How Data and Technology can change our everyday lives

A Brief Case Study of Sky TV

Recently I had Sky Q – Sky’s most up to date service installed and it got me thinking about the nature of the business and how data & technology can change & shape our lives.

Sky like, BT, Talktalk, Virgin, etc have all been seen promoting the triple threat product line of broadband, Mobile and TV for some time it’s no longer a competitive advantage but expected, but Looking at Sky in particular and the future of content delivery, I think I can see several distinct business units emerging, offering the ability to serve current products and customers but also allow new products to emerge from customer lead behaviours as we all continue to change our content consumption habits.

Content Platform

Arguably one of Sky’s strongest areas in the UK – their licensing of Football has always been a cornerstone of their business but they also have deals with big players like Disney, THE PGA TOUR and others

Technology Platform

The New Sky Q UI is impressive, but it’s the massive leap forward in the options for content delivery and updates as well as the integration of other apps that can possibly make Sky’s position as an industry leader unassailable, agreements with Netflix and integrations of Youtube are also things customers will notice, but I suspect it’s the improved ability to understand customer behaviour and to easily upsell their services and if the pure IP delivery system comes on stream fully the ability to massively increase its customer base that offers real long-term gains for the business.

Sky also still have their Satellite Network which has massive possibilities for ramping up other services and business opportunities on top of the content delivery.

If more of the content delivery becomes via fibre or copper networks the satellite network will still be a massive asset to be leveraged.

Data Platform

Sky is both a massive consumer and producer of Data, a very large customer base with huge amounts of potential insights in behaviours with potential huge value to other organisations, but they also gobble up data from other organisations to better understand their customers and markets. This Aspect is possibly the Lynchpin of all the other business areas. It is likely to become even more important as content delivery moves forward and becomes more fractured. Having one of the best data sets to rely on for decision making but also creating its own value in the market place will be a huge competitive advantage.

Customer Platform

Sky’s customer service from the UI and UX on the new Sky Q through to online chat and apps is Second to None, this heavily tied to both technology and data Platforms, and the sort of area that is evidence of a Chief Data Officer who has tied in both technology and customer-focused stakeholders into a cohesive unit.

Comments or suggestions are welcome for other Data & Technology platforms that can change our lives. get in touch

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