The Revenue EDGE Beacon
Turn the subscriber edge into your Revenue EDGE
Looking for more content? Check out the latest edition of The Beacon here.
Executive Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer, Calix
I have the full Revenue EDGE running in my home behind a cable router, which has been dying under the upload requirements of Zoom-from-home. A week ago, I used the CommandIQ™ mobile app to check ProtectIQ™, which shows the number of threats being blocked from entering my home network. I noted no new threats for nine days.
Like any consumer, I found myself questioning the value of the app. Was it even working? Did I really need it?
Over that weekend things changed: ProtectIQ stopped 70 malware and virus attacks on my home network. Seventy attacks—in a single weekend. The value question had been answered.
That weekend attack was an amazing opportunity for a communication service provider (CSP) to follow up with me and ensure I understood the value of ProtectIQ. In fact, my service provider should have sent me a monthly or quarterly email reinforcing the great job that ProtectIQ did protecting the home.
That email would have helped the CSP realize two benefits. First, the communication would make me, the customer, aware of the value the CSP provides—which would help ensure I don’t cancel my service. Second, an email would help the CSP build up a bank of goodwill with me, because I would clearly understand what a great job my provider is doing to constantly protect my home.
This is the opportunity ahead for CSPs. If your marketing team leverages ProtectIQ correctly, you can actively strengthen your brand and constantly reinforce the value you provide, through regular updates and communication with the customer.
That’s the focus of this month’s issue of The Revenue EDGE Beacon—proactively seizing opportunities as they're created. Here’s what you’ll learn.
The Calix Customer Success and marketing team looks forward to helping you seize the moment and start playing a critical role in the subscriber’s home.
Want to learn other ways you can proactively seize opportunities? Register now to join us virtually at ConneXions the week of October 26. View the full agenda to see keynotes, community events, breakouts, entertainment—and don’t miss Monday, October 26, which is a day we’ve designed exclusively around topics for marketers.
Wishing you and your team continued success.
Host of the CBC Radio show, "Under the Influence."
Co-Founder, The Apostrophe Podcast Company.
Speaker. Author.
Do you remember "Kodak moments"?
Back in the 90s, whenever a situation seemed perfect or special—or hilarious—we instantly labelled them “Kodak moments.”
That phrase came from a very effective Kodak advertising campaign. It was so successful, the phrase became a part of everyday language.
The word “Kodak” was created by company founder George Eastman in 1888. Eastman chose a name bookended with two “K”s because he thought the word sounded like the double-click of a camera shutter.
While Kodak ruled the film industry for over a century, it missed its own critical moment. It ignored the digital revolution.
Which is interesting, considering Kodak invented the first hand-held digital camera. But the company never pursued that innovation because it was focused on protecting its film business.
Don’t retreat and repeat.
That blind spot can hamstring many businesses. It’s a “success trap.” A business that has enjoyed success with a product for many years can become resistant to change. So, it retreats and repeats.
Kodak defined itself as a film company. If it had defined itself as a visual storytelling company, it wouldn’t have filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Sustainable innovation.
As service providers, the key is to never stand still. Technology is on the move and data allows you to anticipate your customer’s desires. It also allows you to innovate without chasing the latest trends. Trends evaporate, but smart data allows for sustainable innovation.
While hardware may have a shelf life, software updates are not static. It means providing your customers with smart solutions when they want them, deploying remote updates in a matter of weeks, if not days.
Data lets you see around corners.
Data not only tells you how your customers are using your technology, but it also reveals where the next opportunities are. The most beautiful moment in business is when a company delivers a product precisely when a customer wants it. That knowledge makes for happy subscribers and keeps you firmly ahead of your competitors.
Kodak kept its head in the darkroom.
But with data, you get the full picture.
These days, most of us are living our lives online, from home. We may have more people in the home than we’re used to. And we’re all on more connected devices, for longer periods of time.
This means we have an urgent need for great Wi-Fi coverage. So, it’s not an ideal time to have a Wi-Fi system living in the basement, where it can’t send a strong signal or navigate around obstructions that can reduce coverage area and throughput.
