Telviva CTO Antony Russell says that when one walks into the Mobile World Congress (MWC) you expect to be surrounded by glitz and glamour, to encounter startups and multinationals, to interact with science fiction and talk about the future.
“MWC 2022 did not disappoint on this front. We touched the future and returned to South Africa with a spring in our step, pleasantly moved by the reception we received as South Africans pioneering in the unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) space,” he says.
Russell says that all the innovation on display was premised on connectivity. In other words, how 5G is being rolled out and the planning for 6G.This hyperfast connectivity, he says, underpins discussions about the Internet of Everything, the metaverse, and more. The speed and power of these networks, he says, has the potential to radically transform communication and collaboration. “For example, we ran a simple 5G speed test on one of our mobile phones and used over 2GB of data in a few seconds,” says Russell.
This puts into context the pressing need for stable and super-fast internet – by global standards – to be rolled out everywhere lest regions and their businesses risk losing out. “A highlight that stood out to me, beyond the amazing devices, was a methodology to model entire areas, including individual trees and their water make-up which affects radio signals, all in the name of putting down the fastest, most stable networks. If the metaverse is the future playground for business and individuals, it’s built on this promise of bandwidth,” he says.
With an eye on the future, a theme at MWC was four years from now (4YFN), where there is a healthy mix of fantasy, startups in their first and second round of funding, and actual business applications, such as hologram meetings and live automated translation and interpretation per individual delegate in a virtual meeting, says Russell.
“The more one walks through the stands and looks at the vision of the future, or the playground of innovation, the more one sees a solid golden strand that places paramount importance on the ability of people to communicate and collaborate seamlessly,” he says.
“For instance, at one stand we quite literally touched science fiction, where we could physically interact with virtual objects and have instant augmented reality interaction with our own physical objects in the same space. Again, when you step back and the playing ends, you realise the inventors and designers are pushing the boundaries of collaboration.
“And so, from Telviva’s lens, interacting with MWC gave us a keen sense of the importance of UC&C, the DNA of our business: synchronicity, unified communication, collaboration and being able to overlay augmented experiences on existing applications.
“It reminds one that even though we may be geographically on the other end of the world, that technology companies in South Africa really are innovating with their fingers on the pulse,” says Russell.
Regarding the value of events such as MWC, Russell said it was up to companies to define their individual objectives and then do the research and preparation required. “We could have gone to a small event that only hosted UC&C providers, but then we would have missed out on the totality of the MWC experience. We found our audience and they found us,” he says.
Russell says that the lasting feeling among the Telviva team, as they returned to Cape Town, was that there are few, if any, companies that are in the exact same lane as Telviva. “Many companies in the unified communications space may be tempted to enter a market as the total solution, rather than be prepared to build their proposition on technology agnosticism, synchronicity and the ability to overlay applications onto existing, popular and powerful platforms. The ability to be both is rare.
“The reception validated our firm belief that rather than approach a market with an all-or-nothing mindset, real value comes from putting user and customer centricity front and centre. In other words, how can a platform, an application, add value to a business by unifying all aspects of communication and collaboration to improve and win a customer’s heart and loyalty. That should be the promise of technology, to make a meaningful difference,” explains Russell.
Telviva’s trip to MWC 2022 coincided with its European soft launch, with Telviva One ready to be rolled out with partners that were met before, during and after the conference. Regarding innovation, Russell answered with a glint in his eye: “Identity, across all platforms and especially during live collaboration, is paramount. Suffice it to say that our internal innovation is aligning with where the world wants and needs to be, as evidenced by the MWC experience.”
Russell says that while the experience was invigorating, Telviva would not be altering the strategy that has cemented it as the leading UC&C provider in South Africa through its Telviva One platform, which also has a presence in North America. “We believe in building meaningful relationships, and then scaling organically when the demand occurs. Synchronicity and technology agnosticism are two compelling drivers of demand in the UC&C space.”
