Wade’s notes on private network business development.

• Building Use Cases.
• Differentiate!
• Models, financial and technical.
• Roadmaps.
• Be realistic!

Some notes that may help you along in building a #PLTE and #P5G business.

Building Private Wireless Use Cases

Your customer needs to see what is possible. That’s why you need to provide use cases. The customer will need to see what it can do. Maybe a network outline that solves a problem they have. You need examples of what is possible as well as trials of what is going on. 

There are several manufacturing trials happening today as well as mining companies using private networks today. For them, it’s about automation and robotics.

Don’t forget the financial companies, they rely heavily on private networks. For them, it’s about security. 

We started out with generic use cases for verticals that made sense. We had to start somewhere to get the word out. We also need collateral to share with our companies to help them explain the potential uses of private networks. It’s not easy, but you have to start somewhere.

Then as you work with customers, you can tailor it to what they need and start to carve out a roadmap going forward. This will be part of their network transformation in many cases. 

You can look at their business today and take the feedback they give for what they want to accomplish. This is what you should be doing, helping them understand how they can improve where they are now. To automate, secure, reduce costs, improve throughput, or whatever else you’re doing to build the business case.

Not all customers understand today, so you will need to build the story and guide them.

Challenge them on the status quo and understand where they are now.

It also helps to simplify it the best you can. Make sure they understand their own network, surprisingly few CTOs understand the nuts and bolts of their network. They rely on their IT group to explain to them.

I will tell you that most IT groups hate change unless it lightens their workload. That’s why so many love the Cloud, it offloaded much of the work away from them.

With that said, they may also see their jobs being threatened, so when you talk to them, tread lightly. They panic easily!!

This network transformation has to make sense.

Differentiate!

Make sure you differentiate PLTE and P5G from Wi-Fi. They are different and have different use cases. If anything, you want to educate the customer and maybe even talk them out of PLTE/P5G.

Why?

Because if Wi-Fi is good enough, it’s cheap and easy to build and design as well as maintain. Why mess with it if it ain’t broken? 

If they have issues with Wi-Fi, focus on that. 

If they have new use cases, focus on that. 

What you do, don’t sell them something they don’t need. Remember, you’re providing solutions for them, not a sale for yourself. This customer will become your partner, they’re not a way for you to move products or services unless they have a real need.

A satisfied customer is a happy customer. 

Models, financial and technical.

The main thing here is to put together a model for them to understand the technical solution and the financials. This is key to moving forward. I am not saying it has to be 100% or a “final final”. I am saying this is required for them to understand how the network will transform and to get the CapEx and OpEx budgets aligned. 

That’s right, CapEx and OpEx, because this network will be a commitment. So you have to make sure you and the customer are aligned with the solution moving ahead. Once you have the solution and scope, you can build the financials. 

They will want to see a business case. While you can run numbers on what they have, you can make assumptions and show efficiencies. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it helps when you tell the story.  They will want to tie the use case to the business case and then see a roadmap on how you will get there.

Roadmaps

The roadmap may be the first thing you show in the use case but at a very high and rudimentary level. Then, after you have the use case and business case built, maybe you can outline the road map showing the steps to get from where they are now to where they need to be.

This has to include the high level and if the customer commits, you can lay out the financials and resources required. 

Internally you will build models for your team. Build off of that. 

The customer would like an idea of how it will progress realistically. Let them know what you expect and ask what deadlines they have. 

Don’t stress it if things go wrong. Today’s world has many unknowns, like the supply chain or manpower issues. You will have to explain these risks. Most customers understand these issues. 

Risks are important to identify as early as possible. You don’t need to sugarcoat it but then again, don’t blow it out of proportion either. Just identify the risks and move on. If you want to explain your contingency plans, that’s fine, but delays happen and we can’t always predict them.

Be Realistic!

You don’t need to make it any better or worse. Just tell them what it will be expected to do and what it will take to grow the network.

Be open about the OpEx costs because this will eat away at future budgets. These systems may or may not pay for themselves. You’re there to provide guidance and consult in the beginning.

Don’t over-promise but try to over-deliver. We all love that and when you can actually do it, everyone is all the happier. 

Say what it it, and explain what it can, then point out the changes that are coming. If they start at PLTE and want to go to P5G, give them the plan and roadmap. Also tell them the benefits, if there are any.

Be realistic and honest.