#23 The Future Won’t Wait: Platforms, Satellites & the Next Billion Connections with Tom Griffiths Vodafone 🎙️🚀🌍🛰️

00:00:01: Welcome

00:00:16: back to Connecting for Future.

00:00:17: Today we are talking about how leaders design the future instead of reacting to it, platforms innovation hybrid connectivity and business models that will define next decade.

00:00:28: Tom Griffiths is joining me today!

00:00:30: Tom works right at the intersection of platforms and emerging technology.

00:00:35: But instead of me giving a full intro, I will let him do it!

00:00:38: Tom welcome!

00:00:39: Brilliant thanks Christian.

00:00:40: It's great to be with you today.

00:00:43: So yes...I'm Tom Griffiths One of the directors here in Vodafone Investments & Strategy.

00:00:49: Specifically i am responsible for mobilising new big bets investments and ventures that are going our business into the next decade and defining our future, what we're doing for it.

00:01:03: Well that sounds really interesting right?

00:01:06: And Tom just if you look within your current position... What fires are!

00:01:11: So working in innovation at Telco is a super-interesting place to be because there's always so much that you can do.

00:01:18: Telcos have been obsessed with many years around working category adjacency launching smart home products and fintech.

00:01:27: For me What really fires me up is distilling all that down to work on what's going to make the difference in placing those key big bets.

00:01:36: That we know are right ones, because we do not have limitless capital like some of our big techs.

00:01:41: so you need to be careful!

00:01:43: We replace time and capital with our talent shooting and going really, really fast to ensure that we can be successful.

00:01:50: And then enjoying the success that we then have as a result.

00:01:53: if I just look at again at your title why so i don't come into waterfront saying yeah I want me a platform director?

00:01:59: when you look back at your career what decision or moment most shade how do think about innovation today?

00:02:05: Yeah

00:02:06: So I mean If I reflect on my My career I've been in telco now for coming on for fifteen years having started on the shop floor.

00:02:14: So, I spent a lot of time in our channels and looked after wholesale and indirect partnerships generally enjoyed general management roles.

00:02:26: In those general management role it has always allowed me to take these decisions or steered in certain ways, which ultimately has allowed us to create an edge versus our competition.

00:02:39: I think my reflection.

00:02:40: who's always been taking the higher risk roles?

00:02:43: so there is always a easy route and harder route.

00:02:45: The Harder Route is where you potentially get more latitude to operate the opportunity make those interesting recommendations the interest and excitement for the rest of the business to come on the journey with you.

00:02:59: Tom,

00:02:59: everybody talks about platforms and future business models.

00:03:03: these words get thrown around in practice.

00:03:06: what do they mean?

00:03:07: Okay so I think everyone has their own definition for what a platform business truly is.

00:03:12: i think For me it really boils down two three things.

00:03:17: first of all It's about operating a multi-faceted business model being builder rather than simply an integrator.

00:03:24: If we look at car manufacturers now, reflect on many automotive manufacturers.

00:03:28: I don't really consider the manufacturers that they're integrators and i think The difference with platforms is platforms are not just integrators.

00:03:36: They are creating their intellectual property .They understand how everything fits together And they own that code ,they own that IP and therefore they own the economics in there destiny.

00:03:44: So for me it's about business models and building.

00:03:49: I think secondly, you can recognise a platform by their ability to move at speed innovate try new things which is very difficult when you're an integrator.

00:03:58: So integration business would be like right now need to find the vendor.

00:04:01: how does that vendor plug in whilst if your true platform business You get your devs together and you build based on what your product managers desire?

00:04:10: And then finally i think The other thing i'm noticing more about sort of platform thinking Is it's almost turning into bit over club.

00:04:17: So you need to be able, it was a successful platform business.

00:04:22: You're operating within the network of platforms.

00:04:25: It's like being in a bit of club and platform businesses want work with other platform businesses And are less interested building value With integration businesses Because they don't have the agility and ability To move and potentially bring business models together In way that generates true value

00:04:44: mean also like that not all the companies always necessarily have to build their own platform, but rather join like an ecosystem instead.

