Loukas Tzitzis, Chief Products and Marketing Officer, and finalist for TM Forum's 'CTO of the Year' Excellence Award 2019, explains the four pillars of Nexign's digital transformation strategy and how diversity is innately woven into the company cultureHow would you describe your organization's enterprise-wide digital transformation strategy? Our strategy is focused on how we can enable communication service providers (CSPs) to become digital service providers. The four pillars of our digital transformation strategy are:
- Enabling personalization, together with an optimal experience
- Supporting the creation of digital partnership ecosystems
- Powering revenue stream diversification as well as cost base optimization through Open APIs, 5G, cloud, microservices, IoT, analytics, SDN/NFV, BPA, open source and blockchain
- Emphasizing agility and rapid time to market
What targets does your organization have to guide this strategy?We have put digital transformation at the core of our 2017-2020 corporate strategy targets and our dashboard shows significant achievements and being on track for 2019-2020.
- We successfully launched our new digital products and services portfolio in Q1 2018.
- We introduced the first blockchain-based BSS solution in Q3 2018.
- Using AI as well as open source is helping us reach our ‘more than 25% TCO savings’ target.
- We are already using a DevOps, CI/CD-powered framework that is suitable for the cloud, 5G era.
- We have completed a massive workforce upskilling program in key future competencies such as microservices, cloud, DevOps, Open APIs.
What’s the biggest ‘win’ you’ve achieved so far?We are very happy to see the benefits that MegaFon, an operator with more than 76 million subscribers, has had from the deployment of our BSS. Considering the complexity of this project, across an area that is almost two and a half times the size of Europe, with nine time zones, the collaboration and partnership between Nexign and MegaFon has resulted in a deliverable that is quite unique in our industry.
How does TM Forum help you to achieve your digital transformation objectives?We consider TM Forum a strategic platform, with vision and goals that fully align with our culture of ‘partnership and openness’. The combination of TM Forum frameworks, toolkits, certification and training programs, together with the emphasis on collaboration, provide an ideal, end-to-end approach for companies such as Nexign to participate in creating the future of our industry.
In our recent research, we asked CSPs to rank the challenges to converging networks and operations. They cited culture first. Why is it such a challenge, what are the cultural challenges, and what can operators do to address this change?Traditionally, networks and IT operations have been characterised by different skillsets, leadership styles, and decision-making approaches. With the emergence of SDN/NFV, ‘networks’ are now software-based IP networks, blurring the lines between networks and operations. There are certain things that any operator can do to address the culture challenge arising from this convergence:
- Define the target culture required for the new organization.
- Identify the right executive that can lead this convergence in a fair and objective manner.
- Embed cultural ownership into transformation management initiatives.
- Focus culture discussions and actions on tangible points.
- Ensure transparency and fairness, in all matters, across both networks and operations.
How is the convergence of networks and IT affecting the relationship between CSPs and suppliers?We see CSPs expecting their suppliers to become real partners, by being able to provide, and own, end-to-end, future-proof solutions that support the convergence of networks and operations. With the emergence of 5G, the establishment of digital partnership ecosystems and the business model transformation of service providers, the relationship between suppliers and CSPs will continue evolving towards a partnership and collaboration-based model, where value will be co-created and shared.
A diverse workforce is defined as one that is made up of individuals with wide range of characteristics and experiences, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, ability and sexual orientation. What are the biggest challenges your company faces in promoting diversity and what initiatives does it have to become a more diverse and inclusive workforce?Nexign has a 27-year history in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a region with 12 countries and a population of 240 Million. Russia alone has more than 190 ethnic groups and more than 30 million people defined as coming from minority ethnic backgrounds and various religions. This region also saw the first large-scale influx of women into the workforce, back in the 1930s. As a result, more than 45% of senior management positions in Russia are today held by women, compared to the global average of 24%. There is still work to be done, but this region has dealt with and made great strides in a lot of the diversity matters that we are still trying to solve in other parts of the world.
Nexign is very much a reflection of the region in terms of diversity and the management team and I are very proud of our diverse workforce and the company’s inclusive environment. As a company, I think the biggest challenge we are facing today is the understanding of cultural business differences between Russia & CIS and the rest of the world. Our cultural and diversity programs are vital to these efforts and will remain one of the priorities for the senior management team.
As a leader, what are you doing on a daily basis to address diversity?I come from a multi-cultural family background and I have lived and worked in more than 10 countries over the last 25 years. This has given me a very solid foundation and appreciation for the importance of diversity, both personally and professionally. Listening, leading by example, fostering an environment that allows candid discussions on diversity matters, taking action against inappropriate behaviour, educating and empowering people and ensuring transparency and fairness when it comes to talent and people management are some of the principles I apply every day.
In terms of the wider societal impact of digitization, what are you looking forward to over the next decade?Beyond the benefits to consumers, from personalization of their customer experience and range of choices, I look forward to seeing the societal benefits in terms of:
- Job and value creation through new technologies and skills that power disruptive, partnership-based business models.
- Improvement in quality of life by application of IoT and analytics.
- Positive environmental impact from CO2 emission reduction
- New methods of digital trust that will solve data privacy and security issues.
In terms of the wider societal impact of digitization, what concerns you?The more we depend on technology, the more we will be at risk from technological vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can potentially have very far reaching effects, from the damage of personal reputation to potentially affecting a person’s physical well-being.On top of that, we do have to acknowledge the concerns in today’s workforce, specifically around the need to address the long-term outlook of their current employment and evolution of their skill set.
To meet more Excellence Awards CIO and CTO of the Year finalists and read about their transformation journeys, go to https://www.tmforum.org/about-tm-forum/awards-and-recognition/excellence-awards/finalists/#tab3 
