The boards of directors of major European telcos are becoming more engaged with the digital future, which bodes well for the wellbeing of their businesses. Some are taking inspiration from the big Internet companies, while others are learning from more unlikely sources.
Board-level discussions at Vodafone often centre on the form and role of the telco in a digital future, Andy MacLeod, CTO for Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific at the telco, explained at an event in London this week.
Executives at the company are keen to answer the question, "if Google owned Vodafone, what would they do?" MacLeod said at a C-level panel session at the Great Telco Debate on Wednesday.
Some of that is about self-service and automation, as well as agility, an attribute that is seldom found at telecoms operators, he admitted.
"Design" is also a keyword. Telcos need to move from an engineering-led approach to a design-led approach, adding more usability into their products, he said.
The digital world has "a large chunk of design-led DNA," MacLeod said. "We don’t."
BT Global Services CEO Luis Alvarez joked that he too is learning from the Internet sector, having grown-up offspring working for Amazon and Telefonica-owned social networking site and MVNO Tuenti.
On a more formal level, the U.K. incumbent takes advice on its future from its customers, both on the consumer and business sides.
"We use our customers as a…soundboard," Alvarez said. "We use customers as a source of innovation."
Funnily enough, BT is not the only company that claims to listen to its customers. Virgin Media Business also takes inspiration from its customer base, as well as from employees and vendor partners. But it is also learning from a more unlikely source: children.
The firm ran a workshop where it invited children to paint pictures of their view of the technology they would like to use.
"We listened to nine year olds and 10 year olds…[and gleaned some] gems of insight, said Peter Kelly, managing director of Virgin Media Business. "It was free consulting."
Telefonica’s board still places too much reliance on high-end consulting, admitted Phil Jordan, group CIO at Telefonica. However, board members are more open and engaged than ever before, something that helps the telco push ahead in the digital world.
"We’re halfway there," when the board wants to engage, Jordan said.
Given the growing importance telcos must place on finding out what their customers want, designing it well and ensuring a good experience, is it time they welcomed some new job titles to top management?
BT’s Alvarez spoke up in favour of the chief customer officer. "The guys who pay for everything we do are the customers," he said.
Telefonica’s Jordan agreed, noting that operators don’t necessarily need design chiefs, for example, provided they get the customer piece right.
Virgin’s Kelly also liked the idea of a chief customer officer, but also shared an alternative option.
"I would go for a chief knowledge officer," he said. This would enable telcos to use the vast amount of data they collect on their customers as part of the decision-making process at board level.
Perhaps new executive roles don’t have to be permanent, and could instead be interchangeable, suggested said Chris Lewis, analyst and session moderator. "It’s a bit like the bench in a rugby match," he said.