00:04:52: I think it is partially a mindset thing.

00:04:54: i think you know obviously what platforms allow you to do as you are either the platform creator and generator or you can then participate in that platform ecosystem Or You Can Be Another Platform which interoperates.

00:05:08: There's nothing wrong with being an integrator and playing a role, many businesses successfully do so.

00:05:13: not everyone can be on platform.

00:05:15: actually the other the other key tenant of platforms is you need scale.

00:05:21: So if you can't scale, then your nowhere as well.

00:05:23: so I think it's a decision that businesses and telcos have increased got to make.

00:05:29: Do they consider themselves integrators or do they want to have greater sense ownership their destiny through being platform business?

00:05:37: Which industries besides of telco will be disrupted next by platform based business models?

00:05:44: So, I think the next big disruption that I see on from a platform standpoint is probably that of commerce and ad tech.

00:05:56: We can already see buying trends are starting to change.

00:06:00: whereas historically Google very successfully built their ad tech business through paid search and paid media.

00:06:07: And then, you know the shopping carton off-the-shelf eShop companies in eBay etc... Then build a very successful WYSIWYG which is what you get shop fronts with obviously the forward or reverse logistics building at the back end.

00:06:22: I think we can all now start to see change towards more of conversational agentic based experience.

00:06:30: And I think, you know it's fair to say that a lot of the e-commerce environments have already understood and built their platforms in way they will be able to participate.

00:06:42: Retailers who haven't set themselves up with a genetic back end are going to find them struggling similar those maybe weren't ready when the initial E-commerce revolution hit On ad tech as well.

00:06:57: It's really interesting because whilst it hasn't hit scale yet, the amount of customers that are reaching these e-commerce environments from paid search and Google feel very high.

00:07:07: The trend is changing its no longer.

00:07:09: I'm going to google on typing out.

00:07:11: i want to buy some viral pens.

00:07:12: Its a conversation with a chatbot Is a conversation With an AI assistant.

00:07:17: So what would be big disruption?

00:07:20: from what I call the agentic channel.

00:07:22: So come for customers, end users are going to make a decision about how they're getting access.

00:07:29: today that might be through chat GPT it might not be through Gemini in my be through Meta AI and men and publicity many others but is going to be ownership of that front window.

00:07:39: that's going to be key, because then it will drive the ad tech model.

00:07:42: It is that window who decides whose advertising platform I'm gonna call and what am i gonna suggest or recommend back to end user which leads a successful sales transaction for my value creation?

00:07:56: So Tom's view of what the big platform disruption we're gonna see, it going to be ad tech as customers shift from a traditional paid search based research model for buying.

00:08:08: To an agentic one?

00:08:09: Okay

00:08:09: that is cool.

00:08:10: yeah let us focus on my favorite topic which is satellite through mobile.

00:08:15: sounds like science fiction right some people at least.

00:08:18: What are most practical near time impact business should care about.

00:08:23: So yeah, Satellite and Director Device Communications is something that's super close to my heart.

00:08:28: In actual fact it's the part of the organization I've literally just rolled off as I'm moving to create The Next Big Thing for Modiphane.

00:08:36: but if you look at business or consumer... It's an emotional use case!

00:08:43: What we refer too as momophobia-the fear of being disconnected.

00:08:48: We all have black spots, we would love to be perfect as mobile operators but do you have deal with geography and physics.

00:08:55: The reality is that you will never get a total geographical coverage from a terrestrial network.

00:09:01: it's just not possible.

00:09:02: So for us, the excitement of direct-to-device communications is it allows this for the first time to really make that promise with confidence.

00:09:10: That if you see the sky You'll get five bars of coverage and will be able To offer a full voice on data service any unmodified device?

00:09:19: That's really exciting.

00:09:20: now That makes a massive difference as well to small business owners, all the way to loan workers working for large organisations because it means they no longer need to worry about missing communication or not being able to get a communication out.

