Vivek Badrinath, CEO of Orange Business, outlined his views after his first 70 days in the role. Badrinath, who has worked extensively in the industry and within the France Telecom Group, said he sees the market recovering this year with growth coming back in 2011 and 2012 but the world will have been changed forever as a consequence of the economic crisis.
"You're cautiously optimistic so we're enthusiastically optimistic," he said. "The world is not the same as it was two years ago in terms of what's expected in this room. There have been things happening out there that make it necessary for us to take a fresh look at our projects. The way you customers are interacting with your business is actually changing."
"I have a great respect for all those people who have CIO-type roles and are faced with the contradictory demands of improving service, reducing costs and juggling demands," he added. "Exciting trends shape our world," he said. "New collaboration and soc networks for customers and employees are emerging and we now need to work around multiple interactions with our end customers. We have both the obligation to provide Sarbanes-Oxley compatible, efficient, protected environments for our customers and we have to face the challenges of openness. You're asking us to be faster because the world is moving fast."
For Badrinath, it's all about services underpinned by the core network expertise that Orange Business provides. "Telecom can get commoditised but its the customer experience with the services and systems we bring that defines the value that we bring to this market," he concluded.
