Orange Business transformation delivers tangible results

Orange embarked on a major transformation two years ago to reposition its B2B unit for relevance in an AI-dominated digital era and stem financial losses. Now in its final year, the ambitious overhaul is delivering results, according to Eka Kamushadze, Executive Vice President for Major Programs of Transformation at Orange Business. 

Speaking during Mobile Europe’s Telco to Techco virtual event in early April, Kamushadze shared how the program has had positive impacts on customers, employees and profitability.  

Orange Business’s customer net promoter score (NPS) has increased nine points in the last two years, which is a “critical proof point” of good customer relationships. “This was a big concern for us, [because] being in transformation disturbs customers and we wanted to minimize this impact. So far so good,” she said. 

Employee NPS has also improved and was “above benchmark” in 2024. “Transformation impacts employees, and it can go in a bad way or a good way. But the direction of our employee NPS is quite encouraging and we’re paying a lot of attention to this,” she said. 

Finally, the program has reduced profit losses. Looking back to financial results for the first half of 2022, Orange Business earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after leases (EBITDAaL) dropped by a whopping 25.3%. At the end of 2024, the earnings loss shrank to 8.4%, which Kamushadze said is “quite an achievement in two years.”

Battered by the COVID pandemic, Orange Business was “financially desperate” at the start of 2023, and this was the catalyst for change, she explained. Although B2B earnings are still in the red, the transformation program is aimed at improving the profitability trajectory. 

“We're on a good trajectory, but we're not done yet. This has to continue to stabilize and [become] business as usual,” she said.

Orange said in its full-year results for 2024 that it expects the enterprise unit to halve the EBITDAaL decline in 2025 and achieve “stabilization” in 2026, noting that IT market conditions are “more complex.” Top-line growth was challenging for the unit last year as well. Orange Business annual revenue in 2024 was down 2.1% as solid growth in cybersecurity, IT and integration, and mobile was not enough to offset declines in historical voice and data services.

Taking B2B to the future

The B2B transformation is a core part of Orange’s Lead the Future strategic plan launched in February 2023. Facing widening losses and a decline in legacy fixed-line services at its enterprise unit, the operator acknowledged that it had to change. The plan set out to build Orange Business into a leader in next-gen connectivity and cybersecurity. 

Kamushadze is responsible for designing and leading the “holistic transformation” that has introduced new business, commercial and operating models to improve efficiency, while also addressing the effect on people, skills and culture. 

The program is focused on “simplicity and efficiency” and “differentiation through innovation and trust”.

Orange Business has scrapped half of its product portfolio and started migrating customers to “more competitive” offerings that “meet their current needs,” said Kamushadze. 

The operator has also consolidated central functions and business lines with a new, simplified operating model.

For service differentiation, Orange Business prioritized connectivity, cybersecurity and cloud. “We're transforming these components through a GenAI-powered platform-based model,” she said.

The service provider launched Live Intelligence in November last year, which is based on Orange’s in-house GenAI platform for employees called Dinootoo and packaged for enterprise customers. Live Intelligence Trust is a sovereign GenAI solution and Live Intelligence Open is a more general version. 

As Orange Business adapts, Kamushadze stressed the importance of developing skillsets among employees to enable product and service innovation. “Without the right people, without the right skills, innovation will lose its power very quickly,” she said.

Another important aspect of the transformation is trust. Kamushadze echoed recent comments from colleagues that Orange Business has an opportunity to differentiate from its rivals in a “geopolitically turbulent world.” 

“We're uniquely positioned to offer digital trust and sovereignty, whether it's for European customers operating outside Europe or for enterprises from the rest of the world operating in Europe. I think trust and sovereignty is becoming an interesting proposition very quickly,” she said. 

Driving the transformation train 

The pace of technology change is expected to accelerate over the next decade, which would present perpetual challenges for enterprises. Kamushadze believes telcos are well positioned to support enterprises through technology transitions because they are all going through digital transformations themselves. 

“Telcos are the locomotive on the front end of this… To drive [our customers] with us, we need to be ready first. That’s why this magnitude of change is perhaps felt by us first. It’s big and we’re learning… both [the] pain and advantage… [and] we’re pulling enterprises with us on this journey. It’s a very interesting time to live in telcos right now”, she said.