The motivation for doing so is a largely untapped market potentially worth €12.65- €21.08 billion globally to network operators by 2025.
A new report, commissioned by Synchronoss and carried out by Arthur D Little, reckons the total US market alone could be worth $8.9 billion by 2025.
Synchronoss is a provider of cloud-based solutions and says the analysis shows that with the right strategy, operators (aka digital service providers) could enjoy a chunk of the total global market.
The argument is that the market is being driven by three factors:
• soaring amounts of data generated by individuals which requires more storage with smartphone data predicted to have a 31% compound annual growth rate to 2025.
• little growth in the free offers on the market which is a largely a passive choice by users, such as Apple Cloud for Apple device users. The report argues that consumers value price, storage levels and interoperability, with security, privacy and data ownership not far behind, in centralised storage they can access from anywhere. The thinking is that operators could provide a one-stop shop, providing the devices and connectivity and personal cloud.
• As customers increasingly exceed their free storage allowance they will have to pay for it. Again, the argument is operators are well-positioned to move subscribers to paid cloud plans, but they need to provide the motivation to move to their services, offering better experience and features. That could be a big ask as, for example, people in the UK are more likely to get divorced than change bank, and the majority of consumers stick with the same suppliers for gas and electricity although they could save money elsewhere.
Untapped opp
Personal cloud services provide storage for consumers’ data, from photos to videos, documents and all the rest of it, which can be accessed from any device.
At the moment, operators account for 1% of the US personal cloud user base, giving operators everywhere a lot to go at.
Jeff Miller, Interim President and CEO of Synchronoss Technologies, commented, “Subscribers with operator-provided cloud services are four times more likely to use paid plans than subscribers with platform-provided clouds.
“Clearly, the market dynamics actively favor operators who capitalize on this growth potential. I believe operators can and will wrestle this opportunity to the ground.”