as well,because they're trying to really
broaden their offerings anddrive new revenue streams.
(04:24):
So you'll hear a lot of buzzaround transitioning or creating
a new business model, aroundtelco accelerating to techno as
a shift in the business and it'sreally providing more
end-to-end technology solutions,more than just being a network
provider such as creating newrevenue streams around streaming
media and helping really, youknow, with sustainable growth.
Jim Hertzfeld (04:46):
So I remember years ago working for a cable
company, I would call it a cablecompany, part of a larger
conglomerate.
I remember at the time theywere getting into streaming
media.
They know they were doing a lotof R&D, you know, to do what I
think Netflix really kind ofpaved the way for, and they kind
of had to do it because theywere just really the plumbing
(05:08):
right?
And so I think the Spectrumsand Frontiers and the customers
and those companies we knowtoday have done that, or they've
had to evolve these newcapabilities, just not just from
a revenue stream, but just froma survival differentiation,
absolutely.
And I think also when Netflixbecame a content company, so I
had signed up for Netflix when Iwas getting DVDs in the mail,
(05:30):
and then I remember streamingkind of popped up right, but
then they launched their owncontent, their own studios.
Of course Amazon's done the sameright, so that's all kind of in
the same merge of offerings.
Is that right?
Is that fair to say, Kevin?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
How does this impact theircustomers?
And I think what's interestingto me is, like a lot of
(05:51):
categories, there's a consumerside that we all know because
we're consumers, but there'soften a commercial or a B2B side
that most of us may not befamiliar with, unless we were
one of those customers.
Maybe we own a small businessand I need a bigger pipe into my
office, but how is all this, Ithink, at the end of the day,
(06:11):
impacting their customers?
Kevin Colletti (06:14):
Yeah, and I see this as ultimately a benefit for
customers and I mean that froma consumer point of view,
business to business andcommercial, as you mentioned.
Commercial, and I'll run itthrough a couple of examples
right, it leads into some of thebundling stuff you were kind of
mentioning a moment ago aroundnew revenue streams.
So a great real world exampleis, you know, a lot of companies
are bundling their offerings,right, so you go sign up for
(06:35):
Verizon or AT&T or Charter orFrontier or what have you, for a
mobile phone plan, right, andactually I just did this when my
daughter got her first phone acouple weeks ago, and we could
do a whole podcast on our ownabout, about, that.
It can be a whole episode, I'lltell you.
Jim Hertzfeld (06:50):
We'll get that in a year after your daughter has
a year of with her own phone.
Kevin Colletti (06:54):
It's a challenge , I say the least.
But yeah, I digress.
So you know, when you go there,you walk into the Verizon store
or online ATandT, you sign upfor a plan, you instantly have
the option to include cloudstorage .
So you're talking to atelecommunications or a cable
company and now y ou're doingtraditional technology with the
cloud storage offering, and thenyou have the option to include
(07:18):
streaming.
So would you like Apple Musicwith that?
Would you like the plan thatcomes with a Disney and Hulu
bundle?
You know, streaming service, sotraditional media offering.
So that's where that's a goodexample of you know the C and
the M and the T working closelytogether and it's AT&T or
Verizon offering it either ontheir own or through these
ecosystem partnershipsthroughout the C, M and T.
(07:39):
You know to like, like youmentioned, be sustainable growth
.
You know, try to be their go-toplace.
Y ou come to us and you sign upfor Netflix or Amazon.
You don't go outside and goaround us per se.
So I think that's a goodexample.
It's really a convergence onI'll say complementary offerings
.
Right, you expect these kind ofadd-on offerings to come
(08:00):
together.
Jim Hertzfeld (08:01):
Mm-hmm.
And from a commercial side, doyou see equivalent offers?
Do you see the CMT categoryshifting away from the consumer
market?
I know in other categories likeconsumer goods and
manufacturing, we're seeing alittle more emphasis on more of
a commercial B2B offering.
Do you see big changes on thecommercial side of this category
(08:22):
as well?
How are they standing out anddifferentiating?
Kevin Colletti (08:25):
Yeah, so customer experience is a big
deal right, and we'll get intothat maybe in a few minutes.
But from a commercial point ofview it's more of an open
architecture ecosystem, right,these people are working
together.
So the commercial is reallycombining partnerships for easy
access to small business.
So, for example, they havefixed wireless access you can
get now right, it's an offeringin 5G until that's up and
(08:45):
running.