00:09:37: So there's that mass market model.

00:09:39: There are of course then other really interesting use cases that we're starting to look at centered around obviously IoT, the ability to provide critical infrastructure telemetry.

00:09:50: Historically, critical infrastructure you would have needed.

00:09:53: potentially a VSAT link or fixed satellite link which is quite expensive will be able to offer something with director device.

00:09:59: thats more akin an IOT cost base both in terms equipment and service links but also we'll be able to take the service beyond, you know... Beyond The Land.

00:10:12: So there's gonna be offshore use cases as well which means that we can start to extend to maritime military applications as well and it's not just limited sea level.

00:10:23: Ultimately, these satellites are hundreds of miles up so if you're flying overhead they will be working in aircraft as well.

00:10:31: So You'll Be able to continue to enjoy your sort of native service on Your devices irregardless Of where you Are.

00:10:39: Yeah it's

00:10:39: interesting right?

00:10:41: How many companies out there who are focusing on satellite People know like Starlink White AST Space Mobile?

00:10:47: Who else is There?

00:10:49: I think you first will have to start with what are the different types of satellite communication.

00:10:53: Okay, so if you look at Starlink as an example... So Starlink is a huge very exciting innovative company which ultimately part of bigger companies like SpaceX and now includes XAI last week too.

00:11:08: Now Starlink do not just operate one system, they operate a whole network of systems.

00:11:12: They have Starlink which provides service to fixed broadband satellite and receiver dishes.

00:11:19: there's the Starlink Director Device System Which communicates with unmodified handsets And then of course There is the star shield constellation Which is used for military applications.

00:11:28: There are probably others as well that we don't know about But all interconnect As a mesh A bit like our Wi-Fi networks at home.

00:11:36: That brings them tremendous scale.

00:11:38: So the way that they communicate back to the earth for their back call and the way They communicate together is the same.

00:11:44: It's the front hall That makes a difference, and that really The starting point.

00:11:48: for well what are the different satellite operators?

00:11:50: But there are other playing out.

00:11:52: I'm really this comes down too.

00:11:54: two what use case you tried to satisfy?

00:11:56: four the Fixed satellites offering various starlet which as well known Amazon Leo coming hard on the heels.

00:12:04: A Starlink Mail with a really, really exciting service.

00:12:06: they're going to be scaling through in twenty-twenty six.

00:12:09: We obviously have Telly Speed Lightsat we have OneWeb and there are number of other providers as well which offer different flavours Of a service that is ultimately designed to replace a fixed broadband line or fixed lease line On the director device side.

00:12:26: There are, again other services.

00:12:28: So there's AST which is designed to be able to communicate with unmodified devices using existing spectrum.

00:12:37: Starlink have the same but then they were also a number of other operators.

00:12:41: you know Apple iPhones had been able to communication by satellite for years The way that do it through global star network and service being positioned by Iridium and Link.

00:12:52: But these services which makes them different, operate using mobile satellite service spectrum.

00:12:58: Which can't be used by a normal device.

00:12:59: so I always carve it down to three types of those that will communicate with fixed dishes and fix broadband replacement.

00:13:07: there's what we call unmodified director device Starlink and your AST, then you have Modified Director Device which uses the MSS Spectrum Bands.

00:13:18: And that's your Iridium, your Link, global star... ...and how they ultimately operate.

00:13:23: Would this also be like this hybrid connectivity?

00:13:27: Of course!

00:13:28: Of course.

00:13:29: You know, like we found with telecommunications for years resilience is super important especially for businesses.

00:13:36: so in many cases one option is the wrong option.

00:13:39: you need to be going for a hybrid approach and building for resilience.

00:13:43: So uh...you know..many business will have a fixed line with mobile failover having these different constellations that are not just geographically separate, but fundamentally operate on completely different hardware and at different altitudes in space.

00:14:00: Help!

00:14:00: In terms of ensuring that businesses have the level of resilience they need... ...in what is an increasingly uncertain world?

