In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry. This week, Commercial Director Tomas Cohen introduces Avatar World Group.
What does Avatar World Group do?
Avatar World Group develops technology to monetize digital content and services, offering solutions for every link of the mobile value chain.
When did you launch and what growth have you seen?
AWG started its operations in 2004 producing and licensing contents for mobile value-added services. At that time monophonic and polyphonic ringtones were the only available products being offered to end-users.
As the mobile ecosystem grew and matured, we accompanied the evolution, providing more sophisticated content that was compatible with the more evolved mobile terminals.
By 2008 we had already developed a digital distribution network that provided us reach to more than 35 mobile operators in 24 countries and in 6 different languages.
We always tried to work Glocal, local content for global audiences, providing relevant content for each market we launch in, supporting local culture.
What are your main goals?
Avatar World Group is devoted to creating value through long term human relations. Our approach is determined by two major definitions: quality and growth, throughout the whole organization and throughout all the processes that cross the company. This is what drives AWG in its different businesses and projects.
Where do you see yourselves in three years’ time?
In terms of our Direct Carrier Billing area, we are interested in being able to provide our partners and customers with a greater payment network that allows them to either monetize their services or get access to them in greater coverage. We are focused on two major territories for expanding our footprint and those are Africa and Latam.
In relation to our content side or product side, we are very focused on our Cloud Gaming service, AWG Games, which we believe is a disruptive solution that will provide greater access to console/PC gaming to the general public, by lowering the toughest current entry barrier, which is its expensive cost.
Our service will allow end users to enjoy premium PC Games on a monthly subscription-based service, in which they require no investment in hardware, just a good internet connection, fixed or mobile (5G).
What aspect of mobile is most exciting to you right now?
The pandemic has created a leap of evolution. By this, I mean that, what was going to take two, three, or four years to happen, has happened in six months.
A lot of new users on many new services, the adoption of digitalization to practically every aspect of life, from groceries to entertainment; everything is now happening on a digital platform, and of course, mobile has a huge market share of those interactions.
These are exciting times in which innovation will occur, whether we want it or not. We will have to move fast, adapt and be able to accompany a new audience which was not “digitalized” into this new era, as well as being capable to understand what will come next for the younger generations which are “mobile naturals”; Cloud Gaming is one of those, at least from our perspective.
It is amazing to be part of this evolution and to have the possibility of having such an impact.
What’s the most critical issue that will hit mobile within the next 12 months?
It is likely that many users that are starting to adopt digitalization for their everyday lives, will encounter difficulties, mainly related to lack of knowledge and habit.
This will force all those players who are interacting with these audiences to be patient and clear in evangelizing them into the new paradigm in which they will encounter themselves. This will be challenging, but it is crucial if we intend to open the ecosystem to a greater audience.
Elder audiences using Video Streaming platforms, Shopping for Groceries, paying their taxes, or whatever they will do, it is likely that it’s going to be on a digital platform, and they will encounter difficulties which we all need to learn how to overcome. On our side as providers and enablers of such services, and on the audience as clients and end-users.
Apart from your own, which mobile companies are the ones to watch in the year ahead?
We are particularly interested in companies that provide SaaS, which are currently adopting tons of new clients due to the digitalization of practically everything!
Digital Invoicing, Remote Management Tools, Cloud Collaboration Technologies. We are at a very particular time in history, where evolution will leap and almost every industry will adopt mobile to their strategy somehow.
