DUBLIN, Ireland — Alcatel-Lucent’s CEO Ben Verwyaan beamed in via telepresence Tuesday morning to grace the big screen at TM Forum, reminding the audience that the digital economy is “not just something you write about but live in every day.”
In a speech heavily geared toward encouraging the industry to combine capabilities and capacities, Verwyaan told the audience “We communicate not just to communicate, but to share, to connect, to interact with others in our environment,” he went on.
“Knowledge is something you gain not just by looking out the window but by listening talking and sharing.”
Consumers, said Verwyaan, were now firmly at the helm of industry change, increasing their demands and expecting higher levels of satisfaction in an ever changing ICT space.
“The industy as a sector is undergoing massive change,” he said, noting how rapidly business models had to evolve in today’s market in order to survive. “Integration is the word,” he advised, adding that it wouldn’t hurt to expand “outside your boundaries and [add to that] the willingness to cooperate in the value change.”
Interaction with consumers today, said Verwyaan, is so different than it was in the past. For businesses in the telecoms industry to thrive, and continue to innovate, they have to not only do things better than they have done in the past, but to “rethink connecting the dots.”
“Customers are now an active participant rather than a passive payer. They create value,” he said.
Impatience abounded when it came to consumers, however, said Verwyaan, adding to the pressure on firms to do things faster and right first time. “It is an unforgiving world; get it wrong and you have to get out,” he warned.
“We need to take big decisions, not just small ones. We have to think about what is the place we take in the communications value chain. Do you want to be just a dumb pipe?” he asked, to a room filled with shaking heads.
Verwyaan reiterated that telecoms was a “complex field” changing every single day and that the role governments take in ICT will also have huge impact. “Some countries are taking a massive role. … It is important,” he declared.
Moving from politics to Machiavellian business principles, Verwyaan “you may not be loved by your customers, but you are trusted.”
