A study on value propositions for convergence portals in the NGN era

Abstract

This thesis emphasizes value propositions for convergence portals and suggests the implications for related business entities to cope with the NGN (Next Generation Network) environment. A convergence portal is defined as a portal that supports proactive personalized services regardless of networks and devices in the NGN environment. To address the importance of the convergence portal, this thesis examines the changes in value chains within the related industries. Its importance is derived from the convergence trend that requires ubiquity and simplicity. Convergence trend is being accelerated by technological evolution, deregulation, user expectations, and provider trajectories. It is revealed in the form of inter-technology, inter-industry, and human-technology convergence and hails a new paradigm that is reconfiguring existing value chains. That is, different digital content is being transmitted into different devices through NGN. It implies that existing portals that are positioned in the different networks are converging in the form of the convergence portal. A reconfigured value chain enforces portal service providers to verify value propositions related to the convergence portal. Value propositions for the convergence portal are derived as terms, accessibility and context-awareness. These will be derived from the factors of ubiquity and simplicity, which are the convergence drivers. Accessibility represents the ability to access any digital contents regardless of networks or devices. Context-awareness means the ability to provide personalized proactive services considering user profiles and preferences. With these value propositions, existing portals or new entrants need to have different strategic trajectories based on their competitiveness. Since PC portals have competency for search, content aggregation, and personalization, they would like to enhance their business with an A.I. chat-bot enabled-instant messaging service which can interface and...