Mobile Personalization

Mobile personalization is a hot topic these days, but many network operators, while they can see the concept applying to them in theory, don't know where to begin. In order to personalize a mobile device user's experience, companies first need to know their subscribers. So it becomes a two-part problem: first you have to determine what your subscriber wants, and then you have to determine how to provide him or her with it.

According to the Mobile Gets Personal blog on Bridgewater Systems' (News - Alert) Web site, the trick is to spend a day in the life of a typical mobile user. The scenario might go as follows:

First thing in the morning, the user turns on his cell phone, perhaps after charging it overnight. At that time, service control in the network authenticates and authorizes him, and his pre-set preferences are implemented. Also at this time, he might receive notifications of all the deals being offered by his network provider for travelers.

Our mobile user's next stop is the train station. While he's waiting for his train to leave, he may decide to watch a video on YouTube (News - Alert). He discovers, however, that his 3G network is congested and his data transfer rate too slow. A network operator with robust policies in place for subscriber, service and policy control will automatically detect the congested network and offload the phone user's data session from 3G to a Wi-Fi hotspot at the train station.

Next, when he gets to work, he might check his myPolicy app on his smartphone to see how much data he has used for this billing period. At this time, he can also set roaming limits and notifications on his phone. Good policy control on the part of his network is the reason he is offered these features in order to help the commuter avoid so-called “bill shock” when he sees his final monthly cellular bill and realizes he is knee-deep in data and voice overage charges.

Later, at a meeting with a client, our commuter might be preparing to make a presentation. In order to help the presentation go smoothly, he could request a guaranteed bandwidth boost from his operator in advance, eliminating the potential for slow data transfer – and significant embarrassment (not to mention a lost client).

At the end of the day, when he settles down to check his e-mail, read the news, look at the sports scores or watch a funny video forwarded by a friend, the commuter knows he'll have the bandwidth he needs: his network operator applies so-called “fair usage” bandwidth controls designed to slow down excessively heavy users and allow for a moderation of all traffic.

And why is all this important? Americans are some of the least loyal customers in the world when it comes to their cellular network operators. Companies that expect their customers to exist in a “wild, wild west” of uncertainty when it comes to their mobile experience may be unpleasantly surprised next time they check their own status: they might find themselves experiencing “network shock”: a increasing mass of defecting customers who have left, looking for a provider with better network control policies.