Telecoms Technology Strategy: How to keep focus in rapid change.

Sometimes developing Strategy can be done in 3 easy steps: identify the goals, understand the context and gaps, formulate the strategy. Other times, dynamic change in the environment makes maintaining the focus to achieve those steps a daunting task.

For a Telecom service provider customers will demand more, competition will come from unlikely sources, hardware and applications will be decoupled, devices will become smarter and wearable, and the regulator can issue new guidelines. In other words, change for a Telecom provider is relentless.

Still, those of us charged with developing the technology strategy for the Telecom service providers must provide strategy in these environments and ensure that fast action is taken. In that case we must get a method that stabilizes us and helps to keep focus.

The method is similar to pirouettein ballet – Before you start the spin, you must pick a constant point of reference to which your eyes must always return. Of course if you don’t, you get dizzy and lose focus. For the Telecom service provider, honing the internal processes becomes our reference point in the ballet dance as everything around us throws us into a spin.

Polished internal processes, particularly of the technology unit and of the whole service provider, ensure that the service provider is well poised to identify new opportunities and is effectively prepared to embrace and develop these opportunities.

From my experience, the ITIL v3 framework is particularly suited to this environment. ITIL v3 was initially developed as a collection of best practices for managing information technology (IT) services. That notwithstanding, it is applicable to managing technology services in general. This is because ITIL is organized around a Service Lifecycle: which includes Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.

Below I outline how the processes in the ITIL Service strategy lifecycle help to respond to the dynamism while at the same time aligning to the three key stages of strategy development namely Understanding the context, Making the right strategic decision and executing it amid changing environment.

1. Understanding the context

• Service strategy management for IT (Technology services) –Through this process, the Telecom service provider will analyze both the internal and external environments to identify the opportunities that will benefit the organization. The process also provides for the identification and management of constraints and risks.

2. Making the right Strategic decision

• Service Portfolio Management – This process will ensure the service provider defines the services clearly and links them to the achievement of the business outcomes. It will also force the service provider to have right mix of services to balance the investments in IT (Technology) with the ability to meet business outcomes.
• Financial Management for IT services – This process will ensure that the service provider does not commit to services that they are not able to provide. It provides the service provider with a framework to identify, manage and communicate the cost of providing services. It will ensure that the financial impact of the new or changed strategy is fully analyzed. When there is pressure from different quarters, this process will ensure that the decisions made are sound regarding the use of and investment in technology.

3. Executing amid changing environment

• Financial Management for IT services – This process comes into play again to secure the appropriate funding to design, develop and deliver services that meet the corporate objectives.

Question: What else are you doing for your strategy to keep up with the overwhelming changes in Technology?