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More than 60 C-level executives from CSPs worldwide came together to talk about building a 2025 technology organization. They did not agree on the best way forward, but there was consensus on the basic principles around collaboration and customer centricity.
DTWS: How to build a 2025 technology organization
On October 22, more than 60 C-level executives from communications service providers (CSPs) all over the world got together – virtually – to talk about building a 2025 technology organization in a session sponsored by Red Hat. They did not agree on the best way forward, which reflects the fact that every operator has its own unique set of circumstances, but there was consensus on the basic principles around collaboration and customer centricity that will underpin any future approach.
In the video above, TM Forum's CEO Nik Willetts is challenged to provide a concise summary of their discussion, watch the video to see how he fared. Watch a longer recap of the summit at the bottom of this article.
The discussion was the second session in the invitation-only CXO Summit at TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World Series. It was led by a diverse panel: Anthony Rodrigo, Group CIO at Axiata; Shankar Arumugavelu, SVP and Global CIO at Verizon; Ruza Sabanovic, EVP & Chief Technology Officer at Telenor; and intriguingly, Klaus Werner, CFO of Telekom Deutschland, who is responsible for the company’s data strategy – find out more in this interview.
The relationship between Network and IT has long exercised the industry. The CIO of a Tier 1 CSP, who has overseen a remarkable transition in the role of IT at their company, stated that there is typically rigid separation between the two and cited Conway’s Law, which says system design mirrors an organization’s structure, and in this case “that’s an inside-out view.”
They added: “We need to recognize we are not in the technology business. We are in the experience business, and that needs’ an outside-in view.”
Throughout the discussion, there was stress on the acute importance of putting the customer first, rather than thinking in technology terms. It was suggested that this customer-focused thinking would result in greater use of cloud, and as one participant noted, with more virtualization and cloudification of the network, CSPs need more IT skills in Network departments anyway. This is especially true as the era of 5G progresses with very different kinds of services like network slicing coming into play. Others commented that Network often seems to lead transformation with IT “always second”. An attendee enthusiastically urged the involvement of all present with the TM Forum Open Digital Architecture (ODA) to address this “always second” situation. The ODA, which includes an architectural framework along with common language and design principles, defines standardized, interoperable software components organized into loosely coupled domains. These components expose business services through Open APIs built on a common data model.
Another argued that bringing Network and IT together is not enough: Operators need to converge product development, sales and marketing, and customer operations together as well to meet the desired business outcome. Several executives said the point is not about bringing Network and IT departments together, so much as providing the right capabilities for and working closely with the business. One successful approach to achieving this has been to create “clusters” of cross-team collaboration rather than attempt a massive overhaul of organizational structure. Another speaker from a large Tier 1 described providing technology capabilities as being like a kitchen where a variety of dishes can be prepared.
“So you can welcome anybody into your kitchen, and cook anything you like: We have all the ingredients, all the tools, all the techniques,” moderator, Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum, summarized. “You’re the customer – you tell us what you want to cook in our kitchen… You definitely bring your IT and Network pieces together, and you’d have the requisite team together – that gives you a very different sort of DNA profile for the team.”
As Mark Newman, Chief Analyst, TM Forum, said of this part of the debate, “There are no easy answers – that’s one theme. Another is circular argument, which is if you change the DNA of the telco and the culture and bring in innovation, then the Network versus IT issue kind of goes away.”
Another attendee echoed this: “If you're looking for perfect at any point in time, we will fail… It is [about] the mindset and culture and common purpose. We want to be better today than they were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today.” They added: “When it comes to the business, there is the broader issue of partnering with the ecosystem. We have a way to go, but that is the way forward.” Another executive from a Tier 1 operator said that their company has a history of working with developers and that was a kind of “long tail of innovation”. But the B2B market is a different proposition – and it’s important to understand the impact of that on Network, IT and the business overall, especially sales.
They said the big question is: “When you talk about a city or an enterprise, how do you change that organization to manage the potential marketplace? That’s work in progress for us. We are building a number of use cases…looking at a platform play which also brings API management, IT and Network together. It’s all about going to market at speed, innovation and partnering, and by doing all that, lowering the cost to serve.”
The executive added: “We have brought a group together, from CIO, from CTO, to share best practices. We are seeing some overlap, and the opportunity to basically open up APIs from Open RAN to the backend to feed that platform we are building, which will then fuel other services and the partner ecosystem. It’s a very big change.” Watch a recap of the summit below featuring Willetts and Newman.
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