conversations from barcelona mwc 2015 ahmad hassan

Conversations from BarcelonaAll (transformative) roads lead to Digital

“Conversations from Barcelona” features my takeaways from all my conversations with the top decision makers in the world of Telecoms and Digital Transformation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona…

15040398-hs-00090-Barcelona MWC 2015 DRAFT 04.indd 1 16/04/2015 17:16

Conversations from Barcelona

All (trAnsformAtive) roAds leAd to digitAlA few years ago I reported on the start of virtualization

and anticipated Cloud deployments (even if we could not

have imagined how widespread they would become), on

Mobility (nor could we have anticipated the ubiquity

of smartphone usage), and the inevitable need for

Cyber Security (which has become even more critical).

After a few days of overdosing on coffee

and meetings, and a lot more listening,

several observations come to mind:

More and more of the same

Tablets, Phablets & Smartphone suppliers were in

full force, with a multitude of extremely similar

and un-differentiated products! There might have

been a better camera here or a faster processor

there, but I challenge a reasonably informed user

to tell the difference if we removed the logos! It

is now back to basics: differentiating products

by offering a smoother user experience, linking

devices and applications, using reverse logic

translate the consumer experience to a more robust

professional experience (with additional security,

consistent response rates and availability).

The move towards the edge

The huge drive to virtualize almost everything

in the network, had brought to the forefront

the basic network capabilities (and their

Achilles heel: access), bringing more

processing power closer to antennas. Quite

a few solution providers were talking less

about backhaul (network efficiency) and

more about front haul (that is the end-user

experience) and moving some of the network

intelligence from the core to the edge.

2 Conversations from Barcelona


Innovation vs Integration (and potential asphyxiation)

Many of my contacts at the established players

(irrespective of size, maturity or business model) seemed

to be more focused on delivering existing business or

product plans, rather than on breakthrough change.

This led to my question “when does a company stop

driving disruptive change?”, and the responses that

were either very defensive or extremely frustrated! Even

if our industry thrives on disruptive innovation, most

established players (with a few possible exceptions) are

committed to deliver on current products and have less

of an inclination to disrupt the current business. So if

we agree that it is the startups & spinoffs that champion

disruptive innovation, then maybe the success or failure

of larger companies will be dependent on their ability

to acquire and integrate new businesses than about

inventing the new innovative business themselves!

For an innovative industry, too many players deliver on existing products, and are less inclined to disrupt the current market model.Bigger, Better, Faster Data, and a lot more of it!

There were too many cars on the stands, connected

cars bien sure! Intel and Ford have had a consistent

message for years, Peugeot said that they have around

100 sensors in 800,000 of their new cars generating

(Terabytes of data,) Visa even had a demo of how to

order and pay for pizza without leaving the car! Novelty

aside, small companies like Sigfox (connected objects),

announced the closing of over 100 million Euros of

funding to deploy their networks internationally, IoT is

no longer a nice concept, it is actually happening! With

it will be the need for newer and cheaper networks,

for security, and also for the capacity to collect

and analyse an unimaginable amount of data.

There is an emerging need for cheaper networks, higher security and the ability to collect and analyse huge amounts of data

Human Capital Implications

It is inevitable that there will be a talent crunch for

leaders with the following skills and experience:

Big Data: choose what you need

Obviously there will be a strong need for deep

technical and analytical skills to crunch and analyse

the data, however at the leadership level, there

will also be a need for the combination of business

and logical/analytical skills to choose the relevant

criteria to create actionable & business impacting

information from the mountains of raw data.

Will the next new role will be that of the Chief Data Officer, one who can turn (silver into gold) data into information ?

Innovation: integrate but don’t asphyxiate

Other than the transformational leadership skills

that many companies have been trying to develop

over the past few years, as well as the ability to

adapt their organisational culture to agile and

innovative, the collective skill that now comes

to mind is the ability to acquire and integrate

companies without losing the skills, products or

innovative momentum of the acquired companies!

Execution: Own the process not the resources

Organisational silos are still there and need to be

worked across, there is more complexity than ever

before, and there is a much faster pace & a sense

of urgency. Companies will not be able to develop

everything in-house, and will need to partner with

others. Success will be a function of their ability to

partner with the best in class solution providers

than try to reinvent the wheel on their own. n

Heidrick & Struggles 3


Heidrick & Struggles is the premier provider of senior-level Executive Search,

Culture Shaping and Leadership Consulting services. For more than 60

years we have focused on quality service and built strong relationships

with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles

leadership experts operate from principal business centers globally.

www.heidrick.com

The insight and intelligence is from my conversations

with the key decision makers in our industry,

and I am grateful for their time and insight. Any

potential errors in interpretation or in “connecting

the dots” are mine! Readers’ comments and

suggestions areas as always are most welcome.

Ahmad HassanPartner, Technology & Digital Transformation

[email protected]

Copyright ©2015 Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without

permission is prohibited. Trademarks and logos are copyrights of their respective owners.

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conversations from barcelona mwc 2015 ahmad hassan

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