Unmet demand represents significant opportunity for communication carriers

A global study released today by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) shows that tech-savvy consumers would prefer a single-networking solution to link all their portable, home and automobile digital devices, which presents a major challenge — and opportunity — for communications carriers.

The study, “Telecommunications Competitive Future Research: A Consumer Perspective,” examined the opinions of 600 global consumers who are heavy users of digital devices and services. The study reveals that an overwhelming majority (87 percent) of those surveyed believe that most personal digital devices will be networked, with more than four in five (81 percent) of all respondents preferring a single point of control for all of them.

Moreover, more than half (53 percent) of respondents said that a single-vendor approach is the best way to provide a centralized control function. Eighty-five percent of respondents said that customer support was the most important criterion when selecting a company to manage multiple devices and services. These tech-savvy consumers also place high levels of importance on security and privacy standards (selected by 80 percent of respondents) and the ability to support standards across vendors (78 percent).

“Our research found that consumers who juggle multiple devices and data services have already identified the need for a central control function to simplify the management of their personal technologies,” said Andrew Zimmerman, managing director of Accenture’s Communications industry practice. “Given that some industry projections indicate there will be one trillion digital devices attached to networks within the next 15 to 20 years, a service that makes everything work together is both necessary and inevitable.

“But there is no clear front runner in the race to provide this service,” Zimmerman added. “However, unified customer support — a major strength of communications providers — was overwhelmingly chosen as the most important factor when selecting a single company to manage multiple devices.”

In terms of specific capabilities, the survey revealed that a vast majority (93 percent) of consumers believe that energy efficiency, or “green” controls (lighting, heating/cooling), will be networked in the future.