In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry.
This week, a familiar face, James Williams, introduces his company MrConnectivity as an official Member of MEF!
What does MrConnectivity do?
MrConnectivity is a neutral, global consultancy delivering high-impact solutions across Telecoms and Domain Name sectors, focusing on Mobile Identity, Domain Sales, and Business Messaging. We offer Anti-Fraud, Business Development, Educational, Marketing, and Strategy services to enhance the value for organisations worldwide.
When did you launch and what growth have you seen?
The company was launched in 2013 (September 16th to be exact!) and the decision was taken to remain small – REALLY small! James Williams (AKA ‘MrConnectivity’) is at its core but other industry professionals are brought in as and when required to deliver projects across a multitude of specialist areas. MrConnectivity is truly global.
What are your main goals?
Our goals since Day 1 of our business align very closely with those of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) and this is why it’s super exciting to be now officially part of the MEF community. We’re all about bringing like-minded industry stakeholders together to both further their own respective business goals and indeed to grow the ecosystems as a whole, but in a responsible and – this is the key – sustainable manner. So, connecting people is what we do well. Hence the rather cheesy (we know!) name ‘MrConnectivity’. We do exactly what it says on the tin though.
The unfortunate fact is that where money flows, fraud follows. And with eCommerce booming, so many other services moving online at pace etc. etc., the need for service providers to know that individuals are really who they say they are and for individuals to truly trust that (for example) an SMS or Voice call is REALLY coming from that brand they think it’s from is growing massively. Mobile Identity is a big thing and we’re doing what we can to bring clarity to the sector. Likewise, Business Messaging and Domain Names where practically every single one of the over 300 million listed businesses globally could benefit hugely from a coherent approach to Messaging and a decent web presence – speaking of which our website is under a total rebuild before you check and get back to us here!
Where do you see your company in three years’ time?
Exactly where we were three years ago or 13 years ago – delivering services that make a real impact and making sure all our customers are happy with the results! We truly are driven by our customers but the one change we are seeing (and we’re moving with this too – our membership of MEF being THE perfect expression of this!) is the increasing importance over time of genuine transnational collaboration amongst stakeholders in Mobile. The importance of this is not to be underestimated…
What aspect of mobile is most exciting to you right now?
We could jump on the bandwagon and say “AI” but the simple truth is that AI has actually been around for decades. Just now certain things have brought it mainstream and everybody’s heard of it. For sure AI will help to deliver something that has eluded the Customer Experience, Business Messaging etc. sectors so far, namely the ability to truly personalise interactions with brands and organisations. It’s unbelievable just how many (even huge) organisations have no clue about what content truly excites their customers/users and AI has the potential to change this. But all sizes of organisation need to be brought on this journey and this is what is exciting to me.
An increasing number of (for example) Business Messaging companies are developing intuitive, genuinely easy to use, omnichannel solutions which have the power to truly transform for the better how even very small organisations can do business. Extrapolate similar initiatives across the area of Mobile Identity, the democratisation of domain names (MEF member it.com Domains and Freename for example doing great work here), IoT and other closely related areas, and that’s the most exciting for us. No more ‘us and them’ please..
What’s the most critical issue that will hit mobile within the next 12 months?
Large-scale cybersecurity threats, fuelled by advancements in AI and increased computing power, will likely surge in the next year. Individuals and companies must be vigilant, recognising that the information we freely give away on mobile apps could open doors to more widespread attacks
The biggest concern from our perspective is the rise of fraudulent activities, specifically with regards to how they affect A2P SMS and voice. The rise of AI is exacerbating the issue of fraud, and it is crucial for companies to be aware of these activities and develop solutions in order to protect their customers.
Apart from your own, which mobile companies are the ones to watch in the year ahead?
‘Mobile’ is a vast sector but from across the sectors we’re active in right now, keep an eye out for (in alphabetical and not preferential order!) Aegis Mobile, Infobip, it.com Domains, Freename and Sinch. Many of these companies do far more than you might think and they’re all coming up with some really funky stuff in the coming year! And it just so happens that all bar one are MEF members. Funny that…