Great design, carrier-class reliability, and Ultimate Wi-Fi 6 technology.
In response to this challenge, Calix recently launched a carrier-class, Wi-Fi 6-certified system that subscribers will be happy to display prominently in the living room. The BLAST u4—with its compact, white, minimalist design—is something subscribers can put on a coffee table, entertainment center, or in any room of the home. (They can even mount it on the wall.)
This ideal placement allows for fewer obstructions and the transmission of stronger radio signals, resulting in optimal coverage and throughput. Just as important, it prevents subscribers from going to a big-box store to get a pretty system that delivers the latest and greatest Wi-Fi performance. With the BLAST u4, you can provide performance plus great design.
All the advantages of the BLAST Wi-Fi systems.
As you know, the Calix EDGE Systems portfolio already includes our two BLAST u6 systems. With the introduction of the BLAST u4, you now have a choice about how you deliver the ultimate subscriber experience. Whichever BLAST Wi-Fi system you deploy, rest assured that all BLAST systems feature these common elements.
Select the right BLAST system for your subscribers, based on their unique needs and requirements—and seize your moment to own the in-home experience.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Want to deliver security protection? As you may have guessed reading this issue of The Revenue EDGE Beacon, there’s an app for that!
ProtectIQ™ is our network-level security application that proactively monitors network traffic coming into your subscribers’ homes. How does it work?
Using BLAST Wi-Fi systems automatically keeps subscribers secure.
Delivered through BLAST systems, ProtectIQ provides an umbrella of protection for all connected devices. While virus protection solutions like Norton or McAfee can be purchased and installed on a laptop, desktop, or perhaps a phone/tablet, this doesn’t include protection for all the other devices subscribers now have in their homes. By offering GigaSpire BLAST Wi-Fi systems, you protect subscribers with the highest available levels of security.
ProtectIQ is powered by the most advanced security technology, including physical unclonable functions (PUFs). With PUF technology implemented inside a Wi-Fi system, service providers can be assured of the identity of the devices authenticating on their networks, and limit exposure to malicious activity. ProtectIQ also features Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3), which provides the most robust password-based authentication and stronger security protections available.
This service provider used ProtectIQ to block more than 5,500 threats.
We consider Jade Communications a great ProtectIQ success story. In its first two months of getting subscribers onboarded with ProtectIQ, Jade Communications blocked more than 5,500 threats across its network—that’s an average of more than 10 threats per subscriber!
Want to drive adoption of the app? Include ProtectIQ with your Ultimate Wi-Fi solution. If you’re not bundling ProtectIQ with your Ultimate Wi-Fi package, ask your technicians to enable the service for free as a limited trial when they install Ultimate Wi-Fi. Use the trial to nurture the need for this solution and cross sell subscribers into the service after the free trial period expires.
Your Recommended Action Plan
As a service provider you do a lot behind the scenes to protect your subscribers’ Wi-Fi and devices from security threats. Unfortunately, much of that goes unseen.
As Michael Weening points out in his article, you have the power, through marketing campaigns, to tell that story of how you keep them safe. Reminding subscribers of the value you provide will create happy subscribers, build goodwill for your brand, and eliminate churn.
You can remind subscribers of the value you provide in two ways.
1. Communicate with subscribers leveraging the data in Calix Marketing Cloud and ProtectIQ Protection Report templates. Calix Marketing Cloud automatically calculates network threat blocks performed by ProtectIQ™ across all activated subscribers. This comprehensive overview lens displays each threat being blocked over a period of time. You can track this month-over-month and use our ProtectIQ Protection Report template to create summary reports you can send to subscribers. This reusable template allows you to create a regular interaction with your ProtectIQ subscribers via email and Mobile Notifications. These reports will remind subscribers of how the product helps keep them secure.
2. Creating a landing page or product page for your ProtectIQ offering. On this web page, add a tracker (see visual, below) to your site. Simply match each tracker to a threat in the data you have in Calix Marketing Cloud. This dynamic element on your site will validate the need for network security in your subscriber's mind, creating a trust factor they’ll look to you for. A web page like this can increase take rates and help you cross sell into that add-on service.
