By Ben Edmond, CEO & Founder, Connected2Fiber
In the world of connectivity, an $80 billion-plus U.S. and $370 billion-plus global market, location matters. Across the nation, more than 8.3 million non-residential buildings exist, locations that increasingly need more connectivity and want fiber for that increased connectivity requirement.
Providers of network infrastructure, which currently stand at over 2,500 across the country, invest over $11 billion each year to bring their capabilities to market. This investment is driven by sales team headcount, payments to third-party channels, marketing programs and tools.
Ultimately, the most significant portion of that money is focused on helping network operators participate in the buying process to be considered for the customer’s network infrastructure. Participation matters. If a network operator does not participate in the buying process because they are not known to the buyer, they miss a tremendous opportunity given infrastructure churn rates of less than one percent, which indicates a greater than eight-year average customer life to that revenue stream. The capital it takes to put fiber in the ground is high. Every customer win has a significant positive impact.
At a very high level, here is what the buying process should look like for the customer of network infrastructure:
- Request connectivity quotes from existing providers
- Research to find out who else is in the building they need connectivity from
- Researching within the buyer system for available network
- Research using third party tools
- Asking building engineer
- Asking broker or Managed Service Provider
- Request bid / negotiate price
Participation in the buying process requires that your network is known to be at, or close to the location or locations in question. Companies that are leading the industry are doing this by arming their sales teams and partners with network and market intelligence to transparently show where their networks are, and what is next to or connected to the network in terms of product capabilities, location information and tenants of those sites.
Additionally, network infrastructure providers are proactively pushing their location data to the buyer’s systems and tools such as MasterStream in the agent market, or carrier-built OnNet and OffNet research tools, or buying tools from Tangoe and the other Telecom Expense Management (TEM) providers, or procurement platforms like Ariba. If they look and you are not there, they don’t ask.
Connected2Fiber is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market participation platform that helps leading network infrastructure operators participate more effectively, faster and at a lower cost. We help infrastructure owners see their network with market context, learn who has what where, predict when infrastructure is needed next and engage the buyer in their process through simple, transparent tools that automate participation.