Do cable and telco executives have the skills to run their own businesses? It’s a rhetorical question, since nobody really expects any executive, running any large business, to have all the skills required. 

But it might not be quite so rhetorical to ask whether a whole telco or cable organization has the necessary skills.

Some would legitimately point to the role of specialists of many types that are brought in to help out with information technology projects, financial or legal support, for example. Just how far that outside help might be needed is more nearly the question.

We might all agree, for example, that outstanding user experience in a business affected by use of mobile apps is the sort of competence a telco or cable company might not natively possess.

So it is that Ted Schadler, Forrester Research (News - Alert) analyst, says a new category of mobile engagement providers is emerging. Such suppliers have a "complete portfolio of engagement competencies and management skills to help you build and deliver great mobile experiences at global scale."

“Building and delivering great mobile experiences will be the beating heart of your engagement strategy for the next 10 years,” says Schadler. But if engagement really is that crucial, it is not the sort of thing mobile service providers really can afford to outsource, is it?


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It is one thing to note that “most CIO and CMO organizations lack the skills and resources to do this well.” From time to time, a large enterprise will need to use outside help to complete a big project.

But, over time, if mobile apps are as essential as Forrester believes, the competency needs to be internalized. Some 41 percent of surveyed executives say that they will use a vendor to build apps.

But that also implies nearly 60 percent will do so internally. That’s probably a good sign for the service providers. If mobile engagement is not a project but a long-term program of activities, operations, and software releases, and is so crucial to getting and keeping customers, mobile service providers had better master the art, and quickly.

Schadler suggests CIOs and CMOs must learn to serve as a general contractor for an ecosystem of subcontractors. That probably does not capture the necessity well enough, some might argue. Telcos had better learn to do this themselves, if “engagement” is really so important.

Schadler notes that suppliers typically do not possess themselves the complete set of competencies and partner skills to get the job done. They might be strong at field service or sales, but not at all of the skills required to build and sustain an app experience effort.

One might suggest either than app experience is not strategic, and can be outsourced, or is strategic, and must over time become a core competence for a telco or cable company. That’s a different matter than whether an organization can source some temporary skills from the outside.

Strategic functions really do need to be staffed internally, unless you believe a hollowed-out organization really can succeed in a competitive market without actually possessing the key strategic skills needed for success in a market.