Page 4 - Helixion-swisscom-tapit-case-study
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Tapit
Swisscom is Switzerland’s leading telecoms provider
holding 60% of the market share. It has a dynamic and
innovative outlook which saw it identify the opportunity
early-on to expand its product portfolio by bringing a
flexible mobile application to market that utilised the
security provided by the phone’s SIM card and NFC to
deliver payment and other services.
Although the technology aspects of delivering such a mobile application are not
straightforward, it is generally accepted that the commercial challenges of bringing it to
market, are the more difficult to resolve. Swisscom was aware of this and sought to develop a
strategy that overcame the key commercial and technical challenges that might limit
adoption of this new application by both their own customers and 3rd party service providers.
The main threads of their strategy therefore were:
• Gain Market Penetration - by maximising the offerings through Tapit. To achieve this
Swisscom had to resolve the branding challenge. For 3rd parties to want to offer their
services through Tapit, Swisscom had to offer them a solution that protected their
branding and customer ownership.
• Speed to Market - to ensure a successful launch Q4 2013. To achieve this Swisscom
had to keep the development simple. By concentrating on only providing core services
(payment) through a limited number of launch partners and supporting only a single
handset platform (Android) initially allowed the scope to be controlled.
• Achieve Technical Portability – to accommodate other operating systems, handset
portability and payment schemes. Although keeping the initial development simple
was required to de-risk the first rollout due later this year, it was imperative that the
architecture would allow future technical scalability and offer the potential of any payment
scheme, any phone and any secure element.
• Achieve Volume Scalability. The long term success of Tapit depends on its ability to
incorporate new services whilst continuing to offer a reliable and consistent user
experience as it evolves.
By addressing these key challenges, Swisscom has built
into Tapit all the ingredients for long term success.
4 A Helixion Case Study
Swisscom is Switzerland’s leading telecoms provider
holding 60% of the market share. It has a dynamic and
innovative outlook which saw it identify the opportunity
early-on to expand its product portfolio by bringing a
flexible mobile application to market that utilised the
security provided by the phone’s SIM card and NFC to
deliver payment and other services.
Although the technology aspects of delivering such a mobile application are not
straightforward, it is generally accepted that the commercial challenges of bringing it to
market, are the more difficult to resolve. Swisscom was aware of this and sought to develop a
strategy that overcame the key commercial and technical challenges that might limit
adoption of this new application by both their own customers and 3rd party service providers.
The main threads of their strategy therefore were:
• Gain Market Penetration - by maximising the offerings through Tapit. To achieve this
Swisscom had to resolve the branding challenge. For 3rd parties to want to offer their
services through Tapit, Swisscom had to offer them a solution that protected their
branding and customer ownership.
• Speed to Market - to ensure a successful launch Q4 2013. To achieve this Swisscom
had to keep the development simple. By concentrating on only providing core services
(payment) through a limited number of launch partners and supporting only a single
handset platform (Android) initially allowed the scope to be controlled.
• Achieve Technical Portability – to accommodate other operating systems, handset
portability and payment schemes. Although keeping the initial development simple
was required to de-risk the first rollout due later this year, it was imperative that the
architecture would allow future technical scalability and offer the potential of any payment
scheme, any phone and any secure element.
• Achieve Volume Scalability. The long term success of Tapit depends on its ability to
incorporate new services whilst continuing to offer a reliable and consistent user
experience as it evolves.
By addressing these key challenges, Swisscom has built
into Tapit all the ingredients for long term success.
4 A Helixion Case Study