Small businesses have fixedwireless access you can get now
right.
It's an offering in 5G untilthat's up and running.
You know small business can geta fixed wireless access, which
is almost like their owninternet within an internet box,
right, that they can have intheir home.
So the FWA is really helping,you know, bridge a gap until you
know, five or a largerbroadband happens for small
businesses and on the commercialside, well, 5G is interesting.
Jim Hertzfeld (09:05):
I'm just going to go on a tangent here a little
bit, because I think that justthe nature of 5G is opening up
all kinds of new almost digitaloperations.
Right, devices talking to eachother on the shop floor, using
5G for robots to talk to eachother, have conversations, you
know, work out their plans totake over the humans.
(09:26):
So I mean, there's, you know,some of that.
It's kind of like what we usedto call market makers.
Is that, you see this, some ofthese companies, and maybe even
partnering with device companiesas well, to really invent and
create whole new categories,subcategories in the industry.
Kevin Colletti (09:42):
That gets into internet activity and connected
devices, right, and I think youknow 5G is an enabler of that
with the throughput and theconnections.
And there's also something inthe communications world called
O-RAN or open RAN and that'sreally with the traditional
telecom companies decouplingtheir infrastructure in their
service layer.
Right, it used to be allcombined but now they can, you
know, decouple that and they canbe the backbone and the
(10:04):
services on top of that, but Ithink the open ecosystem and
connected devices, fromsmartphones to smart homes, to
industrial machinery, tomobility, are creating, you know
, vast opportunities out there.
And AI, right, so it enables AItoo, and I don't, I didn't talk
in generative AI yet, I'mtalking traditional.
AI and machine learning, youknow, in CMT, those companies
(10:27):
are really the backbone, right,when you're talking about 5G
connected device interactivity,that's the backbone of
industries like automotive orconnected cars and mobility.
Companies like John Deere inmanufacturing are doing things
for years already.
People don't even know about itbecause it's on the commercial
side where the connected farmingthey're calling it right and
the machines and autonomousfarming and enabling, you know,
(10:50):
I don't want to say less workers, but the automation of
autonomous, you know vehicles.
You know running the farms forthem without having to have the
people there.
Jim Hertzfeld (10:58):
Right, you don't have to have more kids to be
able to sustain your family farm.
It was also a dangerousoccupation.
So, kevin, there's a lot ofpromise there.
I think we understand a lot ofthe drivers.
It's sort of natural in a lotof ways.
But what are some of thechallenges?
I think this has not beenovernight for a lot of companies
.
There's been some consolidation, I think, some acquisitions to
divorce the portfolio of thingsthat, let's say, dish has done a
(11:21):
really good job at.
But what are some of thechallenges that you see these
companies facing in CMT?
Kevin Colletti (11:26):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of challenges, you
know, again, they're thebackbone of everything that's
going on out there that you hearabout.
You know, when you're intechnology world of
communications you're reallydriving a lot of the changes, a
lot of high expectations there.
So the expectations aroundseamless connectivity right, you
have to always be oncomprehensive security.
People don't know aboutsecurity unless there's a breach
.
Breach is such a huge challengeright now.
(11:47):
Everybody's like lightning fastservices, lightning fast,
always connected.
I have to be secure and it hasto be flawless.
So I mean that of itself willkeep you up all night.
These chief informationsecurity officers, these people
don't sleep because of what'sgoing on here.
And I think consumers evergrowing demand for accessibility
right, because we're talkingabout media companies we're
(12:07):
talking about, like Netflix, toyour point, or Amazon, and you
have to have your specializedcontent and everybody's viewing
things on multiple devices.
So I think the internetconnecting device from device
anywhere, anytime, always addsintense pressure, right, so it's
a broad kind of challenge thatthey have, especially as they
try to look at, you know, newrevenue streams.
(12:29):
There's also a challenge in whatI'll call disruptive
technologies and capabilities.
Right, and I won't get tootactical into it.
But you know we talked aboutOpen RAN.
You know, a moment ago, and youknow some of the more
mainstream worlds, we talkedabout 5G.
But I think immersiveexperiences, a lot going on with
VR, virtual reality, augmentedreality, especially in the media
and communications worlds, andthe expectations are that if you
(12:52):
play in this space, you have tobe a leader.
Right, because, to your point,John Deere is coming to AT&T and
saying, hey, we just signed a$50 million deal to expedite 5G
and connected farming.
