Using a smartphoneWhen a new technological idea gains ground and becomes widespread, it often doesn’t take long before a lot of startups join the bandwagon.  You will be amazed at the number of cloud based companies in existence.  When it comes to cloud storage, the amount of providers offering their services is countless.  Every one of them tries to offer a feature that is expected to be the game changer.  Apple offers iCloud in order to stem the growth of smaller cloud based companies eating away at its customer base.  A lot of competitors have fallen along the way and others are still in their mother’s basement trying to hash the next big thing.  So, what is Synchronoss?

Any startup that wants to be around in the foreseeable future will do well to keep a tab on its competitors.  At the moment, Synchronoss is not a well know brand but those at Dropbox would have heard about the latest kid in the cloud storage business.  That doesn’t mean that Synchronoss is a startup.  It has been around since the year 2000 and has been offering software-based activation service for mobile operators.  Recently, the company decided to branch out and offer cloud based storage similar to Dropbox.

Synchronoss WorkSpace is not really going after Dropbox customers directly but it shouldn’t be counted out of the equation.  Since the company has been working with mobile operators and their huge customer base, what better way to leverage its existing partnership and generate more revenue.  For example Vodafone, the British telecommunications giant with over 400 million subscribers will be one of the many mobile operators targeted by Synchronoss.  When one revenue source is getting to saturation point, you need to find another way to generation more from the same infrastructure. That is what is at stake and why Synchronoss is in a different league than ordinary cloud storage companies.

Smartphones and 3G enabled tablets are everywhere.  There are millions of users who are trying to consolidate their digital presence on their mobile devices. What if your mobile provider can offer you cloud storage with your phone plan where you don’t have to log into another app?  A lot of people can see the advantage of that.  This can improve user experience and help keep customers locked into their current mobile operator plan.  The more services people consume from a single vendor the more difficult it is for them to just walk away.  Most customers will rather not go through the hassle.

This is where Synchronoss can easily reach millions of users by targeting telecom operators who already have the customers.  It is evident that this can be a win-win situation for Synchronoss and any mobile operator looking for ways to generate more revenue without the need to build new infrastructure.

That said, any new technological feature pushed to consumers has a greater risk of failure.  Consumers often don’t like paying for things no matter how great it might be.  That is a risk that most mobile operators will need to take into consideration.  That can also impede Synchronoss in its effort to become a big player in the cloud.