Convergence and the Consumer

It is an irony that technology makes many people uneasy, wondering if it is safe; and they have trouble coping with constant change. Though most people like what technology has to offer they are nervous and fear that they cannot get enough of it. This fact reminds me of an incident during which I was forced to justify the “over-ambitious” workshop I had packaged and ready to be marketed to creative personnel of ad agencies and sundry, sometime last year.

I could understand the genuine ignorance of the chairman of the “interrogative” meeting who found my promised “packages” outlandish; but two other fellows in the meeting got on my nerves easily. The workshop was, for the first time, 100% technology-based but my associates did not believe it was possible. While one of the two has a reputation for talking more and thinking less, the other believes he knows it all whereas he simply lives in the intellectual past! The workshop was a reality and a success!

Modern consumers are described as those who tend to confound the old socio-demographic groupings of ABCD/123 and are less influenced by cheap commodities than they used to be (R. Din 2000). Rather they are time-starved, self-indulgent and hunger for information; they are guided by style aspirations and so will be more likely to fit into such classifications as modernist, purist, techno, etc.

The new consumer is more value-conscious than ever, interested in quality, believe the experience is as important as the merchandise, etc (G. Whalin 1998). Consumers are increasingly defying mass-marketing categorization in preference for mass-customization. Customer focus is a practical and inevitable transition; focusing on the customer means reorienting all business processes to customer wants, while the goal of the company is to meet these to the fullest possible extent in the most effective possible way (R. Heller and P. Spenley 2000).

Nigeria is yet to reach the stage where consumers are in the driving seat and companies constantly struggle to keep up with their demands; that is the world of convergence where people communicate in whatever way they want with anyone they want at any time and in any place. According to Microsoft’s Bill Gates, convergence is not having a single device to do everything but rather many devices.

Computers are converging with TV sets which are in turn converging with entertainment centres; even photocopiers are converging with fax machines, mobile devices are converging with computers, video game consoles are playing DVDs, cell phones are now coming with Internet access, etc. The world of convergence is one in which digital media, software and Internet-related standards establish their presence in every device (M. Feldman 2002). Gates believes this will benefit consumers’ capability to communicate, gain information, be entertained, be creative and be fulfilled in their everyday tasks.
It is also expected that the demise of mass markets will give rise to more segmented and niche markets.

Some scholars strongly believe that we should place customers at the centre of our focus and not technology (A. Leer 2001); who the customer is is a function of what type of business you represent and what you have to offer. The United Kingdom has a Communications White Paper in place which offers a unique opportunity to establish a regulatory framework so that consumers can enjoy the benefits of the converging communications sectors.

The convergence of the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors is having a profound impact on the UK while the White Paper may have laid the ground for legislation that offers an unparalleled opportunity to deliver a better future for everyone. The new framework has created dynamic markets that deliver economic benefits to all consumers while regulations are already delivering quality, choice and value for money; consumers are also adequately protected.

We cannot afford to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world so that we do not remain technologically backward. Nigeria can borrow from Costa Rica, a tiny Latin American country noted for its banana plantations. It benefited from the technology boom because its education system was planned with foresight; as far back as 1988, computers were installed in elementary schools.

Exactly a decade after the first computer was installed in that country, Intel established a $500 million microchip plant in San Jose (O. Arias 2005). Why did Intel invest in Costa Rica? The company cited geography, a democratic tradition and an educated work force. The country has since transformed from being a banana republic to a digital republic; it is now a major microchip exporter!

Bill Gates appeals to companies to remember that even with all the high-tech devices available in a converged world consumers still need to feel empowered to accomplish things themselves and to maintain a sense of privacy. When communications become seamless in the age of convergence, it is imperative that companies alter their strategies to adapt to customers’ demands (Financial Times UK 2001).

I see iPods around these days, youngsters indulge in video games, teenagers brandish smart phones, PTOs now make it possible for families to have Internet access at home, while most offices are online already. Soon the WiFi fever shall catch up with us in Nigeria and prices of laptops and other mobile devices will crash.

The future is almost here for us Nigerians even as South Africans continue to challenge our intelligence- they have PVRs while VODs is no strange acronym to them. We must boost spending on education to a reasonable percentage of our GDP and make spirited efforts at imparting quality science, math, engineering and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. Have we even made any R&D efforts at all?

Our consumers are certainly powerless, e.g. NEPA (now PHCN) calls consumers of electricity its customers whereas it is an autocratic monopoly! It sends you arbitrary bills, disconnects you if you fail to pay the “slammed bill” in time despite the fact that it hardly supplies electricity! This is only a graphic summary of the Nigerian consumer: harassed, helpless, intimidated and totally castrated- it is unbelievable that the country’s constitution protects the PHCH and its likes from being sued!