Where are things right now?
Right?
So are you ahead of the game?
You always have to be ahead.
(13:12):
So I think CMT has immensepressure to always kind of be in
front of the puck, not fall onthe puck, as Wayne Gretzky, you
know, would say.
But I think one of the majorchallenges is there's a lot
going on.
They always have to be ahead ofthe game, but they have to be
careful not to take their eyeoff their ball, right?
So I think, if they're lookingat, hey, there's so many things
we have to be doing out there,how do we navigate through the
noise?
Right, because a disruption forone person is an opportunity
(13:34):
for another person and viceversa.
So I think the challenge isfinding the right partner like
us, or the right confidant, towork with, to help clear out the
noise, because one thing is tosay here's the trend.
It's another thing to say hereis how it applies to you as your
specific business needs.
Here's how it's going to getyou forward into the future and
make you more future-proof.
Jim Hertzfeld (13:56):
Right, right.
So how does digital?
These are really digitallydriven companies.
These are companies that areinnovating on and because of
digital, but from a competitivebusiness.
Kevin Colletti (14:09):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
And I'll just add one more keything on the challenge though I
think you hit on it a second agois there's frequent M&A.
Mergers and acquisitions arehuge in communications, media
and technology.
They're always redefining,they're always pivoting and I
think you have to be very agileas well as innovative, and like
you mentioned, companies are inwireless areas they weren't in
before, now they'recommunication companies, now
(14:39):
media companies and they have tolearn that new asset or pivot
that they have and then grow andsustain going forward.
I think a lot of it comes backto differentiating and
delivering customer experience.
So I think that's one asset,right?
I think customer experiencebecomes a key differentiator.
You know why would you go fromone provider to another provider
(15:01):
, right, services I'll get on ina second, you know, but I think
the experience is important.
So if you're having a badthroughput or you're down or you
can't understand how tonavigate something, I think
you're just going to move on tosomeone else.
So I think leveraging, we'retalking about customer
experience, I think leveragingsome of these technologies like
AR, VR, and brands can cultivateengaging, frictionless
experiences, and deeperconnections and reducing churn.
(15:24):
I think a big challenge that wehear about in the CMT world is
churn - reducing churn andretention.
Because it's easy to change toa different communication
company or technology or mediaprovider, just like we always
talk about in financial servicearound banks, right.
So how many banks do you workwith?
You probably have six differentor eight different accounts and
(15:44):
switching is like nothing thesedays.
So, same thing in the mediaworld.
You have a Hulu, you have aDisney, you have a Netflix, you
work with Verizon here.
We work with AT&T here.
You have Frontier for your homephone, if you still have a home
phone.
So I think the experience isimportant to be a differentiator
and it's back to what I wassaying before you have to be
connected, you have to be secure, you have to be always on and
(16:07):
where they want it.
I think that's a big deal.
But I think when you talk aboutwhen there's an issue, because
there's always going to be anissue, I think looking at the
contact center or the customerservice center is a key place to
start when you're trying todifferentiate yourself.
So, bringing in the newtechnologies we've been talking
about around AI to betterunderstand the customer.
You know, predict theirchallenges or problems, or
(16:29):
provide real-time, self-servicesolutions in an efficient,
accepted way.
You know, and that's for theconsumer.
That's just as well forcommercial, because the John
Deere example we talked about -their machines are out there
farming and tilling and plantingtheir crops out there.
If there's a glitch in thesystem or something goes off the
rails, that's not just A themachine broken, that is massive,
(16:51):
that's massive downtimedisruption to their business.
That's not just the machinebroken, that is massive right,
that's massive downtimedisruption to the business.
That's not just you know Bobcalling in sick that day, that's
a machine going off the rails.
That could, just, you know,really have a big impact.
So I think I think it'simportant to be trusted and be
connected and I think the lastpoint on this is being
data-driven as well, becausedata-driven, you know we're
(17:13):
talking about 5G this is beingdata-driven as well, because
data-driven, we talk about 5G,we talk about AI.
We talked about predictiveanalytics.
Not just predictive as in aconsumer calling up, but
predictive is hey, this machineusually fails on the 199th hour
of this day and this is why itfails.
So it's predicting downtimebefore downtime happens.
I think that's a huge componentof the data that we can get now
(17:35):
through 5G and AI and ML.
