Perfect Curves
Telecommunications companies are using market-oriented process management to grow fast and stay lean
Growth – an objective achievable only by those companies which are able to adapt quickly enough to satisfy rapidly changing customer requirements on highly dynamic markets. The main challenge is the profitable management of the many and varied processes which become necessary to actually provide the offered services.But profitable growth is possible only if companies succeed in keeping their processes lean enough to precisely match customers’ requirements at exactly the required level of quality.
The halcyon days of the past decade when profitability and growth could be achieved by expending relatively little effort are fading into the past as competition heats up and the complexity of global telecommunications markets increases. New competitors, some of them from unrelated industries, are entering the arena. The structure of customer demands and with it the structure of the companies’ product portfolios are becoming more and more complex. Telecommunications companies must update their services at ever-shorter intervals. At the same time, cost efficiencies have become monumentally important.
The market sets the beat
The space for maneuvering on highly competitive markets, when measured in terms of the total market volume, is growing very slowly, in stark contrast to the significant rise in the number of competitors crowding into this space. The air on these markets is becoming rarefied indeed. Organic growth can be achieved under these circumstances only if competitiveness is continuously improved. In such an environment, “competitiveness” means more than just realizing economies of scale and cost leadership. When competition becomes even tougher on these crowded markets, the ability to adapt becomes a critical success factor. Adaptability in this context means that the company being able to recognize, anticipate, and satisfy stakeholders’ demands quickly and is much more than mere flexibility in terms of the ability to change.
The main stakeholders on a competitive buyer’s market are the customers and the investors. The investors’ demands have always been obvious; they measure success almost exclusively in terms of positive developments in the company’s return and turnover. The true challenge for companies on competitive markets comes from customers’ needs and requirements. Satisfying the current customers’ demands is not enough; enterprises must also anticipate latent demands which could be met by implementing new technological options so that the firms will be in a position to exploit future growth opportunities.
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