Capabilities: Business Strategy
Growth strategy
As world-wide communications markets develop fully, telecommunication companies and product manufacturers are discovering top-line expansion is increasingly demanding. Some companies haven’t exploited the complete potential of the core business capabilities, while others realize the need to go beyond the base to examine chances for growth by expanding into new horizons, such as repositioning on the value chain, expanding their product portfolio, and developing new geographic growth options. Growth is a matter of survival, as continued shifts in technology, services, competition, and regulation require communications and high tech companies to rethink how they interact with and serve customers.
Innovation management
In these turbulent times of fierce competition, redefining technologies, and customer demands, innovation is core to communications and high tech companies’ survival. Our industry experts work with clients on their innovation imperatives throughout market analysis, product and service design, testing, and launch. Not only do we bring creativity and rigor to the innovation process, we provide data-based analysis to help executives make informed decisions that effectively balance costs and innovation – providing both top-line and bottom-line expertise.
IT strategy
Communications service providers are pursuing a broad IT agenda towards seamless service delivery. They continue to address challenges related to legacy platforms and multiple OSS. And beyond service delivery, the strategic application of IT to core business processes, such as supply chain, can create new capabilities and breakthrough competitive advantage.
Marketing and Sales Capabilities
Companies are constantly adapting their marketing and sales capabilities to customer needs and purchasing behaviors. There is nothing new about that. However, with customers using the power of new technologies to take their participation in value chains to higher levels, new product bundles (such as triple and quadruple plays) are evolving and innovative technologies are disrupting the way business is conducted. Companies have a more difficult challenge connecting with their customers to provide targeted offerings and a sustainable customer experience.
We help clients develop an in-depth understanding of their customers’ needs, design their product portfolio, and rethink the way they approach innovation management. We have proven capability frameworks in marketing and sales, which provide a continuous development and learning cycle along defined and measurable stages-of-excellence. We understand our clients’ customer touch points and have helped clients define a distinguishing customer interaction strategy along with sustainable and profitable growth.
Cost benchmarking
Understanding the company’s cost positioning, identifying cost drivers, and comparing cost positioning to peers is the first step to reduce cost. With our global cost benchmarking study for the mobile industry, which comprises many global participating operators.
Detailed cost diagnostics delivers a targeted view on savings opportunities and develops an organization mobilized to address them. Our proven methodology allows meaningful comparisons of operators of different sizes, regions, and strategic focus. The large number of participants provides relevant cluster analysis and the participation of the majority of operators over multiple years demonstrates the importance of this cost management tool for operators.
Cost transformation
With increased pricing pressures and competition, communications and high tech companies are looking for a fundamental shift in their cost structure. This shift requires a holistic, corporate-wide initiative to reduce operating costs and optimize capital investments. There can be no sacred cows in the process. Typically, opportunities are identified, prioritized, and executed in waves to drive improvements and savings.
Outsourcing and best-shoring
Communications and high tech companies have been key enablers and beneficiaries of the outsourcing and globalization phenomenon. For the buyers, outsourcing requires strong organizational alignment on the objectives behind the “make vs. buy” decision and continued assessment of the arrangement. On the other hand, suppliers need to focus on creating value and building economies of scale.
Technology Capabilities
More advanced telecommunication technology, products, and services are coming at a quickening pace as companies stretch capabilities to keep up with consumers’ changing habits and needs. Telco innovations have been dramatic, marked chiefly by the introduction of WiMax and HSPA, and operators moving toward next generation IP networks. Next generation technologies are helping lower the barriers to entry for startups, while helping deliver innovative products and services. However, those with residual networks are confronting difficult decisions about migrating to more sophisticated technologies – choices that have longer – term impact on revenue growth and operating costs.