We are in the world of next generation networks. This means telco products seem to make life easier, cater for demand-side requirements and increase knowledge transfer from the customer’s perspective. Telco providers must convince prospective clients by means of transparency as well as by the progress that comes with the products they sell. In this network context, selling and producing end-to-end comes to mind. It reflects process skill sets and knowing how to activate the right link. A savvy and deep understanding of the parties involved in the process helps sell.

Which kinds of leverage support turnaround?

To answer this question one must take a deeper look at the following: cluster, growth, profit, cost, quality, people, and culture.

In a global economy most top customers are multinational corporations. Although some scope remains for further growth, a share-of-wallet increase in national customers makes growth in excess of the GDP growth level difficult. A quest for significant international growth potentials is required. Scaled business is an important factor in reaching sustainable and profitable growth to be able to compete with competition that operates on a larger than national scale. Customer segmentation at the international or global level is different. New market models and efficient international cooperation in sales and in the delivery network are important success factor.

Worldwide delivery optimization is required to offer a portfolio to top customers. This means industri­al­ized production and service delivery in the best economic fit. The growing importance of nearshore and offshore locations will promote a reduction of production costs. Portfolio standardization is another important factor. It will make it possible to offer customers competitive prices, to boost sales efficiency and to reduce cross-functions and bureaucracy.

To continuously support competitive pricing, high quality of service must be maintained, costs must be simultaneously reduced and continuous high quality of delivery must be maintained by means of globally standardized processes and quality measures.

The general objective is to create cost transparency, which is especially important for target- and customer-oriented calculation of all units involved in the provision of cross-border services. Costs that can be allocated must be assigned to customer or production orders. Internal cost allocations are only made if they cannot be avoided.