Jim Hertzfeld (17:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
I'm seeing some of that, Ithink, with some of our other
clients who've kind of been inthe telematics game for a long
time and have tried to build iton their own.
I wonder what they would havedone 10 years ago if some of
this technology was in place.
So I guess, in terms of amindset and philosophy and I
just like to take that to myfinal question, which is advice
(17:59):
for the listener so it's aninteresting category.
I think technology is thereason why many of us got into
this business in the first place.
But again, this confluence ofthings just sort of happened.
It had to happen.
I think this is an industrythat just had to do it.
I don't want to call itsurvival, but I think it was a
lot of opportunity what some ofthese companies have done to
(18:20):
stay relevant.
But if you're not in CMT, maybepeering into this category,
you're thinking about your ownbusiness.
How do you bring this samemindset to your own world?
Like, what would you share?
What would you tell ourlisteners?
Kevin Colletti (18:32):
Yeah, I'd say make sure you have your company
in mind?
What are you trying to do?
What are you trying toaccomplish?
Where's your vision going?
And I mentioned earlier, it'simportant to understand what's
happening out there, what's thetrends, what's the contents,
what's the constants, what's thechallenges.
But how does that apply to findsomeone that's going to help
you through the noise?
Don't follow the shiny object?
(18:53):
I think us in technology havebeen saying that same line for
about 25 years.
Right, you know, sincetechnology, you know, was born.
Don't follow the shiny object.
Understand the shiny object,how it applies to you and how
you could leverage it orleapfrog it.
But you have to know what'sgoing on there.
And, again, I thinkunderstanding what's important
to your business, clearing outand understanding what the trend
(19:14):
is.
And, frankly, I think the valueis saying here's how that
applies to me.
How does 5G work for me?
Who are my customers?
Now, Get the voice of thecustomer.
What are they saying, how dothey want us to apply, open rate
into their world?
If you're in a technology world,and I think assessing what you
have, what your challenges are,what's right for your company,
(19:36):
and putting a roadmap in place.
I think that's important, right, so you can't do everything all
at once.
I mentioned before, taking youreye off the ball.
You might have a good business,a stable business, and you lose
focus too much saying, oh, Ithink we should pivot over here.
You can't get away from yourcore business.
Right, the opportunity is athand and I guess I'll say that
you know we always preach hereand, Jim, I know you preach all
the time.
You know, have that big vision,know what the North star is.
(19:58):
Think big.
Right, you know where I'm goingwith this, right?
And the second thing you want tomove fast.
Right, so it's succeed fast.
Is it a catch up?
Are you leapfrogging thecompetition.
Is it an area you need to getinto because you acquired a
media company?
Right, so you have to learnquickly and you have to fail
quickly and iterate on ideas.
So it's bringing somebody thatyou know you can be a large
company, but I think you have tohave that entrepreneurial
(20:21):
spirit, a small companynimbleness, mindset, fail fast
mindset, no matter the size ofthe company now, because
technology is changing so fastand you can't keep up on
everything and you can't tryeverything all at once.
Jim Hertzfeld (20:34):
Yeah and that means kind of breaking into
small chunks too right, thinkbig, start small, move fast.
Right, and, like you said,learn and fail.
Yeah, I think that's greatmindset, but I really like what
you said around really unpack,like uncovering what really
matters.
So, yeah, and again, that's awhole other, maybe a whole other
episode on shiny objects thatwe can talk to.
(20:54):
I know we did one called therundown.
We're going to do anotherrundown.
We take the shiny objects,figure out is it thumbs up or
thumbs down?
Is it real?
So, yeah, great advice.
Thanks for the overview, kevin.
That's great.
I want to thank the entirecommunications, media and
technology category for makingthis podcast possible.
Thanks for having us.
(21:17):
It wasn't that long ago, we'dhave to fly somewhere, get in a
room, get some equipment.
There's a reel-to-reel, there'sa tape.
You know going and you knowright from our laptops and
browsers.
Here we are.
Kevin Colletti (21:26):
This is brought to you by the CMT industry.
Yeah, thanks, kevin.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Joe Wentzel (21:32):
You've been listening to What If?
So, What?
A digital strategy podcast fromPerficient with Jim Hertzfeld.
We want to thank our Proficientcolleagues JD Norman and Rick
Bauer for our music.
Subscribe to the podcast anddon't miss a single episode.
You can find this season, alongwith show notes, at Perficient.
(21:59):
com.
Thanks for listening.
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