00:14:06: For some of those connections you also need to get like I know usually if your outdoor we got good coverage right.

00:14:13: so for indoor usage always rely on some indoor coverage.

00:14:18: Solution's fine?

00:14:18: Yeah,

00:14:19: for sure.

00:14:20: I mean the.

00:14:21: we call this The Link Budget which is ultimately the signal link between the receiving device and the satellite.

00:14:28: historically one has always needed a line of sight because the signals are having to travel over such great distances And the type of spectrum means that it does not penetrate buildings.

00:14:38: super well satellite Is never going to be the perfect technology To penetrate buildings.

00:14:44: Okay, it's just a reality situation.

00:14:46: So to cater for that you know You can always have the receivers on the outside of building then project or Wi-Fi signal inside the building with direct device comms They will be able to penetrate some ceilings.

00:14:58: That's why we kind of say aircraft cars but for some reason trains are not.

00:15:02: Trains are no good.

00:15:03: You can't get into trains, they're too

00:15:04: thick.".

00:15:05: So that's what we've been telling customers.

00:15:07: is cars' good planes-good trains know...

00:15:10: Right?

00:15:10: so it's not going to take ages.

00:15:12: It already here right from a timing perspective when you see hey this definitely going to be available for everybody.

00:15:20: Companies are still shooting up several lights, right?

00:15:23: So it's not physically available for anybody right now.

00:15:26: Yeah so I mean again It kind of depends on the use case.

00:15:30: You ask directly about direct-to-device.

00:15:32: okay Direct-to device is a complex technology To deploy because it depends on traditional spectrum that has been licensed by each local country.

00:15:46: And every operator who wants to use it, goes back and asks... permission to change that license.

00:15:52: That's a key part of how it works and the rules of engagement haven't totally been set on yet, need-to be worked through.

00:15:59: so thats obviously needs to be solved country by country basis.

00:16:02: The second element is as you say satellites need to be in orbit.

00:16:06: So Vodafone's partner is AST space mobile.

00:16:09: They've made commitments To get their constellation at certain size By end this year And we're working very closely with them On ensuring its case Assuming that they do get the number of satellites on orbit, which is not a straightforward thing to do because there are only so many launch vehicles available just now.

00:16:28: We have issues like the weather and also there's the general capacity to be able take up each spacecraft.

00:16:37: but assuming we're able to get to critical mass this year... The plan is to be launching a beta service during twenty-twenty six.

00:16:47: thing that comes to your mind.

00:16:48: One technology trend you're really bullish or aren't?

00:16:52: I am, i'm not bullish on AI in general but i am bullish on agentic experiences because i can increasingly see a change of consumer behavior where people want to spend less time doom scrolling ,less time kind-of face down and more.

00:17:12: So I see this sort of flywheel, or being able to problem solve and get outcomes through a genetic conversational basis based interfaces as coming into the fore.

00:17:23: What it is missing at the moment is a device with a form factor that truly unlocks them.

00:17:28: My head's...I love this one here!

00:17:30: Biggest innovation blocker.

00:17:31: Biggest blockers for innovation?

00:17:33: So biggest blocker to innovation Is what i call The White Blood Cell effect.

00:17:40: So large organizations struggle to do innovation, there's all kinds of reasons for that.

00:17:47: but one of the main reason is when ever theres anything new fresh or cool always trying something in a slightly different way than the core business model The white blood cells tend circle around it and attack then kill.

00:17:58: It Is A General Trait Because There Was Always Constraints Around Capital And Talent And in a world where you can deploy a euro of capital that, for sure is going to give you foot four X return.

00:18:14: It makes it far more difficult put that one Euro in a venture or new initiative that might give you twenty five because You don't know.

00:18:23: the twenty-five is coming forward and then you multiply that effect across whole organization And it can be very, very challenging to drive innovation as a result.

00:18:33: I think the other thing that drives like behavior is innovation has sometimes seen this sort of special hobby project workshop.

00:18:43: you cannot play that role in an innovation shop.

