People love labels; too bad it’s getting harder and harder to place name tags on many of the players in the Internet Ecosystem.
Buckets like ISP, teleco, MSO, software developer, even “high tech” no longer capture what companies do in this space.
What is Google? Are they a tiny ad behemoth, application provider, social web wannabe, search giant, mobile OS player, or a phone company? The answer is, um, yes.
Apple makes elegant computers of various sizes, but ask yourself next time you see an Apple sticker on a Prius bumper, are they a tech company or a lifestyle brand?
Zappos and Amazon. Both do online retail, but in reality the former is selling their exceptional customer service experience and the latter is making their money selling the cloud. Slap on labels like retail, consumer, high tech, shoes, books – and they all work, but none does either justice.
The problem with labels is none stick for very long in the internet ecosystem. Consumer demands shift, technology powers new efficiencies, aspirational goals to evolve come to fruition. The effort to label this space is frustrating.
But you can’t change human nature and our need for tidy categories and clean tags.
So when I think of what category to place Verizon in, it’s not surprising that I find the same difficulty.
We provide video services, the world’s fastest mobile and fixed broadband connections, long-haul mesh across the globe, security solutions to the planet’s biggest organizations, cutting edge home and health care monitoring, and trillions of digital TXT, voice, and data connections every minute.
We provide voice, video, and internet connections but “provider” doesn’t cut it.
Our network and how it operates is the very definition of high tech. In fact, that smart phone in your pocket would be nearly as dumb as a brick were it not for the technology of our network. “High tech” is what we do, but it’s doesn’t define who we are. It’s a means, not an end.
We’ve changed the game and disrupted our competitors by deploying networks that no one had ever built on such a scale. But disrupter and game changer are the collateral damage of our mission, not categories.
I also don’t believe we have a peer in this space. In fact, I feel Verizon has more in common with FedEx than AT&T.
Regular mail met a basic need. But few thought the world absolutely, positively needed their packages overnight. Fast forward and the solution Federal Express offered then is now an intrinsic part of the global “just-in-time,” FedEx economy.
Same with super fast broadband.
Ordinary broadband over copper was okay. But Verizon saw a need for speeds far in excess of what was being delivered by others. So whether it’s over a fiber optic line directly to your home or 4G LTE connecting your mobile device at speeds unheard of ten years ago – not even over fixed wireline -- Verizon offers solutions most others did not have the vision or guts to deploy.
Verizon is an innovative player that is changing the game with unprecedented technological deployments. We solve problems and are filling a need that no one knew existed five years ago. So I ask you, dear reader, how would you name that?
We enable today’s connected life; we’re the vascular system that sustains modern world. We don’t fit in neatly in a box, Wall Street shorthand, even in one Congressional Subcommittee or a single federal regulatory agency.
If you think about it, we’re connecting humans in ways never before possible and that benefit everyone. In 2011, our connected lives efficiently deliver shared success far and wide. Better health care, managed energy use, your business and social network available everywhere, anytime and anywhere you want.
What would you call that?