Don’t have ProtectIQ and want to offer it? Through EDGE Enablement, you have access to go-to-market campaigns you can easily adapt to your brand in the new Electronic Content Builder. No need to spend months launching a new product—now you can do it in days. With an omni-channel campaign approach, these market activation assets give you everything you need promote network security with your subscribers.
Your Recommended Action Plan
When it comes to your competitors, it’s wise to follow the adage: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. You can gain a lot of actionable insight by staying curious about your competitor’s offerings and pricing models. Here are three competitors you need to study.
Comcast xFinity Internet
With xFinity Internet, consumers get the works: The xFi gateway, xFinity app, and gateway perimeter security. They can also install Norton Security Online, on up to five devices. This is a hefty bundle and costs 14 dollars per month. Comcast offers no choices and competes with overwhelming force (like the Goliath it is).
Charter Spectrum Internet
Charter offers no gateway-based network security like ProtectIQ™, but simply offers Security Suite antivirus software (private-labeled software from McAfee) for up to 10 devices. Good news? It’s free. Bad news? No gateway network security for all the Wi-Fi connected IoT devices in the home that can’t run Security Suite.
Amazon eero Secure and Secure+
No surprise, Amazon offers e-commerce choices. You can have an unprotected gateway for free. Alternatively, you can buy eero Secure for $2.99 per month or purchase Secure+ for $9.99 per month and get antivirus protection software for three devices from Malwarebytes (by the way, you can get a better deal buying direct from Malwarebytes). But beware. Amazon keeps the eero Secure price low because the company is really interested in subscriber data.
Know your competitor and develop a plan of action.
What are you going to do about it? Here’s my advice for marketers.
Roll out ProtectIQ and step into the role of trusted advisor for your subscribers. And let the competition eat your dust.
Your Recommended Action Plan
You might not think you compete with Best Buy on in-home network security. But did you know Best Buy charges $149.99 for virus and spyware removal from devices for consumers who don’t purchase an annual protection plan (which itself costs $199.99)? And they charge for each incident, on each device!
If you price your security offer competitively, the value of your solution becomes evident pretty quickly. Here are three expert pricing tips.
1. Build your ultimate Wi-Fi experience into every Internet plan you offer and include ProtectIQ™. You can do this as part of an Internet tier restructuring, or simply add a few dollars to your Internet plans to cover your cost. If your focus is subscriber experience, this is the best way to package and position this service. Your Calix success manager is happy to do the math with you to make sure it’s a revenue-neutral or revenue-positive move.
2. Build ProtectIQ into your Ultimate Wi-Fi experience. Even if you charge for your Ultimate Wi-Fi experience, build in ProtectIQ. This service will be table stakes soon. If you’ve made the decision to “own the subscriber experience” in the home, why wouldn’t you protect them from all the nasty stuff that can attack the home network? Ideally, assign a value to this service and show it back as a credit on the bill each month so subscribers understand the value.
3. Offer a free trial period. Every time new customers sign up or add Ultimate Wi-Fi, give them a free trial period for ProtectIQ. Turn it on free for 90 days, by adding it to the bill and crediting it back. During this period, continue to drive home the value of this service so that by the end of 90 days they wouldn’t dream of shutting it off.
In May, Calix conducted research with Moor Insights and discovered subscribers highly value a secure network. Our joint survey results found most consumers (67 percent) are willing to pay a modest monthly fee (between one and 10 dollars) for comprehensive security solution capabilities. Only 23 percent indicated that they expect to pay nothing for security safeguards.
Contact your Calix success manager to talk specifically about the competitors in your market, and we’ll help you establish the best pricing plan possible.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Getting subscribers to adopt a mobile app is tough enough. But try also asking them to roll out network security and parental controls, and the challenges might seem overwhelming. The Calix Customer Success team can help. In this webinar, hear how we helped SCTelcom team go-to-market with a totally new experience for their subscribers.
Stacey Higginbotham gives an incisive overview of Amazon’s recent “device day” and pulls back the curtain on Amazon’s true goal—which is to leverage in-home devices to capture valuable subscriber data.
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