00:18:45: You have to be very clear on how your going deliver value and supporting your organization's market cap in medium-long term.

00:18:55: otherwise It is just a shock for pet projects and that won't get you anywhere.

00:18:59: And last one, once kill.

00:19:00: every future leader must tell.

00:19:02: so I have the saying with my product of commercial leaders which is if you go to any fast moving consumer goods organization baked beans Heinz Baked Beans very British That Product Manager will know The composition Of the bill of materials.

00:19:18: What builds up cost base?

00:19:21: product is produced in the way it is produced.

00:19:24: I'm a firm believer that some of our best leaders have the level of curiosity and also, um, it will curiosity an insight to know how their organization truly operates what makes it great?

00:19:37: What makes not so great And Also How It Fundamentally Makes Money Why Customers Want To Come And that's one of the reasons why I think as Vodafone, we're seeing a turnaround.

00:19:50: We have this relentless focus on customer simplicity and growth which is how Margarita and all the leaders are now starting to think about how we drive our organization.

00:20:00: really for me it's the word curiosity.

00:20:02: It's like curiousity to understand How things work?

00:20:11: One of the ones which combines also, The last topic right.

00:20:15: If you can give like future leaders Also a piece of advice what would it be?

00:20:20: It's going to go back To the AI Topic again.

00:20:22: Okay Which is A bit Like Save A Bit Like Innovation.

00:20:25: Innovation There Is Loads You Can Do.

00:20:28: The Question You Always Ask Is Should You?

00:20:31: And The Same Is With AI and Automation and Augmentation.

00:20:35: there Are Loads We Can do should we?

00:20:37: So As I Think About The Future Leaders That are coming up through the organization and they're thinking about their deployment of AI.

00:20:44: They all need to think about where they came from, and where they built their personal toolboxes because if we overly automate an augmentate We will lose our source of talent for the next generation.

00:20:56: So it sounds a bit soap boxy on my part but I think about My career And i think about Where I started as a sales executive um fifteen years ago.

00:21:05: I spent a year driving my sales manager around the country because he happened to live down on the road from me.

00:21:10: Best job interview i've ever done, cause if you're like where do you live?

00:21:12: Ten minutes down the road brilliant!

00:21:13: You got the job.

00:21:14: so i just drove him round for a year and um...and i took notes..i followed up actions.

00:21:20: but what i learned in that year working for that sales director ultimately has honed the craft that i now take forward as a senior executive and I would not have had that experience, had my role been fully automated.

00:21:32: And i wouldn't be here.

00:21:33: so as a As a real lesson learned for future leaders, we have to ensure that we retain some of these career pathways where people can truly learn their craft.

00:21:44: Of how to operate in a corporate so the corporates can continue to yield value both now and in the future.

00:21:51: That was really deep sorry it's right.

00:21:54: It is The Real

00:21:54: Thing For Me Right?

00:21:57: Tom, I know you're going to take a break now right?

00:22:00: So but when do we see you again?

00:22:02: would it be like if people want to pitch and talk about things what is the Mobile World Congress?

00:22:07: or

00:22:07: too early.

00:22:08: Yeah no i will be at mobile world congress.

00:22:11: um look my sort of focus area.

00:22:14: uh having now concluded my work on director device communications Is...I'm really excited.

00:22:24: How are telcos going to be interoperating with each other and with other brands as we move into the twenty thirties?

00:22:32: I think of this is a concept like borderless communications.

00:22:36: So super interested, interested in discuss some collaborate with organisations that are in that world or thinking about not how everything is playing out today for Telcos but how it might play out in the coming decades.

00:22:51: Well

00:22:51: there's already for today.

00:22:53: Thank you so much mate!

00:22:54: And

00:22:54: to everyone listening, thanks for tuning in.

00:22:57: The future

00:22:57: isn't out there somewhere.

00:22:59: it's what we choose to build together.

00:23:01: So reach out to Tom right

00:23:03: now and share his link in profile

00:23:05: on the show notes.

00:23:06: I wish your all the best and hope to see you soon.